For years now, brick-and-mortar stores have been faced with the challenge of competing with online competitors that may be offering a broader range or cheaper products. The result, says Paulette Rowe, CEO, integrated & eCommerce solutions at Paysafe, has been a decline of footfall on the high street.
So creating a customer experience in-store has been key to survival, and many businesses have invested heavily into this concept to stop the eCommerce takeover.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, there was a very clear strategy for delivering a superior in-store experience. This focused on attracting customers into the store, and creating experiences that engaged with them on both a physical and emotional level that online retailers could not compete with. Tactics to achieve this included personalised shopping assistance, free testers, in-store only offers, or even culinary treats.
However, the pandemic has decimated this strategy, because today the opposite must be the primary concern. In the main, consumers are still rightly wary of the dangers of indoor interactions, so with government rules on the number of visitors in a store at one time, one-way systems in place, and health concerns at the forefront of shoppers’ minds, making the shopping experience safe and frictionless as possible is now key to the future of in-store.…
