Samuel Mueller, CEO & Co-Founder at Scandit.
The global retail market is predicted to grow 2% to 4% this year, with the luxury segment leading growth in recent years, according to McKinsey. And most luxury shopping will likely occur in-store—with Internet Retailing reporting that only 13.9% of luxury retail sales last year took place online.
Surprised? Probably not. The luxury retail industry has shown its resilience to the “death of the high street,” with long-established brands retaining customers well. That’s because delivering a high-end experience puts human connection at its center. It’s about focusing on the people you’re selling to—not on what you’re selling.
As a result, many brands are now developing their competitive edge further by appealing to the digital-savvy new generation of shoppers who expect tailored, customer-first experiences. And they’re using smart data capture and other in-store technologies to do it.
Here’s how luxury fashion retailers are securing their brick-and-mortar market foothold—and making flagship stores a destination for brand engagement:
1. Creating A VIP In-Store Experience
Online shopping as it exists today doesn’t lend itself to the human-first experience luxury retail is known for. According to Simon Whitehouse, the CEO of Italian retailer Modes, “E-commerce is so cold and transactional. We still want a human being to connect to and share emotions with.”
Yet the ease and speed of digital commerce can still be of use in luxury. Mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) solutions are one example of technology that supports the consistent, high-performance and sleek selling journey expected in luxury retail. From minimizing wait times to removing queues, the right mPOS solution enables store associates to serve customers wherever they are in the store rather than at fixed terminals.
However, for an mPOS to truly deliver on its promise and ensure a smooth in-store experience for luxury shoppers, high-performant data capture is paramount. A smart data capture-enabled mPOS solution, for instance, will help ensure stock can be checked, orders placed, returns processed and at-home deliveries arranged, all on the go—plus it unlocks personalized upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
2. Empowering Trusted Advisor Relationships With Real-Time Data
In luxury retail, clienteling is imperative for customer retention and increasing customer lifetime value. This ability to create curated shopping journeys hinges upon store associates being empowered with real-time data at the right time. But access is just one aspect.
The speed with which associates can access real-time data is also critical. Complex, unintuitive or unwieldy technology that requires specialist knowledge or conscious effort to use can lead to inefficient processes or wait times, creating friction—something luxury retailers want to avoid. Instead, employees should be equipped with intuitive technology that enables luxury retailers to create high-end experiences, with actionable data that can be tailored to individual customers.
Whether it’s the ability to check inventory levels or recent purchase history and product preferences, employees need to be empowered with data relevant to specific customers to make them as knowledgeable as possible. Associates can then act upon these contextual insights—for example, repeat customers can be offered personalized promotions, or previously lost customers can be enticed with a one-time discount or extra perks.
3. Providing Seamless Tourist Experiences For International Shoppers
Making a customer’s experience personalized and seamless is part of the luxury retail package. Whether an experience is high-end or not, customers may need to verify their identity, loyalty status and even age.
Smart data capture technology helps ensure the luxury image is backed by a truly high-end experience throughout all customer touchpoints. Customers could be recognized, via their loyalty profile, as they enter the store in an anonymized way to create personalized experiences based on their browsing habits or prior purchasing behavior.
When it comes to validating documents or checking IDs, manual processes can be clunky and time-consuming. One instance is optimizing duty-free experiences with ID or boarding pass scanning. Another is the ability to pre-fill tax documentation to reduce the risk of errors and create a smooth and quick in-store digitized experience.
4. Delivering Innovative Experiences Enabled By Smart Data Capture
Visually, luxury retailers spend time defining their brand to make sure its presentation matches the VIP ethos they want customers to experience. And technology in retail spaces has a big role to play.
One example is augmented reality (AR). AR overlays can present additional product information in a visually engaging way—from showcasing colorway and tailoring options in an endless aisle to recommending matching items.
Powering State-Of-The-Art Experiences
Consumers will continue to expect personalized, high-quality customer service in their in-person interactions. Ones that mirror the tailored, data-informed e-commerce experiences without the transactional, human-less counterpart.
The challenge, however, lies in finding and implementing new in-store technologies that underpin these experiences.
My advice here would be to focus on in-store technologies that, from a development point of view, are easy to integrate into existing technology systems no matter the customization level required and that—from a user’s point of view—are intuitive and easy to use. Both considerations will lead to significant cost savings in software development and user training, ultimately leading to higher adoption rates and returns on investment.
Another aspect that luxury decision-makers should keep in mind is hardware requirements. Choosing software that is readily deployable on existing smart devices—such as tablets and smartphones—not only reduces time-to-market but also upholds the sleek aesthetics required by most brands.
Last but not least, software performance is not to be underestimated. Speed, accuracy and security are just a few must-haves to successfully roll out innovative customer experiences in a high-end manner.
There’s a real opportunity for luxury retailers to transform their front-of-house experiences. Finding the right technology partner to facilitate delivery is a crucial step for luxury retailers that want to continue delivering on their VIP promise—and get the most from the technology available today while being ready for future possibilities.
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