Remember the age-old question: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Playful as it seems, it is profound and applicable, especially for today’s retail marketers. Because while they may feel they are communicating something weighty, it doesn’t mean consumers will hear it, let alone act.
Today’s marketers can slice up demographics and reach audiences with uncanny precision. Yet even the most sophisticated efforts will fall flat if you can’t successfully engage the shopper in the store. And as retail environments expand, connecting with customers through messaging alone becomes even harder. The answer can be found with behavioral intervention and shifting the emphasis from messaging to action.
Changing Behaviors
Retailers like to minimize brand noise on-site and the technology for assessing things like display media influence is often unreliable, analyzing just a fraction of the communication that’s occurred. Additionally, consumers still have pandemic-related and sustainability concerns, ranging from reluctance to shop in crowded stores to environmental issues around the use of cardboard and plastic-heavy displays.
The good news is retailers have discovered that one of the best ways to reach consumers is via something that rises above marketing clutter — personal experiences. Understanding the behavior of shoppers can allow you to directly intervene and have an impact when they’re in-store. In fact, sometimes small but spot-on improvements are what reach customers best.
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The following are some innovative, creative ways that retailers are changing consumer behaviors in-store:
- Drink up: Coca-Cola found a way to increase safety, convenience and engagement when consumers want a soft drink. The brand innovator developed contactless vending solutions that automatically display size and flavor options on their phones. No need to download an app or log in — you can even finalize purchases through your device;
- Teaming up: Savvy consumers appreciate access to product info and details such as ingredients. What they don’t like is the environmentally unfriendly, unnatural material they’re packaged in. Beauty brand Lush created an augmented reality app that leverages AI to scan products — and no wasteful packaging is required. This stripped-down approach lets consumers do a deep dive without taking a product off the shelf. It also culminates in a unique bond with customers, who appreciate when a brand teams up with them to tackle causes of shared importance;
- An easy test: Beauty retailer Sephora has built displays that overcome a longstanding in-store hurdle. They’ve leveraged augmented reality in a way that lets shoppers actually test products without applying them directly. The displays feature interactive screens that allow consumers to virtually apply products. Consumers who previously wouldn’t have done this for fear of messing up their makeup now stop and shop. This also encourages the trying and buying of new products.
Experiences to Remember
According to Raydiant’s State of Consumer Behavior report, more than four out of every five consumers will likely return to a store after a positive in-store experience. What’s more, not only will 63% of shoppers spend more time per visit with a positive in-store experience, the same percentage will then support the brand online too.
You can spend endless sums of money trying to shout over competitors and never get the results you seek. In fact, the approach may backfire, delivering diminished returns and even loss. All of the examples above reach consumers more effectively and memorably than messaging alone. And this takes place on the spot and in the moment, when purchasing decisions are being made.
Unique displays and presentations draw customers in, enabling them to experience the brand and feel its messaging. Investments in this area not only raise immediate profitability for wise retailers, but also cement loyal relationships for greater long-term success.
Lynne Laba is the Head of U.S. for Communisis Vox, a global leader in point-of-sale marketing activation.
