The Next Frontier for the Omnichannel Retailer
EP 08: Special Guest — Chris Walton, Forbes Contributor & Founder + Co-CEO of Red Archer Retail
On this episode of the Impact Exchange, we have a very special guest industry expert, Chris Walton. He is a Forbes contributor, a graduate of Harvard and Stanford, and former Vice President of Target -Store of the Future. Currently, he is the Founder and Co-CEO of Red Archer Retail which owns and operates the popular retail blog Omni Talk and Third Haus, a first-of-its-kind retail lab and co-working space in solely for those within the retail and CPG industries. We are honored to have such an influential leader in the retail space to share his thoughts.
With over 20 years of retail experience, admittedly, we had a hard time narrowing down one specific topic to dive into with Chris. So instead of harnessing it in, we decided to let the conversation flow naturally while still keeping corporate social responsibility top of mind.
We wanted to learn how conscious consumerism is going to evolve in omnichannel retail, but first, we need to get in touch with how both eCommerce and brick and mortar retail spaces are evolving. Take a listen for yourself.
Digitally Native & Direct to Consumer Brands Influence on Retail Space
As we see this increase in Digitally Native Brands and Direct to Consumer Brands, we are also seeing them embracing retail spaces and securing locations. Chris explains that’s why they call their innovative retail lab Third Haus, it’s a nod to the concept of the third place in your life.
Third Place: The social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home (“first place”) and the workplace (“second place”). Examples of third places would be environments such as churches, cafes, clubs, public libraries, or parks.
He explains it’s so easy for people to consume with mobile phones or Alexa, there has to be a reason why people are inspired to go to a location for their shopping experience. There has to be a third place between work and home. The companies that are going to succeed are going to have the mentality of creating that third place.
Physical retailing is about the celebration of two things when you look into the future:
- It’s about the celebration of the tactile- the ability to touch, feel and to try products on to gain confidence in your purchase. Physical retail still has that advantage over e-commerce.
- It’s the sheer experiential aspect of retail, as in the ability to go someplace and create memories by yourself or with other people.
Retail Space vs. Ecommerce Challenges & Opportunities
Physical space must exist, but Chris foresees “untapped territories” when you start to bring in these digitally native brands and new startups start to explore retail spaces. Here are a few opportunities we may be seeing more of in the near future:
- Gathering & Utilizing Customer Behavior Data
Unlike e-commerce, brick and mortar stores have not digitized the physical retailer space. Stores are currently missing out on all the consumer activities before conversion. But what if you could get the same type of metrics in physical space as you can online?
Listen to the podcast to find out what type of consumer activities Chris sees the potential to digitize in the retail space.
2. Social Impact Data
How do you integrate social aspects into your retail space the same way brands can prioritize and communicate their philanthropic stories via their website? More importantly, how can you use all that data on consumers’ preferences across the digital and physical divide to actually make a difference in the world?
“Data doesn’t have to be thought of as impersonal and uninspiring: I want to know what consumers are doing in physical space because then I can bring art [and impact] into retail in a more powerful way.”
3. Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality
Depending on who your brand is, ask yourself: Why are they coming to your physical store to shop? Essentially VR can become its own shopping experience with the potential to tell stories to create impact. Augmented reality has the potential to gamify the shopping experience, but you should ask yourself if you’re more interested in the state-of-the-art aspect of it or can it be used as a tool to enhance the overall customer journey
“There’s the physical, the digital and the human element when it’s all working in concert in that store, that’s where the magic happens.”
Holiday Season Essentials
Chris keeps it simple here: Preparation.
Listen to the podcast to find out tips for the following key areas that you should focus your scenario plan for retail and online shopping.
Security Procedures
Staff
Experiential Events in Store
Returns
Shipping Windows
Have Great Data
Check out our Technology Playbook to Create the Ultimate Customer Journey for more information on how to utilize technologies to optimize your online customer journey this holiday season and beyond.
The Future of Personalized Social Impact Experiences
Chris believes the entire commercial experience will be personalized, we’ve always had 1:1 personalization in the digital space, but not in the physical space. Through our personal devices Chris sees consumers being able to control their entire omnichannel experience. Further amplifying the social side of brands, possibly being able to weave the social impact story through the digitized retail space.
As we approach the next frontier of omnichannel retail experiences, it’s clear that technological advances towards a more digitized experience will touch all points of the customer journey — even when it comes to social impact.
Which brings us to the current technology we are quite familiar with (shameless plug) ShoppingGives.
Through countless conversations with CEOs, we found that there was a need for building authentic relationships through corporate social responsibility in a retailer’s native experience. We created ShoppingGives to give brands the ability to easily integrate an impact strategy through our one-of-a-kind seamless online donation technology. To learn more, click here.
