Role of Customer Experience in Retail Marketing

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Retail marketing is about creating Customer Experience in the stores that bring shoppers in and promote increased sales per square foot.

Through an effective retail marketing strategy, retailers must find unique and creative methods to attract consumers to the store and encourage them to purchase its products. As part of their retail marketing strategy, retail stores are turning towards in-store demos or store sampling. 

Successful retail stores find that in-store demos and sampling events promote the product and create personal connections with their customers. In-store demos or sampling events assist retail businesses in the following:

• They positively impact sales per square foot by increasing time consumers spend in the stores
• They drive foot traffic to the store, positioning it as a place of entertainment and discovery as opposed to a place of replenishment.
• They create a positive customer experience by encouraging Word of Mouth marketing campaigns. Word of mouth is the primary factor behind over 50% of all purchasing decisions.

As a retailer, if you are looking to introduce experiential marketing, like in-store demos or store sampling events, into your retail marketing strategy mix but are unsure how to go about it, the following article may be of assistance to you. The article sheds some light on the importance and challenges of demos in retail marketing and the use of technology to facilitate the process and workflows economically.

Are In-Store Demos Effective Retail Marketing Tools?

Consumers purchase products that appeal to their senses. When consumers interact with the products through their senses, like touch, taste, smell, and vision, they are more likely to purchase them. 

Two thousand shoppers participated In a field study on the effectiveness of in-store store sampling with the following findings:

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• 88% indicated they would only purchase the product after experiencing it.
• 58% said they would refer the product through word of mouth or social media
• 87% indicated the demo and sampling improved their shopping experience and indicated they would return to the store. 
• 95% indicated the demo and store sampling encouraged them to try other adjacent brands.

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How In-store Sampling Events Help The Retailer

Many retailers may find introducing new products into their stores challenging. Activating consumer demand for a new product requires a different retail marketing approach from selling the established one. In this case, it is more beneficial for retailers and their vendors to use in-store demos or a sampling approach than price discounts or other methods.

Here are a few reasons in-store demos and sampling events will help you activate a new product in your stores:

• By encouraging consumers to "try out" products before purchasing, retailers can test customer acceptance of the new brands against established brands and extrapolate how profitable these newcomers will be for them
• In-store demos and sampling have proven to increase sales by at least 250% during the events and a sizable boost from “normal” in following weeks.
• Demos and store sampling encourage future sales of products demonstrated or tested.
• In-store demos and sampling build brand awareness and consumer demand. 
• Store sampling events also encourage consumers to talk about their experiences with friends and family and over social media. Particularly when these events are consistently hosted in the same locations. 
• Consumers are 20% more likely to purchase a product they have seen reviewed on social media. 
• If a retailer and the CPG brand use a prominent influencer to conduct the demo or sampling, that will immediately drive sales and increase the brand's social media standing. 

How Can Store Sampling Events Management Software Help Retail Marketing?

CPG brands sell the products at brick-and-mortar stores and are happy to fund in-store promotions. But when a retailer is involved in planning and coordinating an in-store demo or sampling event, time, effort, and manpower are required. Time, effort, and manpower are already limited in most retail organizations before the demo management considerations are imposed. Technology has made such efforts much more efficient with a high level of intelligence and automation.

Demo Management software assists retailers with the following:

• It provides a comprehensive solution for in-store sampling events management, scheduling, and coordination, saving retailers and vendors time (cost of labor). With Demo Wizard software, retailers can manage all aspects of an in-store demo or sampling event campaigns to produce flawless store demos consistently at scale in multiple locations. The software enables retailers to have a single calendar of all upcoming promotions for every person involved in the process - to check and control inventory to ensure the store has a good supply of products on the day of the event. 

• Managing a demo or in-store sampling event can be frustrating and time-consuming. Demo Wizard software allows all tasks related to the in-store demo or sampling to run off without setbacks. The software manages and schedules all tasks between the store managers, brand representatives, staff, buyers, and the product distributor. 

• Demo Wizard Software Allows For Effective Data Analysis And Planning. It is programmed to analyze data and plan any event effectively. It will find the best day of the week or time or time of the day to host such an event for the highest traffic and experience-to-purchase conversion ratio.

• Demo Wizard Software Reduces Event Cancellations. Many retail managers know how costly it is to plan and execute an in-store event. They start to plan and coordinate with the brand’s field marketing teams weeks or months before the event. When the day finally arrives, and the retail manager must cancel the event for some reason, it's frustrating and wasteful. 

Demo Wizard software significantly reduces the instances of cancellations for store sampling events. 

Conclusion

In-store sampling is an effective tool for retailers to grow shoppers' traffic, improve customer experience, and increase sales per square foot. When coordinated and planned intelligently, it provides an excellent opportunity for the retailer to interact with customers and earn their loyalty. They offer the retailer a chance to build affinity, get feedback, and strengthen customer relationships. 

Demo Wizard software is a fantastic tool that helps retailers, brand ambassadors, and sales executives plan and organize flawless in-store demos or store sampling events at scale. It is affordable, cost-effective, and easy to use. 

References

https://www.demo-wizard.com/

https://www.demo-wizard.com/blogs/are-store-sampling-events-worth-the-cost

https://www.fizz.co.uk/blog/in-store-sampling-for-brands-or-retailers/

https://www.sampler.io/blog/digital-product-sampling-vs-traditional-store-sampling

https://www.treasuredata.com/glossary/retail-marketing/

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