Retail. Not Dead, just different.

Retail.
Not Dead, Just Different

Contents
3
4
10
12
15
Introduction
Part One: A Nightmare on any street
Part Two: So close and personal you can feel their choices
Part Three: Sofa, So good
Summary & Recommendation
Page 2

The doomsday scenarios we’re used to hearing about the death of physical retail have
dominated the narrative for far too long. But poorly targeted digital strategies based
simply on telling shoppers “We know where you live” also no longer provide sufficient
reward to get customers into physical stores.
At Purple we believe that the real future is neither purely physical nor purely digital; it’s
a complex hybrid of both. Far-sighted retailers should stop seeing the current digital
acceleration as a threat and start viewing it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to
integrate physical retail with online data collection and so transform connections with
their customers and forge a new, mixed-channel profitable future. Make that critical
change. Make retail personal again. And make it now.
Data from our own recent research project, covering 1500 shoppers in the UK, US and Mexico, markets chosen to cover 3 levels of retail - Grocery, Fashion and Apparel / Big
box and online shopping maturity, confirms that despite the rise of online and the rumored decline of offline, three-quarters of us remain blended shoppers.
World - Online vs physical shopping habits %
Online
Online only
7.1%
Offline only
17.6%
Physical
Blended
75.3%
The world of shopping is blended
World - Online vs physical shopping habits % Physical retail is at a crossroads. YES,
you need to embrace technology. But
this technology must embrace your
customers. They demand a highly
personal shopping experience as
standard. It’s not so much about taking
the wrong turning at the crossroads,
as - without urgently undertaking a
radical strategic, and technological
transformation of your business NOW -
you will simply run out of road.”
Sir Terry Leahy – British Retail Guru
Page 3

Emerging From Retail’s Dark Night of The Soul
Even for a dynamic industry where disruption is the norm the last couple of
years in retail have been the stuff of nightmares. Remember before the global
pandemic? Remember feeling that online threats lurked around every corner?
Remember how digital retail seemed to be some kind of remorseless category
killer keeping customers away and bleeding the life out of every shopping street?
We all grew familiar with this horror story. Store closures were announced almost
weekly. And yet despite a sometimes-overwhelming sense of unease many retail
businesses were hopeful that a workable compromise would finally evolve. Sure,
those businesses with weak or no-longer relevant propositions were falling at
the hands of global online predators but the strongest, most relevant, most
engaging retailers were surviving, right? Many of us told ourselves that the
hollowing out of Main Street by the online giants was just commercial natural
selection in action. It was the survival of the fittest. It was just the way things are.
Then, in early 2020 along came COVID-19. While online retail picks off its victims
one by one, storefront by storefront, the Coronavirus incapacitated whole
commercial sectors, all at once, everywhere. It was like a shopping-based
extinction event. Take a trip to any mall or shopping district today and you’ll see
the dark, empty carcasses of once great retail beasts. It’s like walking amongst
the skeletons of shopping’s dinosaurs.
But Coronavirus wasn’t the end of the trauma. More was to come. We’re in 2022
and even if vaccines have brought some relief and seen some resurgence in
social activity, stores are now reeling from the impact of overstretched supply
chains, once-in-a-generation inflationary pressures and, to top it all, the far-
reaching economic effects of a war in Europe and threat of potential global
recession.
The retail landscape has changed so much that it renders any solution you
thought you had back in late 2019 hopelessly redundant. And this was inevitable,
when “Across the industry, the pandemic accelerated five-year adoption
strategies down to as little as six months.”1
Home Safe, Convenient and Personal
Given impetus by the virus, the penetration of online shopping has reached new
heights in developed and emerging markets globally. COVID-19 ensured your
customers kept their own company, not yours; while the associated lockdowns,
staff absences and shortages of stock simply maintained the tension.
Convenience, choice, a more tailored experience and the obvious health and
safety benefits of online shopping have meant far fewer people are visiting
physical stores even today, and this is leading to a diminishing sense of loyalty
to a physical retail experience that was already being left behind emotionally
anyway, if not yet entirely practically.
Since the pandemic, our data suggests, over half of us are now shopping online
more often for fashion and apparel. Almost half of us shop more online for
groceries, and 40% of us are even shopping more online for big box items. In all
three of these categories less than a quarter of us are shopping more in physical
retail. This is a shift which, without coronavirus may have taken a decade
We’re all shopping more online
Online
Physical
0 20 40 60 80 100
We’re all shopping online
Percentage of respondents (%)
More Online
Maintained
More physical
Part One
A Nightmare on any street
1
Connecting Retail for a Digital Future - Key insights into achieving an effective digital transformation. BT White Paper 2022 P.3
Purple.ai research with 1500 shoppers in US, UK and Mexico; 2022
Page 4

