THINKING BEYOND

SMARTPHONES:
BUILDING IN-STORE
EXPERIENCES
RYAN SCOTT

Retailers and venue operators have

always faced massive challenges, but
the latest wave of disruption has made
many of them yearn for the simpler days
of sales-per-square-foot reports, staff
turnover mitigation, product planograms,
and endless campaigns to curb shrink.
Declining in-store traffic, an emboldened competitive set, and new technologies beacons, mobile payment,
till-less checkout, and other technologies have kept folks up at night in the
home offices and back offices of nearly
every retailer.
And retailers have responded. In the
past five years, weve witnessed and
participated in significant digital experimentation and pilots.
For many retailers, mobile apps have
been a first area of focus. We believe
that while this makes sense pre- and
post-visit, there is a more limited role to
be played by mobile tools while in the
store. Barcode scanning, wayfinding
(for some audiences), product information and reviews, and gift registry
management are some effective
applications. But brands should take
care that they dont push their best
customers toward a heads-down
shopping experience.
Instead, retailers should look beyond
these small, bring-your-own-device
approaches and really rethink the

venue. Interactive screens, in-store

analytics, sales associate tools, and
full-fledged digital experiences have the
potential to bring customers into the
physical space, and then create a
compelling experience that ultimately
results in improved conversion and a
positive return on investment (ROI).
These approaches maximize traditional
retailers key advantages most significantly, the physical environment and
employee interactions (sales associates boost conversion significantly) to
create compelling brand experiences
and loyal customers daily.
And with e-commerce representing
only 9 percent of all commerce interactions in the U.S., retailers who integrate
the digital and physical worlds will have
a significant competitive advantage.1

The limits of a mobile-only

strategy
Obviously, mobile remains table stakes
for supporting customer engagement,
but retailers need to get away from the
idea that theyre going to win in-store with
just a bring-your-own-device strategy.
There are important use cases. As we
noted before, the customer will check
prices, read reviews and ratings, and
maybe even use wayfinding in-store.

Forrester Research, 2015. Notes from Forresters Forum for Marketing Leaders, April 2015, New York.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

Weve also seen success with digital

couponing, beacons announcing promotions, and mobile tools supporting
wedding, baby, and college registries
(see Target Registry, next page). There
has also been some success in live
sports and entertainment events by
both the MLS (Major League Soccer)
and MLB (Major League Baseball)
offering game-related statistics, orderfrom-your-seat technology, and streaming video of recent highlights during
live games.
But other applications including shopping lists embedded in the mobile app,
product videos and other promotional
data, and traditional e-commerce product
exploration have had less success.
Weve seen great companies design
great apps that dont get the usage
they deserve particularly in pure

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

retailers because customers find little

compelling reason to use them either
in-store or at home. Even if the hook
is present, there is still strategy work
to be done around promoting the app,
enticing guests to download in the
moment, and removing barriers from
getting the app open and used.
Therefore, many retailers are starting
to ask the next provocative question:
How can we enhance our in-store
experiences sufficiently to deliver a
modern, digital, and personalized
shopping experience that enables the
sales associate and creates the desired
experience in the store?
The next level of in-venue engagement
will mean broadening the aperture
on digital possibilities beyond customers smartphones.

A SERIES OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES

In some ways, were just getting the
right set of technologies to enable an
affordable and sophisticated in-venue
experience. Here are seven of the most
significant and promising developments.
BEACONS
In the last two years, beacons have
grown in popularity and sophistication. There are few clothing
retailers, for example, who have not
done at least a pilot with them. And
the metrics, in our experience, are
promising coupon-based beacon
messages have driven an average
5% to 10% increase in purchases of
a promoted item.
Major installations include Macys
installation of 4,000 beacons in all
U.S. stores (in collaboration with
Shopkicks Loyalty platform), the
2015 SXSW Interactive Festival, and
MLBs 2014 World Series.2
But for all that, beacons remain
primarily marketing & promotional
tools; beacon installations arent yet
solving essential, unmet customer
needs. Until they do, they will remain
a promising technology still in the
experimental phase.
DROPPING HARDWARE COSTS
The annual drop in hardware costs
of consumer electronics means
that we have now reached the
point where in-venue investment
in digital displays can generate a
positive ROI. For example, in 2009, a
60-inch Pioneer Kura Plasma TV was
$10,000, while by 2015 a similar
display was $1,000. Similar patterns
are seen in the support hardware,
as well. For the first time, retailers
are installing tens or even hundreds
of screens in a given location at an
affordable price.

