q215-digital shopper look book-thought leadership-retail

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Understanding the new shopper journey A visual companion to the Digital Shopping Tools eBook

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Introduction

It’s no secret that retail has been changing in previous years. Shoppers are different. And social media, smartphones and shopping apps are changing the way we shop. We get your concerns. To help you get a handle on how shoppers are using digital tools, we embarked on a digital shopping ethnographic exercise to ask real shoppers how they move through a sales channel. But this is different. We’re just talking about digital. From scanning through retailer emails in bed to online price comparisons, read on to see actual examples of the shopper journey and how customers use digital to interact with your brand. This look book moves past the research, data and stats to show you the journey our shoppers encountered, including social, apps, websites and coupons. Watch as they move from awareness to purchase, with a few surprising insights along the way.

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Retailer social media

A quick note about social: Social media is useful and influential because there are so many ways to interact with it. But that also means you have to compete for attention from shoppers.

Source: Epsilon|Ryan Digital Tool Impact Qualitative, 2015

Friends comment on stores

Follow/ like stores

Shop at store

Friends share reviews

See new products; contact store

Purchase from social page

Get sales in timeline/feed and shop/buy

Share own purchase/ reviews/ comments

See stores in timeline Share/look for friends’

help when shopping

Link to store site

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Social involves interlocking, but separate, functionality with several other tools Email

Retailer social media Display

Website

“I follow lots of the same stores I get emails from. If I’m on Facebook, it means I have time to browse and shop.”

“On social media I see ads I did not know about.”

“It’s way easier to get their hours from their Facebook page than going to their website.”

Source: Epsilon|Ryan Digital Tool Impact Qualitative, 2015

Meet our 5 consumers

The Sports Fan The Fashionista The Savvy Searcher The Busy Mom The Mobile Maven

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The Sports Fan

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The Sports Fan

For his birthday, my son asked to go see the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL play against the NY Islanders. I was on the train commuting into work and we were delayed, so using my smartphone, I decided to see what I could find to make use of my otherwise wasted time.

I looked on the Islanders website, but the game was sold out. However, ticketmaster.com offers a website where ticketholders can resell their tickets. I found a pair of seats in a good section that were priced at the top of my limit and was prepared to make the purchase.

Having time on my hands, I decided to look at another reseller website called StubHub. I found a pair in the same section but one row closer to the ice, and the price was considerably less!

Rather than risking someone else swooping in and taking the tickets before me, I immediately initiated the purchase. I was pleased to find that during the checkout process, I was given the opportunity to sign up for their loyalty program and received a $4.50 discount on the tickets.

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The Fashionista

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The Fashionista

My morning routine: • Check email for store/brand updates

• Mark sales/coupons as “important”

• Briefly scan store/brand email or website if interested

Abercrombie and Fitch • I’m not normally an A&F shopper, but I kept

seeing promoted tweets, Facebook posts and emails regarding sales and products.

• I’ve heard from a friend that A&F has revamped their style and cute styles were being posted so I was intrigued.

• I went to the mall and purchased a pair of jeans and another pair of pants. Both were on sale.

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The Fashionista (cont.)

Fabletics • In the past I have seen commercials for Fabletics by Kate

Hudson. I recently started working out and needed more of a wardrobe like this.

• I loved the styles and was attracted to the “low price”. • I went to the website and was disappointed to see it was related to

JustFab, who I had a poor experience with in the past. • I became discouraged that I had to join the VIP program to get the

advertised discounts, because otherwise it’s too pricey.

Vera Bradley I am a loyal Vera Bradley customer to begin with and was in the market for a new tablet case. • I got this email about a new print, and clicked immediately. • I had a Vera credit to use, so I purchased the tablet case (in

this new print) and also a tumbler cup. I received another Vera Bradley email. I immediately opened the email, as I usually do for Vera since I love their stuff. • I saw the purse in the email and wanted to research more,

because I loved it! • The purse was a little pricey for me so I did not purchase it. • I then told a friend about it, and she has a coupon, so she is

giving it to me. • I will purchase the purse with the coupon this weekend.

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The Fashionista (cont.)

