One of the use cases that we are seeing with Customer Facing Devices is their role in omni channel marketing. Omni channel is defined as a multichannel approach to marketing that seeks to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience whether they are online (on a desktop or mobile device) or in a brick and mortar store.
Customer Facing Devices play two key roles in omni channel marketing:
1. They bridge the divide between online and physical-store customer experiences. Does your brand look and feel the same between your website, mobile properties (branded apps, mobile websites, mobile profiles, etc.) and physical retail locations? Are customers exposed to the same messages? Same promotions?
2. They allow brands to deliver contextual and relevant Digital Interactions in store. Previous attempts to bring digital experiences to physical locations – like Foursquare, gamification, branded apps, and others – struggled to deliver relevance and context. They also require users to give brands valuable real estate on their mobile screens – real estate that not all consumers are willing to invest in.
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Dick’s Sporting Goods has recently deployed Customer Facing Devices as part of an omni channel marketing approach by putting mobile devices in the hands of their sales associates. Sales Associates use these devices to assist customers with online ordering while in-store, creating an endless-aisle experience. Customers could opt to have their orders delivered to their homes or shipped to various locations for in-store pickup. This allows customers to have the options of online inventory combined with the ability to touch, feel, wear and use products like shoes, workout clothes, exercise machines, etc.
Dick’s reported that eCommerce sales have grown by 50% in local markets with physical locations and customers were able to interact with physical products but still have access to a larger inventory of options as if they were browsing online.
Both Dick’s Sporting Goods and its customers end up winning.
You can read more about how Dick’s Sporting Goods’ game-changing strategies here.
