By Mark Steele, Head of Sales at Tulip, and Josh Chernoff, Managing Director Box for Retail, CPG, and Hospitality
Shoppers still desire a human interaction when they visit a store and are greatly influenced to purchase if assisted by a store associate. In fact, 92% purchase something if they’ve found their store associate to be “very helpful” and 72% still purchase something even when the store associate is only “somewhat helpful”. The experience a physical store offers also greatly impacts the success of the online store, wherein 55% of online shoppers would prefer to buy from a merchant with a physical store presence over an online-only retailer.
Retailers also agree that at the heart of the in-store experience are people on the selling floor. Howard Schultz once said: “the challenge of the retail business is the human condition.” Over 60% of retailers agree that the role of the store associate is moving from a purely transactional one to one that should now be able to provide recommendations and build long-lasting relationships with customers.
So what does success look like? It means having a fleet of highly trained, knowledgeable, and confident sales experts who can meet the demands of today’s shoppers. It’s about the integration of technology that enables, versus disrupts, existing systems for the sake of innovation.
The challenge? Store associates don’t have the tools to execute this mission. They lack the same real-time access to product information and inventory that their customers have on their phones. They lack insight into shopping histories and preferences. They lack access to head office communications and announcements in a timely matter. They are often bound to fixed POS and back office computer access to information while their customers can access more information anywhere in the store.
