It’s inevitable that the irresistible convenience of e-commerce will drive higher shares of retail revenue in the coming years. It’s also inevitable that higher e-commerce revenues will spark a resurgence of the brick-and-mortar store. In fact, it has already started.
Brick-and-mortar stores are about two years into what will most likely be a 10-year evolution to becoming service centers. Buying online is convenient, but when it comes to resolving issues with products or testing before buying, the physical location will rule.
This change in the physical location’s role puts different demands on retail associates. As more sales move online, stocking and completing transactions are less important. Interacting with customers is the touchstone. The successful retail brands of the future will be built by sales associates who can resolve issues for frustrated customers and engage well-informed buyers with knowledge and confidence. Retailers need new training models to create those associates.
Sales and Returns
Consumers are buying more online, but 1 in 3 online sales leads to a return, according to the Wall Street Journal, and more than 80 percent of consumers have received damaged packages from online retailers. Offering the option of returning through a physical location appeals to customers who don’t want to repackage the item and ship it back, or who have trouble navigating online return systems.
Online shopping is also mainly about price, and price is the weakest link to customers: 64 percent of people think that customer experience is more important than price in their choice of a brand. As soon as the customer finds a lower price, the link is broken. However, combining price with service and pleasant live shopping experiences builds deeper customer loyalty. There are still many consumers who won’t make a major purchase without seeing the product. They might try it in the store, then go home, ponder, and order it online if the shipping rates are reasonable or free.
Either way, the live experience heavily influences buying decisions. Even Amazon.com acknowledged the importance of brick-and-mortar when it started opening retail stores in 2015.
Associates are pivotal to making this shift toward a blended online-live retailing model. They will be personal consultants, helping customers navigate returns and converting returns into sales. They will give advice about styles and trends.
To be effective as consultants, associates have to know what’s being said about their products online. More and more customers walk in armed with information from bloggers and review sites. Associates who aren’t prepared will be embarrassed when customers ask questions they can’t answer. Customers also will lose patience with uninformed associates, which defeats one of the physical store’s main purposes: cementing relationships.
New Training Models
Making shelf stockers into customer-winning consultants requires a training model radically different from the past; i.e., it needs to change from a special occasion to a regular part of an associate’s day.
Keeping up with well-informed consumers means constantly monitoring online conversations, evaluating what key influencers are saying, and providing appropriate responses. If an online review includes negative comments about your products, associates should have the facts to rebut it and the skills to show the customer why the review was inaccurate or biased.
Training associates to be consultants isn’t particularly expensive or complicated. The necessary training technologies exist: tools and devices, such as in-store HD screens, content caching/distribution, associates’ personal smartphones, and the like. It’s just a matter of applying them cost effectively.
For example, an associate’s typical day might start with a video briefing in the break room from the corporate analyst who monitors online conversations. The analyst supplements the briefing by e-mailing a list of talking points to each associate’s smartphone.
The screen network also can deliver archived training sessions and interactive discussions with corporate instructors. A mobile app provides access to self-paced training through any smartphone or tablet. Policy issues such as compensating employees in whole or in part for this kind of self-paced training need to be resolved. That aside, there is no question that this training model is essential for retailers.
Online sales mixed with exceptional brick-and-mortar experiences, including top-notch customer service, is the retail model of the future. The current generation of employees is digitally savvy and open to the training systems that teach them to create deeper customer loyalty. The training also will lead to more satisfied associates. Who wouldn’t prefer to consult, offer knowledge and advice, and get appreciation back from customers rather than stock shelves and work registers?
Harnessing this preferred model sooner than later will separate the winners from the losers in the exploding world of retail.
Mike Tippets is vice president, Media Services, at Hughes Network Systems. Hughes provides managed network services for hundreds of businesses in the restaurant, retail, and retail petroleum industries.
