Taking a mobile-first approach to personalizing the retail experience can create a community of more informed, more engaged, and most importantly, more fun customers.
When it comes to the current state of retail sales, one particular Bob Dylan song describes it best: Times are changing.
Indeed, buyer expectations have shifted as a result of pandemic-driven shifts towards digital-centric environments. Advances in the proliferation of e-commerce have merged new levels of personalization and convenience into the buyer’s journey. Above all, your customers and prospects increasingly expect a seamless end-to-end shopping experience optimized for the device of their choice: the smartphone.
Over the past decade, we have seen smartphones evolve from a luxury gadget to a societal staple. This rapid adoption has changed the way shoppers interact with brands. Whether through social media or mobile commerce, the smartphone is a powerful tool that serves as a one-stop shop for the digitally-centric customer.
And the best part? The future is full of opportunities. The impact of smartphones on retail sales has only scratched the surface.
Starting with the staff
Providing customers with tailored experiences is the name of the game in retail. And that mindset can also apply to the employee experience. Empowering sales reps with sales enablement tools that inject personalization into the learning and coaching process translates directly to more effective buyer engagement.
Using mobile technology, sales reps can take personalized training courses anytime, anywhere, tailored to their own learning needs. Those traditional retail training frameworks where reps are stuck in a back room watching instructional videos just aren’t effective. They are static and do not offer actionable guidance.
By adopting sales enablement tools optimized for smartphone compatibility, retailers can create carousels of different training tips in the form of quick videos, short text blocks and fun quizzes accessible on any which mobile device. The increased level of accessibility and personalization enables sales reps to take advantage of just-in-time microlearning, adaptive learning paths, and continuous onboarding to improve their performance.
Oh, and it’s also more fun!
Leveraging this focused approach to employee empowerment creates a unified front of skilled workers all working in unison. Like a well-oiled machine, they have access to timely and relevant information in real time from the palm of their hand. The end result is sales teams in direct contact with customers in various stores. Red tape is reduced and employees have the information they need, when they need it, on the device that works best for them.
Bringing products to life
Retail buyers have also become more tech-savvy. Smartphones allow retailers to transform physical showrooms into immersive and interactive digital experiences. Augmented reality (AR), for example, gives customers a 360-degree view of a particular product that can be customized to any style or color.
Want to see if a particular chair matches your dining room table? Easy. Or how about how the paint would look on your wall? Does. All on a mobile device without even entering a store. This takes the stress out of buying decisions and frankly makes shopping more enjoyable.
Beyond AR, virtual reality (VR) also aligns prospects with digital-centric sales environments. They can interact with products in real-world simulations that mirror the in-person experience. Since everyone learns in different ways, providing prospects with the sights, sounds, and actions of how a product works allows them to make smart buying decisions.
The future is now
Now more than ever, retailers have the opportunity to increase shopper engagement and deliver impactful experiences to their retail customers. Sellers are now the curators of personalization, while buyers can explore beyond the physical shelf.
Smartphones are becoming a reference tool for how we interact with the world around us. Taking a mobile-first approach to personalizing the retail experience can create a community of more informed, more engaged, and most importantly, more fun sales reps and customers.