How to meet your customers where they are – virtually
Today’s shoppers are spending more time than ever in digital spaces, and retailers need to turn them into consumer touchpoints.
A few years back, I wrote a column about the importance of retailers going to where the money is – their customers – lightheartedly quoting renowned bank robber Willie Sutton who said he held up banks “Because that's where the money is.”
While following Sutton’s chosen profession remains an exceptionally poor career choice, his logic does offer a lesson for retailers. Since writing that column, a few virtual consumer hotspots have emerged that retailers should seriously consider having a presence in, since their customers have already made a place for themselves.
Metaverse
The metaverse is a broad term encompassing interactive gaming, virtual worlds, augmented/virtual reality headsets like Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest, and any immersive platform that lets users experience a lifelike simulation of the “real world.”
Perhaps no greater argument for the relevance of the metaverse to consumers (and the retailers selling to them) can be made than the persistent efforts Walmart has made during the past three years to maintain an active commercial presence across a variety of metaverse platforms.
These include Walmart’s current limited-time interactive gaming experience called “Skyward" it is running on a Minecraft Java server, and another recently launched immersive in-game commerce experience called "Walmart Unlimited," in partnership with 3D gamified media platform Spatial and the Unity real-time 3D development environment.
Other examples include Walmart Realm, a 3-D virtual shopping environment curated by digital influencers and built upon the Emperia metaverse platform in partnership with Sawhorse Productions.
Walmart debuted in the metaverse by launching two new metaverse experiences on Roblox in September 2022 and announced in September 2023 that it would deepen its commercial activity in "virtual worlds," becoming the first entity to sell select physical items on Roblox.
Video
The Internet is becoming increasingly visually-focused, and consumers are spending more time consuming – and being influenced – by video content. Three-in-eight surveyed U.S. and U.K. consumers surveyed by Adobe Express have bought a product or service after watching a short video about it and 84% said video platforms influence at least one buying decision every week.
There are a variety of ways retailers can interact with customers via video. Livestream shopping, which enables consumers to directly browse and shop products from live video streams, is a mainstay of digital shopping in Asia and becoming increasingly popular in the U.S.
In addition, YouTube has long been used a customer touchpoint by a variety of retailers and expanded its e-commerce partnership with Shopify in summer 2024.
And of course, TikTok, which has offered a robust e-commerce offering in the U.S. via its TikTok Shop storefront since September 2023, continues to grow in popularity here with consumers and retailers alike.
Although TikTok faces a potential governmental ban in the U.S., most observers assume a deal will be struck to allow its U.S. operations to continue, as evidenced by a new expanded partnership with QVC Group.
Influencers
Like video, influencers are growing in importance to retail, with nearly three-quarters (74%) of American consumers surveyed by creator management platform Grin having purchased a product or service because an influencer recommended it.
Numerous retailers have partnered with influencers, running livestream events using influencers as hosts, letting influencers curate special assortments and basing omnichannel marketing campaigns around content from participating influencers.
But retailers can also work influencers into their customer engagement strategies even without a direct collaboration. Take the example of Taylor Swift, who most likely has been the most influential consumer influencer of the past few years.
Target partnered with the pop megastar on two exclusive Taylor Swift releases, an official "Taylor Swift/The Eras Tour" book and a special edition of "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology" album on vinyl and CD, on Black Friday 2024 and set sales records in the following 10 days.
[READ MORE: Target partners with Taylor Swift for exclusive holiday merchandise]
However, a survey of U.S. consumers who attended any of Taylor Swift’s "Eras Tour" concerts or concert movie in 2023 from Inmar Intelligence indicated 64% of respondents said the experience(s) prompted them to make purchases related to the concert such as apparel, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, and/or arts/crafts – not necessarily from official partner retailers.
Specific examples of retailers who benefited from the “Taylor Swift effect” without official sponsorship include the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., which offered interactive events specifically aimed at "Swifties."
And in May 2023, Jeffries analysts looked at the 2.4 million Swift concert tickets that had been sold at that time and predicted Boot Barn could see a significant bump in sales of items such as cowboy hats, sequins and Western boots fans wanted to wear to her shows.
