Omnichannel personalization

With more customer-specific information filtering into retail enterprises, brands are primed to deliver more personalized, seamless experiences. Such efforts not only drive repeat visits and purchases, but also “help retailers to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, and get closer to the customer,” said Tom Moore, industry lead of retail and hospitality at Zebra Technologies.

Indeed, 38% of companies reported that personalization is a top digital customer experience priority, according to the “2017 Digital Commerce Benchmark Survey,” from Boston Retail Partners (BRP). For many retailers, this requires new solutions that will help them engage with customers throughout the shopping journey. With so many options available, retail leaders are opting for solutions “that can solve problems in new ways,” William Fong, co-founder and CTO of Boxed, an online retailer that sells everyday essentials in bulk, told Chain Store Age.

The technologies listed below are shaping the retail landscape and are among the most coveted solutions in retailers’ personalization toolboxes.

&bull Artificial intelligence. A computing component that uses data to make “machines” intelligent, AI is taking the customer experience to a new level. In addition to automatically tracking customers’s purchase and preferences, AI can streamline how brands upsell with more relevancy. It’s also a conduit to merging the physical and online touchpoints.

“AI can provide the foundational information needed to understand the shopper’s entire omnichannel journey and deliver a better in-store experience,” said Will Decker, VP of retail innovation at Plug and Play Tech Center. “AI supports a more interesting understanding of the community and how we can engage them at scale.”

Boxed is leveraging AI to support a new automated replenishment service based on machine learning — connecting with customers through AI data. Called Smart Stock Up, the program relies on machine learning to understand shoppers’ most used items, and when they will need more.

“It also pushes out an email that reveals a list of merchandise that we think they are running low on,” Wong explained. “If they agree, customers click on a link that directs them to our site. Here, they can add the merchandise to their cart, and either continue shopping or proceed directly to checkout.” The service launched in August.

&bull Augmented reality. A technology that overlays computer-generated imagery on pictures and videos of the real world — from showrooms or sales floors to rooms in a shopper’s home — AR enables brands to deliver a personalized retail experience. While the technology is still evolving, early adopters are thirsty for more: 80% of shoppers want to use AR to design a room or physical space, browse virtual or physical showrooms and view how furniture and décor looks in their personal space, according to a study from L.E.K. Consulting.

Saks Fifth Avenue is among the most recent retailers experimenting with AR technology. Putting a new twist on the salon experience, Saks is using AR to enable clients to virtually try on products available in the salon’s inventory and test lipsticks from a try-on bar cart. Following a consultation with their stylist, the hairdresser completes purchase transactions from an iPad.

&bull Virtual reality. A concept similar to AR, VR also uses 3-D images. Rather than interacting with images in the real world, VR immerses consumers in a totally digital environment where they can perform a task such as shopping or even receive job training. A good example of how brands are using VR to allow consumers to engage with brands on a personal level is the new VR shopping app launched by Swarovski for its line of crystal home accessories, Atelier Swarovski. The jewelry brand teamed up with MasterCard on an app that allows consumers to virtually browse and purchase items in the collection using Masterpass, Mastercard’s digital payment service, without ever leaving the VR experience.

Consumers place their smartphone into a VR headset to enter the experience, which lets them walk through a virtual home to browse designs. They can learn about the stories behind each piece, read descriptions and see the pricing. To make a purchase, they focus their gaze on the Masterpass button that appears at the bottom of the product description.

On the training side, Walmart is adding VR as a training tool at its 200 Walmart Academy training centers in the United States. Each location will have an Oculus Rift headset and gaming system that hosts a collection of VR training content.

“Five years ago, implementing this technology at this scale and context would have been significantly expensive and prohibitive,” said E. Blake Jackson, a Walmart spokesman. “With more developers and content producers entering the space, and the cost of hardware and software dropping, VR is more attainable at such a large scale.”

Regardless of the solution that retailers commit to, the goal is “to deliver a positive, personalized experience digitally as well as in-store,” said Doug Oathout, VP of strategic partnerships at Black Box. “These solutions are the key to gaining intelligence about customers and personalizing the experience.”