Retail shops, on the whole, are austere, but shopping should be fun, claims Barry Skinner, augmented reality specialist

Retail shops, on the whole, are austere, but shopping should be fun, claims Barry Skinner, augmented reality specialist

Barry Skinner, director and founder of BrandCOMM Digital asks, why do people go out to shop when they can buy most everything on the internet? Is it because they are looking for an experience? Do they get that in most shops?

“Retailers need to respond to circumstances; we are just exiting one of the worst recessions ever...How will retailers respond in an effort to attract more customers through the doors?” he said.

“Most retail experiences are poor. It’s rare to go into a store and leave feeling amazed at the experience. There are too many “me too” retail stores, and they do nothing to really stand out, be memorable and generate buzz,” Skinner continued. “Retail stores could do so much more to attract, engage and excite people.”

Innovating with the brand

“I remember the work we did for Puma, it started in swinging Carnaby Street, London in 2004. The brief was for the Puma cat to walk around the walls of the store jumping across the store fitments. This wasn’t a real cat of course, just projected images moving 360 degrees around the walls. Dylan, the big cat, was trained in a studio where store fitments were replicated. Once filmed and projected in store, he could be seen throughout the day walking and jumping across the top of the fitments. It was breathtaking when not expected!

“The spectacle attracted more customers to the store, word was spread, press and television were engaged. It was exciting and everybody wanted to visit the store and be part of the experience; God knows what it did for turnover! In those days we did not monitor sales and footfall as closely as we do today,” he added.

“Retail stores have to stand for something more than their product. Shopping should be an event and retailers shouldn’t be concentrating on selling just their product, they should be selling a memorable experience. Price alone isn’t a competitive advantage.

“A retail experience should be like theatre, companies who stage an experience engage customers in a memorable way, they move on from a ‘me too’ company providing customers with experiences which are not just entertaining them, but engaging them as well.”

Appealing to the senses

Skinner advised: “To design a rich, compelling, experience one should always base the design on all four senses and continually think, what can be done to improve the experience?

“The dynamic experience is what draws your customers to the store, engages them, gets them to stay longer, and spreads the word. Retailers should be leveraging surprise. It’s not that hard. Surprise drives word-of-mouth — and that’s what stores need. They need lots and lots of people talking about them.”

“Keep it fresh,” he added. “Campaigns should be continuous. Yes, a good rich experience will start the momentum, but what happens when the novelty wears off? It is vital to introduce new campaigns regularly: perhaps seasonally based. Keep the magic going.”

“Augmented Reality (AR) is a good way of engaging. Armed with AR printed leaflets: something well designed they may want to keep, your staff can interact with potential customers while handing these out. Once the customer has taken the leaflet they can then be asked to show it to a webcam, which has been integrated into a large digital screen and where everybody in store will see what’s happening. As an incentive to take part there could be random prizes offered, discounts of the day could be shown plus the opportunity to promote forthcoming products or events.

“People will talk about it with their friends, they’ll put it on Facebook, it will be seen by others who will also visit the store to engage with the experience. Put the same campaign in your window, get some of your staff moving around the shopping centre handing out cards and telling people they can win prizes if they visit the store.”

Finally, Skinner asked: “How’s your window display? Is it the same as your competitors? Installing a virtual holographic screen in the window space, which shows moving images walking in and out, is an eye catcher. Best seen at night it can be electronically stowed away during day trading or permanently fill your window. The one pictured that we installed in Berlin certainly drew a crowd!”