Post Summary: An outline of what I mean by the High Street 2.0, which is essentially the idea of real world high street stores providing a richer customer experience by focussing on the customer, and enabling seamless integration and cross-over with the benefits of shopping both offline and online.
In my last post on The High Street 2.0 (Part 1), I focussed on the drivers behind the trend of customers browsing in stores but then going online to purchase the item of interest, because I believe this suggests that the offline customer experience needs to be improved to provide customers with in-store access to the benefits of buying online. I suggested 10 reasons for completing purchase online as follows:
- Bargains / cheaper prices (through general search and via shopping bots)
- Validate product/item quality and function (via online information and reviews before buying)
- Avoid in-store/cashier queues
- Delivery rather than carry home on buses / trains (convenience)
- Search for variant availability in other stores
- Leverage online promotions / vouchers
- Easier payment through one-click accounts (e.g. Amazon)
- Accessories for product listings
- Related product listings and "Other people bought this" type information
- Auto-history of purchases - leading to seller recommendations
By highlighting these, what I'm alluding to is the need for cross-channel symbiosis rather than revenue cannibalisation as we currently have it. In other words, a shift towards physical stores offering the customer access to benefits of browsing and purchasing online, and vice-versa, rather than avenues for making each channel independently attractive to the consumer in ways that simply result in cross-channel competition.
I believe that at some point in the near future, forward thinking retailers must recognise the fact that the existing model of shops as one-dimensional rooms for showcasing products by category is fast becoming outdated by consumer familiarity with the online shopping experience. On the internet, consumers can access related products, accessories, comparative price options, product information, reviews, simplified purchasing, delivery, and bargains, while also being able to feedback to others about the experience. What they cannot do is try out products for fit, look, appropriateness or ease of use before buying, or even benefit from the immediacy of collecting the item at time of purchase, so it is clear that both channels are not just relevant but highly complementary, and should be treated as such.
However, as far as I'm aware no one has made this leap towards a truly symbiotic, holistic online-offline customer experience. There is absolutely no reason why customers shouldn't be able to shop in-store with the same benefits as online. It just needs a little lateral thinking, and recognising that while the Web started out as a separate and independent commerce stream in order that companies could minimise risk while still learning about it's capabilities and user models, it is now a well established and experience-driven business and usability model that can and should be leveraged to improve customer experience across channels in the real world.
Experience is the key. Branding online is primarily about the experience, and it is making the passive, push marketing approach we've lived with since the start of capitalism obsolete. With price and quality becoming more and more homogenous on the high street, retailers must start moving towards experience focused outlets that are built around impressing and engaging their customers, rather than the traditional model of simply cataloguing or showcasing the products or services they can offer.
I feel there is significant scope to achieve this by making the in-store customer experience richer and more fulfilling by learning from the web experience, and in the next post will aim to discuss some ideas retailers should be considering if they want to create the next-generation shopper's paradise.