Old Navy • I don’t usually shop at Old Navy, but when I do, I get multiple compliments on the outfit. • I am still in the market for new workout clothes because Fabletics fell through, and a friend

told me to check out Old Navy. I also saw a promoted tweet from Old Navy about their workout clothes.

• I got this email with clearance and sales information. I starred the email to check it out later. • I decided to take a trip to the store rather than purchasing online because I wanted to see

the quality of the active wear. • Old Navy has cute active wear but I have not purchased anything yet.

GAP • I shop at GAP regularly, but never

without a sale.

• I saw the sale information in an earlier email but didn’t mark it as “important” because I didn’t need anything at GAP.

• I was at the mall this weekend, went into GAP and saw a pair of pants I liked. I found the coupon in my email and purchased the pants after scanning the email at checkout.

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The Savvy Searcher

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The Savvy Searcher

TireBuyer.com • I needed new tires for my Jeep Wrangler. Currently I have passenger tires on the Jeep, but I wanted to

get SUV tires for the replacements. After researching, I decided on General Grabbers. I then set about finding a local business that stocked these and could install them, only to discover that the chain outlets (Mavis, STS, Goodyear, Pep Boys) in the area did not carry this brand.

• Next up were the online tire stores. A Google search turned up the lowest price at TireBuyer.com. I consulted with my mechanic and got his price for installation and decided to have my mechanic do the installation. Since I wasn’t going to make the purchase immediately, I opted-in to TireBuyers.com’s email to see if they would provide any incentive. Moments later the welcome email contained a “$20 off” coupon code. Now I just needed to wait for the funds to be available in my budget.

A few days later, I received an email newsletter that I subscribe to from a different online merchant, and recalled that that merchant has an eBay store where they sell some of the same items from their website for less money. So, I looked for TireBuyer on eBay. Sure enough, there they were, selling the same tires at 15% off! That discount exceeded the $20 coupon I received with the newsletter, so I decided to make the purchase through the eBay store, but not right away.

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The Savvy Searcher (cont.)

Later that week I returned to buy the tires, only to find that the 15% off discount disappeared without warning. When I proceeded with the purchase on eBay without the discount, I found the price exceeded what I could get the tires for on the website with the $20 off coupon.

TireBuyer.com Since I was now prepared to make the purchase and didn’t want to wait any longer for the tires, I returned to the TireBuyer.com website and completed the transaction using the $20 off coupon code.

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The Busy Mom

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The Busy Mom As a busy working mom with a one-month-old, I prefer to shop online because it’s easier to squeeze into an ever-changing schedule, it’s convenient and I can read reviews and compare prices. I hate overpaying for something and I don't buy anything without reading reviews.

There’s no set time each day I check emails or shop, but generally this happens on my phone while waiting for a meeting to begin or in the evening once I have put the baby down and am in relaxation mode.

Usually I flag an email I see on my phone (star it in Gmail) and note on my planner to make the purchase that weekend. Weekends I do all shopping from groceries for the week to anything else (clothes, baby items, household items).

There are two primary ways I find out about sales or purchases I want to make: 1. Flagged/starred emails in my personal email. When I am going through emails, I traditionally weed through at a glance all the spam and brands I'm not

interested in and flag any I am interested in for weekend reading. I’ll then click through once the baby is down for a nap on the weekends and determine if I will make a purchase after reading customer reviews.

2. Instagram and Pinterest. These platforms I traditionally access when waiting for a meeting or call to begin during the workday, when I know I have 3-5 minutes to scroll through content from bloggers or regular consumers. If an item catches my eye, I will usually click through to see the price and learn more about the item. Occasionally I will then get all the way through to the purchase stage but usually will read customer reviews on the site first. If they don't have reviews on the site I will usually Google to find reviews of the product.

No matter what the product I always use Google to search for a coupon code before making a purchase. Usually I end up at retailmenot.com-it quickly became my go-to for codes that work!

For clothing purchases or larger ticket items ($100+)/ I will usually put the items in my cart and leave them a few days to make sure I really want to go through with the purchase. Since brands then track this and send follow up emails (sometimes with a richer offer), it stays top-of-mind until I make the purchase or decide not to move forward.

