ONLINE

MEETS
IN-STORE
7 TOP TIPS FOR BRIDGING THE GAP
BETWEEN ONLINE AND OFFLINE COMMERCE
 For a long time, there was only brick-and-mortar—until the
internet and Amazon changed this seemingly permanent
dynamic, freeing shoppers from the necessity of visiting a
physical store to purchase goods. Retail outlets began to
feel the pressure, and the stresses only increased when
the COVID-19 pandemic forced many stores to close. For
a period, it looked like ecommerce wouldn’t just dominate
physical retail—it would consume it.

But that’s not how it turned out, and now the relationship
between offline and online commerce has proved far more
complementary than anyone could have predicted. Contrary
to some expectations, customers flocked to stores as they
reopened following the lockdowns—while at the same time their
enthusiasm for online shopping remained unabated. It turns out
they wanted “and,” not “either/or.” They wanted the sensory
pleasure of browsing in a physical store and the convenience
and entertainment provided by a compelling customer journey in
the digital realm.

For today’s shopper, omnichannel is paramount. They expect and

demand easy access to all touchpoints, from brick-and-mortar
to mobile devices and mobile apps, the mobile web, augmented
reality, virtual reality, chatbots—and anything else that elevates
their shopping experiences. Mastering these new technologies is
a must-do in modern commerce, but so is perfecting the basics,
like optimal customer data utilization and seamlessly providing
services like “buy online, pick up in-store” (BOPIS).

Some retailers have learned how to profit from the merging of

the offline and online worlds, and their examples are well worth
emulating. In this report we closely examine this phenomenon—
and showcase the companies that are getting it right. Read on
for our top tips . . .

2
GIVING THE
A 2021 study by Google determined that 74 percent of
customers conducted online research prior to shopping at a

PEOPLE
physical store, and that 70 percent stated the ability to visit
a physical outlet was important in determining which brand

WHAT THEY
or retailer to patronize. Further bolstering the argument for
a seamless blending of the online and offline experiences,
Forrester finds that 34 percent of shoppers use mobile devices

WANT to research products while in stores, while SDL reports that 90

percent of customers expect consistent interactions across
channels.

This convergence of the offline and online worlds plays to the

retailer’s advantage—provided there is a strong and effective
omnichannel strategy in place. A recent Aberdeen Group survey
found that companies that emphasized strong omnichannel
customer engagement posted a 9.5 percent year-over-
year annual revenue increase, compared to 3.4 percent for
companies with weak omnichannel support. Aberdeen also
determined that companies with very strong omnichannel
emphases retained 89 percent of their customers on average,
compared to 33 percent retention for companies with more
modest capabilities.

3
 01
PERSONALIZE
EVERY EXPERIENCE
Customers value personalization at all touchpoints and levels. In
a 2020 Customer Expectations Report by Gladly, 79 percent
of consumers surveyed said customer care is more
important than customized marketing, and staffers should
have the means to identify shoppers and provide personalized
advice and information.

Retailers can benefit from this preference by using data generated

by shopping habits, average spend, and motivations for order
placement to initiate one-on-one dialogues with customers not
just online, but during in-store visits as well. McKinsey found that
companies that personalize the shopping journey across multiple
digital channels reaped revenue increases of 5 percent to 15
percent across the full customer base.

Achieving broad personalization in-store requires multiple digital

touchpoints for all associates, including digital screens, kiosks,
and tablets. Staffers must also be able to identify customers
through self-identification (self-ID) on screens, location tracking
on apps, or by contacting another associate. Customer self-
ID via email address or phone number should be incentivized
through free services, free products, or personalized offers.

Proven tools and partners for omnichannel personalization

include PredictSpring, which provides sales assistants
with mobile point of sale (POS); Tulip, a leader in creating
omnichannel customer profiles; and Mercaux and NewStore,
both known for broad, strong omnichannel solutions.

