CUSTOMER SELF-ENGAGEMENT AND HOW THAT TRANSFORMS TELECOM RETAILING.

Transcription

1 CUSTOMER SELF-ENGAGEMENT AND HOW THAT TRANSFORMS TELECOM RETAILING. A WHITE PAPER ON IMPROVING STORE PERFORMANCE.

2 INTRODUCTION

3 Retailers in North America and Europe that have already deployed MicroSigns consistently see extraordinary results. SHOPPER ENGAGEMENT RATES SAME STORE SALES Shoppers walk into telecoms stores more to experience the latest smart devices than to buy them, so smart retailers are using new tools and strategies to get shoppers both engaged and buying. Creating engagement at the point of purchase is now a powerful strategy, and the MicroSigns digital merchandising platform is steadily proving itself as the solution for making that happen. Content displayed on screens in line with merchandised products attracts interest from customers, and the signs interactive capabilities engage consumers in a self-discovery process that s consistently leading to engagement with sales staff and improved store sales performance. MicroSigns wireless, interactive color LCD displays are positioned next to each demo device in retail stores, attracting shoppers with animated content that provides brand experiences and entices them to engage and start interacting. Customers get easy, accurate information about monthly plans, features, accessories and promotions. Direct experience across multiple retail clients is showing shoppers who independently self-engage in MicroSigns-equipped stores grow confident about their options for devices and plans, and are less intimidated about the purchasing process. They re ready to talk and transact. Engagement ratios soar in MicroSigns-equipped stores, and that directly leads to improved store performance. Buying up on products, plans Margins grow as customers are exposed, understand and select higher margin item Better shopper experiences Readily available, accurate information improves in-store experiences This white paper describes how deploying the MicroSigns cloud-based digital merchandising platform transforms telecom retailing, delivering dramatic same-store sales increases, higher shopper engagement rates, increased margins and better shopper experiences. Through a series of successful deployments with some of the world s top wireless retailers, MicroSigns has developed a complete merchandising solution to manage interactive content on its displays. The solution involves software services, a set of best practices, hardware tools and processes successfully tested with several large international telecom retailers. Our products and know-how break down as: 1. Conformance management 2. Segmenting the offer 3. Engagement feedback 4. Performance management 03

4 1. CONFORMANCE MANAGEMENT CONFORMANCE OF STORES TO A PLANOGRAM ENSURES THAT MERCHANDISING CAMPAIGNS ARE PROPERLY, ACCURATELY EXECUTED Retailers can t meet performance objectives if merchandising campaigns are not properly put together in their stores. Ensuring merchandising compliance at retail is a huge challenge for telecom merchandising teams. The increasing complexity of the mix, the number of stakeholders involved, the size of the estate and the frequency of campaign changes create an incredibly complex process to manage. Telecom merchandising teams have had few tools at their disposal to manage it all. The problem is revealed in compliance levels which are typically measured and enforced through random audits of retail locations. These audits rarely provide timely compliance measurements, and execution guarantees are obtained weeks after the merchandising plan has been launched. At times, the compliance numbers are coming in as the promotions lapse. MicroSigns changes all of that. MicroSigns empowers retailers to develop, execute and manage planograms at head office, and see them accurately followed in stores across the retail estate. The MicroSigns digital merchandising platform changes compliance measurements from audit reports to hourly measurements, based on the placement of merchandising information at each product position in each store, following a planogram defined by head office. Compliance is measured by region, store, sections within individual stores and even by individual products. MicroSigns customers repeatedly reach % compliance levels because the system is directly managed by head office and store managers. All changes made by store staff are tracked and reported, so that head office always knows what s going on, and why. To get and keep store managers engaged, MicroSigns has used its client and field experience to develop a set of best practices that are backed with tools, training and implementation procedures. It s the know-how that allows retailers to perfectly execute their plans from store installation to store operations, and from planogram planning to campaign execution in those stores. MicroSigns is networked, allowing planogram changes to be made in minutes and price changes in just seconds, with accuracy ensured. Merchandising campaigns that can take days or even weeks to fully reach all point-of-sale locations take just hours with MicroSigns, all managed from a secure but simple web browser. 04

