As we experience yet another blip on the high street with physical stores seemingly losing the battle with online retail, we’ll take a look at a fresh approach to encouraging shoppers to feel the positive benefits from shopping in-store.
An Experience Like No Other
If people are taking the time and effort to go out shopping, let’s make it the best experience we can. Experiential marketing isn’t a new phenomenon – one of the most popular and well-known examples is taste testing in a supermarket. Pop up a display of goods and give away a test portion and shoppers will naturally be curious and willing to try out something for nothing. With a friendly, encouraging PR person to engage with the customer, it’s likely that the produce will be put in the basket and taken to the till.
There are other tactics that are now used, with the development of data gathering, social media and virtual reality bringing to life exciting experiential marketing tools.
Word of mouth is taken to a new level with social media, and physical experiences in store can be encouraged to go viral through sharing images as well as opinions. Brand awareness can be shared far and wide from one point in a retail outlet.
Bringing exciting and theatrical experiences in-store could make a customer feel that little bit more special as we get lost in the vast online shopping field with the use of in store media. Agencies such as https://moodmedia.co.uk/in-store-music-for-business/ can help provide the right set-up in a store to get a message across. It also gives the opportunity for retailers and brand owners to get immediate feedback directly from customers on new products or brand launches. Initial feedback could set the tone for more expensive online and television marketing.
Take the Brand on the Road
Experiential marketing doesn’t necessarily have to take place in-store. Many big brands are creating exciting experiences and taking them to the people. For example, as reported in Campaign, British Airways is creating a worldwide holiday theme at the Isle of Wight Festival this year which includes cockpit karaoke.
It could be possible that the developments being made in online retail can ultimately help out the high street retail stores as their marketing strategies incorporate the latest technologies via experiential marketing.
