Creating Trusted, Interested Connections With Customers In Retail

Retail has suffered terribly through the pandemic but now is the time to look at how it can embrace change and Connected Design.

This is where consumers don’t just experience a brand, they are actively engaged with or connected to it.

The driver behind intrinsic connection with customers is so they stay for the retailers’ journey – they listen, watch and buy.

They stay during growth or contraction, they stay through changing seasons. They are connected long past one shopping moment.

As I see it, a customer is always a customer – it is not simply isolated to the moment where money is exchanged for goods.

In every store we design there 4 key pillars we look to achieve – convenience, continuity, community and connection. For each of these pillars we ask key questions:

Convenience

• Can we make shopping in-store as convenient as shopping online?
• Do we need to provide seamless click and connect?
• Is information easily accessible in-store or must customers rely on store staff?
• Do the in-store team know as much about the product/service as is on the website?
• Does in-store assistance help to narrow down decision making?

Continuity (of care)

• Do we care about our in-store customers as much as our online customers?
• Do we follow up with them post-purchase, via automated feedback loop for instance?
• Do all our channels provide continuity of service? Are we truly omnichannel in experience?
• Do people coming into the store know who we are if they haven’t visited us online?

Community

• Are our values clear to customers?
• How can customers align with us if we don’t share who we are?
• How does the design support sustainability initiatives – are we greenwashing?
• Do we communicate sustainability authentically around conscious material design choices?

Connection

• Do we show that we care about our customers and their business?
• Does the design excite them to show we want to teach them, interest them?
• Are we interested in our customers’ feedback after an in-store experience?

To create a long-lasting relationship with shoppers, connection is at the forefront of our design strategies.

Lizzi Whaley
CEO