Go To Your Bedroom, Now! Oh, You Have, It’s Where You Do Your
Shopping…
When a sense of dislocation and disappointment fills the air there is often
retrenchment and a tendency to put faith in existing solutions. However, the
unprecedented scale of recent events has meant that suddenly, previous debates
about how best to deal with the chaos caused by digital upstarts like Amazon,
Wayfair, Alibaba, and eBay invading the traditional retail space seem to belong to
another, more innocent age.
Just ignoring how digital retail has changed the way we all shop over the past
couple of years is impossible. Like adolescents everywhere, digital retail is in its
teenage years and is pretty much focused on rejecting all the old values, making
its own rules, staying up all night and making a mess while it does so.
And the old ways of dealing with these challenges, those pre-pandemic ideas
we had about cozy-cohabitation with the next generation, are just not credible
anymore. The global pandemic meant digital retail arrived more quickly and
more powerfully than anyone – and we mean ANYONE – predicted and if one
thing is for sure, it’s that there’s no way back.
A key effect of the last two years is that: “For many organizations, this has
considerably accelerated their digital transformation agenda far beyond anything
they could have predicted.”2
It’s Not You, It’s Me
Outwardly, this appears to be no more than expected; however, the devil is in the
detail (as usual). Dousing the flames of disruption has inevitably also submerged
some of the fire-damage, understandably so, when: “Businesses have dealt
with more change in the last two years than in the previous two decades”3
Like
some soap opera romance, there’s a realization that one side – in this case, the
customer - has changed irrevocably, and so the other side – the retail industry –
must also change if their relationship is to remain healthy, responsive and have a
mutually beneficial and supportive future.
But even if this sounds somewhat doom-laden there is evidence that shoppers
remain optimistic about the future of physical retail. 60% of our research sample
didn’t see a future where fashion retail would disappear entirely from main
street (perhaps unsurprising given the very individual, personal nature of fashion
choices). Grocery retailers can take heart too in the 40% shoppers who disagree
that this sector will transfer wholly to online stores. People want physical retail
to survive. But it will have to change.
Shoppers expect physical retail to survive
What’s the future of physical stores?
Ready to take your existential leap?
With online accelerating to become the center of the retail universe it has
completely transformed some customer behaviors, while cementing the direction
already taken by others. “One sure existential lesson has been learned. If
retailers are to become agile in facing threats resiliently, they must change”.4
Nevertheless, the gulf between knowing you need to change and knowing what
that change needs to be is as vast as the gulf between retail-thinking based on
bricks and retail-thinking based on clicks. Making the leap from one to the other
can be
a terrifying prospect, especially if you’re not particularly fit in the first place.
Many businesses appear to be grappling with how to: “Incorporate new
external requirements into their digital business transformation efforts.”5
But
as they continue to look inwards, there’s a growing consensus among retail
commentators that decisions about how to deal with the need to be digital must
be made quickly, and that subsequent actions should then be implemented
immediately.
What’s the future of physical stores?
Respondents (%)
Fashion will transfer
to online stores
Grocery will transfer
to online stores
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
Maintained
More physical
-60
-80 -40 -20 0 20 40
2
Connecting Retail for a Digital Future - Key insights into achieving an effective digital transformation. BT White Paper 2022 P.2
3
Shopify - The Future of Commerce Trend Report 2022 P.5
Page 5

Reading Your Own Obituary
This immediacy is in sharp contrast to the previous language of slow decline.
Retail companies have long been facing up to the waning of physical retail and
so one might imagine they would have plans in place for dealing with it. And yet
some of these retailers seem so bereft of transformative ideas that they still fight
to keep their traditional, physical retail propositions alive long beyond the point
where they stopped serving a useful, distinctive function.
Change Wrapped in Change, Wrapped in Challenge
The obituaries have been appearing for years; the demise of physical stores
predicted for even longer – as ever more customers filled up e-commerce
channels instead of emptying store shelves. And beyond this, there’s a sense of
foreboding driven by the realization that this shift of behavior is also subject to
change itself, and all in a retail environment which is only likely to become even
more challenging.
A Titanic Task
The pressure on manufacturer brands to build attractive, relevant, distinctive
products has gradually evolved into the tip of a bigger retail iceberg. Below
the waterline, expressing trends strongly identified amongst Gen Z shoppers,
experiential, emotional-value-led purchasing is increasing. For younger
consumers especially, where they shop is as important as what they buy while
they do it.
Young shoppers everywhere make instant judgments about your retail brand.
They judge you on the quality of the overall shopping experience, your fit
with their lifestyles, values and interests and the geographical strengths and
weaknesses of your location. Then they tell their friends and the world-at-large
via social media.
And all of this comes bundled with growing expectations of an experience
that closely reflects their online activity and with more explicit adherence to
sustainability as the impact of climate change, social justice and inclusivity
agendas become unavoidable.
You can’t just keep smiling and pretending your traditional retail offer is
appropriate, while paddling furiously beneath the surface. Taken all together, it’s
a volatile mix that’s likely to blow up in your face if you add the wrong accelerant.
And data confirms the importance of these ‘soft experiential discriminators’ in
driving loyalty. Targeted promotions, targeted content, personalized experiences;
the new generation’s loyalty is inspired when retailers deliver evidence that
they’ve taken steps to understand who their shoppers are – and then curated
bespoke marketing initiatives in response.
Targeted, personalized experiences build loyalty
What inspires loyalty in customers?
A Different Tale of Retail Fail
The key question here? Has the acceleration of the last two years simply shifted
your focus rather than shaped your company’s overall vision? For, although there
has been a 58% increase in investment in e-commerce during the pandemic with
businesses just like yours fast-tracking digital strategy, what’s clear is it didn’t
fundamentally change retail.6
It’s like investing solely in computer systems for
healthcare, while forgetting the actual role of hospitals. Congratulations, you
have great computers, but your patient is still sick.
There’s no doubt it’s difficult to completely change direction as you travel on
a road that has been carpet bombed by a series of ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ global
assaults. But now’s the moment to realize that if you don’t change your vision
under these circumstances, you never will. There’s abundant evidence that the
fall-out from these events is making it ever more important to do so before it’s
too late.
Yes, it’s a crisis, but as JFK (incorrectly) said, the two characters that make up the
word crisis in Chinese are those for danger AND opportunity.
We Need a Shopping Miracle… Call the Doctor!
It’s not even that courses of treatment have been unavailable for ailing stores,
malls, and downtown areas. Rather it’s that retailers have been trying to apply
individual patches in isolation for years, haphazardly stitching bits of sometimes
incompatible technology together in an attempt to stop customers bleeding away
to online. These piecemeal, tactical solutions, like battlefield triage, can keep the
patient alive for a while, but eventually tactics need to be replaced with strategy,
sticking plasters need to give way to surgery and planning for the future needs to
replace simply surviving in the now.
Closed Minds and Closed Stores
But despite all this, at Purple we’re not pessimistic. Rather we’re excited and
positive about the future of physical retail. We believe that those who think that
IRL (In Real Life) shopping is a thing of the past are themselves stuck in the past.
Because, despite all the negativity and everything that’s happened in the last few
years, the human need for physical experiences remains strong. After all that’s
why we all found lockdowns so tough. Human beings are social animals; we want
to do things with others, and we want to do these things in the real world.
Our data reveals that over 40% of shoppers have still shopped in a physical store
more than 30 times in the last twelve months. That’s at least 2.5 times a month.
This compares with less than 25% of shoppers who’ve shopped with the same
regularity online. However, much noise there seems to be around the rise of
online retail it still has some way to go before it challenges the traditional brick
store for footfall. Physical retail remains the go-to for regular shoppers.
Physical retail remains the go-to for regular shoppers
Number of times people shopped last year
One of the consequences of being forced to shop from home was the focus it put
on what online shopping lacks. Yes, it can be a life-saver. But it’s not a life-maker.
Buying products solely online is no life at all. It’s devoid of humanity, warmth,
connection, and that almost indescribable visceral pleasure that IRL retail is so
rich in.
Those long months of lockdown were filled with a longing that added to the
considerable existing goodwill toward the physical store experience
and a renewed desire after two years with only one choice, to get out and give
vent to that positivity.
Your customers still care about visiting stores. They look forward to it.
They believe they’re important and crave the sensory and mental stimulation
of feel, touch, smell, and sight. Only physical stores can truly deliver the
excitement of new discovery. And only physical stores can turn the purchase
journey into a purchase adventure.
4
Gartner Report - Top Trends in Retail Digital Transformation and Innovation for 2022 P.3
5
6
From Purple’s own data.
Quality products/services
Targeted promotions
Loyalty programs
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Targeted content
Personalised experiences
Online reviews
Personalised messages
Nothing
Other
Post-purchase surveys
What inspires loyalty in customers?
Purple research with 1500 shoppers in US, UK and Mexico; 2022
Number of times people shopped last year
< 3 3-5 6-10 11-20 21-30 30+
Physical
Online
0
10
20
30
40
50
Page 6