4
 USE THE RIGHT
02 TOOLBOXES AND
TECHNIQUES
Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality, and 3-D visualization You’re competing with the last best
tools help bridge the online-offline gap and drive powerful LEARN experience your customer had. Close the
MORE loyalty loop with the right tools for seamless,
omnichannel engagement. They can turn flat, static imagery
engaging experiences. How? Let’s talk.
into vibrant, almost tactile product analogues, allowing
customer interaction to a deep and satisfying degree. In
addition to providing basic information on features and
By allowing customers to discover and test products in
functionality, these technologies create a compelling sense
a virtual environment that is tantalizingly close to physical
of product scale, fit, and movement.
reality, these tools can also slash customer dissatisfaction
and product returns, bolstering retailer revenues.
Top tools in this sector include Nextech AR and Vertebrae for
3-D and AR product visualization; WEARFITS and Zeekit for
As with every new advance, some companies have
virtual apparel and footwear try-on; Virtooal for a cosmetics,
adopted “bridging” technologies early and especially well.
eyewear, and jewelry “magic mirror”; Fit Analytics and True Fit
Sephora, L’Oréal, Ulta, and Glasses.com are excelling in
for fit finders; and MySize for a smartphone sensor fit finder.
virtual try-ons for beauty products and eyewear. Ikea, Dulux,
and Wayfair have successfully adopted AR technologies,
Shoppers have taken to virtual shopping instinctively and
allowing shoppers to see how furniture, rugs, and paint
enthusiastically, embracing it as a priority adjunct to in-
schemes will look in their homes. Luxury fashion retailers
store visits. Data from Shopify confirms that products
Gucci and Farfetch have partnered with Snapchat to create
enhanced with AR features have a 94 percent higher
real-time image processing that allows shoppers to try
conversion rate than products without AR qualities.
on specific items. And Neiman Marcus lets visitors record
and save 360-degree virtual try-on videos in-store for later
review with friends.

5
 90% of customers expect
consistent interactions
across channels

6
03
STREAMLINE
SELECTION
Product selectors and guided selling play the role of in-person experts in
the ecommerce realm, helping shoppers narrow their choices through a
series of targeted questions on requirements, preferences, and budgets.
These strategies contribute significantly to customer satisfaction while
simultaneously accelerating online journeys to point of purchase. They
also expand opportunities for cross- and upselling, bolstering average
order values. Another guided selling advantage: customer data can
be easily harvested and applied to CRM or personalization strategies,
allowing product recommendations.

One advisory: always consider stock and inventory when

implementing a product selector. Retailers must ensure all necessary
resources and data are available to accurately monitor inventory and
make product recommendations for each customer journey. No guided
selling journey should conclude with zero recommendations.

Effective guided selling relies more on pertinent questions than specific

tools, but some applications are particularly good at collecting,
connecting, and combining data streams; these include Excentos and
Dot. And remember that digital tools can have value in-store as well, to
enable shoppers and store associates to access a much broader range
of inventory than is always possible to showcase in-store.

As with almost all aspects of omnichannel, good data underpins guided

selling capabilities—it must be captured, managed, and made accessible
to all relevant teams and business units while maintaining General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance. Those teams can in turn
leverage insights gleaned from customer data to optimize the customer
experience.

The reverse is also true: empowering staff with the right tools and
technology to input data further facilitates a joined-up experience
between touchpoints, from in-store interactions to online content to
customer service and live chat.

7
 04 PUT
CUSTOMER
Sometimes guided selling isn’t enough. Customer
representatives are and always will be essential to
commerce, whether it’s online or offline. Further, shoppers
increasingly assume representatives are deeply familiar with
both the virtual and physical retail worlds. Recent studies

SERVICE
found that 45 percent of in-store shoppers expect
sales associates to be knowledgeable about online

FIRST
products. Unfortunately, only 10 percent of retailers offer a
mobile-optimized live chat functionality capable of providing
answers to store-specific questions.

This is a deficit begging to be remedied. Forrester predicts

digital customer service interactions will skyrocket in the
coming years. Companies must have their solutions in place
if they hope to meet demand—and that means providing
intuitive, mobile-first methods for finding help and answers.
Good signposting leading to easy navigability is essential;
users must be guided to specific information or direct
contacts rather than left to roam extensive FAQ pages.

