Store sense: Reclaiming the four walls with - Deakin University

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The youth market – ‘future-proofing’ the retail store In considering retail’s long-term bricks and mortar future, it is also important to consider the priorities and preferences of tomorrow’s shopper. Research conducted into the demographic most likely to defect from physical stores to internet shopping - the youth markets - reveals them to be still significantly influenced and affected by the degree of in-store sensory engagement, despite the attractions of their multi-channel consumer environment: ‘The ambience of retail stores, whether pleasant or unpleasant, moderates the arousal effect on satisfaction and in-store buying behaviours...Satisfaction in a pleasant retail ambience where music, hands-on experience services, playing areas and recreation are integrated maximizes consumer arousal. It has been observed that young consumers perceive positive effects on in-store behaviours if shopping arousal is high’ [11] , p.273. The findings presented in this case show that as shopper engagement and arousal increases, so do sales (when compared to regular, more neutral and transactionally focused shopping trips). This research further reveals that improving in-store sensory engagement can lift average sales by 5.4%. This presents retailers with a specific opportunity to ‘win back’ the youth demographic by refreshing their approach to in-store retail engagement and sensory immersion, especially at key impulse buying times of year (e.g. Christmas) and not just by driving awareness at the pre-purchase stages with slick web-based and social media campaigns. The research conclusions support this sensory view: ‘The perspectives of store ambience and shopping satisfaction effectively become a measure of retailing performance, as perceived by young shoppers, which can indicate directions for change in retailing strategy by offering more recreational infrastructure, extended working hours, places for demonstrations, and consumer education on innovative and high-technology products and services’ (pp.280-281). For other youth demographics that offer increasingly significant market potential (but are perhaps often overlooked by retailers) opportunities to leverage retail engagement and sensory experience have also been identified. Hence retailers who seek to develop retail environments which offer sensory rather than economic appeal (i.e. The Entertainer in the UK, and Smiggle in Australia) find opportunity not at the lowest price points but at higher levels of emotional engagement even with their youngest shoppers. For retailers therefore, focusing on the tangible, sensory aspects of consumer engagement in-store can provide a pathway to a more effective and productive retail store environment, even in the online age. E-sense – how technology is connecting with the senses in-store It is inevitable that advances in multi-channel consumer technologies have had a significant impact on the traditional ‘servicescape’ i.e. the retail store or shop. Consumers now commonly use both fixed and mobile technologies to conduct research and comparisons and increasingly these activities are integrated into their physical store visit [12] . Exploiting and incorporating these channels, as well as the increasing raft of sensory-based digital and technology innovations is arguably one of the biggest challenges - and opportunities - for retailers. It questions the very nature and future of the retail store as a static and generic shopper experience as opposed to a mobile and flexible one. 8
In many ways, digital retailing is evolving much more rapidly than bricks and mortar retailing. For example the increased use of SET (sensory enabling technologies, i.e. 2D, 3D and ‘virtual try-on’) offer significant store-based advantages to at-home shoppers [13] . As UK researchers investigating the use of 3D in relation to product presentation concluded: ‘Authentic 3D product visualisation enables consumers to experience online products without directly inspecting them; it makes non-store retailers the best place to examine a product virtually; and it provides consumers with a sense of having a direct experience with the product’ [14] , p.109 This digital or virtual communication method can of course be used within store environments as well as at home as part of an integrated multi-channel strategy. Digital communication plays a part in entertaining customers in the same way television or moving image communication does at home. It presents an opportunity to communicate multiple messages in a dynamic way within a small space. In relation to other virtual mediums of engagement, research from the UK has revealed that the use of digital screens to convey marketing messages increases both enjoyment levels and information provision to key shopper demographics, and they are more welcome and impactful in areas where shoppers are stationary, waiting or dwelling, (i.e. in queues, lifts or cafes), providing the content and messaging is mood appropriate [15] . The integration of the store environment with consumer technologies will redefine the shopping experience as retailers learn how to optimise the physical senses and leverage E-sense across the key shopper decision stages. Shopper marketing in perspective The increasing significance of shopper marketing as a retail discipline has provided added impetus for store-based retailers. Shopper marketing is defined here as: ‘The use of insights-driven marketing and merchandising initiatives to satisfy the needs of targeted shoppers, enhance the shopping experience and improve business results and brand equity for retailers and manufacturers.’ At the most basic level, the buying process is shaped and influenced by the stimuli encountered and perceptions created in bricks-and-mortar stores. Shopper marketing however goes beyond the transactional basics to include all activities and points of engagement along a ‘path to purchase’ designed to influence brand awareness and preference, store selection, in-store experience, comparison, purchase and, ultimately, post-purchase review and evaluation. Improved consumer insight and purchase behaviour data have made it easier to capitalise on the 68% of customers who make their decisions in store and the 70% of in-store purchase decisions which are reported to be made on impulse [16] . Although a move to develop and employ shopper marketing strategies is evident in FMCG environments like supermarkets and pharmacy, this is however often category-specific and supplier-driven with a focus on brand defence, brand promotion or brand attack, seldom encompassing the whole retail experience. Retailers, it is proposed, need to develop a more holistic store engagement strategy to capitalise on all the opportunities that a store visit can present, not relying solely on supplier-driven shopper marketing initiatives, but instead developing a comprehensive and robust understanding of how a shopper’s senses in-store can be positively engaged and optimised in relation to the purchase process, in order to once again place the store at the heart of the decision-making process. Welcome to the sensory store! 9
Page 1: Store Sense Reclaiming the four wal
Page 4 and 5: About the authors Danielle Barclay
Page 6 and 7: online retail sales will more than
Page 10 and 11: The sensory store As the dawn of th
Page 12 and 13: What is interesting to note from th
Page 14 and 15: Image 3: Tesco’s virtual store Th
Page 16 and 17: In Australia telecommunications ret
Page 18 and 19: When the listener steps out of the
Page 20 and 21: Taste: try before you buy Case stud
Page 22 and 23: etailing tools and technologies is
Page 24 and 25: References 1. Soars, B., Driving sa
Page 27: Contact Danielle Barclay General Ma

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