Seeking Human Experiences

By Tristan Shook

In recent years, shopper insights teams and agency partners have worked to adapt to shifting retail patterns, namely the rise of online shopping driven by its increased speed and convenience.

While the convenience of online shopping hasn’t worn off, perhaps the novelty has.

A recent PwC study showed that 82% want more human interaction in the future. Also, 73% of all people point to customer experience as an important factor in purchasing decisions. (Link)

Agencies and brands will need to focus on more than just visual merchandising to deliver a brand experience at retail. They will have to meet the elevated expectations of speed and convenience while delivering on a customer experience that is human and elevates the brand and product.

How do you get there? What are the first steps you can take to solving for this?

(1) Explore best practice brand experiences across categories

(2) Understand the thresholds for automation, speed of service, and convenience in your category… in other words when does the lack of a fulfilling customer and brand experience lead to diminishing returns on convenience factors or worse, simply refusing purchase?