Take advantage of customers’ in-store behavior insights and stand out of the crowd!

What is customer behaviour?

Customer behavior is user's actions that can be tracked and analyzed to improve marketing efforts. Customer behavior refers to any action that a customer takes related to your company that when analyzed can be used to build long-lasting relationships. In the digital world, these behaviors usually indicate some form of engagement, such as views, downloads, opt ins, or purchases.

Why to provide a personalized shopping experience?

When retailers provide consumers with personalized shopping experiences, it should be blended between online and offline channels. Ever-evolving technologies enable the businesses to collect and analyze in-store consumer behavior data. Yet, in order to succeed in finding the appropriate consumer insights, retailers should ensure they collect the right data.

Some technology mentioned in this article processes data from customers' smartphones together with opt-in apps to offer patrons deals and show retailers what's happening in their stores.

It’s vital to keep in mind the following four metrics when planning the in-store data collection: 

• Foot Traffic and Shopper Flow

Do your customers frequent the interior rows of your store? Do they group around a certain point of interest? Data insights illuminate where customers spend the most time in a store, allowing owners and managers to take appropriate steps.

• Time

How much time customers spend in-store, or at a certain display indicates their level of engagement in a certain item. Hence, should customers spend more time in one area of the store, but sales for those items located in the section remain flat, managers might consider rotating in different products.

• Consideration

Stocking in-demand, relevant items is key to increasing sales. And to do that, you need to know what customers value most. Sensors record what types of products customers are looking at based on various parameters. Even more, retailers can send personalized emails to customers informing them when these products appear in-stock. 

• Reaction & Sentiment

By means of facial recognition programs, now it’s possible to capture customers’ reactions to certain displays. If sales are high for a display that incites a positive reaction, managers can determine what aspects of the display could translate to others throughout the store to move customers along the purchase path.

Data insights generate substantial competitive advantage

By collecting in-store data and acting on insights have, retailers have all the chances to get the following benefits:

• - Customers receive superb experiences tailored to their habits;

• - Sales staff builds meaningful relationships;

• - Retailers identify customers and learn the best ways to reconnect with them to increase sales.

The next step would be to search for the experts to implement these new technologies and transform them into valuable insights.

Why we should focus on creating smart data when it comes to the shopping experience?

All retailers gather data about their clients (contact information, behavioral activity, online behavior, etc.). This information is collected in silos and there is no easy way to compare and cross-check data to benefit from a global knowledge about their customers. Rather than being seen as individuals, they are approached as segments.

Yet, many studies showcase that a customer of today does want to be valued and recognized, receive product offers or promotions based on their purchasing history from a retailer, longing for a more personalized shopping experience. Therefore, retailers need to focus on creating smart data to better address their customers.

How can you better understand your in-store shopper?

For over a decade now, retailers have been gathering customer data to learn about their behavior, preferences, and ways to shop. Given the fact that brick-and-mortar stores tend to generate higher conversion rates than digital channels, it’s of utmost importance to get to know the mindset and behavioural patterns of a customer.

While traditional ways of collecting data — like gathering client information at checkout or implementing loyalty programs — are still ongoing, some innovative tools are revolutionizing the way we collect data. 

From online to offline: understand the omnichannel shopper

Apart from learning about the online shopper and the in-store shopper, retailers also need to consider the omni-channel shopper. The research show that 80% of customers do online research before making a purchase, which makes it more important than ever to understand them, and their expectations. Their journey begins online, and later when they arrive in the store, there is a certain amount of data collected up to this point, based upon which they will be shown the right products or given the appropriate advice according to their interests.

The above-stated phenomenon draws up an important conclusion: to be successful, retailer strategy cannot be primarily online or offline anymore, they need to merge both worlds. Choosing the right partner for building their O2O strategy (online to offline) is a key, as they need someone capable of handling the entire customer journey, from the start online, until checkout in-store. 

Overall, it’s the improved shopper experience that matters

Brands and retailers definitely need to unify their departments to increase revenue through an improved customer experience. Customers want their shopping experience to reflect their daily life: a mix of online and offline experiences. It is up to the retailers and brands to understand who their customers are, how to best-address their expectations, and to create brand awareness and engagement.

Apart from that, retailers should be aware of their customers’ profile and behaviour to implement the right changes in store to maximise sales. Making changes randomly can be a costly exercise that may not see any return on investment, whereas setting objectives early in a project enables a focused analysis of in-store behaviour. From the age and gender of a customer to how long they spend in a store and which areas they are attracted to, store operations, marketing and insights teams can implement changes based on fact to maximise conversion.

As the retail landscape shows no signs of slowing down, retailers that implement thoughtful technology solutions rooted in the physical store will see long-term success and prevent themselves from being another victim of competition.