Promote: The First Step in the Retail Purchasing Lifecycle

Promote: The First Step in the Retail Purchasing Lifecycle

This the first in a series of three blogs focusing on retail’s digital transformation lifecycle: Promote, Find and Purchase. In each of these posts, we look at the implementation strategy for maximizing sales and lowering costs as stores create Intelligent Retail Spaces that consumers demand.

Consumers are more tech-savvy than ever before. Using digital tools to enhance brick-and-mortar promotion is a must. To do this, retailers must focus on shopper personalization. This drives customer engagement and accelerates purchases.
E-coupons are an important starting point in this process. According to the industry-leading mobile offer platform and redemption network Koupon, 92.6 million consumers currently engaged with mobile coupons.  It’s clear that customers expect online offers. Initially, retailers provide coupons to new and casual customers in exchange for personal information. That data is then used to build longer-term loyalty for a specific store location.

Implementing a digital transformation at the edge sets the foundation to assist in a menu of options for helping stores embrace digital promotion. For example, a retail outlet can leverage portals to present coupons. More sophisticated stores can use Facebook integration or an application. Both options solicit user information that can be converted for analytical purposes.

Once a good sense of customer preferences is created, retailers should develop strategies to push just the right product on a scheduled basis. When shop-goers begin to consistently receive offers and announcements for products that resonate with them, it builds store loyalty.

To further assist in the promotion (as well as in the other areas of the purchase lifecycle), offering Presence Analytics is key. This option provides information about the number of visitors versus those just passing by, engagement graphs for time in-store, and loyalty graphs showing application users and repeat visitors.

The uses for this information is broad. In terms of promotion, the success of marketing and advertising can be determined. For example, IP security cameras, which not only deliver security but can also observe store activity, can capture which displays and banners are drawing the most traffic and whether window shoppers are enticed enough to walk into a shop.  

To ensure customers’ ability to make use of promotions in-store, Black Box has been the go-to source for retailers across the globe to implement the right Wi-Fi and LAN/WAN solutions, carrier connectivity, appropriate guest security controls and associated cabling to make the technical aspects of promotion straightforward.
We know that for many retailers, especially those with a broad footprint and centralized IT resources, creating this framework can be daunting. Black Box is the solution to make effective promotion for today’s consumers possible.