Physical
Online
Customer Service
Loyalty Programs
Other
Overall Experience
Personalised Messages
Special Promotions
-10 0 10 20 30
Positively
Negative
40
-20
What affects your physical grocery experience?
7
Purple’s own data.
40
20
0
60
80
100
85%
The role of physical store will still be important despite the rise of online retail
The role of physical store will still be
important despite the rise of online retail
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Consider the in-store experience the most
important aspect of their buying journey
Still use physical as one of multiple
channels during their shopping journey
72%
73%
But don’t clasp those sales slips to your chest too quickly. Once again, the devil
is in the detail. Though it might sound as if we’re saying the old ways are still the
best and the dinosaurs were right all along, this apparent celebration of the flesh
and blood approach is not an endorsement of the status quo. The dinosaurs are
still dead, remember?
The challenge for retailers is to make their stores as exciting, engaging and personalized as possible in a world where online shopping is always an option. The winners in
the offline vs. online tug of war will be those who build the most rewarding customer experience.
What affects your physical bigbox experience?
Customer Service
Loyalty Programs
Other
Overall Experience
Special Promotions
-10 0 10 20 30
P
N
40
-20
Positively
Negative
What affects your physical
bigbox experience?
Customer Service
Loyalty Programs
Other
Overall Experience
Special Promotions
-10 0 10 20 30
Positively
Negative
40
-20
Positively
Negative
What affects your physical fashion experience?
fashion experience?
Data from our own research also points to 72% who still consider the in-store
experience the most important aspect of their buying journey, and 73% who still
use physical as one of multiple channels during their shopping journey.7
Physical stores will have to make it all about the
customer experience
40
20
0
60
80
100
84%
Physical stores will have to make it all
about the customer experience
Customer Service
Loyalty Programs
Other
Overall Experience
Special Promotions
-10 0 10 20 30
Positively
Negative
40
-20
What affects your physical grocery experience?
40
20
0
60
80
100
58%
Small retailers will start to close their physical stores
Small retailers will start to close
their physical stores
Our new data shows in crisp detail how important the overall retail experience is to building positivity around physical retail. Forty percent of grocery shoppers rate overall
experience as a major contributor to a successful trip. 30% also rate experience highly when shopping for fashion and only slightly less rate it most important in big box
shopping. Whether it’s for groceries, fashion or big box items, real customer service rather than an algorithm, targeted loyalty programs
and promotions all contribute to the most enjoyable shopping trips.
Shoppers still enjoy the overall shopping experience
grocery experience?
Buld your customer experience to survive
Page 7