5 2. SEGMENTING OFFERS SEGMENTING OFFERS ALLOWS RETAILERS TO SELL HIGHER MARGIN ITEMS IN HIGH-END LOCATIONS, WHICH BOOSTS OVERALL RESULTS Existing merchandising processes and available signage solutions make it difficult to manage a segmented offer, where different products, services and plans can be shown in different store segments, or associated to the same product in different sections of a store. Complexity and the frequency of changes forces telecom retailers to instead keep things simple, presenting most products in the same way in all their stores. Product categories also require special treatment, not only in terms of the marketing mix, but also in the manner and tone that the information is communicated at the point-of-sale. Without taking into account the execution of a campaign through a network of stores, the matrix of options required to segment presentations quickly becomes too big and too complex to be manually managed. MicroSigns transforms segmentation. MicroSigns empowers users to create product categories and store segments that can be associated with specific offers, that can then be differentiated by variables like price, bundling and promotional offers. Equipped with these tools, merchandising teams can easily manage the placement of in-store product information by targeting the most appropriate offers, buy-back plans and bundles, based on segments and categories. 05

6 3. ENGAGEMENT FEEDBACK TOOLS LET RETAILERS IMMEDIATELY IDENTIFY UNDERPERFORMING PRODUCTS AND OPTIMIZE POSITIONS The MicroSigns platform captures customer interactions on the digital displays at each product position, for each store, for the entire retail estate. This feedback data provides invaluable insights into customer engagement with products, merchandising positions, promotions and segments. and positions, spot ineffectual promotions, pricing and product placements, and pick up execution flaws in the merchandising campaign. Armed with these new insights, merchandising teams can now actively manage in-store engagement with their customers, and optimize store performance. It s a massive breakthrough for telecom merchandising teams, who suddenly have a steady, near real-time window on the effects of their mix on customer engagement in their stores. This includes observing the most frequented products and positions, as well as the most viewed promotions and offers. All feedback data provided by MicroSigns is linked to factors under the control of merchandising teams. Those teams can readily identify underperforming products 06

7 4. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT MEASURING AND ANALYZING ENGAGEMENT RATES HELPS TELECOM RETAILERS UNDERSTAND WHAT S HAPPENING ON THE SALES FLOOR Communication at the point-of-sale is the most crucial touchpoint for customers during their path to purchase. The effectiveness of communications is measured by an increase in engagement rates. That s the ratio between the number of customer walk-ins over a given period of time, and the number of interactions at the point-of-sale. Once a customer is engaged, it is much easier for a salesperson to approach and influence the sale. That engagement of customers in stores must be managed, and there are many store performance questions looking for answers: by customers? Or are some stores behaving differently? In your best stores, how are the sales people interacting with your customers at the point of purchase? Is there a best practice to communicate? MicroSigns digital merchandising platform provides merchandising teams with the ability to manage the execution of their merchandising programs, segment their merchandising mix, measure customer interactions and continually improve their customer engagement strategies through the use of benchmarking techniques and the establishment of best practices in stores. assisted selling tools for sales associates, giving them instant, deep and accurate information about devices and their related plans and promotions. Shoppers get the answers they need, and get moved closer to making buying decisions. Are changes that are made to content improving engagement ratios in stores? In segments of stores? Are customer touchpoints being consulted, as planned, MicroSigns changes traditional merchandising processes by providing merchandising teams with a direct link between their strategies and store performance. They also provide powerful 07

8 CONCLUSION Telecoms retailers that have deployed MicroSigns into their retail estates have seen a powerful return both in numbers and experience. Self-engagement technology is having a big impact on wireless retailing, and smart companies are turning to MicroSigns to make it happen. As described above, sales soar, margins improve, and engagement rates climb exponentially. Encouraging shoppers to self-engage with intriguing, informative displays on their terms transforms them from uncertain, intimidated prospects to new customers who are ready and eager to talk to sales people on the shop floor. Near-perfect compliance rates mean shoppers are seeing the right promotions, when they re valid. Planograms are accurate. And busy sales staff notice shoppers are sticking around, using MicroSigns displays to get the information they need as they wait. Wait time issues diminish, and as detailed, when sales staff come available, the shoppers are comfortable and ready to talk and transact. To learn more about MicroSigns: