retailers Archives - People Powered E-Commerce

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Sephora is now the #1 specialty beauty retailer in the world, and it’s all due to how they’re different from your mom’s makeup buying experience. Sephora’s success shows that when you let customers create a shopping experience that works for them, it also works for you. Here’s how you can do the same:

1. Build the in-store experience they desire

When you walk into a back-lit, booming Sephora store, you feel more than welcomed, you feel empowered. Sephora’s approach to merchandising has contributed immensely to their success as they identified all the hurdles of purchasing makeup and promptly tossed them out the door.

Sephora knows that customers are exhausted by the grab-bag quality of pharmacy makeup aisles and the competitive product-pushing found in traditional department stores. The Sephora alternative offers a more accessible shopping experience that’s designed to be low-pressure. Retail assistants are taught to refrain from the hard sell that department stores rely on and instead work with each customer holistically to find the products that match them best while stepping back as needed. This gives Sephora customers the power to choose both their products and their service; they have the freedom to explore the store as they would a pharmacy without sacrificing department store-quality brands, tutorials, and assistance.

2. Offer a personalized approach

Customers are increasingly demanding customization as part of their shopping experience—especially if they’re shelling out for luxuries like makeup. Whether it’s primer for oily skin or moisturizer for dry, Sephora recognizes that their customers require a unique and personalized approach, and they offer this through in-store swatch samplings and makeup demonstrations that allow shoppers to test different brands to be sure they’re buying the right product at the right place.

But Sephora doesn’t stop there: their personalized shopping experience extends to the web, which has been a major key to their success in keeping customers loyal to their brand.

3. Reward loyalty

While baby boomers tend to be brand-loyal, the growing millennial market is more cost-conscious and would rather selectively pick and choose across brands so long as they fit their budget. So how do you get them to be loyal to your business? Give them the most bang for their buck: a loyalty program that rewards them and caters to their needs.

One of Sephora’s secret weapons is its VIB loyalty program, which grants members free gifts, in-store event offers, and discounts after their purchases. What makes VIB so dangerously effective is that it also requests that its members fill out their profile with information regarding their complexion, skin type, and other preferences. Sephora then analyzes this data to create a curated set of product recommendations that suit their specific needs.

The strategy is meant to digitalize the personalized, in-store shopping experience that customers have upon walking into their local brick-and-mortar.

“[We] figured out early on that if we were to get the basics right, we should ask the questions as if we were standing in the store,” Bridget Dolan, VP of Interactive Media at Sephora, shares with Forbes. “What skin type do you have? …If she tells us that she has dry skin then the product that she’s going to receive in an email will have that attribute.”

Evidently, all that tailoring works—Dolan says that a whopping 80 percent of Sephora’s transactions now run through VIB and that clearly, “It’s a win-win.” [Source]

4. Think mobile and digital first

Much of Sephora’s success is due its digital customer experience, which is interactive, multipurpose, and totally on-point. Nearly half of Sephora’s digital traffic is through its mobile interface [source], which features almost all the accoutrements of its desktop site, including a user-friendly layout that conveniently highlights all product news on the front page.

But Sephora didn’t just build their website around their customers’ desire to shop—it also accommodates their pressing need to ensure quality before they buy. This is why Sephora.com is revolutionary for providing sections for user-generated content such as BeautyTalk, a forum for casual customers and experts alike to discuss products, and the Beauty Board, a space for customers to post pictures of how their Sephora-bought cosmetics fare out in the real world.

5. Collaborate with the culture

If your customers aren’t already shopping through your website, they’re still likely to research your products online. Beauty bloggers on YouTube and Instagram are gradually replacing counter clerks in educating consumers on the best makeup brands and application lessons. Sephora embraced this culture by partnering with such key influencers, and their collaboration has indirectly increased the brand’s engagement with all other consumers online.

The reason why is simple: word-of-mouth continues to be the best way to market, and these big-name beauty bloggers are trusted by even the most discerning customers. Bloggers will speak plainly when they feel a product is expensive or reliable, and because customers crave this authenticity, they’re more likely to follow their advice than that of expert cosmeticians. Sephora now owes a great deal of its brand awareness to these bloggers who preach the quality of their products; their promotion has helped increase traffic to Sephora’s online storefront and cultivate a positive reputation on social media.

Speaking of social media…

6. Be truly social

Customers hate feeling that they’re speaking to a marketing department; they want brands with an online presence that’s personified, humorous, conversational. This is why being interactive with consumers via social media is crucial in giving them the experience that they want.

Along with actively liking, commenting, and responding to customers’ posts, Sephora frequently uses their Instagram to share looks posted by their fans. The prestige that comes along with this promotion has since encouraged thousands of users to tag #Sephora in their posts for a chance to be featured on their page. It’s Sephora’s sincere, mutually beneficial, give-and-take relationship here that keeps their customers engaged and their social media truly social.

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Combining the best of both in-store and online shopping is what makes Sephora shine in the industry. The beauty brand knows that digitalizing the in-store experience is the new market tactic, but it’s no secret—and it’s applicable to all retailers.