Live chat lets shoppers speak instantly to a customer

team member, minimizing user frustration—and lost sales.
Research by the customer service platform provider Kayako
found that 38 percent of shoppers are more likely to buy
from a company offering live chat and that 79 percent of
businesses supporting live chat reported increased
customer loyalty and revenue.

Customer service is a major factor in choosing

LEARN where to spend. Astound’s omnichannel
MORE capabilities help you build seamless, unified
shopping and post-purchase experiences
that compel shoppers to choose your brand
over and over again. Ask us how.

8
 John Lewis, Currys PC World, and
Pandora provide in-store staffers for
online consultations

To ensure optimal omnichannel customer service, staffers

must have easy access to multiple or pooled datasources
and full visibility across all teams, including marketing,
digital, logistics, and customer care.

Finally, video shopping options—including video

consultations, virtual store tours, and live-streaming—
provide a remarkably effective way of replicating the in-store
experience online. Virtual Q&As, enabling one-on-one video
consultations with stylists or skincare consultants, and
live-streaming all work to create a shopping experience that
seamlessly merges the online and offline realms.

So who’s doing next-generation customer service now, and

doing it well?

Bever, a Netherlands-based outdoor clothing retailer, offers

multiple digital contact avenues, including live chat on all
mobile pages. During the past two years, John Lewis,
Currys PC World, and Pandora all provided in-store staffers
for online consultations, while Gucci and Dior’s virtual
offerings include video calls and personal consultations.

Good digital customer service tools include HERO, which

live-links shoppers with physical store associates, and
LiveChat, a solution that employs artificial intelligence (AI) to
route customers to the service areas most relevant to their
needs. In fact, self-described “omni-consistent” intelligent
guided selling platform Conversity emphasizes that making
guided selling an omnichannel experience is not about
“replacing your people with tech—instead increasing their
access to tech without scrapping the human element.”

9
 Sephora provides
information on store hours,
stock availability, and
contact details via a mobile-
optimized store locator
enabled with geolocation

10
05 DRIVE STORE
FOOTFALL
Implementing the basic omnichannel systems for bridging Companies setting the benchmark for accommodating
the online and offline retail gap is essential—but ensuring customer online/offline crossover include Nordstrom, which
channel switching is smooth and pain-free is equally has an integrated stock availability app for its New York
important. Embedding key store information in easily store. Sephora provides information on store hours, stock
accessed online content encourages shoppers to visit availability, and contact details via a mobile-optimized store
physical stores, enhancing both offline and online sales. locator enabled with user geolocation, and New Look
Research by Forrester found that 71 percent of shoppers allows customers to coordinate orders both in their stores
feel it is important to view in-store inventory data and through other locations such as Collect Plus.
online, while 39 percent say they’re unlikely to visit a retail
outlet if its website doesn’t provide such information.
Information on store hours and staff contacts must also
be clearly displayed online. Likewise, customers should be
empowered to return online orders to stores, with this policy
explicitly stated and prominently featured in online content.

Finally, customers favor stores that provide the best

services, such as bespoke appointments, special events,
and product aftercare. While these bonuses drive both
greater spend and retention, many retailers haven’t gotten
the message: in a study on customer experience best
practices, Google found that 67 percent of retailers do not
promote in-store offers or events on their websites.

Tools and partners that drive customer engagement include

HubBox, which provides retailers with Click & Collect
customer fulfillment. Kibo excels at inventory management
and BOPIS, and PredictSpring leads in inventory
management and store returns for online orders.

Astound has been helping brands build lasting customer relationships through innovative
LEARN ecommerce solutions for more than 20 years. Whether your organization is new to digital
MORE commerce or simply looking to upgrade your ecommerce strategy, our experts can help
you incorporate the omnichannel solutions that keep customers coming back for more.
We’d love to show you what we can do. Reach out today.

