Macy’s unveils array of holiday digital shopping features
Macy’s is expanding its digital offerings in time for the holiday shopping season.
The department store giant is offering a redesigned mobile app, livestream shopping, contactless payment, and an expanded 3-D room planner in time for the holiday season. The Macy’s app, which enables customers to curate products, navigate stores, shop and check out, and manage rewards and account details, now lets users with location services seamlessly customize their shopping experience to their local Macy’s store. This includes immediate access to price check and store maps features, along with product availability, buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS), and curbside pickup.
When push notifications are enabled, customers will be notified via the redesigned app of the latest deals, product launches, and app exclusives. The new app also features improved product filters, personalized recommendations, access to lists and favorites, and a new in-store, frictionless return process. The revamped Macy’s app launches on Friday, Oct. 15 for iOS and Android devices.
The retailer is also rolling out Macy’s Live, a livestream shopping experience featuring weekly live shopping events. Customers will be able to interact with hosts and Macy’s stylists via chat, view featured products in more detail, obtain real-time reviews and recommendations, and interactively shop for items.
Following the broadcasts, each show will be archived to watch and shop on-demand. Available to view on macys.com/MacysLive, each show will have a focused theme including fall and holiday apparel, shoes and accessories, beauty, gifts, toys, home products plus other featured categories.
[Read more: Survey: Apparel shopping, livestreaming show promise post-pandemic]
In addition, Macy’s is adding PayPal and Venmo as contactless in-store payment options. All Macy’s stores nationwide are now enabled to accept these two contactless payment options. To pay at the register, customers can open their PayPal or Venmo apps, select scan or show to pay to display a QR code that Macy’s sales colleagues will scan to complete the transaction.
In other moves, Macy’s is expanding its 3D room planning service, based on Marxent technology. The 3D room planner allows customers to virtually see their preferred furniture and home furnishings in a custom-built room created to mirror their exact living space. The in-store 3D design service room can be initiated by any customer in-store by partnering with a specially-trained furniture sales colleague, or from home via virtual consultation.
Customers can also use a "view in my room" augmented reality (AR) feature available in the Macy’s app to see and virtually trial more than 13,000 furniture products at home via their mobile device. The “See Your Space IRL” room design tool is available at more than 400 Macy’s stores nationwide and online.
[Read more: Macy’s reduces return rates with help of virtual reality technology]
Other new shopping features at Macy’s include an online fragrance finder tool that provides an immersive, visual experience and enables customers to curate a personal pool of fragrance recommendations based on their preferences and desired scent profiles; as well as a one-stop online sustainability shop featuring a range of products that have been independently certified as responsibly made or packaged.