New selling ceremony, or the relationship between consumer and seller
Homi 2023 offered many ideas to reflect on, and one of the focuses that is certainly worth exploring further beyond the event is the relationship with customers in physical stores. Francesca Zorzetto, Senior Retail Trainer and Consultant, journalist and blogger, retail specialist and visual merchandising expert, spoke about this.
Today, we are in an era defined as "phygital," characterized by the union of physical and digital experiences, which not only complement each other but also enrich each other. We cannot do without human relationships, especially after the difficult years of the pandemic, but we are also accustomed to taking advantage of the countless benefits of online shopping, which is immediately available, fast, and accessible to everyone. This is why physical stores must also keep up with the changing times, adapting their tone of voice and behavior, transforming themselves from "simple" sellers of objects to true brand ambassadors selling stories and experiences, emotions and values, emphasizing their own unique history and strengths, capable of providing each customer with different experiences depending on the store.
The starting point for a full return to human and physical interaction in stores is listening to customers and their needs, but the emotional component comes into play immediately afterwards. What the online experience cannot offer is interaction characterized by human exchange: so welcome, then, are ways of welcoming individual customers, whether they are loyal or potential loyal customers, with a consistently positive attitude, open smiles, and the ability to understand the customer's needs, listening to them and also grasping their implicit desires, the reasons that prompted them to visit the store, and the ability to show sincere interest in their needs.
The real challenge today is knowing how to describe the product on an emotional level, since technical specifications can easily be found online, independently, while the real added value of the shopping experience is the opportunity for comparison that leads to a profitable customer experience in the store. Once again, it is the online world that comes to our aid in building a tailor-made story for each individual customer, thanks to the possibility of storing their history, characteristics, tastes, and previous purchases, in order to better tailor the new sales offer to their real needs. The same product, in fact, can be presented differently to each person, depending on their demographic, social, ethical, and other characteristics.
The person you meet at the point of sale makes the difference, positively or negatively, in the relationship with the consumer who has now learned to shop online. The shopping experience becomes all the more engaging when the salesperson "knows how to sell it well" and does not end when the customer leaves the store. It continues, for example, with the packaging and, again, online. Online communication, in fact, becomes an active subject and a means of prolonging the store-customer relationship even after the physical visit to the store has ended. Thanks to social media, you can engage your customers anytime, anywhere, transforming them into a community. You can organize events, online tutorials, and, above all, you can communicate your potential by exploiting all the opportunities that the digital world has to offer, always intertwined with the physical experience. For now... Let's see what the future holds!
