I spend a lot of time in client’s stores observing how people use their phones while shopping. A lot of shoppers talk on the phone as they walk around. Their conversation may be about anything, but now they are in front of the shelf, and you can practically hear this conversation – “Hey, I am looking at these shoes here, they are just $150, really nice, what should I do?”
Shoppers check prices at online retailers and offline competitors.
Shoppers navigate the stores using digital shopping lists.
Many use their phone to post pictures on Instagram from the store. “Hey, how do I look?” The phone is their social mirror.
They check for coupons. One of my retail clients didn’t offer coupons. But if you are at the store and you search for that brand’s coupons, you would land on retailmenot.com or dealsplus, and you would see “Save Up to 60% for Shoes on Sale”. Now that you are seeing that a similar product is available elsewhere at a lower price, are you going to go through with your purchase?
Using a new metaphor for something long familiar will often unlock new ways of thinking about it.
Interfaces are a computer term that means a point of interaction between a human and a system, a space were the interaction occurs. Interfaces help humans achieve their goals. A store is an interface between a shopper and the retailer. Interfaces, through usage, create habits and expectations. No matter where you go, you expect the shopping cart button that works in a certain way, and a cash register, and a fitting room.
The two major types of shopping interfaces — online stores and physical stores — have different expectations and behaviors associated with them. In physical stores, you touch, try things on, hunt, browse, ask for assistance. Online stores allow you to compare prices, read reviews, save things for later, share something with a friend.
The online store and the physical store used to be not only distinct, but also separated by a physical distance. An online store is at home, a physical store is at the mall. But what happens when that distance shrinks and people start shopping online and offline at the same time?
Not many stores are ready.