Intercepting a user at the point of sale is not exclusively a technological issue, quite the contrary. The ways to identify a consumer today are varied and mostly driven by the spread of smartphones, but they can go as far as facial recognition, with technologies already initiated by retailers in the United States and Canada (although in Europe today they are not yet widespread and legislatively regulated).
The truth is that whatever choice one makes on the “technical level,” the real value still lies in the type of experience one wants the user to have. Many in-store recognition projects founder because the experience is not driven by the consumer and their preferences. Selecting the best option is a mix between choosing an effective, financially viable, but most importantly marketing-driven solution. Often futuristic technical implementations are not needed, but a few good ideas that can reinterpret the new omnichannel paradigm would suffice.
Why is it critical for a retailer today to recognize the user on the physical store?
To be able to personalize the offer taking into account all the interactions between the customer and the brand especially on digital channels. This is an unavoidable challenge, as already highlighted in the main trends for retailers in 2017 (some interesting reports we have also selected here).
In-store navigation via App
App interaction is one of the easiest ways to detect a user’s presence in the store, although many retailers are aware that a very low percentage of their customers will actually be willing to install it. The proprietary app is an important lever, especially on a target audience of loyal customers who really like the brand. It is essential that it has truly distinctive and useful features, such that its use is necessary and functional even while shopping in physical stores. One of these is rewarding for those who use it, or an integrated payment system.
In-store navigation on the website
Active GPS tracking on the smartphone is an opportunity to identify users who are browsing in or near the store right on the company’s website. Personalized notifications for example on the store locator or on a certain pages reserved for coupons to be spent on the store can lead the user to be recognized on the store.
Passing the loyalty card before purchases
We are used to using the loyalty card only at the time of payment, but why not consider functional card swiping to get a dedicated experience before purchases? Tommy Hilfiger, among others, has thought of this, and has already activated this strategy in its stores, inviting customers to swipe the card as soon as they enter the store. This provides access to exclusive offers, directly guided by sales assistants.This is an innovation of experience-rather than technology-that could soon become a habit and a standard.
Social campaigns: Hashtags, Instagram Rewards, Check in, etc.
Inviting the user to share or participate in some dedicated social campaign is certainly a way to track their passage through the store and possibly retarget when the purchase is not finalized. Part of this option are invitations to spread one or more hashtags, photo-based contests, access to rewards, etc.Integrating social into the in-store experience is certainly a way to lengthen the time of the user relationship into a true omnichannel experience, perhaps leading them to convert online if they have not done so offline (in addition to the obvious benefits in terms of community building and brand awareness).
Totem, IoT, AR
The presence of tablets or totems in the store, to interact with possible virtual assistants, has not found particular success over the years, although many users consider it an important and necessary tool, especially to retrieve some technical details of the products they are looking for and especially to independently check availability in stock or in nearby stores.
Internet of things and augmented reality are the natural evolution of this starting point, in an ideal omnichannel continuum where technologies and customer experience merge. To give you an idea, we offer this video of the famous luxury brand Rebecca Minkoff, which designed for its stores a unique experience between physical store and augmented reality: customers can navigate and choose products on touch screens called magic mirrors, each selected product is automatically delivered to the fitting room.
Use of free wifi
It is a commodity that is highly valued by users, so much so that it is a brand differentiating value for many of them-an additional opportunity to identify people.
Beacons or related technologies
What are beacons? These are devices placed inside stores to send notifications through Bluetooth: they are an option to be able to communicate with the user inside the store, regardless of whether he or she browses the company’s app or website, and at the same time to locate the user inside the store. They still require a strong study in terms of customer experience, in the sense of inaction between the beacon device and the smartphone, but they are nonetheless an option still used by many stores-and not only, Fox has used it on buses) to intercept the user and communicate directly.
Facial recognition
We leave it for last, as a frontier. This is probably too much of a trespass, but for those who feel like looking into it here is an interesting article from Digiday.
Conclusions
According to a 2016 IAB UK survey, 66 percent of marketers believe localized advertising is one of the most compelling opportunities driven by mobile. Choosing one of one of the options we have outlined is the result of designing a unique (online-offline) experience. That is why it is critical for those who definitely want to get into total retail logic to be able to intercept the user and interact with them based on all the data. If the information is not collected and used in a “horizontal” – i.e., omnichannel – way, every effort will be wasted in an unnecessary dispersion among business functions.
