Immersive experiences in brick and mortar stores have been on the rise in China and other countries as many luxury brands have catapulted their digital transformation to enhance customer experience and build meaningful relationships with customers. These luxury brands are now leveraging the phygital (integrating new media technologies with the physical in retail stores) to emotionally engage with their customers and create highly personalized interactions. For example, Huawei has built their flagship store in Shanghai, where they bring digital technologies into different segments of their product line including cars, operating systems, smart home products, lifestyle gadgets to even live presentations immersing customers in their brand rather than focusing on a certain product. In this way, many spaces are undergoing a transformation to adapt to a discussion space or a wine bar at the push of a button, while still preserving the physical aspect of a store with additional digital and social touch-points. While traditional and personal services are still the heart of a physical store, they are also a hindrance for people who are casually in to explore the brand. This is where digital solutions can be implemented to understand customer’s interaction towards products and provide content/knowledge about the brand non-invasively. With an array of digital tools available, how does one go about designing experiences for physical retail spaces? What are the hidden mechanisms that guide people to buy into the brand? And what role does the ‘physical’ play in enrichment?
When it comes to physical objects, many consumers nowadays view ownership and affiliation with a brand as a form of social capital or lifestyle rather than a typical commodity, taking the idea of endowment to another level. In behavioral psychology, the idea of ownership shows that a person will hold onto something he owns more than buying a similar object of same worth. This feeling/perception of ownership is amplified further when physically touching certain objects. Touch is a very powerful medium in translating emotions. Even Apple stores have their computers tilted at an angle to let customers interact with their devices and engage on an emotional level. Branching out even further ,touch can be extended to other senses to create a synesthesia of effects (in which one stimulation leads to an involuntary experience in secondary sensory pathways). For example when we see a fireplace which may even be virtual(on the screen), we still perceive feelings of warmth and home. These feelings of ownership and virtual emotional extensions are key in recreating experiences that enrich and build lasting connections with customers.
Touch is in fact a general term when describing somatosensory inputs(pain, pressure, temperature, vibration and spatial awareness) which forms the physical sensing layer in addition to our primary senses. Sensing is only the first step in engagement; after interacting with the physical, one is presented with information/content which is probably the most important step in making customers aware of the brand. Content in new media has seen so many forms from infographics, video storytelling to interactive personalization etc., where people can access, parse and share information all the while making them feel that they are in control. Brands can also use such tools to strategize their content for specific groups or for special festive/cultural events. In many countries like China, where majority of the people are driven by being part of a larger community, this presents with a lot more opportunity and ease in engaging with the surrounding local community. With that being said, there are a plethora of examples which make use of digital technologies in a physical context; but when looking at it from the lens of ownership and emotional extensions, what are the underlying affordances we can use to craft better phygital experiences?
Multi-sensory is a common term/method to describe an experience. While certainly a great tool, it is sometimes misinterpreted in the context of use as too many sensory inputs may not always be the best choice. An alternate way to look at it is in the form of synesthesia. Synesthesia is a phenomena in which the stimulation of one sensory pathway involuntarily triggers experiences in other sensory pathways. While mainly associated via sound and colors, when applied in the right context/scenario it can create memorable experiences in other mediums as well. A synesthetic experience is also bound to sit in one’s memory for longer, as depriving one of a certain sense cognitively induces one to think and engage in conversations. To visualize this better(synesthetic pun intended :p); imagine an automotive EV retail store and in it there is a digital screen with some sensors(which on standby just shows some leaves on the road). When the customer passes by the digital screen, he/she sees the autumn leaves fly up past the road, with no sound output giving him/her a hint of the speed of the car and how quiet it is (being an electric vehicle). Of course, implementing and executing it well is another discussion in itself, but the idea of “seeing” sounds and “hearing” a picture given an input is the main idea here. Another great example of this, is a conceptual project called Play The City where people traveling in a car can listen and visualize music/sounds being played when a person, car or vehicle passes by. The augmented screen pops up with musical notes and makes one’s boring Uber journey all the more playful and interactive. In addition to touch based experiences, this could be a new way to look at when designing for the senses.
All objects physical/digital are built with certain traits; the way they look, feel, our gestures towards them, the ‘snappy’ sounds they make. These embodied, cultural or surface-level metaphors are important in building an emotional connection with the consumer. The G-box project is one such example which uses strong metaphors in the process of personalization. It showcases a 3-D configurator where people can customize their Mercedes G-class using objects of different colors and types. These objects are crafted with the look, feel and weight resembling the G-class design language and seamlessly blend with the digital using embedded RFID. Customers are also invited to touch the screen and play around with their car in a life-like rendered environment, immersing them in the process. While customizing the interior patterns they are also allowed to feel the leather presented on a book, and it is these small details which make selection a haptic emotional experience.
Being part of a community is a great way to allow customers (especially in the luxury segment) to enjoy privileges exclusive to their brand. In a country like China, where WeChat mini programs are quite the norm, customers can connect with the brand just via the scan of a QR-code and be part of a virtual community. Burberry in Shenzhen, China have created a phygital store concept where customers in the mini program ecosystem are given an avatar which grows when they only buy certain special products from the physical store. Accumulating credits through buying, they can then compare their avatar and purchases with others to get recommendations and more. While this concept is derived from platforms like Nintendo (where people could collect physical tokens from the store which would unlock certain digital characters in games) ; it essentially brings back the idea of unique collectibles in a social setting while still keeping the physical and digital aspects of it relevant.
From the above examples, we can certainly see that most of them are wrapped around: a physical(sensing) layer, an information(content) layer and a social(sharing) layer. And to make any experience emotionally engaging, these parts need to resonate well with each other. While emerging digital tools provide new ways of interacting the consumer with the brand, in the context of a physical store they need to be stitched well with the surrounding space, physical objects and social community to succeed. In other words, the physical and digital need to resonate with affordances as mentioned above (metaphors, somatosensory inputs, etc), to create an enriched experience.
References & Further Reading
- Why you’re more likely to buy something when shopping on your iPad — By Fast Company
- Metaphors we Design By — By Nazli Cila
- Stimulate the Synesthesia, Sense marketing — By Innocean Group
- Is Click-And-Mortar the future of China’s luxury retail — By JingDaily