SKU’d Thoughts 10: Can great customer experience be maintained both online and offline?

In SKU’d Thoughts 7, I noted that Digitally Native Vertical Brands (DNVBs) have a leg up on traditional retailers when it comes to customer experience because they control a data-driven one-to-one relationship with their customers. This relationship works well online but once it moves offline, the control advantage begins to vanish. Here are three ways these brands can maintain high customer experience with both online and physical location shoppers.

1. Set the customer’s expectation. The brick-and-mortar locations of most DNVBs are just showrooms, intended to allow potential customers to touch and feel before buying. With this being the case, as soon as a customer walks into a DNVB’s store they should be greeted by a sales associate who immediately sets the expectation. This expectation setting allows customers to fully understand that they may not be walking out with any merchandise but they will have a chance to be sized and fitted for later gratification.

2. Ensure there is consistent brand messaging. Unlike, traditional retailers that stock various brands, DNVBs have a narrow offering. This is advantageous when it comes to training in-store representatives. The reps have to get smart on just one brand and ensure that they are conveying the same brand message that customers would see if they were making purchases on the company’s website. At Casper locations, store associates provide education on different types of mattresses while touting the sleep benefits of the Casper mattress.

3. Provide convenience to the customer at every turn. Part of the reason I shop online versus going into a store is I want to avoid the crowds. DNVBs have to make their physical locations feel personable as possible. Meaning if I am at your store and I need to ask someone a question about a product, there is someone readily available to answer and if I’m ready to check out I don’t need to stand on a line and wait. An excellent example of this is Warby Parker. The eyeglass outfitter equips each sales associate with a tablet that can handle point-of-sale transactions, eliminating the need for a checkout counter and the lines that are often associated with going into a store.

Maintaining great customer experience across both online and offline platforms will be key to the survival of DNVBs. As the numbers have shown, a majority of purchases still happen at physical locations so to truly scale their businesses these brands will need a physical presence. Retail is not dead, bad retail customer experience certainly is though.

Cross-posted on Medium