2022 is just a few days away and it’s important to prepare your strategy for next year. Taking into account the Pandemic and the way the retail industry has changed in the past years, customers are demanding more from retailers.
In this article, we are going to focus on the most important customer experience trends to follow. Demanding customers won’t do business with retailers that don’t provide the customer experience they were looking for. 61% of consumers have switched to doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience.
The importance of offering an amazing experience in-store
While eCommerce platforms have a lot more customer data available and can offer personalized experiences, brick-and-mortar retailers have other advantages. Physical retailers need to take advantage of the fact that they can offer a complete shopping experience to their customers.
1. Increase customer satisfaction
When you focus on your customers, their needs, and their wants, then you will be able to offer them more than what they expect. Offering an amazing customer experience can help you increase customer satisfaction.
2. Loyal customers
39% of loyal customers will spend more on a product, even when they have other less-expensive options available. When customers have a great experience in-store, they are more likely to return.
3. Lift sales
When shoppers are enjoying themselves in your store, the chances of them spending more increase. If you make sure that they have a frictionless and fun experience, then they might end up buying more than what they planned.
Retail customer experience trends 2022
Now that we established why focusing on customer experience is a must in 2022, let’s take a look at the most important retail customer experience trends for next year.
1. Personalization
We’ve been talking about personalization for years. However, in 2022, physical retailers should focus on offering a personalized experience to their shoppers. While we’ve mentioned that eCommerce retailers are the ones that have it easier when it comes to personalization, that doesn’t mean that brick and mortar retailers can’t offer this type of experience.
With the help of an app, you can encourage customers to come to the store by personalizing their experience. How? Well, Sephora for instance, is encouraging customers to book in-store makeovers or consultations.
Another way in which you can offer customers a personalized experience is to allow shoppers to personalize their products. Clothes stores do it, but so can grocery stores. For example, you could allow shoppers to create their own bundle of fresh produce for a predefined price.
2. Immersive phygital experiences
In-store brand activations should be just about selling, they should be about providing an experience. By using a robotic POSM like Tokinomo you can immerse your customers in a phygital experience.
Tokinomo allows your products to promote themselves thanks to its sound, motion, and light technology. With a catchy message and a simple implementation, you can have a successful shopper marketing campaign.
3. Collecting feedback
An experience needs to be shared, whether it was poor or delightful. In 2022, retailers should focus on creating multiple options for customers to share their feedback regarding the in-store experience. Create a special app, send a personalized email or install interactive displays where customers can tell exactly what they thought about the whole shopping experience.
This way, you learn more about your shoppers. Customer feedback allows you to create better experiences for shoppers.
4. Pure omnichannel
Last, but not least, the omnichannel retail strategy. While many stores pride themselves on having an omnichannel approach, not many of them actually have it. Being present on multiple channels is not the same as offering a frictionless, continuous experience on those channels.
Omnichannel means connecting these channels and offering a unified brand experience. Without it, you just have a multichannel approach which is a completely different thing for shoppers.
While implementing this strategy, focus on convenience. Shoppers want it all and they want it now. Some of the best omnichannel strategies implemented by physical retailers include BOPIS and the option to check the inventory online, before going to the store.
2022 should be the year in which you put your customer first. Without creating an amazing experience in-store, customers won’t think twice before moving to a competitor.