11
 06 STRIVE FOR
FULL IMMERSION
Customers should recognize a brand as soon as they
enter a store, visit a website, or open a mobile app—but an
immersive retail experience is more than just good branding.
It requires a redefinition and dovetailing of the online and
offline experiences via multiple, connected channels, driving
interactions—and revenues—at every step.
While some retailers have embraced the omnichannel and
are using their stores as teaching venues for new product
offerings, brand positioning reinforcement, and compelling
brand immersion experiences, a recent Google study
found that 28 percent of retailers fail to promote their
online sites in-store at all.
That’s simply leaving money on the table. Linking in-
store browsing and purchases with online accounts
12
creates a more exciting journey for the customer, which
ultimately resounds profitably for the retailer or brand. New
technologies are augmenting this trend, including smart
shelves and dynamic digital displays. Also essential: mobile
apps designed for in-store use, such as allowing shoppers
to scan barcodes for online orders, thereby avoiding queues
at checkout.
In this new offline/online hybrid environment, sales
associates function largely as customer advocates, freeing
shoppers to self-serve and transact digitally.
Immersive online techniques such as digital showrooms and
virtual boutiques including those found in the metaverse help
brands create rich “in-store” experiences for customers at
distance; retailers can use the same technologies to bring
any and all shoppers into their flagship stores, regardless
of customer location. Immersive digital solutions can also
replicate the social value of in-store shopping by enabling
users to invite friends to shop, chat while browsing,
comment on items, and create shared wishlists. All these
digital options help break down the walls between online
and offline, allowing customers to view shopping as a
unified experience with multiple access points.

Astound partners with the world’s most

LEARN innovative and recognizable retailers to deliver
MORE solutions that nurture today’s most valuable
resource: the customer. Discover how to
deliver exceptional brand experiences to retain
customer loyalty for the long run. Let’s talk.

Among the available tools for digitizing in-store experiences,

Mercaux excels at self-service kiosks, omnichannel
transactions, and QR-activated apps, while Squadded is a
go-to solution for online social shopping.

Companies that stand out as top immersive retail

practitioners include Canada Goose, which outfitted its
Toronto flagship store with rooms that allow shoppers to
try on items under different virtual weather conditions, order
in-store, and arrange same-day or next-day home delivery;
MAC’s Innovation Lab, which lets customers test makeup
on AR-enabled mirrors and save the images on their
mobile phones; and Gucci, whose Gucci Garden Boutique
incorporates new collections and background sounds to
create the sensory experience of being in Florence.

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14
07
PERFECT THE
FINAL TOUCH
Sometimes, everything depends on small details: subtle touches that
make an outsized difference. This is particularly true of the omnichannel
experience. For example, store e-receipts can connect physical outlet
purchases with online accounts, allowing product recommendations
based on in-store purchases. Similarly, retailers can bring new channels
into play whenever a shopper orders online by ensuring the delivered
product promotes brand values through thoughtful packaging,
in-store vouchers that align with online promotions, social media
recommendations, and online guidance on the product and its use.

Canada Goose outfitted its flagship store

with immersion rooms to try on items under
various virtual weather conditions, order in-
store, and arrange same-day or next-day
home delivery

15
 The merging of offline and online retail into a
unified and powerful whole is well underway, but
even the most accomplished practitioners have
much to do to ensure smooth, consistent, and
enjoyable customer experiences.

The biggest challenge: consumer expectations

are continuously evolving—and rising. Today’s
dramatic innovation is the standard application
tomorrow, and antiquated technology the
day after that. People always want more; the
human brain is hardwired for the novel, for fresh
sensations and experiences. At the same time,
we want what we want right now. In the retail
realm, delays, snags, and impediments result
in frustration, which translates as lost sales and
revenues. To keep the customer happy, retailers
and brands must ensure that all touchpoints are
working in concert, quickly accommodating any
query, desire, or change in mood or mind. When
such coordination occurs, all paths lead to the
Buy button.

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ABOUT ASTOUND

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