Customers drive retail strategies with their various and versatile demands. They want the ability to shop anytime, anywhere while expecting a consistent brand experience in the store, on the web and using mobile apps. Customers anticipate immediate access on an article’s availability across all channels – and fast delivery! Failure means losing a customer to a competitor. They’re only a click away. Meeting these expectations requires a digital transformation of the stores and efficient omni-channel retailing. But how to implement these strategies successfully? With an intelligent business base.
Since most of the existing IT landscapes in the fashion retail industry by no means adequately support the objectives of an omni-channel strategy, customer centricity or digitalisation in the store, this webinar aims to shows how to set up IT landscapes in a customer- and future-oriented way, enabling to meet today’s consumers expectations, without completely changing the existing IT infrastructure.
Gain valuable insights into how fashion retailers can realise customer-oriented strategies with the introduction of an overall stock view in real-time across all systems.
Detego, a market leader in business intelligence and real-time analytics for the fashion retail industry, is launching new software to actively support retailers in their consumer engagement strategies. As part of its omni-channel retailing software suite, Detego InChannels bridges the gap between online and bricks-and-mortar retailing by using more digital touchpoints in stores. These include digitally connected “smart fitting rooms” and interactive screens on the sales floor, as well as the introduction of a new Detego chatbot that accompanies customers throughout the entire buying process at any time on a customer’s smartphone.
Detego’s pioneering Smart Fitting Rooms technology allow customers to directly communicate with store personnel via interactive screens in the fitting room and request other products or sizes be brought to them (or even be delivered to other locations). A global sportswear retailer is currently rolling out the concept across its store estate, including arming its staff with iWatches to help guide them with more informative, real-time information.
The software provides reliable data on the number of articles that have been tried-on and sold or not (with fitting room conversion rates unique to the system). Social media feeds built into Detego InChannels also give customers the ability to post recommendations or put together outfits that can be shared within their community. This helps boost levels of engagement with customers, particularly in stores, increasing interaction across a broader range of products.
By using Detego InChannels, retailers are able to get a much deeper understanding of consumer behaviour across various different channels. Detego claims that its software’s more precise and intelligent product recommendations – based on using real-time data on product availability – can increase sales and reduce the number of unnecessary markdowns. For instance, only articles that are currently in-stock are flagged up and the intelligent system can even be used to encourage more sales of otherwise slower-selling or higher margin items. The AI capabilities of Detego’s software also mean that the recommendations get better and better as the logic behind the self-learning system continually improves and increases its functionality.
“Retailers have to adapt their store processes to the expectations of a new, digital customer using more modern-day technologies that bring the customer, store and online worlds together for good,” says Uwe Hennig, CEO at Detego.
Usually, the fitting room is the place where purchasing decisions are made by customers. That is enough reason for fashion retailers to leave nothing to chance. The “Smart Fitting Room” offers possibilities of real customer interaction and to gain additional competitive advantage by meeting the exact wants and needs of today’s shoppers.
However, the “Smart Fitting Room” not only changes the shopping experience for customers, it also provides retailers with important insights on customer preferences.
It’s a highlight in the store for both the customer and the retailer.
Benefits for customers
Via integrated sensors, the Smart Fitting Room identifies the exact articles a customer brings into the fitting room. On screens or mirrors, it then indicates which colours, models and sizes are available directly in the store, in the web shop, or in other stores. Similar to ecommerce, customers receive recommendations for suitable articles based on their preferences, and can browse through the full range of articles, check article availability in real-time and request that sales personnel bring specific articles directly into the fitting room via a call-for-assistance function. The customer perceives this digital shopping experience as the merging of different sales channels. The store, with all its multisensory impressions, presents itself as also being “online” and therefore ensures a completely positive customer journey in the long run.
“Smart” for the customer
- Shows different product combinations
- Makes product recommendations
- Article availability check
- Shows full range of articles to browse through
- Additional information, videos, social media integration
- Customer-friendly fitting (Article-Bring-Service)
- Enables digitally supported purchase decisions
- Direct reservation or ordering of articles
- Different delivery options (delivery to home address, from another store, etc.)
