Retailers discuss h-app-y mobile surprises
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail TouchPoints website.
During FD Mobile (#therealFD), executives from Rent The Runway and Alex & Ani shared the role mobile is playing in their business and how they are differentiating their experiences with cutting-edge features and capabilities.
Alex & Ani aims to extend the personalization it brings to bracelets to its digital experience.
"We learned that mobile apps could do things in the store that we didn’t think they could," said Ryan Bonifacino, SVP of digital. "For example, imagine someone is waiting in line at a store. What if we could share details on the products in the display case as they’re waiting?"
Alex & Ani is also trying to recreate the in-store experience through the app and its other digital experiences. For example, store associates — called bar tenders — can take out different bangles and arrange them so customers can create their dream bangle stacks.
"You have an unlimited amount of combinations," Mr. Bonifacino said. "People buy a lot of product online, so their carts are huge but they can’t see how the products look together. We want to simulate the effect to show what a stack looks like and allow consumers to see all angles of those stacks."
Rent The Runway relies heavily on customer feedback in determining app features, according to Andrew Fernandez, engineering lead of mobile. For example, it launched a recommendations quiz and dress finder feature. After realizing the recommendations quiz was more popular and getting more traction, the dress finder feature was scrapped.
Moving forward, Rent The Runway’s mobile notifications are being linked with app pages and the actual e-commerce site. With this strategy, the retailer will be able to send customized notifications for specific products. When a customer interacts with the notification, she can be directed to the specific product being promoted. Incorporating user-generated images that align with consumers’ personal tastes, styles and body types also further curates the e-commerce experience with the app.
"We think [having these images] is a more powerful statement than a model wearing a dress," Mr. Fernandez said. "We’re trying to integrate content without too much opinion on fashion because we feel that, at the end of the day, customers are going to choose what aligns with their own style."
Discussion Questions
What can retailers do to provide mobile apps that consumers will want to use in stores? How do you see mobile apps changing in the years ahead?
Retail mobile apps need to be customized by screen size and make it easy for customers to shop and save time. They should link a retailer’s loyalty program to coupons, making it simple to take advantage of promotional offers with a simple swipe of the phone or tablet at the register. More sophisticated apps will also link recipes and show customers where items are in the store. If an app cannot provide value and enhance the shopping experience, why should a consumer take the time to download it?
I really appreciate how thoughtful these apps are. They consider the benefits of an in-person shopping experience, as well as what data shows is already working in the app, and then expand on those ideas. With the rush to mobile there have been a lot of apps that don’t necessarily take into account the specific wants and needs of their shoppers. This is a fine place to start and a decent way to collect data about what features your shoppers are using most. However, in the years ahead, it will be essential that retailers refine the user experience of their mobile apps by listening to their shoppers and keeping an eye out about what makes their store different.
Just like the major motion pictures of today, I believe mobile apps have virtually limitless potential. That is limited only by the merchant’s innovative imagination. Shoppers are now settling into some favorite apps, however as consumer insights get better applied to shoppers’ accounts, I think some of these apps will be as valuable as people’s business apps.
Retailers are most guilty of creating apps in order to get something they want from the customer. The smart retailers, like those mentioned here, have figured out that a good app is one that helps the customer get something they want and in the way that they want it.
I know that is a great big DUH, but I guess we must not be saying it enough to get through. For my 2 cents….
If I am a loyalty program member, leverage my phone to unobtrusively recognize me when I have crossed the threshold of a store and update me on relevant special offers and opportunities available only to loyalty customers as I have already given my permission to be contacted. And once you know I am a loyalty program member, you should have access to my past purchase history so how about making smart recommendations based on my history while I am in the store?
On the Alex & Ani example, I would suggest customers would rather spend less time waiting in line, so rather than trying to connect with them in a less than ideal situation, it might make sense to work on minimizing having to wait in line. Just a thought.
Not all waiting is the same. Waiting in line to check out is like waiting on an airplane after a flight. Every second is painful. Yet the wait prior to the flight is more tolerable. This scenario was highlighted in the classic and short Harvard Business School note: “The Psychology of Waiting Lines,” a gem from the mid-1980’s.
Not all waiting is the same. Waiting within a store to be served by someone who will help remove items that are under glass is a style of waiting that might be the kind of waits you have in your retail sub-segment, and what Bonifacino and his group have done is find a way to fill that wait with relevant and useful content. I can almost see the customers saying, when the associate is available: “Why don’t you help her, I am still reading about this bracelet, what an amazing story!”
Regarding your question, retailers can help customers by augmenting their reality—yes, via mobile, not headsets that are years away, by deeply understanding the in-store shopper experience and filling those transitional moments with something helpful. If you see people waiting for help in your store texting, then you’ve lost their attention. Oh, and not all waiting is the same.