WORK / LIFE : SHOPPING
“ The budgets consumers had allocated to common purchases like restaurants , bars , vacation , and hotels — the need or even the ability to spend in those areas effectively evaporated ,” says Stephanie Dismore , SVP and MD , North America for HP . “ Consumers have shifted their personal budget discretionary spend to all things home .”
Convenience is driving consumer decisions , too , as families grapple with the stress of working from home while simultaneously
homeschooling kids . People are
spending more on subscription-based meal kits to ease the burden of cooking at home more often . Curated , try-before-you-buy boxes of
clothes and
beauty products offer an at-home version of in-store browsing , and automatic reorders of home essentials replenish frequently used products like
razors or
coffee . Technology subscriptions are also helping consumers keep up with the demands of working and learning from home .
HP ’ s Instant Ink service , for example , offers subscription plans based on the number of pages you print each month , sending a replacement cartridge to your door before you run out of ink .
Jon Cheney , CEO and founder of
Seek , a web-based AR platform for ecommerce companies , says he ’ s noted a 600 % increase in AR usage through customers ’ websites since the start of March . And retailers are seeing results : In a pilot Seek ran with a furniture brand in May and June , customer session length when an AR experience was involved was 26 minutes versus just nine minutes for the control group . The order among AR shoppers was $ 700 more on average , and conversion increased by 100 %.
CUSTOMER SERVICE GOES HIGH-TECH In the new era of “ mindful consumption ,” supporting consumers with responsive customer service is even more critical to building trust and loyalty . To meet this demand , some companies are turning to AI-infused chatbots when in-person interactions aren ’ t possible .
“ When HP ’ s US retail partner stores began limiting customer access to mitigate the spread of COVID , hundreds of HP sales support reps were no longer allowed to work in stores ,” explains Dismore .
In response , HP created a virtual customer service option called HP Live Expert , a real-time chat function that allows people to instantly connect to an HP representative . Dismore says the platform has led to more than 25,000 successful customer engagements in just four months . More than 14 % of chats end in a sale .
600 % increase
in augmented reality usage on select websites since the start of March
SOURCE : SEEK
60 % increase
in consumer spending on Amazon between May and July compared with the same time period in 2019
SOURCE : FACTEUS
“ Stay-at-home and social-distancing policies accelerated consumer demand to shop online by five years overnight .”
REINVENTING WHAT THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE “ FEELS ” LIKE In response to the rapid market changes , retailers are reimagining the browsing and checkout experience . They ’ re attempting to build and sustain relationships with customers by re-creating what people love about shopping in person , particularly for items they ’ re used to being able to touch , see , or handle in a store or showroom .
There ’ s psychology at play here , too , says Nightingale . “ New features that showcase more about products and allow customers to understand how bigger purchases will fit into their home or lifestyle help make the customer more certain ,” she says .
Some brands are turning to augmented reality ( AR ) to replicate the in-store experience from the safety of consumers ’ couches .
Crate & Barrel and home renovation brands like
Havwoods have long offered
AR or visualization features that enable shoppers to “ see ” products in their own homes . Cosmetics companies like
Sephora and
e . l . f . offer virtual try-on features that use a
— RACHEL TIPOGRAPH , CEO , MIKMAK
Nfinity Avatars , an ecommerce concierge and coaching platform , takes these interactions a step further with interactive avatars that act as virtual customer service agents and
shopping assistants .
“ The pandemic has accelerated the acceptance of online assistance where a live human isn ’ t the frontline contact ,” says Jon Anne Willow , managing director at Nfinity . “ We ’ re seeing that people connect and engage more with an AI presence if it has a face .”
Like ordering big-ticket items online or trying out products with AR , getting help from a chatbot is likely to stick around long after people have put away their masks . These services make at-home shopping not only possible during the pandemic , but also preferable for some .
“ It takes 21 days to build a habit , and we ’ re now [ months ] into COVID-19 ,” says MikMak ’ s Tipograph . “ The online shopping behaviors that have been adopted aren ’ t going anywhere .”
145 % increase
in subscriptionbased shopping for consumer goods
SOURCE : RECURLY
HP / INNOVATION / FALL 2020 67