9
Purple data
Got Eggs? You’re Going To Need Another Basket
For all that many of us now shop for groceries online, in many markets around
the world and in many non-foods categories retail has been slow to respond to
the rise of online shopping. It has often missed the point altogether, clinging to
the belief that the years of investment by brand owners in building offline brand
equity are enough to sustain success even as the shopping battlefield shifts
under their feet.
Or they believe that online is good, but it’s different, and it’s ‘over there’ - a
separate part of their business operation. But if you put all your eggs in one
basket for decades, eventually that basket’s going to wear out. You’re going to
need another basket.
It’s clear that the era of chains with a store in every town is over. That sort of
ubiquity is unaffordable – and probably even undesirable now. But then again,
thinner on the ground does not mean the opportunity is any less. It’s time to
dismiss the view of online shopping primarily as a threat rather than as an
opportunity for physical stores.
It’s Not Physical. It’s not Digital. It’s Both
Physical stores may not be enough on their own, but then neither is e-commerce.
“As e-commerce is no longer a differentiator, robust execution of a unified
commerce strategy is fast becoming the foundation for competitive advantage
in modern retailing.”8
That there is an appetite for physical retail is less the
issue. What is urgent to achieve and crucial to your future business success, is
reinvigorating this foundation of your previous retail strength by creating a new
seamless shopping experience.
How? By transforming your retail strategy and adopting a unified omnichannel
approach that is aligned with customer expectations, expectations that have now
been changed forever by their online experiences. Also, by creating an exciting
future where the simultaneous combination of on and offline drives even higher
levels of customer satisfaction - and revenues.
Data-driven personalization can build retailer loyalty. Over 60% of the people
we spoke to felt that they would be more loyal to retailers who offered them
personalized experiences, sent them tailored promotions whilst they were still
shopping in the store and demonstrated that they understood the specific needs
of their customers. All of this is predicated on you getting access to their data
while they shop.
Data-driven personalization can build retailer loyalty
What would make people more loyal to retailers?
Thankfully research by Purple also suggests that 83% of shoppers are willing to
share their data with retailers if it means they’ll enjoy these more tailored, more
personal, and less generic shopping experiences. This is further supported by
data that shows that 84% of shoppers believe retailers should be doing more to
integrate their online and offline channels.9
Willing to share their data to retailers if it means
they’ll enjoy a more tailored, more personal and less
generic shopping experience
Believe retailers should be doing more to integrate
their online and offline channels
83%
84%
What would make people more loyal to retailers
Respondents (%)
Exclusive products online and in-store
Personalised experience
Shopping promotions sent in-store
Understanding customer needs
-20 0 20 40 60 80
-40
Very unlikely
Unlikely
Neither likely or unlikely
Likely
Very likely
Page 8

10
You can crave customer loyalty, but you will only begin to genuinely and sustainably achieve this if
all your efforts are focused on the fact that customers also crave something. Customers are seeking
a sense of belonging unlike anything you have offered to them before. But even reflecting that is not
enough to drive your new strategy. It’s a start, not an end point. Belonging means something different
entirely. Customers want to feel special, so you need to appeal to their individuality. It’s as if you are
acknowledging and validating their existence through all the micro details, wants, needs and behaviors
of their lives – a huge, and overwhelming part of which takes place online.”
Gavin Wheeldon - CEO, Purple.ai
Get the Retail Body You Want
Okay we know that bullish and prophetic language like this fills the current retail
industry chatter. It’s easy to be seduced by the gung-ho messages and quick-fix
steroids you can pick up down the strategy gym: “Retail CIOs know that agility
and resilience for survival will come only through a bold ‘once-in-a-lifetime’
proactive internal disruption.” The inference from current retail research trends,
is that you should: “Identify best technology investments to successfully execute
unified commerce for long-term competitive advantage disruption.” 10
What we’re arguing here is that going shopping IS unique. It’s universal, it’s
human, it’s intimate and it’s as old as the oldest culture on earth. The British
Museum even has ancient Egyptian shopping lists written on clay tablets. And
going shopping involves going somewhere. So why not make it even better with
technology that can build a new and visionary experience in-store or in-mall?
One that combines the best of both the online and physical retail worlds.
All around you the earth is moving, while you’re struggling to find enough firm
ground to make a decision on exactly what to do next. Yes, it’s time to be brave,
be bold, and be personal. But it’s also a moment to be careful. The technology
and tools you choose to drive this once-in-a-lifetime change are as important as
any decision you have ever had to make. Choose wisely.
This is a future where you build your business on an evolving selection of key physical fulfilment ‘showroom’ environments, given relevance by a
curated, highly personalized, and immersive customer experience that delivers in-venue online connectivity through the adoption of the best in
cutting edge technology and retail strategy.
Page 9

