Apparently multi sensory retail isn’t losing its appeal after all……. Brick and mortar stores have had to compete with the growing on-line industry for the past several years. Customers compare prices on-line from the comfort of their own home and then “click” to conveniently have that purchase show up at their front door.
But there’s a relatively new kid in town. “Click to Brick” is the retailers way of combining the ease of on-line shopping and offer an actual store location for the customer to pick up the purchase. This enables them to actually see, touch, smell, hear or taste their purchase if need be. Gasp!….. Real world experience!
Guildford Town Centre’s pilot store “One Stop Gift Shop” was one of these new stores to pop up on the scene over the holidays. Customer service was their top priority, offering concierge like extravagance. Carefully researched gift items from popular retailers located in the mall for “the hard to buy people in your life” were pre-purchased and made available through the website. Once on-line payment was confirmed, the customer could then pick up their purchases at the store, complete with a complimentary GTC gift card that could be activated in January. Purchases were presented to the customer, beautifully wrapped and ready to put under the tree. (they were even known to have run it out to your car…..a service being tested by customer service experts, Nordstrom!)
No waiting in line-ups while debit machines took their time connecting, many different retailer options available in one store, pre-wrapped purchases, bonus gift cards, reserved parking spaces….reason enough to entice me to get off the sofa and make my way to the mall!
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