5 tools to improve the retail experience

E-commerce has broken records this year!

According to a study carried out by Statista, in 2020, 87% of UK internet users made online purchases up from 78% in 2018. And this craze will continue to grow over the next few years!

So, are you ready to apply the best practices to improve your retail experience?

Bypassing the messy middle on mobile: an application with FollowAnalytics

According to Statista, buying on the internet from a mobile phone has attracted many consumers in 2021: 66.7% of all UK shoppers were using their mobile phones to order new products. However, conversion rates remain low.

You might be wondering why? Well, it's because of the "messy middle"! The messy middle is that moment when you can lose customers between the trigger and the purchase decision because of a bad customer experience on mobile. To prevent this from happening, you can :

• Improve the usability and the retail experience of your site by creating mobile-first content. In order to make the consumer's scroll more fluid, you can:

🔍 Add a search bar visible at all times.

🔝 Add a "scroll to top" button

💡 Integrate an easily accessible menu...

• Make it easy to compare products: Highlight the advantages of products and offer visitors the possibility to sort, filter and compare products.
• Showcase your products: If you can't see the product physically, don't hesitate to add several high quality photos, videos, 3D views or even use augmented reality.
• Give all the essential information quickly: It is important to give all the keys to visitors so that they do not have any unpleasant surprises when they buy (cost of shipping, shipping limited to certain countries, product availability, etc.)
• Improve automatic entry: Many visitors decide to finish their purchases on the desktop in order to save time thanks to automatic entry. Therefore, it is important to optimise it, by putting in place the right attributes, in order to encourage visitors to make their purchases on their mobile.

These tips apply equally to a website on a mobile browser and a mobile application. Here is a good example of an application with Petit Bateau that has done everything it can to convert as much as possible, thanks to a great retail experience : https://story.tl/petit-bateau-en

Improving customer support: A chatbot with iAdvize

In shops, we sometimes need assistance and salespeople are there to guide us in our choices. However, when we are on the web, we are often left to our own devices in our shopping journey... 😢

Fortunately, chatbots are here for us! According to the Wavestone barometer, in 2020, 34% of consumers have already used a chatbot, 6 points more than in 2019, and 27 points more than in 2018. By installing a chatbot, you offer your customers an essential service: advice. Thus, through this qualitative conversational bot, you will be able to guide them to the purchase action with ease.

Implementing a chatbot allows you to simplify the buying process, to transform your leads more quickly and to extend the link with your customers. Moreover, it represents a real time saving for your advisors. The automatic chatbot, available 24/7, will be able to answer frequently asked questions and your advisors will be able to focus on more precise and complex requests.

Iadvize is an excellent tool to combine the best of messaging, artificial intelligence and humans to optimize the retail experience with a bot.

Improving click & collect: a platform on Shopify

With containment 1.0, then containment 2.0, click and collect has experienced a real boom! According to a Fevad study, in 2020, 28% of e-buyers will prefer click & collect as a delivery method. In 2022, click and collect sales represent 13,9% of total online spend. 1.9 percentage points higher than in 2017, according to GlobalData.

Click and collect has many advantages for the retail experience of both buyers and retailers.

For buyers, click and collect allows:

🚚 Save on delivery costs

🕓 Avoid waiting or delays in deliveries

💳 To be able to pay online or on the spot

For sellers:

⏳ To save time

🛍 To generate more sales

🛒 To increase traffic at the point of sale

🤗 To avoid delivery problems and therefore consumer dissatisfaction.

There are several tools to set up a click and collect system, such as Shopify. This platform allows you to open a shop simply and quickly by integrating click and collect. All you have to do is register, choose a theme, upload your products and choose the different shipping channels, including click and collect.

Creating compelling content: video with Playplay

Video is one of the most captivating and engaging formats. Creating videos allows you to enhance your products while boosting your conversion rate.

Today, according to Hubspot' key figures, 64% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video. So, it's essential to adapt your strategy on social networks, offering as many videos as possible.

You can make videos :

• brand videos to present the company's values, vision and mission
• demonstration videos to present your products or services
• tutorials to explain how your products or services work
• events in order to present a conference, a party or any other type of event that has taken place before
• testimonials to share your customers' opinions

One of our partners, Playplay, offers a video creation tool that allows you to create original content in a few clicks!

Creating immersive mobile-first experiences: contests with Fastory

Today's consumers are constantly on their mobiles and creating mobile-first content has become a priority!

"Stories are on track to surpass News Feed posts as the most common way to share on social networks"

Mark Zuckerberg

Creating contests on social networks is becoming almost unavoidable today. According to the Wavestone barometer, 61% of respondents want to have access to contests by following a brand on social networks and 28% of consumers follow influencers on social networks to participate in contests.

Fastory is a unique technology that enables you to captivate, engage and qualify your audiences through the creation of mobile-first conversational bots and contests.

For Christmas, the French retailer Casino wanted to mark the occasion by refunding customers' groceries. To do so, they placed QR codes in all their points of sale, leading customers to a wheel of fortune.

The result? An exceptionally high participation rate that allowed them to collect more opt-ins and grow their customer base.

Running quizzes and games can help you achieve your goals, whether it's to improve engagement, conversion, qualification or retention. To discover new contest ideas, take a look at our catalogue.

As you can see, retailers can no longer ignore the web. Internet purchases already account for a significant proportion of purchases and this figure is set to increase over the next few years. It is therefore essential to offer a digital experience and to apply these best practices.

And if you want to improve your retail experience, contact us so we can discuss it together!