Want to bring your customer service to the mobile world, too? It’s easier than you think! Get started now with a retail app that works for you.

Our economy is shifting from a manufacturing based one to a services based one, and that means those who understand customer service models are bound to be more successful than those who don’t.

While there’s a lot of evidence that people do enjoy shopping online for “mindless” items (items they purchase with a regular cadence, where they have a provider they’re happy with,) when it comes to buying items that count for customers or the person they’re buying an item for, shopping in-store with a sales associate is still the preferred method according to the Harvard Business Review.

However, your company is only as good as the staff you have maintaining the store on a day-to-day basis. Running a retail operation with the belief workers are replaceable and not skilled is a huge mistake in this new environment. Educating and empowering staff goes a long way. Attracting retail staff that’s motivated, engaged and a cut above is actually much more important.

Enter the Retailpreneur.

Retailpreneurs are sales staff in a retail environment that are engaged in their roles where they see themselves as ambassadors of the brand, and that they’re not there just to service clients as they enter the store, but to actually seek out, handle and close “whales” (clients that account for a larger percentage of the bottom line) or increase the sales cadence of their existing clients.

How do you find Retailpreneurs?

Because retailpreneurs go above and beyond, you will have to go above and beyond as well to find them and win them over. Here are some tips to do just that.

#1. Offer Entrepreneurial Incentives

They are called retailpreneurs for a reason, they thrive off of a challenge and want to be in control of their income and future earning potential. If you are going to attract and retain this highly motivated associate, you need to offer them a chance to go above and beyond in their role.

This type of offering would include things like commissions, milestone bonuses, tools to use to build client rosters and sell outside of regular store shifts, resources to amplify their own marketing efforts, and programs that reward taking initiative.

#2. Give Them the Tools and Technology to Grow

Created on Giphy – http://gph.is/2p7n9Tn

As a sneak peak to the release of our latest study, 66 percent of sales associates say new technology and tools is a must-have at their future retail employer. Not only that, but 80 percent more likely to stay at their retailer if they provide new tools and technology that enhance their job.

It’s one thing to offer incentives and encourage retailpreneurialism, it’s a whole other thing to enable it through technology. With more and more opportunities for sales associates today to create residual income through online tools, it’s better to create these opportunities rather than compete with them.

#3. Make Your Job Description Stand Out…in a good way

Sue Sylvester (Glee) Gif on Giphy – http://gph.is/2cnIapV

When you look at most job ads for retail, you’ll notice they are all identical except for the store name. Separate yourself from the crowd by looking outside the industry for tips. You don’t have to make it flowery or use too much fancy jargon. Look at websites for start ups and Kickstarters for the kind of language that incites people to want to join a cause. Make a special section on your website that’s not called “jobs” at all, but rather reflects “sharing our values” or “joining us.” Steer clear of the played out “join our team!” jargon you see on every company website.

#4. Recruit on Social Media

Shelley Pfefferman (Transparent) on Giphy- http://gph.is/2d7LRRj

It’s true that you can find just about anything on social media now, and Retailpreneurs are no exception. It may seem strange to find your next great salesperson on Instagram, but you need to seek out where your ideal candidates already are. You can advertise on your social media channels by showing off your brand values and what it’s like to work for you to entice fans and followers to get in touch or share these posts with their own audiences. Studies show many candidates check the social media presence of companies and make decisions based on it.

#5. Be Open, Authentic and Bear Your Soul

Lisa Simpson (Simpsons) on Giphy – http://gph.is/1MOmdwT

If you want to find the best, you have to sell your company as well as you need to sell your product, so look at “what’s in it” for the sales associate. If you have schedules that work with associates, make sure you declare it. Have a great company discount? Let them know upfront. Consider ways to lower barriers to employment for your potential sales people, and make good on them. Look to start ups and ad agencies for small ways to make employees feel wanted and cared for.

#6. Have A Secret Sale…For Your Brand

Puppy Surprise on Giphy – http://gph.is/1bgRxl0

If you’re still looking for people that you haven’t found yet, it’s time to look at creative ways to get them in the room. Scout out people online, through email lists, or even existing, trusted customers and contact them to let them know about your event at your store. Throw a party in the store and make sure you have signage and information available (and even ways to apply or connect to recruiters right in the store) to capture the right kind of motivated engaged people who already like your brand. Find ways to get them to opt in for follow ups after the event, and keep in touch. You never know who knows who and that person might be one degree away from you.

#7. Ask Their Advice In the Interview

Edna Mode (Incredibles) on Giphy – http://gph.is/1fX8lRM

To judge whether someone is thinking like an entrepreneur, ask them to make suggestions for what you could be doing better in your store. People who are willing to share these tips with you in a constructive way are the exact type you should hire. This is a tried and true method start-ups use to weed out “lifers” from the passers by.

It’s not enough to attend job fairs or put a sign up at the point of sale in your store anymore. To find really great sales associates, you have to think strategically about how and where people with an entrepreneurial mindset live. Once you’ve found them, judge them on their initiative and reap the rewards in screamed sales numbers and customer satisfaction.