As the consumer shopping habits change, everyone in the business are now heavily invested in various shopping channels to connect with current and potential shoppers and adapt to the ever-changing needs of the market. While online and brick and mortar stores interact with shoppers in different ways, they are now looking to rediscover how they can improve existing strategies and at the same time combine it with innovations brought by technology to boost shopper comfort levels.
The Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) and Retail Associates had an interactive session last November 24, 2021 on how to engage retailers in a channel-less experience. According to Bo Lunqvist, President & CEO of Retail Associates and the event moderator, every retailer needs to craft a strategy to increasingly streamline their technology for every Filipino shopper.
During the first presentation on customer experience, Nicholas Kontopoulos, Head of Growth Marketing at Adobe DX shared that 80-90% of our decision-making is being driven emotionally either we’re buying consumer goods or B2B goods. “We’re very emotional creatures. Every day we are making promises to our customers, to our employees and to our suppliers. The more promises we make, & the more we keep, the more trust we build and trust is the bedrock of customer experience”, he said.
Further, Nicholas even intimated a valuable information about Digital Darwinism wherein technology and society evolve faster than businesses can naturally adapt. “Here’s the truth and harsh reality, today’s customer will go elsewhere if you can’t provide consistent, high value physical and digital experiences”, he stated.
On the other hand, Matthew McCllelland, Head of Growth – Southeast Asia at DotDigital, mentioned on his presentation that the future of retail is marrying both offline and online experience. McClelland said that digital freedom is the place for customers to shop, socialize and experience. It gives businesses access to all the different elements that your customer would go through.
Additionally, he revealed that there are four key stages or map on customer interaction and value to follow the life cycle and these are reach, act, convert, engage. Aside from that, McCllelland firmly stated the importance of knowing your customer better and using e-commerce to their advantage to make a data driven decision to understand customers.
Lastly, Lundqvist shared his key learnings in preparation for the company’s strategic planning in 2022. He stated that, “we have to create immediately a completely different store engagement, and train people to provide something that we can’t get online and people engaged to the store. To kick start this relationship with the customers again, we have to start meeting with them and get back to the store.”
Raphael Layosa, Founder and CEO of Retailgate Technologies, Inc. / Chief Technology Officer of United Neon Media Group hosted the whole day session and Atty. Paul Santos welcomed the participants.
The 15th PRA Thought Leadership Series is co-presented by Retail Associates, the leading business advisory and consulting firm in the Philippines with Retailgate Technologies as program partner and Megamobile, Inc. as media partner.
For more details about PRA Activities, email the PRA Executive Secretariat at specialprojects@philretailers.com.