Lidl opened the first ever in-store pub, IKEA hosted sleepover events, and TOMS placed virtual reality headsets across its store. It makes you wonder, are we going too far with all these flashy retail experiences? Sure, they’re fun and get people talking, but do you really need all of these to gain your customer’s attention and loyalty?

Experiential retailing has been a topic for a while now, and everyone is talking about what you need to do to create this wow effect in your stores to make people come. It seems that retailers are racing to deliver outstanding solutions, buzzy gimmicks, and whatever other things will make them stand out, regardless of whether they make any sense. Has anyone mentioned the Oversized Marketing trend?

This makes you stop and think: are we losing sight of what really matters? Retailers are putting time, budget, and effort into creating all of this, but sometimes they miss what’s most important to customers.

Why Are Retailers Betting Big on Experiential Retail?

Retail, in general, is not an easy ecosystem to compete in, in fact, it’s extremely competitive. By nature, when you see your competitors doing something successfully, you feel the urge to do it too, or even think you have to do it as well.

In other cases, retailers notice a drop in customer engagement and look for a quick fix. What will make customers talk about them? Visit their stores? Buy more? Experiential retail trends deliver fast results.

And don’t get me wrong, giving exciting experiences is important and a great way to increase customer engagement, especially when promoting a new product or collection. But it seems like retailers are turning a blind eye to what actually matters: why they’ve been losing customers and deals in the first place.

It usually has to do with real problems that seem harder to fix. For instance, frequent out of stocks, a lack of online operations, long queues in stores, or not offering a loyalty program that makes it worth continuing to purchase.

This is where retailers should invest first, before turning to all types of trendy activities. If you have to decide where to allocate your budget, improving stock visibility should come before giant CGI advertising.

What Do You Really Need to Create an Outstanding Customer Experience?

Shopping trends and popular items are changing fast, but there are things customers always appreciate, such as a convenient shopping experience and excellent stock management. If you manage to check the following boxes, you can ensure you're staying on the safe side.

Stock availability

Obviously, you must have stock available in order to sell. BUT, this is easier said than done. Stockouts are far too common in retail and cause a lot of frustration for customers. And you don’t even necessarily know. A customer sees your 1-day-old Instagram post featuring a new jacket, rushes to the store after work, only to discover it sold out a week ago. The customer will leave your store disappointed, and you have no idea you've just sent her straight to your competitor.

Customers coming to your store expect you to have what you promote, and they expect full size availability in stock. Even if your stock is available but not in the popular (or their) size, that still counts as a disappointment. And no, they don’t want you to order it for them (they haven't tried it on to know if they like it enough), so that’s not a suitable solution.

Fast checkout

Many people hate long queues to the point where they’ll blacklist stores that constantly have long lines at checkout and simply avoid going there. That’s a big portion of people either intentionally skipping your store or entering, only to see the checkout queue and decide to leave right away. But even those who decide to enter and pile their cart might abandon it after a few (too long) minutes of waiting, whether because they expected the line to move faster, they’re in a rush, or simply because the items aren’t worth the wait in their opinion.

Omnichannel

Shopping behaviours are more diverse than ever, and each customer has their own preferences. Some like to explore in-store and shop online, some explore online and buy in-store, while others prefer to buy online but pick up in-store. If your offering is only available in brick-and-mortar stores, you’re losing customers. If the only delivery option available for online purchases is door-to-door delivery that costs £8, you’re losing customers. You want to be flexible and offer as many diverse options as possible, click-and-collect, delivery lockers, door-to-door, and if you can provide visibility online of available stock in-store, customers will know whether it’s worth coming in.

Loyalty Program

Consumers today are well aware of their power and they know they’ll make purchases, but they want to get the best deal out of it. That’s why they’ll probably prioritise businesses that offer great loyalty programs they can benefit from. So if you don’t have one, consider starting one. It could be as simple as earning coins or points for each purchase, which can then be used as a discount on future purchases. Or offer unique coupons for items they tend to buy regularly. This creates a sense of exclusivity that gives customers a rewarding feeling, and they also feel that their purchases are financially smarter as they’re serving their future selves.

Once you start prioritising convenience for your customers and building trust that you can deliver what they need whenever they need it, you will see an increase in engagement and brand loyalty. After that, you can level up to other experiential retail strategies to bring new customers to your brand.

To sum up, as a retailer, you should always prioritise what really matters when it comes to customer experience: providing convenient shopping with full stock availability, great omnichannel options, a loyalty program, and quick purchasing both in-store (and online). After that, you can consider creating buzz with the wow factor and outstanding experiential retailing to bring more new clients.