Moreover, the emergence of eCommerce is popularly taking the retail business to places and expanding the horizons. Studies show that 10.2% of the total worldwide retail sales are done through eCommerce, the curve that is continuously on an upward surge.
Top 5 advantages that this partnership between physical and online stores will give to your business
1. Creating a larger user base
The penetration of technology has made people go people online, but we have to address the fact that still, around 90% of the worldwide retail sales are done through the offline store. Going 'Phygital' will not only make your business model more flexible, but it will also give the users better options to get attached to it.
For example, you have an online fashion store along with an offline one. You can place various mobile devices on the physical store so that if some of the designs aren't available at the offline store, the customer can buy it from the online store in real-time. Also, once your customers are registered online you can notify your targeted customers about the new collection available on the offline store through push notifications.
The ubiquitous buying channel will help the customers to have a varied range of shopping, giving significance to your retail business. Applying the 'phygital’ formula will also enable you to manage your retail business across channels efficiently.
2. Greater Customer experience
Catering the customer needs across the two platforms (physical and online) will give you an unassailable lead amongst your peer companies while increasing the customer experience with brand personalization.
For example, eCommerce giant Amazon recently came up with offline (brick and mortar) stores in Hyderabad goes to show a label that it sees the future of retail blended and thus making giants strides in it. In addition to this, it will help Amazon to crack the market code and understand the needs of the customers at ground level.
'Phygital' will help your retail business to grow an ecosystem which can accumulate, and co-exist the needs and requirements of everyone. The old and traditional customers will also find it worthwhile while it will be an exciting experience for the new age customers as well. With more exceptional customer experience, your business will also grow in this 'Phygital’ ecosystem.
3. Real-time feedbacks
Having an offline store along with going online on the website as well as mobile apps will help you cover all the three bases and increase the manner you receive customer feedback. Customers can visit your offline store and register their queries related to a product or segment in your online store.
Once you get face to face feedback, you will catch the pulse of the customers and mold your product or the process of business accordingly. Along with this, the real time feedback will also develop a sense of responsibility among your staff as they will see the raw feedbacks by the customers and will propel them to work in an organized manner.
4. Advantages over your peers
The 'Phygital' approach will give your business an extra edge over your peers. Knowing the wants and needs of the customers is an art, and with the amalgamation of the online and offline store, you could be the Picasso of it. This approach will also increase your brand awareness while setting up a loyal and concrete user base.
The positive user experience will result in positive 'Word of mouth' publicity of your brand besides making it a household name. You will know your performance parameters and will be able to make changes or rectify the errors sooner than your competitors. There will be less kerfuffle for the customers and both the traditional and new age customers are taken care of by the phygital method. The physical store will increase the organic customers on the web or the app and significantly decrease the customer fall out rate.
5. A bright road ahead
There is no better time for the retail business owners to go 'phygital.' As the consumers are going towards digital, this is the correct time to redefine for the retailers to redefine the physical boundaries. You can amalgamate Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality so that the brick and mortar store will understand the customer entering your shop.
With AI, the system can navigate through the buying patterns of the customers and show them the options according to the things they like. With IoT, AI, Augmented reality, you can pave ways to a never seen before customer experience for your visitors that could prove to provide rich dividends in the future.
Wrapping up
Since digital technology, along with the expansion of mobile apps, is redefining every space it is entering to, for retailers partnering it with the traditional way will do wonders. It will also help in redesigning the retail business strategy and make it more customers oriented.
The phygital approach will help you to strategize everything from the perspective of both online and offline customers, thus giving your retail business-wide range to propagate. With a customer-centric approach, there will be lesser chances of going wrong and more opportunities for adapting quickly to the ever-changing business scenario.