The 2017 sales: how do you optimise your in-store sales?

Once the end-of-year festivities are over, retailers turn their attention to the winter sales, which begin in less than a week in France. According to an LSA survey, clothing is well out in front in terms of purchase intentions (74.3%). Trousers, shoes and underwear make up the top three items that will most likely be in greatest demand during this period.

That said, French shoppers' purchase intentions are down for these winter sales (3 points lower than the 2016 edition). With private sales, stock clearances and the many discounts retailers hand their best customers throughout the year, the sales no longer appeal to the French.

You might even wonder whether it would be worth moving to a different, American-style model, with one or more special days and heavy discounts. Along the lines of Black Friday in the United States. As a reminder, the phenomenon once again drew plenty of enthusiasm this year, with around 89% of French people intending to take part.

There is another issue too, around the channel the consumer chooses. Online or in store, the stakes are different. E-commerce has been coming out on top for a few years now, with online shoppers up 15% in 2015 and 2016. Between the crowds and the items left rolled up, creased and trampled, plenty of people prefer this channel to avoid the crush of the stores. That is without mentioning the quality of the welcome sales assistants give customers, which suffers because of the extra workload and the sheer number of shoppers in store.

And what if the sales ultimately turned out to be meaningless and counterproductive. One question then arises: how do you optimise your sales during this rush period?

#1 / Give customers a reason to make the trip

Why should a customer head out and brave the crowds and the cold to find something they could more easily find online? In truth there are several reasons, and they are the strengths of physical retail today.

An affective reason

First of all, the atmosphere of the store and the brand's ability to make passers-by feel something as they walk in. That takes shape through visual and audio effects such as the store design, the colours and the music, but first and foremost quite simply through well laid-out, tidy shelves.

A relational reason

Then comes the role of your sales force, which must not be pushed into the background during the sales period. Quite the opposite: it is at this key moment that it should prove to be the retailer's finest asset. What is more off-putting than sensing the stress, the irritation and the tiredness of a sales assistant when you ask them for information about an item?

An emotional reason

Finally, if you are going to make the trip, it may as well be to live a unique, memorable experience. In-store activities, demonstrations, the wow effect: there is no shortage of ways to surprise customers and give them an enjoyable moment. What remains is to work out how to slot it perfectly into their purchase journey and turn it into something useful for the customer and the brand alike.

At Fitizzy we have developed a connected fitting room that builds in our size recommendation solution and answers these challenges. Its purpose is to pinpoint precisely the sizes best suited to a customer by brand/retailer, by product category and even by individual product. Plenty of features can be added, such as creating a wishlist or calling a sales assistant. For the retailer and the shopping centre, it is a way to get to know customers better and to enrich their CRM through the data collected. Fully customisable, the Fitiroom guarantees a wow effect among visitors to the point of sale.

#2 / Build on the way your customers behave

The key to a successful retail experience is mobile. 64% of French shoppers say they use their smartphone in store. Give them a reason to do so and improve their experience during the sales. The Fitizzy app lets shoppers create their “morphological profile” and find out their size by scanning the barcodes of items in store with their smartphone. The app can also geolocate the stores where it is switched on, and invite customers to visit them.

#3 / Smooth out the flow of people in store

There is no need to labour the point: we have all found ourselves stuck in the crowd in the middle of a store, or in a queue outside a shopping centre boutique during the sales. Far from pleasant, that experience raises a problem retailers have to face:

With the Fitiroom customers are completely self-sufficient and, above all, do not need to get undressed. The experience is quick (a matter of seconds) and gives them the information they need for shopping, namely which item (in stock) in which size matches their body shape in their favourite brand or brands.

A brand-new experience and a time-saver for consumers, it fits perfectly into every retail setting, whether in a boutique or a shopping centre.

To find out more about our solution and our products, do not hesitate to get in touch.

Sources:

http://www.lsa-conso.fr/soldes-2017-baisse-des-intentions-d-achats-des-francais-sondage-exclusif,251823

http://www.digitaslbi.com/fr/actualites/france/les-attentes-du-consommateur-connecte-2015–multi-screen-social-shopping-personnalisation-les-composants-essentiels-de-la-nouvelle-experience-retail/