Recreating the intuitive online experience in stores

Nowadays, the connected store addresses two main goals: it helps deliver an optimal consumer experience and enables marketing teams to gather valuable useful data. Today, it is possible to acquire a good customer knowledge online: time spent on the site, products purchased, preferences, searches... Companies have access to the data gathered digitally and to specific tools. However, it is harder to gather data on consumers in physical points of sales. Nevertheless, one of the major retail trends for 2016 is the convergence between online and offline, also called "phygital" (Physical + Digital). How does one replicate the online customer knowledge in a physical store? In preparation for the HUBDAY Future of Retail that will take place on February 4th 2016 at the MEDEF, the HUB Institute met with Frédéric Puche, Director of the Digital Executive Briefing Center at SAP France. Frédéric took us on a tour of the "phygital" SAP hybris in which different connected prototypes are presented, proof of the transformation that retail is currently undergoing.

1 – Customer expectations have changed

Currently, a number of companies are putting omnichannel strategies in place, enabling them to interact with clients on all touchpoints. SAP hypris goes even further by demonstrating the importance of adopting an "omniconsumer" strategy. Implemented by only 10% of the retailers interviewed for the SAP Performance Benchmarking study, this complex strategy must enable clients to affirm "know me, advise me and let me choose". In other words, the retailer knows its clients' preferences, follows their customer journey, give them personalised advice and deliver them, basically, a unique shopping experience. Basically, customers are looking for an experience in stores that is similar to the one they can find online.  

2 – The alliance between startups and the leader of technological customer experience solutions

The rise of digital is reinventing consumer experiences each day. The possibilities offered by technology are infinite and give startups fantastic opportunities to innovate. SAP has understood this well and has set up the SAP startup focus program in order to attract young newcomers that are inventing the commerce of tomorrow daily. The solutions include the most promising Big Data, predictive analysis and real-time statistics. They are offered to SAP clients who are looking to orient themselves towards a customer-centric strategy. The in-store experience must be considered as a continuous improvement process: information gathered on offline consumers thanks to technology will enable a better customer knowledge and, thus, an optimisation of the experience in the future.

3 – The phydigital SAP hybris showroom, a concentrate of technologies revolutionising retail

Phygital retail is a strong underlying trend as it applies the assets of the digital world to physical spaces. It namely includes combining the reassuring side of a physical touchpoint with the "theatricalisation" or experiential immersion possibilities and the information, commercial and interactive richness of the digital world. In this sens, the phygital SAP hydris showroom is a unique place dedicated to customer experience, where technologies allows retailers to have an instant vision of a client's preferences. The data stemming from an on-site real-time analysis are a valuable source of information to improve marketing strategies. A smart wine shelf, interactive cones or even a connected changing room presented in the video are just a sample of the demonstrations presented to our team - there are still plenty more to discover! [caption id="attachment_24863" align="aligncenter" width="360"] Labs hybris Smart Wine Shelf[/caption] [caption id="attachment_24864" align="aligncenter" width="810"] Labs hybris Funky Retail[/caption]   The retail ecosystem is undergoing major changes thanks to the advancement of new technologies and the innovation capacity of startups. The solutions presented in the test SAP hybris store give us an idea of what our shopping outings of tomorrow could look like. SAP is participating in the disruption of commerce by reducing the barrier between physical and digital to extract the best from both worlds.   Find SAP hybris at the HUBDAY Future of Retail on February 4th to discover all of the latest phygital trends and to the possibilities offered by the convergence of off- and online. [column width="three" position="first"] [/column] [column width="seven" position="last"]

HUBDAY FUTURE OF RETAIL & E-COMMERCE February 4th 2016

Retailtainment, connected screens and displays (Digital Out Of Home), omnichannel CRM,mobile interactions , ibeacons, drive to store, contactless payment, geolocalised marketing, Big Data, new models of distribution... Identify the key elements of success to reinvent the retail of tomorrow. [button href="http://hubinstitute.com/futureofretail/" target="_blank" css_classes="tiny_button regular_text"]Reserve your seat![/button] [/column]   [column width="three" position="first"] [/column] [column width="seven" position="last"]

BROCHURE 6 STRATEGIES TO SIMPLIFY MARKETING IN RETAIL 

  [button href="https://go.sap.com/france/cmp/oth/crm-fr15-1re-cmo-smmc/index.html?source=social-FR-hubinstituteFRtext-2015_EMEA_RetailCMO-LP-LP_20_CMO&campaigncode=CRM-FR15-1RE-COM-SMMC" target="_blank" css_classes="tiny_button regular_text"]Download brochure[/button] [/column]   To visit the Executif Brief Center or the phygital SAP hybris showroom, you can contact Bénédicte Rabaud