Things in the retail space have truly been evolving over the past decade and it’s showing no signs of stopping. Grant and I get into a conversation around David Jones (and other department stores of this style) and how their model needs to evolve to stay relevant.
The challenge for stores like this is bring the personal boutique feeling you get by going directly to a brand store. Walking into the Ralph Lauren in a department store doesn’t have the same prestige as walking into the Ralph store. These days you even find these boutiques stores opening right next to the entrance of the department stores.
It’s all about how you improve the customer experience. Often you find the same level of service at David Jones and Myer, as you get from Kmart and Target. It essentially self-service. There’s not too many staff and even when you find one, they’re not extremely passionate about the brands they service, with deep insight or knowledge.
So how does a multi-brand department store replicate the personal 1-2-1 experience? Let’s unbundle it.
What if there was a n app that detected when you entered into the store? It would not only track your buying habits to notify you of targeted offers but what if it allowed the door greater to receive some details to greet the customer. Name, some interests, maybe even whether a special occasion is coming up such as a birthday.
You could also give incentives to create a higher level of customer loyalty. Being able to understand number of visits, value of purchases, types of purchases can allow you to reward them for making certain types of purchases. In the future you could even have check point experiences that when they register, they have attended, they can receive some type of reward.
If you tie this all in with the right people, right training and valuable product knowledge you could really turn around this business model to become a really industry leader.