Romano Strategic Communication

Virtually every article about the death of brick-and-mortar blames e-commerce for tugging on the plug. But after shopping in local stores and malls this past holiday season, I’m beginning to wonder if brick-and-mortar isn’t doing itself in. Long lines, poor service, unwelcoming environments, scarce merchandise, and outdated processes are making retail’s demise seem less like an outside attack than a self-fulfilling prophecy.

While the ultimate solution is undoubtedly complex, here are 10 steps retailers of all sizes can consider taking within their brick-and-mortar walls to create a more appealing real-world shopping experience. Some emphasize in-store marketing. Others involved reassessing practices. But all require assuming the customer’s perspective.

1. Rethink Returns

Why do some brick-and-mortar retailers insist on having the checkout counter double as a return station? Does any customer enjoy watching time vanish as the person before them returns 12 items while explaining why there’s no receipt? In-store returns should be fast and easy, just as they are with Amazon orders.

Retailers need to explore new return approaches, such as drop-off stations, self-serve kiosks, or relationships with the USPO, UPS, or third-party return services. Some stores, such as Kohls and Nordstrom, have begun to realize this and are not only streamlining their returns, but also accepting competitors’ returns to gain foot traffic. The key isn’t simply to improve the return process, it’s to rethink it. 

2. Simplify Checkout

Dear U.S. retailers, please stop asking everyone at the checkout if they would like to open a charge card, become a Rewards member, redeem their membership points, share their email address, choose an online or print receipt, and make a charitable donation, particularly if there is a line at the register.

Most customers have one checkout goal: to complete their transaction. Find other means to your additional ends. Approach customers before they reach the registers. Decentralize checkout by arming roaming staff with iPads. Create independent Rewards and email sign-up stations. And otherwise separate and simplify the processes.

3. Exploit the Senses

There’s a reason why Costco is packed at noon and it’s not just warehouse club pricing. Lunch time is snack time – and nibbling on brownie samples and honey mustard pretzels is something you can’t do online. Internet shopping is primarily limited to the sense of sight, with touch and hearing playing distant second fiddles.

Munching on free pizza while strolling through a grocery store, smelling freshly-brewed cider in a New England ski shop, hearing birds chirping across the speakers of an outerwear store, running a cashmere sweater through your fingers – none of this can be replicated with a screen or keyboard. Hit the customer’s senses and you’ll reach them a differentiating and memorable way. 

4. Bring Back Gift Boxes

Non-discount stores that don’t offer gift boxes send two messages to their customers: 1. “We’re cutting corners.” 2. “We don’t care that you’re inconvenienced.” Sorry, Mr. or Ms. Shopper, it’s your responsibility to find boxes for the $300 worth of gifts you just bought at The Gap. Good luck.

This is twice as frustrating when customers are expecting a box, resulting in a third retailer message: “We disappoint you.” Bring back gift boxes, at least during the holidays, and make them recyclable. (Retailers who think boxes don’t matter are encouraged to Google the history of Hermes or Tiffany.)

5. Study the In-Store UX

Every e-commerce site worth its clicks continually analyzes and improves the user experience. Where is the shopper’s first stop on the site? How long do they stay on each page? When did they stop clicking? Real-world retailers should be doing the same. What happens the minute a customer enters the store? Where is the shopper’s first stop? What makes them stay or leave?

Beacon, RFID, and other technologies are helping in this area, but their current focus appears to be pushing ads, rather than enhancing the in-store UX. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Customer Experience (CX) systems are in abundance, but why does it feel like they’re not being extended to the onsite world? Even without advanced technologies and systems, store managers and owners can become more vigilant, studying shoppers’ patterns and preferences, and upgrading as needed.

6. Tell Stories

Most online retailers are content to showcase products as if they were catalog items, with the occasional addition of a lifestyle photograph. Brick-and-mortar retailers have an edge – they can create 3-D stories with their in-store displays. Rather than treating mannequins like clothes hangers, why not create lifestyle scenarios – a family cooking together in a houseware display, children playing with a board game in the toy department, and so on? Maybe add humor (i.e., the cooking isn’t going well). Or create a story that doesn’t involve people or one that continues throughout the store.