I do most of this on my mobile phone but sometimes when I have 30+ minutes when the baby is napping or something, I will shop on my tablet or desktop. Also, when I am doing serious shopping on a large ticket item and need to read multiple reviews, I will go to the desktop computer so I am not limited by a small screen.

Overall, I like to be super educated, get the best price and know exactly what I am getting so online shopping, especially on mobile, is what’s best for me!

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The Busy Mom (cont.)

Example 1: Previous purchase email I have been meaning to order new sheets for weeks now and finally had the time to sit down and make the purchase. This is what happened—all done on my phone: • Searched through old emails to find retailer information from the original purchase • Clicked through to the website • Searched for a promo code/coupon on retailmenot.com, but didn’t find one • Purchased new sheets

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Example 2: Email sent from a brand or product (Sorel) Over the weekend, I saw an email in my inbox from a retailer that I had flagged during the week. Here’s how I went from email to purchase—all on my phone: • Opened the email and clicked through to the retailer site • Clicked on the boots I was considering • Read product reviews and used Google images to see more “live” instances of the boot • Added item to cart • Checked retailmenot.com for a promo code and found a free shipping code • Made the purchase using the free shipping code

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Example 3: Email sent from an online store (Citrus Lane) While waiting for a conference call to begin, I looked at the emails I hadn’t read yet. Here’s what happened with one email—all on my phone: • Clicked to view the Citrus Lane Shop email based on a large

discount savings in the email subject line • Did not pursue and go through to the website for purchase as

nothing from the images really compelled me

Example 4: Social media/Pinterest interaction with a friend I saw a scarf on friends’ Pinterest page and pinned to my own page to look at later. The link was broken so I couldn’t click through to the brand site. Here’s what I did next—all on my phone: • Googled other instances of the product to see if I liked it enough to purchase • Manually typed in the retailer website, searched for the product and added it to my cart • Checked retailmenot.com for promo code and found a free shipping code • Made the purchase using the free shipping code

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Example 5: Social media/Instagram interaction with a brand I was checking my Instagram feed and saw a cup that would make a great gift for my in-laws. This was my process—all on my phone: • Clicked through the Be Still Clothing Company profile link to their online shop • Browsed the products in the online store • Did not check for promo code since it’s a small boutique brand • Purchased cup

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The Mobile Maven

Friday morning: Used the Starbucks app on my phone to load my card and buy coffee. No free one yet . Saturday morning: Checked email on my phone before getting up in the morning. I got an email from Lane Bryant, opened it, and signed up for text alerts. That same morning, I opened an email from Payless ShoeSource about a sale. I made a note to go sometime over the weekend (before my vacation). I bought some shoes on Sunday at the store.

Monday: Checked email on my phone while getting ready for work. I saw this one from Groupon and opened it to see what the deal was. I decided it wasn’t worth enough for now, so I deleted it. Tuesday: Got my grocery ads in the mail. I compared King Soopers and Safeway for the best prices on what I needed. I went to the King Soopers app on my phone to load digital coupons to my card. I looked at Cartwheel to compare coupons on diapers, and ended up going to King Soopers this time. Weekly event

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Conclusion

As you can see, the shopping journey takes on many different looks these days. From surfing your mobile phone first in the morning, to pinning items on Pinterest during conference calls, no two shoppers follow the exact same path to purchase.

The key takeaways from this look book and the companion Digital Shopping Tools eBook is that your customers are using digital tools. They are active on social media, using email, comparing prices and making the decision when (and if) they buy based on a variety of inputs. The challenge now is to identify your target shoppers, determine how and when to communicate with them and meet them where they are, with the language that appeals to them. We realize this is complicated, but we’re here to help.

http://engage.epsilon.com/digitalshopperresearch

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Infographic: MicroMoments – the new path to purchase

#MicroMoments

“The old days of predictable, periodic media sessions have been replaced by numerous short bursts of digital activity throughout the day.”

- Senior VP of ads/commerce at Google

Sources: think with Google AdAge.com, 6/3/15

q215-digital shopper look book-thought leadership-retail

Documents

social page

digital tools

digital shopping tools

store purchase

stores shop

islanders website

store friends

shopping apps