Designing the Experience

If you check the headlines regularly, you’ve read the statistics and heard the “experts’” tales of the death of the store at the hands of online shopping. Any misstep on the part of the retailer can seemingly be attributed to the huge numbers of consumers ravenously flocking to online stores to the detriment of bricks-and-mortar establishments.

But what those who make this argument fail to recognize is that there is one area where it’s virtually impossible for a website or mobile app to compete with a physical store – and that’s in the shopping experience. Though I’m much closer in age to the baby boomers than I am to the millennials (Gen X, here), I consider myself a digital native. I came of age during a time when we marveled at the possibilities of email, and could count on one hand the number of rudimentary websites that married graphics and text for the first time.

As connected as I am (smartwatch, tablet, smartphone and laptop), nothing compares to the experience of walking into a well-designed and beautifully merchandised store. Whether I’m shopping for something in particular (I have my eye on a smart pair of handmade leather oxfords right now), or just enjoying a bit of retail therapy, I simply cannot replicate the experience of in-store shopping online. For commodity items, sure. I can’t honestly tell you that I get the same emotional reward from picking up aluminum foil and laundry detergent.

But bricks-and-mortar retailers must not rest on their laurels, for consumers are demanding better experiences each time they shop. “Consumers' increasing demand for concierge-like services is forcing retailers to improve the connection between digital and physical and put a greater focus on enhancing the in-store experience,” said Gary Ambrosino, ceo, TimeTrade (Tewksbury, Mass.), in a recently released survey of 5400 shoppers and 100 senior execs.

There’s no doubt that the consumer will continue to raise his or her expectations of what the in-store experience looks like. Smart retailers will focus on a “concierge experience,” where prompt, attentive and personalized service by informed sales associates is the rule, not the exception.