Removing Life Support is the First Step to Supporting Life
So physical retail may not be dead. But your customers may as well be if you
know nothing about them, their lives, interests, passions, and activities. With
consumer expectations changed it’s crucial to find a smarter and faster way to
understand your customers’ behaviors.
At Purple we help retailers and others managing complex high-footfall
environments replicate, then exceed, the knowledge-gathering potential of
online connection in their physical locations.
The life support of periodic marketing campaigns, and friendly service - although
this still has a big part to play – need a turbo-boost. Consumers want their
shopping adventures to be supported and they expect to be engaged, surprised,
and delighted by their IRL experiences. Educated by online they increasingly
expect the immediate, the responsive and most of all the personal in their
physical environments too. They expect digital integration and the benefits it will
bring. Almost half of our shoppers believe that retailers who combine physical
and digital retail in one seamless experience are going to know them better and
so deliver the right products more often. This is bricks and mortar retail dialed
up to 11.
Intregated shopping means better shopping
Do you feel a retailer knows better the
products you like when you shop?
The Physical Fight-Back Starts Here
The insights and observations we’ve shared in this paper should make it clear
that far-sighted retailers and consumers alike believe that building engagement
by improving the overall in-store experience is one of the best opportunities to
optimize the appeal to shoppers and therefore increase revenue.
At Purple we want these physical spaces not only to survive but actively to thrive
for current and future shoppers. And we believe we can do this by transforming
them into Intelligent Spaces.
Unknown Shopper in the Bagging Area
Currently close to 20% of visitors to a retail destination always login to the
retailer’s free WiFi when it’s available, and 2 in 3 do so at least some of the time.11
2 out of 3 shoppers are connecting
to free WiFi networks when shopping
What’s more our research suggests there is a huge untapped opportunity to
encourage even more sign-ups with the right kinds of incentives, and then to
benefit from the data this generates. Loyalty rewards, special offers or prizes and
exclusive content all improve the likelihood that shoppers will log on – and give
you access to their valuable behavioral and attitudinal data.
Part Two
So close and personal
you can feel their choices
11
Purple’s own data
Do you feel a retailer knows better the products you like when you shop?
0 10 20 30 40 50
Physical store
Online store
Mix of both
2 out of 3 shoppers are connecting to free WiFi
network when shopping
For groceries
For fashion & apparel
Big box
Join every time
All who ever join
0 20 40 60 80 100
Exclused those who claim to never join free WiFi networks
Page 10

0 20 40 60 80 100
In the last 12 months have you received surveys on your purchase?
Yes
No
Respondents (%)
In big-box
In fashion & apparel
In groceries
Most shoppers can be tempted to join free WiFi
What would tempt people to connect to free WiFi?
Yet most management teams in retail venues, shopping centers and retail parks
don’t know how to optimize the WiFi experience for visitors - or how to best
leverage the huge amounts of data it produces. And even when shoppers do log
on to retail WiFi over a third of retailers admit they’re not able to track where
these shoppers are or what they’re doing.
From Dumb Shop To Intelligent Space
But in reality, there’s no excuse for being this dumb. Venues with embedded
smart technology like that provided by Purple are now better able to easily
understand who their customers are, how they behave when they’re in store,
and what kinds of targeted service initiatives or messaging can best turn passive
browsers into active, engaged buyers.
Intelligent spaces like those created by Purple deliver opportunities for service-
excellence, more rewarding experiences for shoppers and visitors and do all of
this while simultaneously generating additional ROI for venue owners.
Delivering real-time online surveys to your physical shoppers is now a real
possibility. But it remains one that few retailers take, and few customers have
experienced. In the last year only around a third of shoppers in our research
markets received surveys about their purchases in grocery, fashion or big box.
This is a massive, missed chance to build loyalty through listening, and to
drive additional revenue through asking shoppers what they’re looking for and
directing them to the right area of the store and then supplying a bespoke digital
discount code to drive home a sale.
In-store surveys: A missed opportunity
In the last 12 months have you received
surveys on your purchase?
What would tempt people to connect to free WiFi
Respondents (%)
Loyalty rewards
Exclusive content
Special Offers
Personalised in-store experience
Prizes
-20 0 20 40 60 80
-60 -40
Very unlikely
Unlikely
Neither likely or unlikely
Likely
Very likely
Of retailers say they cannot track consumers across
devices.
Can only track some consumers some of the time, making it
difficult to deliver personalised experiences.
31%
38%
Internet Retailer/ Innova; 2021
Page 11

