Educate first, sell second.

Physical retail should rely on the power of the experience, not the speed of the transaction.

This post is written by b8ta CEO Vibhu Norby. It’s the first of eight installments chronicling his store tour and sharing insights from the retail sales floor.

Day one. New York.

My day started at Lowe’s in Brooklyn to visit Smart Home powered by b8ta, a new 70-store partnership b8ta’s currently rolling out, and wrapped up at Macy’s Herald Square, our latest flagship store and first on the east coast. I joined the b8ta New York City team as a b8ta tester. I logged my thoughts throughout the day with my Neo smartpen and notepad. I’ve provided my notes at the bottom of this post.

My biggest takeaway from the day was a reminder of the tech-dominated bubble that I often live in. I was shocked by how many people hadn’t yet heard of brands like Sonos or Nest, which I had considered to be well known. In fact, many customers were learning about the idea of wireless headphones and fitness trackers for the first time with us.

At that vulnerable moment for a customer, the primary job of the b8ta tester is to remove all fear of the unknown and help them build a mental model for the product (e.g. a speaker that is wireless and easy to use, a home appliance that can be controlled with your phone), not to trick the customer into an impulse purchase.

Educate customers to create evangelists.

In a way that’s sometimes hard for our brand partners to understand, our approach to educating customers helps grow the market, and is the best long-term outcome, even if the customer doesn’t end up purchasing their product “right now from here.” Well-educated customers with strong mental models will buy more products in the long run, buy accessories and add subscriptions, return fewer products, and most importantly, become evangelists.

Design for engagement, not transactions.

Our stores are designed for education and engagement, not transactions. Our belief at b8ta is that people prefer physical retail for education on physical products, and that people who are educated in a retail environment where they can discover and try products firsthand, in turn, are better customers.

However, we’re not convinced people prefer physical retail for transactions, which can be done quickly and conveniently from a digital screen. I could see today in Macy’s how impractical it is for many customers to take a box home from the store (e.g. tourists who have limited bag space, or New Yorkers taking the Subway). The physical store ultimately is for discovery and engagement. Where and how customers choose to buy is up to them.

The message matters, but the demo creates a connection.

Frankly, most consumer hardware companies need to spend time simplifying their message to help start the education process. One of our jobs at b8ta is to help our brand partners speak to mainstream customers in a way that is clear, concise, and compelling.

Above all else, the most powerful differentiator for hardware companies is a product demo that can be delivered effortlessly and quickly. A great demo communicates a story above and beyond language, and creates an immediate emotional connection.

The power of real-life retail experiences: My notes from the day.

• One gentleman walked his wife through the store, showing her every product over Facetime that he wanted for Christmas. He was particularly interested in Vi, the wireless headphones with biometric sensors for tracking your fitness.
• A man from England played for some time with Touchjet, a product that turns your television into a touchscreen. It was my first time seeing the product in person, and I was really impressed by the accuracy. He didn’t buy the product because he thought it was too big to carry back home.
• Snap’s Spectacles was a hot item all day, as a constant stream of visitors had never heard of them or seen them before.
• I gave many demos of Lyric Speaker, an incredible product out of Japan that you just have to see in person. We always ask for the customer’s favorite song. One shy woman asked for the theme song from Aladdin. Another asked for “anything but country.” Be forewarned: If the customer says nothing, the default is “Stayin’ Alive” by the Beegees.
• I provided a thorough demo of Meural to a customer who didn’t speak English. Though we couldn’t communicate through a common language, it’s just one of those products that doesn’t really need words to get a sense for how awesome it is.
• Lots of customers were fascinated by Nebia, the new shower product that saves water and envelops your body in millions of water particles. I thought the display would benefit from a working demo, and providing installation instructions on the display to show how easy it is.
• A mother of two teenaged daughters wanted to buy Opal, a new type of nugget ice maker, for “their dorm rooms,” exclaiming it would be “great for mixed drinks.”