Tiffany’s recent in-store holiday displays featured tiny mice sculptures dragging sparkling necklaces and bracelets throughout a Tiffany-blue cupboard. In essence, Tiffany brought its famous window displays inside. The result was charming and attention-grabbing.

7. Clearly Communicate Prices

Products without price tags have become the new norm for many retailers. Instead, they rely on signage, shelf labels, and even scanning stations. But shelf labels and signs are often missing, incorrect, or in the wrong spot. And who wants to search for a scanning station with an armload of merchandise? Even when properly displayed, prices often have mouse-type caveats (“…with your Shoppers Club card,” “…If you buy 4”).  Online pricing is crystal clear. In-store pricing should be, too.

8. Steal from the Online World

When e-commerce sites began, they pilfered ideas from the hard-copy world (remember digital page curls?). It’s time for brick-and-mortar to turn the tables. Real-world retailers should study the online experience and leverage whatever aspects they can.

For example, the books on the shelves of Amazon’s physical bookstores all face out, just as they would on a computer screen. There’s not a spine in sight. Wayfair also extends online practices to its physical store, displaying user ratings alongside each item. Retailers should analyze e-commerce sites and determine which familiar, effective features can be shoplifted for the real world.

9. Stop Seeing Technology as the Enemy

I was recently searching for a shirt at a well-known menswear chain. “That’s only available online,” the clerk explained. Then he walked away. End of story; end of sale. Had I been led to an in-store tablet or laptop featuring the company’s website, I would have placed an order immediately. Brick-and-mortar retailers need to view technology as their friend, not their foe, integrating it in new ways.

The aforementioned Amazon bookstore is jammed with technology that lets you easily access and order offsite inventory. Some retail leaders, like Target and Starbucks, are seamlessly blending online ordering and onsite pick-up. Others, like Safeway, are using Beacon technology to offer shoppers real-time discounts on their phones. But even something as simple as an in-store selfie station or Instagrammable merchandise table can get customers talking and returning.

10. Train, Train, Train

Nothing on this list is as important as training. Stores like Crate & Barrel and Trader Joe’s aren’t just enjoyable because of their merchandise. Every employee is polite, friendly, and knows the store’s products – what they are and where they are. Contrast that with my recent visit to a leading supermarket chain where a clerk couldn’t tell me if the store sold shoelaces while standing a few feet from the shoelace rack.

Today’s brick-and-mortar employees are competing with a tsunami of online information, including photos, sizes, features, colors, prices, price comparisons, and ordering links. At the very least, employees should know their inventory. At the very most?  They should be experts in their products, their processes, and most importantly, in their treatment of customers. That requires training, which ironically enough, technology has made easier than ever.

It All Comes Down to Engagement

These 10 suggestions reinforce one theme: the need to create an engaging customer experience. Sephora’s In-Store Beauty Studios, Barnes & Noble’s free gift-wrapping, Bloomingdales’ Shopping Charity Event, Whole Foods’ new product samples – these are all examples of unique customer experiences that can’t be found online.

It is up to today’s brick-and-mortar sites to create moments of fun and discovery, eliciting customer smiles and making shoppers feel good about that particular store, as well as eager to return. Equally important, the experience should make the shopper feel as though the retailer wants them back.

Consider the countless ways e-commerce expresses its desire to please: “We have suggestions based on what you like.” “Sign up for future discounts.” “Here’s a special thank you.” What’s more, guidance is offered at every turn: “Click here.” “Add to checkout” “Is this a gift?” This same solicitous attention should be pervasive (in less aggressive form) in the real world.

And here’s the best part. Brick-and-mortar stores have a secret weapon that e-commerce sites will never duplicate – living, breathing salespeople who can make a human connection. If that connection is established successfully, respectfully and consistently, those of us who want brick-and-mortar to thrive alongside e-commerce can more confidently hope that the sector’s ostensible death wish will soon fade in the face of new life.

Stephen T. Romano is a Boston-based brand strategist and marketing writer. To learn more about Romano Strategic Communications, click here or contact Stephen directly.

Image collage based on photos by Tim Mossholder and Rafal Malinowski, Unsplash