Event though you may not be a traditional “retailer” as defined in
this article, the change in consumer behavior does impact your party
business. Consumers will not invest a lot of time calling, leaving
voice-mails or waiting on someone to call them back. They click off
your site and move on and that means a lost sale.
The question is, what are you doing to adjust to this new reality?
Published in the New York Times, March 9 2012,By
STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
When Nadia Karim goes shopping, she doesn’t wait around for
salespeople. She saves items from apps and Web sites on her cellphone as
a shopping list. And as she browses one store — recently trying on Sam
Edelman flats at Nordstrom — she uses the phone to check out styles at
competitors like Macy’s.
“In all honesty, because I shop so much, I feel sometimes I know the
brands better than some of the associates,” said Ms. Karim, 26, an
analyst at Intel in Phoenix. For a generation of shoppers raised on
Google and e-commerce, the answer to “Can I help you?” is increasingly a
firm “no,” even at retailers like Nordstrom that have built their
reputations around customer service.
But instead of getting defensive, some stores and brands are
embracing the change by creating new personal touches that feature
gadgets rather than a doting sales staff. Bobbi Brown has touch-screen
televisions to demonstrate the perfect smoky eye, something that was
once the exclusive domain of makeup artists.
The basketball star LeBron
James’s shoe store in Miami has 50 iPads to describe its merchandise.
Macy’s is testing cosmetics stations where tablets offer reviews and
tips. And at C. Wonder, shoppers use a touchpad to personalize the
lighting and music in dressing rooms (there is also a button in case,
olden-days style, they need to call for help).
The self-service theme, which started years ago with checkout at
groceries, has progressed to the point where shoppers can navigate
entire stores without once having to say, “Just looking, thanks.”
Companies are adding the technology now because it has gotten cheap
enough to make it feasible and because Apple and other tablet and
touch-screen makers are increasing their sales efforts. Stores also
don’t want to risk losing those customers who are not content shopping
from home but nonetheless prefer Pinterest recommendations, Zappos
reviews and Fashism feedback to interacting with someone behind the
counter.
“There’s a tendency to believe that if you talk to somebody, they’re
going to waste your time or sell you something you don’t need,” said
Ricardo Quintero, global general manager of market development for
Clinique, which uses touch screens at its counters. “It’s taking the
pressure off.”
In Nordstrom’s case, customers have surprised the retailer. Nordstrom
introduced an app in the fall that executives expected people would
mostly use remotely to order items while they were watching TV or
waiting for a train. In addition to that, though, customers used the app
while shopping at Nordstrom rather than approach the sales staff.
“How the customer is defining service and wants service to be
delivered is changing pretty rapidly, and a lot of that is driven by
technology,” said Erik Nordstrom, president of stores for Nordstrom. “A
lot of customers like to touch and feel and try on the merchandise, but
they also want that information that they get online.”
Nordstrom has added Wi-Fi to almost all its stores, in part so its
app will work fast, and is testing charging stations and clusters of
iPads and computers. It does not limit what people can do on the
in-store devices, Mr. Nordstrom said. “It’s to have our stores be
relevant, be a helpful place for people to be whether they’re shopping
from us or stopping to check their e-mail,” he said.
The plain truth, some retail analysts say, is that businesses of all
sorts have no choice but to accommodate consumers who are trained to do
research on their own — and prefer doing so. Quicken Loans Arena in
Cleveland now gives suite visitors an iPad so they can order food and
drinks directly from it, while Aloft Hotels, a Starwood division, has
installed tablets instead of concierge stations.
At Land Rover, the addition of online tools for research has cut down
sharply on dealer visits. In 2000, people, on average, made 7.5 visits
to a dealer before placing an order. In 2010, that figure was 1.3
visits, with shoppers conducting 80 percent of their research on their
own, said Andy Goss, president of Jaguar Land Rover North America.
The new technology is also being adapted by manufacturers who have
been dependent on employees at big-box stores to sell their products but
now see the opportunity for a direct line to the customer.
Scott Paul, chief executive of iPad Enclosures, which installs
technology for retailers, said Samsung and other manufacturers were
considering adding iPads that offered live video chat with a Samsung
salesperson at stores like Best Buy. “You can use the kiosk to do
better, in a lot of cases, than a 17- or 18-year-old sales rep,” Mr.
Paul said.
The replacement of salespeople with screens is not without its
detractors. Some people worry about jobs, though stores say that for now
they are not getting rid of employees to accommodate their digital
counterparts. And Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, said that shoppers lost something intrinsic to
the human experience when they avoided salespeople.
“The point is not to be nostalgic for the good old days, but to ask
ourselves, what kind of society do we want?” said Professor Turkle, the
author of “Alone Together,” a book on people’s relationships with
technology. With technology replacing human interaction, she said,
“you’ve taken out a lot of the richness, the messiness and the
demandingness of actually having to deal with people.”
Ms. Karim, the Phoenix shopper, says that she does not avoid all
salespeople, but that technology has given her the freedom to be choosy.
She still enjoys chatting with makeup-counter salespeople, for
example, and getting suggestions from personal shoppers.
“It’s fun to see things in person, and touch the fabrics, and try on shoes,” she said. “It’s a social experience.”