How Sofology used Purple’s technology to transform their ROI
Sofology is a UK-based furniture retailer. Originally founded in 1974 in Lancashire the business is now a
subsidiary of DFS and is focused on retailing leather sofas, fabric sofas, corner sofas and recliner sofas
from 50 retail sites across the UK. Together these stores enjoy tens of thousands of visitors each month.
Not sitting so comfortably
But before engaging with Purple around 66% of these visitors entered the store, browsed products and left
without speaking to a member of staff. Only about a third of shoppers engaged with one of the retailer’s
expert staff, known colloquially as sofologists.
Customized experiences on the couch
To help make more of this missed opportunity Sofology worked with Purple to better target the majority of
shoppers who do not engage.
The data captured by Purple’s visitor tracking and engagement technology has allowed Sofology to:
• Add to their existing customer data platform.
• Further differentiate themselves from the competition by offering an experience tailored to
customer preferences.
• Communicate to customers about their brand.
• Share the benefits of having a Mysofology account.
• Understand how customer behaviour has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Customized experiences on the couch
Part Three
Sofa, So good
2121% 274% 1061%
ROI increase in
new customer orders
ROI offline to
online store orders
ROI in new
mysofology orders
Page 12

We Know Where You Are
Purple’s technology integrates sophisticated free-at-point-of-use WiFi into retail
venues, encouraging visitors to log on so they can browse and research online
while in the physical venue. Our own research with omnichannel shoppers in
the US, UK and Mexico reinforces the appeal of this kind of integrated digital
service. It mirrors the way modern consumers behave in other aspects of their
lives and the benefits – personalized service, recognition, and tailored offers – far
outweigh any privacy qualms or drawbacks.
Shoppers have an appetite for technology in store
Google Analytics, Meet The Real World.
For retailers and other venue operators this kind of technology means they can
track the devices used by visitors across key areas of their location. It suddenly
becomes possible to monitor and manage aspects of a venue’s performance
that were once opaque. Traffic flow, departmental or zone occupancy and dwell
duration can be viewed in real time.
Opportunities can be seized, and traffic or occupancy problems can be quickly
addressed. Smart retailers can know not only how many people are in their
store but where the bottlenecks and hot spots are. Essentially this technology
combines the online power of Google Analytics with the immediacy of real-world
execution to create a heady cocktail of ROI possibility.
Out Of Store Not Out Of Reach
Visitors who log on to your in-venue platform also create a profile for your
database that provides a wealth of information not only about their current visit
but also what might prompt them to visit – and buy – again.
Instore WiFi and the personalisation it can bring are an opportunity
for deep data collection
How likely are you to answer a survey in order to get...
Smart retailers can then use this data to build tailored campaigns for visitors that
drive repeat visits as well encouraging sign up to loyalty programs and provision
of tailored rewards. Despite what some might say today’s shoppers are keen
to join loyalty programs, especially those that promise tailored, personalized
promotions and rewards. Over a third actively seek them out and a further 46%
would join when asked. Overall, nearly 80% of shoppers are open to sharing their
data with you if you can only find an engaging way to reward them for it.
62%
Would welcome
personalised service
(e.g. instant messages
about products whilst
in store to facilitate
purchase)
45%
Approve of artificial
intelligence in store to
recognise you and give
you a personalised
shopping experience
42%
Want connectivity in
store (e.g. free WiFi
network)
The Customer Success team at Purple really
works with their clients to achieve the best
out of their fantastic product. We now actively
track consumer sentiment via micro surveys to
track performance in key areas of the business.
Not only does it enable us to react to what our
customers demand, we can also use the data
to act as a motivational tool with our front of
house staff to deliver feedback on their daily
work.”
Andrew Jones - Data & Insights Manager,
Liverpool ONE
Special Offers 79%
Loyalty Rewards 76%
Prizes 72%
Personalized experience in store 50%
Free WiFi access in store 41%
Nothing 30%
All Answering Quite/ Very Likely
Page 13