REAL-TIME COUPONING
Coupons have long been an essential
method of shaping demand at little
direct cost to the retailer. But only
recently have retailers embraced
digital couponing. And leading
retailers have moved beyond just
digital delivery of flyers to the creation of bespoke coupon apps tied
to that users online ID. This allows
personalized coupons, as well as
closed-loop data and analytics, to
precisely measure promotion and
store performance.
INSTRUMENTED STORES
Analytics data from in-venue
displays equipped with cameras
are being combined with sensors
(in-store and in-the-cart) and mobile
data (including couponing data) to
create a greater understanding of
in-store activity. These measures
enable segmentation by age, gender,
family size, and other metrics to
provide stronger insight.
SALES ASSOCIATE
CLOSED-LOOP MARKETING
Longer-term, we believe there is significant opportunity in connecting
sales associates to customers. What
if retailers sent notifications to sales
associates based on nearby activity
on an online channel? For example,
if a high-value customer has a large
basket or recently had a major
issue on the website, a local sales
associate could reach out to help or
assemble the entire basket for instore pickup. Leading retailers could
consider bringing the sales associate
into the loop, offering the customer
an integrated experience.

APPLE PAY AND MOBILE POS

The continued growth of Apple Pay
now supported by 700,000 retail
locations in the U.S. and the
launch of the Apple Watch (with
integrated payment) represents the
long-awaited mainstream adoption
of mobile payment tools. In-venue,
sales associate point-of-sale (POS)
tools are also showing signs
of promise.
AUTO-REPLENISHMENT
Originally for the B2B space,
auto-replenishment is coming to
the retail customer. Amazons Dash
Button, for example, is an inexpensive networked button that enables
the instant reordering of a variety
of single products (e.g., laundry
detergent) when linked to a Prime
account. Partnering manufacturer
brands (including Whirlpool, Brita,
and Brother) are also integrating
replenishment services into their
hardware, so that replacement water filters, for example, are ordered
when needed based on a customers
actual usage.

ZDNet. Macys rolls out retails largest beacon installation. http://www.zdnet.com/article/macys-rolls-out-retails-largest-beacon-installation/.

OUR PERSPECTIVES

Four in-venue, killer models

We are finding that the in-venue, digital experience is a powerful tool to
deliver demonstrably richer interactions. In assessing what is working well
across venue categories, we see four powerful models for breaking out of
the face-to-phone lockstep. These examples take advantage of the reality
that venue operators may control their floors, walls, and employees more
than they do their customers mobile phones.

The network: SportCheks digital transformation

Sometimes it requires an ambitious
redesign to deliver on a vision. Coming
off a number two rating in the 2014
SapientNitro In-Store Digital Retail
Study, Canadian retailer SportChek
doubled-down on in-store digital,
completely gutting and rehabbing their
West Edmonton flagship store. In the
end, they installed 470 digital screens
and integrated touch, gesture, translucent displays, and radio-frequency
identification (RFID) technology into
the in-store experience.
In its first full year of operation (20142015 YTD), the store posted a 50
percent year-on-year sales growth, and
SportChek is seeing a similar trend at
its just-opened, similarly-configured
Vancouver location.3
The West Edmonton store renovation
added 21,000 square feet, and now
allows customers to experience the
products in-use with dedicated spaces
for a video gait analysis tool, dynamic

bicycle fitting, a climbing treadmill, and

a golf simulator.4
Digitizing the store is about redefining
the experience to create value for the
customer, SportCheks VP of Digital
Solutions, Frederic Lecoq, noted.5
Lecoqs five keys:
Content is key in the new
media world.
Move from broadcast to unicast
by replacing print flyers with
digital flyers.
Every impression should be the
result of a calculation.
ROI and spending effectiveness
not marketing spend drive
the business.
Remodel the POS into point
of experience.
The future of retail is all about content,
data, and connectivity. Be nice to your
tech people, Lecoq concluded.

