Experience Essentials: Commerce
Jasmine had a virtual work event in three days – and nothing in her wardrobe seemed right. She started shopping online and found a blouse she liked. But she couldn’t figure out if the item was in stock at a store near her. With just a few days until the event, she couldn’t risk ordering online and not having it arrive in time. In continuing her search, Jasmine found the same blouse at a different retailer’s site. Not only could she quickly see that it was in stock at a store nearby, but she could also reserve it in her size and get kerbside pickup.
The next day, when she arrived at the retailer’s local store, a sales rep brought the blouse right to Jasmine’s car – the colour and sizing were just as she expected. The sales representative even picked out a few accessories to pull the look together. Jasmine purchased all the items and was pleased with the overall experience.
For the retailer who lost the sale, the story could have ended differently if they’d had the flexibility to extend the shopping experience from online to offline. The phenomenon known as BOPIS – “buy online, pick up in-store” – has shown a year-over-year increase of about 130 percent, according to Adobe’s 2020 Digital Economy Index. The retailer who earned the sale had the right technology in place to stay on top of the BOPIS trend – and to adapt to even newer trends, like kerbside pickup. This made all the difference. Jasmine will remember how easy the whole experience was and, chances are, become a repeat customer.