Discover how companies like Amazon, Walmart, Apple are using Bots and Voice to enhance their in store experience and increase sales.

1. A Random walk down Market Street:
Conversation in brick and mortar retail
Austin Arensberg
Scrum Ventures
www.scrum.vc

2. Will 2nd wave move into
physical world?
Chatbots 1st wave
focused on Ecommerce…

3. Walking tour
San Francisco
I toured the
“Stores of the Future” in
San Francisco to learn if
conversation matters for
modern retail

4. • Low margin business,
requires efficiency
• Body/facial recognition
tool for convenience not
personalization….yet
• My average store visit is
under 20 seconds
• Least conversation of
any retail experiences
• Friendly security guard is
my only human interaction
Photos: Nick Statt / The Verge

5. • Next gen Quick Service
Restaurant
• Can order on an app and
at kiosk
• Loyalty driven by points
not relationships
• “Dialog” = notifications
from app, impersonal,
metric driven,
convenience focused
• Low margin business,
labor key expense

6. • I typically enjoy speaking
to my barista – not
possible here
• What is the brand
personality if the barista
is a robotic arm?
• Frees up attendant to be
more personable
• Hard to have a
conversation with a
robot…though it does
try to be expressive

7. • Digital signage educates
consumer on premium
products
• Localization beacons
are key innovations
• Showcases smart home
applications in model open
house
• Chat is not a part of
customer engagement

8. • Digital native brand
• 1 key business innovation
was replicating try-on
experience at home
• Well-staffed stores, but
conversation ends when
you leave
• Experiments on WP
chatbots focused on e-
commerce conversion
less on brick and mortar
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/chatbot-experiment-warby-parker-bot-140ec66bded8
Chatbot experiment
Ted Wu, Chatbots Magazine

9. • Greeting and
conversation is vital for
store experience and
product discovery
• Apple making efforts to
create community events
to continue dialog with
consumers
• Order pickup isn’t self-
serve - Apple directs to
retail staff to create
connection

10. • Intimate, small shop, zero
inventory
• Premium retailer
• E-commerce first brand
• Conversation and
customer engagement is
key part of sales
process
• Conversation can be as
simple as a personalized
follow-up email

11. • Messenger chatbot
pushes customers to
highly personal
experiences
• High margin products
justify the expense
• Brand loyalty gained
through interaction /
conversation with make
up artist and in-store
experience

12. Framework for implementation online to offline worlds
Walmart.com’s Customer Value Index (CVI) for e-commerce
Can this equation be adapted for brick and mortar retail ?
Will conversational tools draw customers into stores for
higher value shopping with higher customer engagement?

13. • Implementing chatbot
for “Find it” use cases
• Paired with location
tools chatbot will help
build a shopping
itinerary
• Launched in 2016
• Recommends products
and food destinations
https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/articles/mall-of-america-embracing-chatbot-to-boost-retail-customer-experience/

14. • Amazon Alexa skill
recommends whiskey
based on flavor profile
and highlights the shelf
where the item is
located
• Five store pilot in
California
• Showcases “Display it”
function
• Sufficient replacement
for an assistant?
https://consumergoods.com/bevmo-tests-voice-enabled-shelf-shopping-assistantPhoto credit: BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

15. Conclusions
Conversation is dead. Long live conversation
Retail is removing
labor
Nearly all major innovation in retail
seem to be about removing
constraints to buying by removing
people to people interaction.
Mobile checkout, facial scanning,
digital showrooming are garnering
investments – not chatbots in retail
Convenience rules all
Conversation
deserves a role
It doesn’t have to be this way
Conservation is a fundamental
human experience. It engenders
loyalty and comfort, heightens the
senses
We need to think about bringing
the human element back to brick
and mortar, use technology to
augment the retail buying
experience. Start with premium
experiences and expand
Conversation is a
casualty
You can have a whole day of
shopping in SF and not interact
with a single person
You put in your Air pods and seal
yourself off to the world
Brand loyalty is increasingly
transactional – points based, not
relationship based

16. Proposal
Reinvent conversation for new in-store experiences
02
Consider on-offline hand-offs
Develop tools that show in-
store staff to create personal
connections
03
Focus on location / “Find it”
services that link to chatbots,
especially useful for stadiums
and large box retails. Direct
marketing in-store
01
Focus on premium segment,
develop tools to drive
consumers towards high
value engagements in-store • E-commerce sales are growing at 3.5% / year.
• Brick and mortar retail need to offer a
compelling reason to visit a store location –
social and product engagement is an obvious
choice
• Retailers are overly focused on removing
people entirely from sales process.
• Chatbots can augment humans in tandem to
help in-store customers find, learn, and
experience products
First priority: Value in-person interaction

17. Austin Arensberg
Email: Austin@scrum.vc
QUESTIONS for AUDIENCE:
• Is conversation required for store retail?
• What will need to change for brands to
invest in conversation?
• Why should we care?
• What chatbots have you seen innovating
brick and mortar retail?
Photos: ANAN KAEWKHAMMUL