Retail Trends: Crafting An Adventurous Shopping Experience
Source: CMS Wire, Justin Racine
Photo: The Nix Company on Unsplash
How can your brand tap into the “treasure hunting” shopping concept, specifically if you’re operating in both a physical and digital world?
The Gist
Embrace the unknown. Create excitement by not revealing new product details.
Blend worlds. Combine physical and digital shopping for an immersive experience.
Stay relevant. Keep up with trends to offer meaningful products and experiences.
My partner Jess has a shopping problem.
A Retail Rendezvous
It’s a Sunday morning, and we both wake up and head out to grab some coffee and breakfast together. After which she says “Hey, want to take a trip to HomeGoods?” Immediately after I hear this familiar yet cringy statement I say, “Sure — let’s check it out.”
Now, after I agree to this retail rendezvous — I fully know that we will be there for a few hours, it’s no surprise — this is a territory I’m familiar with.
The Adventure Commences
As we enter the store, the shopping action and adventure commences. We bounce between aisles like Max Verstappen passing the field in a Formula 1 race (my Sunday activity of choice, by the way). From wall decor to home goods to accents to kitchen items, the shopping experience resembles arriving in a new, yet familiar world where anything is possible.
A Treasure Hunt
OK, in actuality, Jess doesn’t have a shopping problem by any accounts, but she does love the experience, the feeling and the excitement that comes with it. When I asked her why she loves to visit HomeGoods, she described it perfectly, “I just love the idea of knowing what I will or won’t find — I could leave with nothing, or I could hit the jackpot on something I really love.”
A Store That Has Left Ecommerce Behind
But this story has another twist that you may not expect. In October of last year, HomeGoods made the decision to focus exclusively on retail. That’s right, the company completely disabled its ecommerce store front — providing in-store shopping as the only way that customers can buy their products.
Wait, what?
I know, I know — as a guy who grew up in the digital commerce boom, this is a hard one for me to swallow, but it’s true.
But as I have seen firsthand, it’s really about the experience, the unknown and the excitement that comes with not knowing what you will or won’t find on every visit.
How Brands Can Tap in to ‘Treasure Hunting’
So, the question you may be asking is this: How can your brand tap into this “treasure hunting” shopping concept, specifically if you’re operating in both a physical and digital world?
Don’t worry — I got you covered. Here are three ways to build a shopping experience that is fresh, unique and above all unpredictable.
Retail Trends Tip No. 1: Promote Product Drops
One of the BEST things brands can do to drive excitement and anticipation is to promote product launches, but not in the way you think. When promoting a new launch, you shouldn’t share what the product is, at all. (Let me explain).
The allure of shopping at HomeGoods is that you don’t know what you’ll find — so, every trip there provides excitement from the time you get in your car to the time you walk through the door. Your brand can tap into this retail trend by telling your customers that a new product launch is coming — or maybe a new product category is launching, but don’t reveal too much.
Leverage the time and anticipation buildup to drive awareness and buzz. Look to build social media campaigns mixed with other channels like email to evoke the “unknown” excitement within your customer base.
Retail Trends Tip No. 2: Embrace ‘Phygital’
There’s a new term called “phygital” that’s been kicking around the retail trends as of late. It describes the blending of our physical and digital world. Think Apple Vision Pro.
But, this new reality presents a unique opportunity to build digital shopping experiences that resemble the in-store like shopping that we all know and love. Instead of a consumer shopping a traditional 2D product detail page, look to embrace shopping that is immersive and interactive, all from the comfort of your consumer’s couch.
Tapping into new product launches and virtual shopping mall-like experiences offers tactile shopping and evokes multiple senses, which brings retail shopping to a whole new level.
Retail Trends Tip No. 3: Keep Your Finger on the Pulse
The two retailing approaches above only work if your brand’s finger remains on the pulse of what is important to your customers. The anticipation, excitement and unknown only works if you have products and categories that are trending and “in” at the moment.
In order to achieve this relevancy, it’s vitally important that you empower and enable your employees to research and be in touch with current retail trends now and what is coming down the road. Oftentimes, we focus so much on what our consumers want, that we forget to focus in on what our employees need to effectively serve relevant experiences for the consumers who love your brand and what it offers.
Unlocking the Treasure of Retail: Shopping Adventures and the Customer Journey
The reason we buy certain categories of products is because of the way they make us feel, the happiness they bring to us and those around us. When we go shopping — we pop on our earbuds, turn up our favorite songs and enter into our own world of possibilities and adventure.
Sure, the products we buy serve a practical, pragmatic purpose in our life — but at the end of the day, they are just “things.” Shopping is, and always has been, about the experience of the act versus the gold buried at the end of a treasure map.
As Jack Sparrow once said, “Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.”
Indeed, Captain Jack, the true silver and gold to be found in retail trends is the act, the adventure, the journey to find what truly is a representation of us and our personality. If your brand can tap into this mindset amongst your customers, you’ll be on the path to your own treasure of increased customer lifetime value and revenue.
“Now, bring me that horizon!”
About the Author
Justin Racine is Principal, Unified Commerce Strategy at Perficient, a global digital consulting firm serving enterprise clients throughout North America and the world. At Perficient, Justin drives digital commerce strategies that assists Fortune 500 brands to achieve and exceed business goals through commerce-enabled technologies.