SPRING//SUMMER 2018 55 54 SPRING//SUMMER 2018 From bots to beacons, tech wizard CHRIS PARTRIDGE shares how to attract customers and grow sales using new digital tools online and in store RETAIL GOES DIGITAL PEOPLE are buying stationery again, driving a boom in a sector that was virtually written off when it looked as though everything was going digital. Surprisingly, however, the new demand for notebooks, writing paper and greetings cards is coming from Generation Y, born in the years around the millennium and growing up with no memory of a time before word processing, email and social media. They have fallen in love with paper but they also want to shop online and get their stuff instantly or sooner, and marketing to this generation requires mastery of the digital domain. Almost all retailers have a website, but many are little more than a screen with directions to the shop. To attract millennials, site visitors must be able to browse the entire stock, either to purchase for delivery to the home or to reassure themselves that a visit to the store will be worthwhile. Generation Y wants new experiences and fun rather than mere possessions, so it is also vital to ensure that once they are in the shop they have a good time. Websites these days must also work well on all screen sizes, from computer monitors (millennials have no compunction about shopping at work) to smartphones (all millennials have at least one.) Ensuring a smooth transition from a widescreen monitor to a portrait phone screen is not a trivial task. Visitors will frequently have questions about the products, which can often be answered instantly by a chatbot, software that uses artificial intelligence to generate realistically human responses to common queries. They can be surprisingly witty and fun. Chatbots replace the dispiriting process of searching through FAQs for guidance on product details, delivery options and so on, and can retain customers on the site at points when they may otherwise get bored and go off to a competitor. The ultimate chatbot is Amazon’s Alexa, which is available for retailers to adapt, rebrand and use themselves. Other chatbots available for retailers to use are Facebook Messenger, Slack’s Slackbot and Kit, a ‘virtual employee’ from Shopify. Envelopes Ltd. www.envelopes.co.uk sales@envelopes.co.uk t: 01628 810 000 EXPLORE The World of Envelopes & Postal packaging NEUTRAL branding NO minimum quantity UNRIVALLED selection LUXURY materials Stand: G219 Chatbots are so powerful nowadays it’s tempting to pretend they are real live humans. This is very dangerous – sooner or later someone will realise what is going on, pose a series of questions designed to expose the bot’s ignorance, and post the hilarious results on Facebook. The customer backlash can be very damaging. The safest way forward is to be frank about the bot, and ensure that a customer can chat with a human being at the touch of a button. As well as keeping customers happy, chatbots deliver a wealth of valuable market research, giving instant data on what is in demand and identifying common complaints. Some bots can even assist managers by creating business reports with sales statistics and so on, creating new ads based on targeted audiences and sending ‘thank you’ emails to customers. One area which should never be left to chatbots (not until they get a better sense for irony anyway) is social media. Interesting, witty and Photo:Pexels