Retailers are striving to meet consumers on any and all touch points they may be using to shop.
Although Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) has acquired millions of subscribers to print circulars across its stable of department store brands in the U.S. and Canada, the retailer wanted to further enrich the customer experience.
To address this goal, while making the cross-channel shopping experience more seamless, HBC has implemented Pounce, a mobile app that enables consumers to scan and buy products through their mobile devices. Pounce is available to iOS device users who shop in HBC stores in Canada, and Lord & Taylor locations in the U.S.
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{loadposition TSHBAIAA022014}HBC and Lord & Taylor are focused on “creating a delightful and enjoyable experience,” said Ryan Craver, SVP of Corporate Strategy, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “We also want to bridge offline to online. Knowing that mobile has taken over the world in terms of search engines, people are spending more time on mobile devices. We wanted to take advantage of that and make sure our brand was easily shown on mobile and easily utilized and experienced through mobile.”
Consumers who download the Pounce app can use their smartphones to take photos of merchandise appearing in print ads. Shoppers can then access more detailed product information, and complete a transaction within two clicks.
Considered an ideal fit to help HBC and Lord & Taylor reach their business goals, Pounce presents “a way to make people feel empowered, intrigued and excited while using technology,” Craver explained. When he initially read about Pounce online, “the first thing I thought about was our customers looking at our circulars on a Sunday morning, drinking their cup of coffee and being intrigued by a product and saying ‘Maybe I should check it out.’”
Thus far, HBC has received a great deal positive feedback through call centers and online, Craver reported. “Being that we’re the largest department store in Canada, with 90 stores and sending circulars to millions of people each week, we’ve received a ton of coverage.”
The app initially launched in Canada just ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Ads for HBC Olympic apparel were promoted not just in print advertisements and circulars, but also mass transit signage.
“We made sure that we called out the fact that each marketing item was ‘Pounce-able,’” Craver explained. “We’re in seven different markets across Canada. By putting the advertisements on the interiors of subways and busses, we haven’t just bridged the gap between circulars and e-Commerce; we’ve also made e-Commerce shopping easier when people are sitting on public transportation.”
Moving forward, HBC will be strategizing new and creative methods to promote the Pounce app and in turn, drive more mobile sales.
“We’re thinking about potentially using Pounce in stores,” Craver said. “That way, consumers can ‘Pounce’ specific signs or even store windows. We need to figure out the next evolution of our partnership.”