Oxford iStreet gears up for an eChristmas
Whether it’s great deals online or eye catching window displays, retailers are pulling out all the stops to try and entice shoppers this Christmas. This is particularly apparent on London’s world famous Oxford Street, where many of the flagship stores are using technology to deliver a greater shopping experience to their customers.
Several initiatives to improve the customer experience caught our eye when we took a stroll down the capital’s most famous shopping street. We found Niketown attendants taking payments on mobile devices to cut down queuing times and in Debenhams we discovered that they’re running a ”free coffee Friday” offer via the location-based social network FourSquare. Even John Lewis is getting in on the act, having recently announced plans to offer free Wi-Fi to shoppers in all of its department stores nationwide by Christmas.
We’re not just seeing innovation in the in-store customer experience; stores are taking huge strides to attract and retain shoppers online as well, moving beyond eCommerce offerings to capitalise on growing demand for mobile shopping. Our research shows that 61 per cent of the flagship stores in Oxford Street have a mobile commerce offering and 46 per cent have a mobile app - a wise move considering that the number of people searching for retailers’ websites on their mobile phone has grown by a whopping 168 per cent year on year, according to the British Retail Consortium and Google.
With technology widely available that can help retailers give shoppers a better experience both online and in-store, whilst improving their bottom line, it’s highly likely that we’ll see more stores adopting a multi channelled approach throughout 2012.
Are you planning a trip to Oxford Street this year or will you be avoiding the crowds and ordering your gifts online? How else can retailers use technology to improve the experience for shoppers?