SportCheks West Edmonton flagship

store features 470 screens and has
seen a 50 percent year-over-year sales
growth through 2015.

3
Retail Touchpoints. Adobe Summit: Convergence of Brick-and-Mortar. http://www.retailtouchpoints.com/topics/digital-marketing/adobe-summit-the-convergence-of-brick-andmortar-and-digital-takes-center-stage.

Medical Motion. Gait Analysis Training Medical Motion Partners with SportChek. http://www.medicalmotion.pro/component/content/article/210-gait-analysis-training.

Adobe Marketing Summit on March 9-13th, 2015.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

The connector: Targets gift registry

Driving additional sales should be a top
goal when it comes to next-generation
in-store tools. Targets latest generation
of registry tools does just that, enabling
guests to easily create and maintain
baby, wedding, and college lists for
themselves, family, and friends.
Launched in 2014, the Target Registry
app runs on iPad Minis and is installed
in more than half of Targets stores
nationwide.6 Guests can set up their
device in-store or at home, and then
use their own device or scanners
placed on dedicated carts to maintain
their shopping lists. Sales associates
offer personalized help to guests in the
baby registry locations.7
While specific ROI numbers are not
publicly available, the registries have
been successful enough to push
the new platform from pilot to nationwide rollout.

Targets gift registry kiosk allows guests to manage their online baby and wedding
registries, while also connecting them to sales associates.

Target.com Help Site. Target Gift Registry. http://www.target.com/gift-registry/.

Star Tribune. Target Launches two new apps, updates others. http://www.startribune.com/target-launches-two-new-apps-updates-others/278273561/.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

The lure: Best Buys Samsung Gear VR Experience

Unfortunately, no one can be told what
the Matrix is, Morpheus notes in the
1999 film The Matrix, you have to see
it for yourself. Virtual reality (VR) is an
experience that is difficult to describe
unless youve put on the goggles.
Available in select Best Buy stores
nationwide, the Samsung Gear VR
Experience allows customers to demo
the Gear VR headset paired with a
Samsung phone.8
Best Buys survival in the highly
competitive home electronics space is

dependent on convincing tech-savvy

customers to visit its web and physical
properties regularly, and to convert
them while they are there. Demonstrating the latest in gaming and entertainment technology from VR to the
latest TVs is a key element of Best
Buys strategy.
In-store technology like VR is particularly important for getting visitors further
into the store and for making the store
more of a destination for its younger,
connected customers.

The Samsung Gear VR Experience allows customers to spend time in virtual worlds in the store, driving trial of the
technology, as well as store traffic. For many visitors, this is the first time they experience VR.

The Verge. You can try Samsungs Gear VR in dozens of Best Buy stores. https://www.theverge.com/2015/2/6/7991803/samsung-gear-vr-demo-best-buy-stores-feb-8th.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

The informant: Ionos platform

Navigating large stores and complex
venues (such as airports, stadiums, and
hotels) can be daunting experiences.
And people are not always comfortable
asking for help when faced with new
or complex environments. Large-scale
displays can provide interactive wayfinding and general information, as well as
branded communications.
With beacons and Bluetooth technology, these screens now have an active
dimension, directly reminding passersby of a range of options. Better yet,
those message programs can be intelligently segmented by demographics,
driving new behaviors in data-driven
ways all while delivering a muchneeded customer service.
And the results from these new
screens have been significant, with an
initial pilot seeing 2,500 unique interactions per week across five directories
on the property. Analytics indicate a
40/60 male/female split on usage,
with 46 percent of users being young
adults. Phase 2, now in development,
will add locations and introduce new
form factors and screen designs in
additional parts of the facility.