Benefits for retailers
With the Smart Fitting Room, retailers recognise the potential for up- and cross-selling and use this opportunity to drive the digital transformation in the store through modern forms of communication between customers and the sales personnel. In particular, young fashion brands of the smartphone generation can use the Smart Fitting Room as a powerful tool for the enhancement of customer loyalty. Customer requirements like “ship-from-store” or recommendations in real-time on social media platforms can help retailers stand out from the competition. Small stores situated in expensive A-locations are able to present their full range to customers – an opportunity for additional sales.
What’s more, the Smart Fitting Room provides valuable data: e.g. which articles are often tried-on but rarely bought. The consideration of customer preferences increases the retailer’s “operational excellence” making it possible to offer customers what they really want. In addition, analysis also supports merchandise optimisation.
The concept of the Smart Fitting Room can also be expanded for future personalisation. When logged into their account, customers can receive offers based on their individual fashion preferences.
“Smart“ for the retailer
- Promotes up- and cross-selling potential
- Interactive dialogue between customers and store personnel
- Shows full range of products (Virtual-Endless-Shelf)
- Retail analytics: insights on customer preferences
- Increased operational excellence, optimisation of merchandise plan
- Omni-channel: Integration of online and brick-and-mortar retail
- Engagement with store and brand
- Personalised customer offers
The challenge of today’s modern retail is to get customers in the store. This enhances a retailer’s chance for “conversion”. The Smart Fitting Room, with its integrated services, is the perfect tool for that.
Want to find out more about Detego’s Smart Fitting Room solution?
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The implementation of an omni-channel strategy is a major undertaking. Regardless of whether your company is just at the starting point, in the middle of the project implementation, or already in a more advanced stage, if the foundation for omni-channel retailing is not well laid, the project is doomed to fail. This whitepaper provides 5-basics-checks for the fundamentals of efficient omni-channel retailing. It helps to build a solid foundation for a successful implementation of omni-channel retailing – regardless of the stage your company has already reached in the realisation of its omni-channel strategy. It is aimed to reach practitioners responsible for the omni-channel initiative and therefore those with clear expectations on the cost-benefit aspects of any omni-channel investment. It provides C-levels, Omni-channel-, eCommerce- and Marketing Executives with reflective and feasible recommendations for actions to take for more efficient omni-channel retailing. The Whitepaper focuses on the following omni-channel-services, expected by consumers: availability checks, click & collect, ship-from-store, return-to-store and instore-ordering.
Detego, a market leader in real-time business intelligence for the fashion retail industry, is releasing its latest whitepaper, “Omni-Channel Fashion Retail”, providing a checklist for the fundamentals of efficient omni-channel retailing. It is focused on how retailers can meet customers’ expectations regarding omni-channel services such as “Availability Check” in stores, “Click & Collect”, “Ship-from-Store”, “Return-to-Store” and “Instore Ordering” in an efficient way in order to provide an optimum shopping experience across all channels.
With this practice-oriented guide, Detego responds to the request of many fashion retailers for specific recommendations and actions to take according to the different stages of omni-channel development the companies are currently operating on. In the implementation of omni-channel services, Detego distinguishes between four development stages: the orientation-, the start-, the expansion- and the stability-stage. At each stage, processes, systems and data accuracy are at different levels, which makes the realisation of omni-channel services in lower development stages more difficult.
“In practice, we constantly see that the right basis for omni-channel services is still missing. Therefore, it is not surprising that expectations of a consistent positive customer experience are simply not met. In order to reliably offer services like Click & Collect or Return-to-Store, complete article transparency in real-time across all channels is crucial, not to mention needing the appropriate processes, in-store technologies and involvement of the sales personnel as well,” says Uwe Hennig, CEO at Detego. “We offer fashion retailers a free maturity check which helps identify the current stage of omni-channel development and provides recommendations for the next steps to take.”
The publication is available in English and German language and can be downloaded for free on the Detego website https://www.detego.com/en/insights/download-center.html