The high street beckons… how to give customers the best of both worlds
Guest blog by Andy Gilhooley , Marketing Manager, RedEye: The reopening of the UK highstreet and non-essential shops has given the retail industry much cause to celebrate.
But alongside news of 7am queues for certain stores on Monday 12th April, there has also been a lot of news centred around shoppers’ habits being irreparably changed since the pandemic.
Many young people in particular are expressing their desire to continue shopping online rather than visit high street stores.
And with news about big hitters such as Topshop / Arcadia and Debenhams closing, how will the high street fare?
Most importantly, how can retail brands keep maximising their online offering to make sure customers have a seamless experience both online and offline?
Digital: here to stay
The most important thing for retail brands to remember as the high street reopens is that online shopping is very much here to stay.
What will be different is that digital is going to become even more intertwined with in-person, and become even more of a core channel than ever before.
This will be the case despite shops reopening and some customers therefore choosing to buy in store.
With some stores opening and some not, though, the most important thing for retail brands is to make sure the experience their customers have is seamless – whether they are shopping online, offline, or a mixture of both.
The skill retail brands need to harness, then, is making sure those channels work effortlessly together and complement each other.
Read the full article here
