How Nike Can Help Brick-and-Mortar Survive the E-commerce Wave
Yes, e-commerce might be showing a growing trend but that does not mean that brick and mortar retail stores are planning to give up the spotlight. In fact, brick-and-mortar stores contribute to 94% of retail sales.
And after taking a look at a retail giant, Amazon, opening a physical store we can see that brick-and-mortars are here to stay for a while.
You might be wondering what is it that makes customers to still go to physical stores when online shopping is so convenient.
Is it the nice smile of a sales rep? Perhaps a professional advice from the assistant? Or maybe just an excuse to leave the house?
All of these are reasons why people still enjoy brick-and-mortar stores but there are two core things that made e-commerce giants consider having their own space in the real world.
To better understand this let’s take a look at Nike, a sportswear company that knows the secret recipe that helps retail businesses with physical space to survive the huge e-commerce wave!
Nike and the E-Commerce Wave
You might have read about Apple’s retail success or Tesla’s customer experience but this multinational sportswear corporation takes things to a different level. When it comes to first-class customer experience Nike just does it!
After entering Nike’s 55,000 square foot store in the heart of New York, customers will leave with such experiences that they will never forget in their life.
A visitor, initially entering to check the new model of sneakers will be exposed to the wide-variety of experiences. What appeared to be a half basketball court inside the store turned out to actually be one! A court Surrounded with high resolution digital screens for a better experience.
Or maybe customer wants to buy new running shoes but isn’t sure about how it feels? Nike’s store offers a running trial zone for its customers where one can test the shoe of their choice on a treadmill with a digital screen offering different running track views such as Central Park or West Side Highway.
However, the above-mentioned things were not enough for Nike. The company has always been famous for its innovation and willingness to go the extra mile for its customers (exactly why it’s one of the leaders in the industry).
The company understands that the best way to create a memorable customer experience is through personalization! That’s why if you buy a shoe and want some personal touch on it, without leaving the store you have an opportunity to engrave iconic NYC symbols on it with laser tools located at the shop itself!
Let’s break down the most important aspects that help Nike’s brick-and-mortars to stand strong in digital age.
Building the Customer Experience Power
If there is one thing that helps Nike’s brick-and-mortar to survive it definitely is customer experience. More companies realized that attracting customers with discount coupons and vouchers is inefficient and insufficient today.
Not that they are bad but those are things that online stores offer as well so why should a customer bother and visit your physical store when it takes him/her one click to achieve the same result.
The real answer is customer experience, Just like Nike’s. It is the advantage that physical locations have over online retailers. Today, people shop for experiences rather than goods. So providing it to your client’s will guarantee the safety of your brick-and-mortar store. What do we mean exactly?
One of the things that differentiate us from robots are genuine emotions, and we strongly value them. We connect every experience with the certain type of emotion and shopping is no exception. The technological innovation has not advanced at such a level that shopping at e-commerce would win over physical shopping when it comes to emotions.
Think about it, imagine children visiting the toy shops, running around while exploring and testing new toys. Or perhaps a bride before her wedding trying on a wedding dress with her friends.
What about a person buying a car? Visiting the store, sitting in the car and testing the feeling of it? Do you think these emotions, feelings and experiences can be replaced by e-commerce? Not yet at least.
Simply looking at the screen is just not enough to charge you with positive energy. One has to experience it in person and that is the reason why customers keep visiting the brick-and-mortar stores.
Some brick-and-mortar retailers began understanding that price was not the reason that brought customers to their shops. You must have noticed yourself small minibars at the grocery stores where people enjoy the food or drinks that they have bought.
This is one of the strategies the grocery stores uses to make customers purchasing journey all about their experience. Such facilities challenge the online buying world with free degustations as well as dining bars inside the store!
Innovation: Just Do It
Also, another important thing that helps Nike’s brick-and-mortar stores to stand strong is innovation. Nike emphasizes strongly on innovation in every sphere, is it a product or a customer experience.
Yes, customer experience itself is important but if you don’t spice it up with some innovative products just like Nike, it will not have as strong of an impact.
So like Nike using high definition screens, sensor tablets and self-serving technologies to make customer’s journey more enjoyable and flawless, so should you be looking for similar solutions.
One of the main advantages of e-commerce is the convenience for customers. They do not have to waste as much energy and time as they would while visiting the physical store. Therefore, implementing innovative solutions that will address this issue will give your brick-and-mortar an upper hand.
Perhaps you don’t have enough funds to add expensive novelty gadgets like Nike does. But, truth be told, from the beginning it is not even necessary. Rather, try to focus on something that will provide more value than the cost.
Consider Qminder as one of these tools for several reasons. It gives your customers the option to self sign-in which saves their time, shows their name on the screen while they wait to be served which makes their experience more relaxing and sends SMS notifications when it’s their turn to be served. This gives the ability to keep shopping while they wait.
On the other hand, Qminder provides strong customer insights for you, such as average wait time, most demanded product/service, busiest days of week, etc. All these help you to improve your business operations and enhance your customer experience!
These are the strategies Nike uses at its brick-and-mortar stores to survive the e-commerce domination. However, it is not only Nike but many other big retailers.
As already mentioned the advantage of customer experience at physical stores is so strong that big online retail giants started adjusting to the trend and opening physical locations.
So keep in mind that customer experience and innovation remain the main drivers for your brick-and-mortar success. Start concentrating on these aspects as they are sure to stay irreplaceable.
