Store customer experience management is a vast area involving aspects related to the product, customer segment, store layout and technology used. Retailers need to start layer by layer beginning with factors of customer convenience and working upwards to provide a spectacular experience.

1. technology
Retail Store Experience
Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Customers
Maintaining product availability with competitive pricing at convenient locations
are important hygiene factors in today’s retail business. Customer convenience and
a good service being the next basic premise, Retailers are increasingly focussing on
enhancing the overall shopping experience which envelops and encompasses the
transactional and convenience aspects within the store
By Shijo Sunny Thomas
How many times have you very inherent need to touch and feel style availability of stock, and the
wondered how a particular piece of the products and additionally, store experience in the dressing room. For
furniture in a retailer’s catalog or store shopping is still an important activity retailers of white goods and consumer
will look in your living room? This in our societal framework. electronics, the factors would range
is exactly what Crate and Barrel, a The online and mobile channels from the depth of product information
massive home furnishings and décor play a supplemental role to the store available within the store and with
retailer, answered for its customers. with factors such as convenient store personnel, product comparison
The latter can now bring in or email options and product information. In tools, and delivery and installation
their room photos to the retailer who a larger context, the store alone can services. Department stores retailing
converts them into a 3D environment. be a factor in improving the customer FMCG products have it more complex
Store personnel can then help the experience. But since the Internet for themselves as convenience
customers try out, with the click of a and mobile phones have become is closely linked to the customer
mouse, how various products, fabric such an inherent part of our lives, experience through factors such as
and colours will look in their rooms. the customer’s purchase path has checkout time, product availability
This is simply one of the many ways extended beyond the boundaries of and value-added services.
in which today’s retailers are creating the store. Retailers need to map out the
a “Wow!” factor in their stores. The dimensions of the store customer experience factors not
E-commerce and mobile channels experience vary to a great extent only at the store level but also
are gaining an increasing multi- with the product segment and also at the product department level.
channel share, yet it would be with the customer demographics. In The experience factors need to be
extremely premature to think that the the case of a fashion retail store, the clearly laid out and shared between
store would be of a lesser importance customer experience factors would various departments such as
in future. In fact, the reality is exactly be primarily related to a customer’s merchandising, visual merchandising,
the opposite. Customers do have a connection with the brands, size and store operations, IT, marketing and
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2. technology
customer service. The high level
factors should be broken down into
further areas weighted for each
department. This activity helps in
defining store customer-experience
KPI’s and attributed to each
department.
These factors and associated
attributes should find their place into
various customer surveys, check-
out analysis activities and lost-sales
assessment activities. They can
also be derived from activities such
as mystery shopping initiatives,
customer store-path analysis, and
shelf accessibility study, among other
things. The end objective of store
customer experience management availability and check-out experience. the store associate is well aware
is to turn casual customers to loyal Supermarkets in developed markets of products and customer profiles,
customers and further turn loyal are deploying self-checkout machines and the associates are available for
customers to brand ambassadors. where customers can scan and pay for customer assistance in the shortest
Retailers employ a variety of options their products themselves without any span of time. A robust workforce
to improve the store experience from assistance. Truly, for supermarkets, management initiative ensures that
the technology point of view. This superior customer experience can stores are optimally staffed through
comprises a combination of hardware be equated to an advanced level of scheduling and task management,
and software options. Fashion retailers customer convenience. taking into consideration the intensity
are known to use technology in brand Some of the common technology of footfalls and also the skill levels
communications to the customer initiatives that can be applied across and product specialisation of the
in the form of digital displays that multiple retail segments to improve associates. These tools ensure that
enhance the visibility of the brand the store experience are in the area associates are available and accessible
and its products. Another example of mobility and store workforce to customers in a scenario of assisted
is when products saved in an online management. Store mobility – mobile selling by providing all relevant
wish list or cart can be accessed devices in the hands of the store staff information related to product features
from within the store for trying and – go a long way in augmenting the and personalisation.
check-out in store. White goods and customer experience, especially in Store experience is a very subjective
consumer electronics retailers can segments such as fashion and white term and a combination of a multitude
allow customers to perform product goods. Store associates are easily of factors that drive its success. Store
comparisons and access detailed accessible to customers with product customer experience management is
product-feature information and usage information in terms of features a vast area involving aspects related
videos. For supermarkets, the most and availability. Depending on the to the product, customer segment,
important thing is to improve the investments, a retailer could take store layout and technology used. A
this further by deploying a mobile good customer experience can result
point-of-sale with a portable card out of something as simple as a smile
reader. The receipts could be accessed from an associate, a stocked shelf and
through a portable receipt printer or a clean store, to as grand as clothing
a wireless printer located elsewhere trials on 3D displays. Retailers need
in the store. Queue busters can be to start layer by layer beginning with
employed by supermarkets where factors of customer convenience
an associate with a mobile point- and working upwards to provide a
of-sale can work through a queue spectacular experience.
by scanning items in a customer’s
shopping cart. The customer is
provided a barcoded receipt by the ABOUT THE AUTHOR
associate that can be taken to a Shijo Sunny Thomas is the
payment terminal to complete the Industry Lead–Retail & CPG at
Fujitsu Consulting India. He has
check-out process.
worked extensively in advisory
Mobility and other store experience and operational roles with
initiatives are dependent on the fact medium to large cross-channel
that the store is adequately staffed, retailers
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