SHOPPING CENTERS RUSSIA | APRIL 2019 | 83
For those who do not want to spend a lot of time on purchases, we develop an online store, our own application and communities in social networks”.
Many retailers make their own applications in order to add interactivity and personalized features to offline shopping. Suffice it to recall, for example, a chat bot and an app from VkusVill, where you can get individual discounts using the “I’m in the store” function, or set a “favorite product”. In addition, there is now an opportunity to choose the desired level of interaction with the cashiers: having scanned the card, they will see if the buyer wants to talk to him, offer him to buy goods for a promotion or choose a favorite product right at the checkout, not in the app.
The application of the Perekrestok chain of stores allows you to make a shopping list in advance, select goods with discounts on various filters, and save your purchase history. Users have access to personal offers, free coupons, virtual stickers and a catalog of privileges. Of course, the virtual club card in the application is also sewn. There is also a separate Self Scan service, which for now operates in just a few supermarkets: customers can scan product bar codes using the application and pay for them without a cashier.
At the same time, retailers understand that physical stores have not lost their relevance. They just turned from shopping places into spaces for relaxation and for receiving emotions. Fewer shops, more entertainment — such requirements are put by the generations Y and Z. This requirement is taken into account, for example, in the L’Etoile store of the new format in the Afimall shopping center in Moscow: there are wide aisles, plenty of light, thematic design of shopping areas, barbershop, beautiful areas in which you want to take a selfie. The entire design is thought out in such a way as to inspire the store guests to new stories. Also, the flagship store will open soon in the Aviapark shopping center, where many surprises are promised for the most sophisticated customers: they don’t disclose all the details, but it’s known that there will not be much of a trade component, most of the store’s 2,500 square meters will be allocated under the actual additional services.
The head of the marketing department at Ingka Centers in Russia, Irina Tskhadaya, notes that for Generation Z personalization, quality and practicality are especially important. “They have a more mundane and pragmatic view of life compared to millennials and a high need for personalization. This generation values brands not as a status, but as a guarantee of quality and uniqueness”. Generation Z also supports the trend for a healthy and green lifestyle, closeness to nature.