Despite tough economic times, shoppers aren't spending less - they're spending differently. Eric Absensur explains how surviving traditional retailers are adapting
With the growing cost of living deflating public purses, pricing transparency dissipating customer loyalty, and footfall falling throughout the UK's high streets, you could be forgiven for thinking this Christmas would be very glum indeed. In the few weeks after the Christmas peak period last year, we saw many well-known retailers stumble onto the administration auction block and many more approach this Christmas with trepidation.
But with the New Year, new leaders and new owners brought new strategies. Most of these focused on the importance of digital and the integration of online with traditional bricks and mortar approaches. These few weeks will have determined the health of many of our high street staples and be a true test of the multi-channel, omni-channel and digital strategies put in place over the course of this year.
Despite the tough economic times, shoppers aren't spending less this Christmas, but they are spending differently. Spending this year is more fragmented than ever: divided between the high street, desktop shopping, mobile, tablets and social media platforms, as shoppers look to grab the best deals.
Whether it's shopping from the comfort of the sofa at home or using a mobile to compare prices while shopping on the high-street, mobile and digital technology is a crucial lynch pin for retailing during this festive season. These technologies help retailers to link together all these disparate channels as well as boosting sales and keeping costs down.
Embrace show rooming
Many bricks and mortar retailers dread the influx of mobiles into their stores, seeing 'show rooming' as the worst ailment to hit the high street since Amazon. Some retailers have even attempted to stymie internet access in-store to avoid the inevitable mobile price comparisons. However, in my opinion retailers should embrace the opportunities that show rooming presents, allowing them to carry less stock and maximise their real estate.
A bricks and mortar presence is invaluable in terms of the brand awareness and customer experience it can offer the consumer. However, the cost of maintaining a physical presence on the high-street can be high. More than ever, retailers want to optimise their stock count to ensure that valuable real estate is used to best effect – by displaying products as opposed to storing them.
While this reduces the size or alternative colours a store can carry, a well-organised supply chain and use of digital technology can allow orders to be placed while the customer is in the store By arming assistants with tablets, alternative products can be ordered to the store on behalf of the customer.
Pop in, pop out, pop up
As we pass the last online shopping day for delivery in time for Christmas, deliver-to-store and pop-up shops have become a vital mechanism for retailers seeking to prolong the Christmas buzz. However, a pop up is only as good as the awareness you create and mobility is key to that goal.
The most successful pop-ups are, by their nature, placed in areas with heavy footfall, but that is by no means a reason to ignore the power of searching for existing customers. Adding your pop-up store to your mobile store search function or using geo-location to proactively alert existing customers can help ensure your pop-up doesn't flat line. By creating geo-fences retailers can push messages out to customers near the pop-up, helping to drive local potential consumers to you.
Festive pop-ups can also serve to prolong the online retail peak by temporarily extending a retailer's footprint. With consumers keen to get goods picked, packed and wrapped before the big day, deliver-to-store has become an invaluable feature. Pop-up delivery points or lockers can provide a great resource for pure e-commerce players. By utilising their own well prepped supply chain instead of the over burdened postal service, the peak period can be extended by a crucial few days.
Rectify the returns
Retailers experience around 50% return rates from online stores, and with Christmas this can spike as people seek to offload unwanted gifts. Detailed and exact representation of products online is key to reducing the return rate and ensuring sales stay sold. Providing the most comprehensive product information and imagery possible is essential, however retailers need to balance this with the capabilities of the site and connection.
Zoom, rotate, videos and high quality images are all essential to showing a shopper exactly what the product is like. However long load times cannot be allowed to impede the customer experience. Slow load times have been found to reduce consumer trust in a site and cause significant drop off from potential sales. By using a highly scalable platform, retailers can support high-quality interactive merchandising alongside a highly responsive transactional site. This reduces drop off without sacrificing quality and reduces return rates without sacrificing speed.
That being said, a simple, easy returns process is another customer touch point that helps build trust and customer loyalty. Customers are far more likely to discuss and recommend a retailer that resolves issues beyond one that simply fulfils an order.
Christmas spending remains high, but the fragmentation we're seeing means it may still make or break some retailers this year. Digital will become increasingly prevalent in the strategies of 2013. With modern consumers hopping across multiple channels when moving from browse to buy, digital allows retailers just a touch of omniscience.
Eric Abensur is CEO of Venda.
To get more articles like this sent direct to your inbox, sign up for free membership of the Guardian Media Network. This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional.
Technology in retail
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds