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Category: General Information

Nap In A Mattress Store?

 

Retailers are trying to take things to the next level – innovation is key, that’s for sure. I recently came across an article listing 10 innovative ideas to keep customers coming back for more. They revolve, of course, on making the customer journey easy and fun.

 

I think my favorite is from New York based Coco-Mat, whose premise is that “customers are hardly ever offered an exciting shopping experience or the chance to learn if something really suits their needs, before they buy it.” To that end, they’ve created a nap room where customers can try out the bed while they take a nap. According to their website, it’s quite the experience:

 

Nappers are also offered a complimentary pair of COCO-MAT slippers and access to a private full bathroom, a stereo and LCD TV within the nap chamber. Couples are welcome too.

You can wake up and have a freshly brewed espresso while our sales staff answers your questions. There is no obligation to purchase anything, but it’s the best way to experience our mattresses, pillows, duvets and linens in private.

 

Two other ideas from the list make life easier for shoppers. The first is a mobile app that allows customers to skip the checkout lines. This mobile app works with the store’s POS system, allowing customers to scan items as they are shopping. At the end of their experience, they enter a passcode, swipe their credit card, and show their receipt to the employee as they are leaving.

 

Finally, for those who dislike clothes shopping as much as I do, there is an app for that. This app is designed for men (but hopefully expanded to include those women who aren’t fans of shopping) to scan a pair of jeans they’re interested in, and it will help them locate their size and have them delivered to the fitting room to be tried on. It eliminates the need to wade through racks of clothing looking for the right size and speeds up the entire process. The jeans can be purchased on the mobile device. Yep, it’s that easy.

 

Retailers are doing what they can to stay one step ahead of the competition and to offer products and services to make customers’ lives easier. You can read the entire list of innovative retail ideas and share your thoughts below.

 

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Move Over FMOT….There’s a New Player In Town

 

FMOT…..the first moment of truth.

 

In the retail world, this is known as the moment a customer has an intent to make a purchase, and is standing in a store aisle faced with products to choose from. Proctor & Gamble coined this term to describe the 3-7 second period in which a consumer makes up their mind about a product on the shelf. Placement and in store marketing were factors in determining the FMOT for any given product. But that was then…..

 

Move over FMOT, because we’ve got something else to worry about. That, as recently coined in the retail world, as ZMOT – the zero moment of truth.

 

This is more urgent than FMOT, as the zero moment of truth happens before the consumer is even in front of the product in a store aisle. Google explains this as online decision making prior to making that purchase. According to the Google trailer, 84% of Americans engage in this “Zero Moment of Truth” behavior before making a purchase, with consumers using an average of 10.4 sources before making a decision on a purchase. That statistic is from 2011, so it’s likely higher than that now.

 

What formats are consumers finding the information they are using the make purchasing decisions in the zero moment of truth?

 

1. Word of mouth – friends and family

2. Online review sites

3. Retailer websites for comparison shopping

4. Social media

5. Online product searches

 

The trailer below gives you a sneak peek into the ZMOT phenomenon…..there is an e-book available for download from our friends at Google. Next week we’ll be sharing some highlights and what it means to make the most of the zero moment of truth.

 

 

 

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Walgreens Sees Success In Loyalty Program

 

In attempt to stay competitive, Walgreens launched their Balance Rewards Card in hopes of gaining customer traction, especially where prescriptions are concerned. The company lost market share in prescriptions in the recent past and was looking to regain some of its ground.

 

While the Balance Rewards Card helped in that respect, they also used the data to increase profits. Earlier this month, the company reported an 86% increase in fiscal fourth quarter profit. This is great news for the company, who still experiences challenges with customer traffic.

 

What are they doing to improve their numbers?

 

One simple task is looking at the data from their loyalty card holders to improve product offerings within their stores. Referred to as “the front of the store”, the company looked at purchasing habits to offer a selection of products that were well received and attributed to the higher sales in its locations.

 

This is a great example of using consumer data to its fullest potential. The analysis and action yieled positive results for Walgreens, and the boost will likely encourage the company to continually monitor consumer buying habits as well as feedback to continue on this financial upswing.

 

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