Key Takeaways
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The Changing Retail Industry
Consumer expectations of digital shopping experiences have dramatically shifted.
Gone are the days when consumers measured and compared a brand’s digital experience to those of its competitors within the same space. Today, consumers are comparing retail brands with the very best digital experiences across completely different industries.
Digital experiences are a brand’s most valuable currency in 2021, but they fit into a larger omnichannel experience that needs to be seamless and add value to the consumer at every turn.
Retail brands that understand their consumer are the ones most likely to get this experience right - and ultimately grow and thrive.
Digital-first behaviors are not expected to go away. Over half of North American consumers say they make an online purchase at least once per week.
Scott is responsible for making sure that all of Appnovation’s clients get the most inspired products and services. As a member of Appnovation’s Board of Directors, he also leads an internal culture where teams think big and thrive. Powered by a deep commitment to creative thinking and a passion for developing breakthrough, growth-driving strategies, he’s mentored Fortune 500 companies on their own digital journeys for more than two decades.
Scott Wassmer
GM, AMERICAS
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Brands need to understand that their consumer experience is going to be compared to other digital experiences outside of their vertical on a regular basis. The digital world has become the great equalizer of brand experience and that means that your retail experience will be judged against those created by the greats like Apple, Google and Facebook regularly.
Scott Wassmer
GM, AMERICAS
There is room for improvement. Only one in five consumers rate the current digital experience offered by retailers as ‘Excellent’, indicating that retailers could be falling short of their consumers’ expectations.
What’s important in a retail experience varies among generations. Gen Z values ease of the experience above all else (34%), while Millennials and Gen X value things like price and value (35% and 48% respectively).
Brands can differentiate in the experience. Many features that customers value - like price and value - are arguably table stakes. Where a brand can truly differentiate is in the value-added experience created for its shoppers.
The future is digital-first. Consumers expect that the future of retail is more digital and more personalized, with 85% of consumers indicating they believe new features will be added to the retail digital experience soon.
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Reinventing the retail space using digital technologies
As we start looking at the post-pandemic world, it's important to understand how the last year has changed consumer expectations and behavior in the retail space. Expectations around retail digitization have increased and a desire for the personalized experiences prevalent in the e-commerce space. There's a desire for these experiences to be translated from the digital world into the physical.
Why Empathy is Key to Engaging Retail Customers in 2021
“Customer behavior is evolving faster than ever.” You’ve probably heard this a lot already, and know that this new reality will continue in 2021. Consumers’ needs are radically changing and their expectations for digital experiences are growing. But, because of the pandemic, the types of changes we’re seeing are coming from an unexpected psychological place. To meet them, your retail business needs to understand customers as human beings and evolve experiences beyond functional transactions to empathetic engagement.
To get CX right, you must first understand what the customer values.
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Over one in five consumers indicated that they have stopped using a retailer because they didn’t like the digital experience that was offered. This is higher among Canadian consumers, who switched retailers at a rate of one in four.
Appnovation’s research measured Canadian and American retail consumers’ values and expectations of retail brands, specifically in relation to their digital shopping experiences.
Switched retailers because they didn't like the digital experience that was offered