Clienteling has since long been used by luxury retailers as a way to provide one-to-one assistance to customers when they are out shopping. Customers love to interact with brand representatives before they make a purchase, particularly in case of big-ticket products. They love to ask questions, try out different styles and sizes, and seek recommendations. Top-flight brands understand that personalization is a key differentiator in luxury retail and assign specialists to valued clients each time they visit a store – these specialists assist customers in an ultra-personalized way, suggesting styles, getting them the right fit, and welcoming the customer each time they visit the store. Such assisted selling improves conversions, maximizes each customer’s lifetime value, and also increases the average basket size, giving such retailers a competitive edge over others that rely only on the value of their products.
With the phenomenal growth of e-commerce sales, no doubt supercharged by the advent of covid-19, luxury retail has largely moved online. And this trend is here to stay. Mckinsey & Company reports that digital spending on high-end fashion is expected to increase to $87 billion by 2025. For all high-end retail brands looking to increase their market share, virtual clienteling has become a necessary skill. However, clienteling is no longer synonymous only with high-end luxury brands – nowadays, leading department stores, fashion houses, independent boutiques, and multi-brand e-commerce platforms are looking to offer highly personalized experiences to customers. Mainstream retailers typically have a larger customer base, cheaper ticket items, and tighter profit margins compared to high-end luxury retailers. So they may not find it feasible to deploy individual stylists for customers, but they are more than making up for it by turning to conversational messaging platforms powered by automated bots to facilitate clienteling services. Chatbots are doubling up as virtual assistants, helping customers locate the nearest store, book an appointment with an in-store advisor, or buy online and pick up in store.
[Source: Boston Retail Partners]
Today competition is fierce and all retailers want to stay attractive and relevant for their customers. As per Epsilon’s online survey, almost 80 percent of customers prefer to buy from brands that offer them personalized experiences. Digital channels like WhatsApp, email, SMS, Viber, and push notifications enable retailers to personalize conversations at scale on their customer’s preferred channel in innovative ways and offer end-to-end, 24×7 support.
For this to happen efficiently, top retailers are integrating their WhatsApp Business Platform with their existing systems such as the POS, CDPs, Inventory Management Systems, and so on, which equip virtual support teams to be ready with all information once customers reach out. Not only has WhatsApp proven to be an effective medium for increased conversions, cross-selling and up-selling, it has also reduced the number of abandoned carts and improved the efficiency of shipping and returns processes, increasing customer convenience. And it has made it easier for retailers to grow their database and even analyze customer behavior based on past conversations.
The concept of in-store smart fitting rooms with display screens where existing customers can actually tap a button to log in to their accounts with their Member ID or phone numbers and view product recommendations (based on their past purchases) and can even add current items to their “cart” for faster check out later — is also gaining traction. Once the customer logs in, and the brand identified who this customer is and what they want, they can serve the customer in a more personalized way.