In-venue touchscreen technology like this display at the TD Garden in Boston,

Massachusetts, not only provides context and location-aware recommendations,
but also provides real-time data on traffic volume, age, and gender.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

What does it take to

carpe venue?
First, you cant rely solely on mobile for
your in-store strategy. Instead, focus on
connecting and blending your channels
to provide real value and customer tools.
In-venue digital screens are the right
tools for delivering product information,
guidance, and sales engagement in
the store.
Second, scale should drive ROI, not
break it. As hardware costs collapse,
in-venue experiences can now have a
positive ROI. Simultaneously, you likely
already have the mature dot com infrastructure and the associated content to support these experiences.
Brands can leverage their existing investments in content to deliver great
experiences. The cost side can be addressed, as well. Look for hidden operational costs that digital can eliminate.
Third, adopt the appropriate technology. Avoiding a stove-pipe mentality
is essential. An in-venue screen is not
another website, but rather a completely different technology stack. Initial,
pro-duct-based solutions have proved
too siloed and closed off, too proprietary, and too tied to playlists and channels (blanket content distribution).
Instead, consider extending your existing enterprise digital ecosystem as
the system of record. Use the rest of
your digital ecosystem to inform and
complement your in-venue experiences.
Digital platforms enable microtargeting
based on location in the store, time of

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

day, and advertising/monetization algorithms. Longer term, it may be wise to

consider beacons and mobile extensions.
Finally, close the loop on your analytics.
In-venue experiences can be instrumented just like the web and the ROI
lives in the analytics. For example, every
in-venue installation could include cameras and software to recognize gender,
age, and other baseline data. Retailers
must link online and mobile activity
with physical store activity and sales.
These data can then be linked to the
massive online analytics database, as
well as augmented with cutting-edge,
in-store instrumentation using infrared,
beacons, Wi-Fi, and other technologies
to identify in-store activity. Everything
a retailer does from a design standpoint should be validated by data.
And nearly everything in data influences
the design.

Conclusion
Brands have a unique opportunity to
deliver compelling in-venue experiences. However, they must look beyond
their mobile apps in order to build experiences that compel visitors to look up,
not down, and engage in-store.
This is an exciting time for retailers
and operators to get aggressive and
embrace the opportunity. Whether you
choose the network, the connector,
the lure, or the informant, make sure
to carpe venue!

Everything a
retailer does
from a design
standpoint should
be validated by
data. And nearly
everything in
data influences
the design.

Ryan Scott
Vice President, Global Strategy Lead Digital Marketing,
SapientNitro Boston
rscott@sapient.com
Being responsible for defining capabilities, technologies,
and partnerships (including our global partnership with
Adobe), Ryan is able to lead development of SapientNitro
offerings including our Integrated Experience Architecture
to serve clients across a range of industries.
A special thanks to Sarah Traylor for her contributions
to this article.

INSIGHTS WHERE TECHNOLOGY & STORY MEET

The Insights publication features the marketing intelligence, trend forecasts,
and innovative recommendations of boundary-breaking thought leaders. The
SapientNitro Insights app brings that provocative collection now in its digital
form to your on-the-go fingertips.
Download the full report at sapientnitro.com/insights and, for additional
interactive and related content, download the SapientNitro Insights app.

SapientNitro, part of Publicis.Sapient, is a new breed of agency redefining storytelling for an always-on world. Were changing the way our clients engage todays
connected consumers by uniquely creating integrated, immersive stories across brand communications, digital engagement, and omnichannel commerce. We call
it our Storyscaping approach, where art and imagination meet the power and scale of systems thinking. SapientNitros unique combination of creative, brand, and
technology expertise results in one global team collaborating across disciplines, perspectives, and continents to create game-changing success for our Global
1000 clients, such as Chrysler, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, Lufthansa, Target, and Vodafone, in thirty-one cities across The Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
For more information, visit www.sapientnitro.com.
SapientNitro and Storyscaping are registered service marks of Sapient Corporation.

COPYRIGHT 2015 SAPIENT CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.