Most shoppers are open to loyalty schemes
Do you actively and independantly seek out loyalty schemes
from retailers (Groceries, fashion, Big-box)?
All this information can of course be exported directly into existing marketing
and CRM solutions or combined with existing databases. You don’t ever have
to lose contact with a customer just because they leave the store. And you can
seamlessly re-engage with them when they visit you online too. Using Purple to
help you to do this ensures you’re 100% GDPR, CCPA and LFPDPPP compliant too!
We take shopper privacy seriously and guarantee all data is collected, stored and
used in line with the latest legislation.
Do you actively and independently seek out loyalty schemes from retailers (Groceries,
fashion, Big-box)?
Always looking to
join loyalty schemes
I join when retailers
ask me to
I never join loyalty
schemes
38% 84% 46% 16%
A Matrix of Benefits
Once a clear communication program has been established, it is much easier to
connect and engage with visitors within a venue. Through segment or location-
based education, feedback, promotions and rewards it is possible to start
the process of driving immediate and repeat revenue directly within venues,
and across channels. Digital integration like this drives loyalty. Almost 90% of
shoppers are likely to be more loyal to you in return for real-time and tailored
messaging.
Digital Intregration drives loyalty
How likely are you to be more loyal to the retailers you shop
from if they... (5 point scale)
Attract visitors to new areas of the store with personalized promotions and
offers; keep your staff and visitors safe with up-to-the-minute safety information;
fulfil their shopper journey needs with personalized service experiences and
tailored benefits and retain their custom in the long term with ongoing relevant
messaging.
Send promotions while you’re in shopping in store
Deliver a personalized experience online and in store
top 3 boxes
88%
83%
Attract
visitors to new products and
services with tailored promotions
and offers across all areas of the
venue.
Protect
visitors and colleagues with
up-to-date safety venue
information.
Retain
customers with unforgettable
experiences and encourage
returns with automated,
personalised Messaging.
Fulfil
shoppers journeys through
personalised experiences, deals
and specially tailored benefits.
4 key benefits of Purple’s intelligent technology
Page 14

Gartner® does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the
highest ratings or other designation. Gartner® research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner® research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact.
Gartner® disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
It’s easy to look at bricks and mortar retail and feel that it just can’t compete with the ease
and personalization of online. But that’s a very narrow view. Smart retailers are bringing the
two together, embedding fast digital connectivity into their physical locations and creating
new, exciting hybrid experiences for shoppers. And the best stores are now immersive, curated
showrooms; places to research online and shop offline, to digitally connect with brands and to
receive contextually relevant personalised promotional offers. All of this is thanks to integrated,
robust and stable WiFi. And for the retailers who provide this connectivity they can get access to
unparalleled amounts of unique customer data: real-time customer locations, dwell times and
product preferences. This is retails’ real future, a hyper-personalised fusion of the best of on and
offline.”
Dean Cookson - Marketing Director, Purple
Page 15

Work With Us
Since its foundation in 2012 Purple has been championing the creation of intelligent spaces like this with its innovative WiFi solutions for retail and other high-footfall
venues.
We service clients across EMEA, APAC, LATAM and NORTH AMERICA. You can find our products in more than 65,000 venues across 120 countries. Brands and venues that are
enjoying the insights Purple delivers include Legoland, Jaguar, Harrods, United Wireless Arena, TUI, Pizza Express, British Land, Merlin Entertainments Group, Jimmy Choo,
Michael Kors, Sofology, Liverpool 1, Sears, Sanborns, Coppel and the Indiana Pacers.
Wherever you are on your retail transformation journey, talk to Purple now and learn how we can help you deliver the most engaging, most insight-filled retail experiences,
and use data to drive significant ROI improvements across your retail estate.
Physical retail is not dead, but it is different.
Let’s make it personal together
Page 16

Visit: www.purple.ai
Email: info@purple.ai

Retail. Not Dead, just different.

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