A global retailer was looking to strengthen customer journeys between the online and brick and mortar channels by creating a mobile application to help unify the experience, inventory, and shopping experience.
A global retailer with an online store and established brick-and-mortar locations desired a more catered experience for customers who frequently shopped multiple channels. Data indicated that their customers preferred more engagement and personalization through their smartphones. With industry trends indicating that customers engaged across multiple channels with one brand increases overall spending and loyalty, the retailer was interested in merging the experiences from their online store and brick-and-mortar stores together for a more seamless experience. While their vision of a more unified, commerce experience was clear, the retailer still faced multiple challenges as part of the initiative
The overall desire was to provide the customer with a native, smartphone that allowed them to shop all digital store merchandise, and also merchandise across every location in the country. With a consolidated mobile shopping experience that integrated all inventory, a clean interface, and a backend that allowed for coordination with retail location personnel and dynamic shipping options, the customers could ultimately shop the way they wanted to from the convenience of their phone.
We began with an Understand phase, a process where we learned from subject matter experts, hosted user focus groups, and worked with the various customer systems to learn the process and gain an in-depth understanding of our users’ pain points in all channels. The Understand phase resulted in initial concepts and plans for a custom mobile application that would allow customers to shop across all channels and coordinate with retail locations for merchandise in nearby stores. The initial milestones included centralized inventory tracking and customer profiling, and leveraging the existing digital commerce infrastructure allowed us to ensure purchasing functionality remained consistent with existing experiences.
Systems integrated across the enterprise included:
As a result of this initiative, the retailer experienced the following:
The native mobile customer application has become a key platform for crafting personalized experiences for all customer segments. The ability to blend the digital and physical storefronts in a unique way, sets the retailer apart from competitors.
