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Q&A: Digital merchandising
Mobile, Web and in-store interactivity bring brands and customers together.
August 17, 2008
While some companies are working on in-store, mobile and Web marketing separately, EnQii is using digital signage to bring all of those strategies together under the term "digital merchandising."
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Stuart Armstrong, president of EnQii. |
merchandising allows customers to use "digital on-ramps" such as digital signage, Web sites and mobile devices to access information about a brand.
We recently sat down with Stuart to discuss the future of digital merchandising.
Retailers are looking to the future, but you say they're just trying to return to customer interaction strategies of the past. Please explain.
We're all trying to be as good as the corner grocer was 100 years ago. The corner grocer would sit out there with all of this produce and see each person come by, and by the time certain customers would get to the store he'd have their groceries packed up. He knew exactly what they wanted. And by the way, they don't shop anywhere else, because the connection between the retailer and customer is so tight. That's what every retailer is aspiring to be.
Explain "digital on-ramps." How can retailers use them to connect with customers?
Multichannel retailing in the digital age is about using what I call 'digital on-ramps.' These are things like in-store digital signage, Web sites and mobile phones that allow shoppers to enter a 'branded community,' where they can gain access to more information around a brand.
So its becoming more about the brand than the store itself?
Retailers are looking at creating not only loyalty to their brands but becoming a destination for certain product points, and that means going beyond their brick and mortar stores. In order to do so they are re-looking at their Web-based and e-commerce presence. They've started to examine mobile marketing and their catalogs, direct mail and starting to bring them together in a more cohesive, coordinated fashion than in the past.
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How important is it for the Web to keep up with the digital signage and in-store marketing?
Yes. A lot of times customers go to a retailer's Web site and it is very different than the retail experience. Their taglines might be different or their colors might have varied from what you might see in-store. And the catalog's products might even be out of sync with the store. The danger is that digital signage goes up and it doesn't complement the static signage in the environment. The solution for retailers is to take a closer look at their strategy, with the primary goal to create equity and consistency around the brand and to be more brand-conscious.
Learn more about multichannel retailing from the experts. |
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I consider another digital on-ramp to be the in-store experience. I went to a major department store recently, and there's this little waiting area in the women's section, obviously made for guys. They have this little screen up on the wall, playing nothing but live CNN feeds. Now, it was one week before Valentines Day and I obviously haven't shopped for a gift. Instead of just running TV, use it to give me a couple of ideas and if I'm interested, someone will go get it, transact it and wrap it up. The conversion on something like that is huge, even if you only get five to six percent.
You mentioned mobile as a digital on-ramp. Are customers really shopping on their phones?
Especially with the new 3G iPhone, the Web is now a mobile medium, which I think is pretty exciting. I can be sitting at a retailer, find what I want and I can look up price comparisons right there. So, my ability to transact now is such that I can be standing in Best Buy and buy something from Circuit City.
What is the potential for integrating mobile and digital signage?
As an example, say I'm in a Virgin Megastore and I'm in the queue. And there's digital signage behind the counter. It has an interactive program that allows you to dial a number and interact, essentially turning my phone into a remote control. Now I can interact with that sign and it becomes a digital jukebox. And further, through Bluetooth, I could even get a video clip. By doing that, I opt-in to the branded community. Then I get an email back giving me 15 percent off of the CD. And by the way, now I'm opted into the loyalty program and the fanbase for the band I downloaded. So the mobile phone is allowing me to have a two way dialogue with the retailer and the brand that the retailer carries.
Are there other benefits for the retailer coming from mobile?
The other way mobile marketing is cool is that it can help with over-inventory on something. Say I'm a travel agent and I have remnant cruise tickets. I don't have time to put something in the newspaper or print out flyers. But, if I'm involved in mobile marketing, I can put together a campaign at 5:00 at night to drive transactions the next day. It's an immediate promotional medium. I can drive people to the Web site and drive them to the in-store experience.
How do you think a majority of those mobile transactions will happen?
I think the way to get people involved in mobile marketing is through SMS and voice response. Imagine that I'm in a mall and I want to see the new Toyota on a digital sign. Using a combination on IVR and SMS, I can control the screen content and see the car in blue, red and white, see the interior or I can rotate it around. I can even see the spec sheet and get an email about it on my phone. Then I can press zero and it will give me the list of all the dealers near me and connect me to a dispatcher so I can set up a test drive. That could happen on a bus or a subway too.
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