From online and mobile shopping to brick-and-mortar options, consumers have a bewildering amount of choices, and their buying habits are just as extensive. 

Customer loyalty is not what it used to be. Above all, today’s consumers are spontaneous and look not only at deals and offers, but their experiences within the stores. One survey showed that 68% of consumers would choose to shop at a store that offers personalized promotions and discounts vs. one that doesn’t. 

At the other end of the spectrum, a poll by CreditCards.com found that impulse purchases are high — almost 50% of shoppers, particularly online, are driven by deals and offers — whether discounts or free shipping.  

Given the level of spontaneity of consumers, and the overwhelming amount of choice, retailers need to capture the pulse of shoppers and stay ahead of consumers’ thinking. Data and analytics can be key to ensuring successful initiatives: Retailers need to both capture consumer shopping data, and make sense of it all.

Concurrently, retailers have to capture consumers’ interest to win their loyalty and develop and maintain an ongoing dialogue that keeps them coming back for more.

So how do you run retail programs and get these aligned and tied to a CRM system?  

Retailers need to embrace strong tech thinking and leadership, along with investment in new tools that are bringing data-driven innovation in products, services and education to the in-store experience. Solutions that blend a physical experience with a digital one allow retailers to optimize insights about shoppers and enable them to connect with shoppers in new ways that can drive purchase. 

A recent example comes from The Vitamin Shoppe, which has begun rolling out digital kiosks that add data analytics to customer sampling. These interactive kiosks feature a touch screen, video, surveys and quizzes that engage consumers and provide them with instant gratification in the form of a sample product in exchange for opt-in data. 

The retailer uses the kiosks to 1) drive the purchase of new products, 2) encourage customers to engage more with new wellness solutions, and 3) build relationships with its new prospects.

In grocery stores, and in particular with wellness solutions, it can be hard to obtain detailed information, so these kiosks deliver useful information to the shopper that can help demystify the offerings. This provides an opportunity for the retailer to create innovative, attention-grabbing experiences that guide customers toward new offerings and to better gauge how they can engage on a continual basis.