- Brands are now adapting Back to Store practices
- Offer phygital, contactless shopping experiences
- EasyrewardzShopster Emerges as the Most Preferred
Feedback Advisory, an end-to-end Market Research and Advisory firm, has recently conducted a survey on the impact of COVID on Indian retail industry, with a focus on practices that retailers are adapting to accelerate their path to recovery post lockdown.
The key findings have shed light on Conversational Commerce being the ‘Go to Market’ aide to get customers back to stores and offer phygital, contactless shopping experiences. Brands are now adapting Back to Store practices as well as are trying to meet their customers where they are.
It was noted that out of few Conversational Commerce toolkits available in the market, Shopster by Easyrewardz is 1.5X-3X more preferred than competition in facilitating sales via WhatsApp/WebBot, schedule store visits and accept digital payments.
“Conversational Commerce has not only helped stores get back their customers, it has also been instrumental for stores to drive meaningful & personalised engagement with their customers. It has provided customers a unique experience of Phygital Stores, combining the physical and the digital delights of shopping. Conversational Commerce brings in a unique value proposition to stores and has the potential to boost in-store sales,” said PrakashchandraKotian, Principal Consultant, Feedback Advisory Services.
40+ leading retail brands were interviewed for the survey and different solutions probed, including EasyrewardzShopster, Capillary Store2Door, Yellow Messenger, and others. The survey results highlighted that to stay afloat and relevant in the business, retail brands have moved to online/ e-commerce portals and have amped up their digital initiatives. The new normal for present-day Indian retailers comprises of creating safe and conducive in-store environment to drive traffic and pushing for sales through home shopping with new-age retail tech like Conversational Commerce.
Conversational Commerce has established itself at the forefront due to its ability to help stores advance their ‘In-store’ business. The need to better engage with customers, and increase ‘In-store’ sale has created an environment in which brands can, potentially, personalize their messages, develop a connection with their audience, and simplify the home shopping as well as the in-store shopping experience.
The retail industry has traditionally depended on ‘Walk-in’ Customers, however, the current COVID crisis has created a complete breakdown of its sales cycle. In the pre-pandemic times, the store footfall, across branded stores, were in excess of 100 per day. However, the post pandemic walk in numbers dropped considerably to as low as 50, across stores as customers were scared to venture into stores.
Due to the lowered footfall, one of the key challenges faced by stores was decline in sales. This resulted in major cost cutting in infrastructure and manpower, adding to the challenge of keeping the store afloat. The pandemic has resulted in very poor revenues for majority of fashion brands. Premium brands were the worst-hit segment in the fashion industry. Even, the traditionally resilient Food & Grocery retailers are facing critical challenges.
While the usage of Conversational Commerce in offline retail is still in early stages, and growing, it is a promising channel for retailers to boost in-store sales and engagement even post pandemic.
