Recently, Sue and I were out on what we call Retail Reconnaissance at Bass Pro, and spent some time studying the Columbia display. Nerdy? Yes. Waste of time? Definitely not – it helps us help you!
What we found really impressed me because it was executed so well. It also inspired me to imagine the strategic thinking that went into planning such a seamless consumer experience.
I first saw the main piece of POP atop a rack of clothing, which serves to explain the many fabrics the manufacturer uses. Instead of relying on hang-tags on individual garments, this sign (with well-designed infographics, I might add) accomplishes three things:
- Draws attention to the fixture from a distance.
- Shows the diverse selection to the shopper at a glance.
- Familiarizes the shopper with the unique icons assigned to each fabric (which also appear on hang-tags).
As I walked to the front of another fixture, a sign specific to a single fabric caught my eye. It wasn’t incredibly detailed – because it contained a QR code.
I scanned it with my smart phone, of course (because I’m curious like that), and was delighted to see that they had used the code perfectly. In my experience, brands fall short with QR code use 80% of the time. If a consumer scans your code, take them somewhere useful, unexpected, or rewarding – don’t send them to your home page.
Columbia’s code sent me to a mobile-optimized landing page containing a list of the icons for the fabrics, each linking to their own descriptive pages with video demos.
Some important end-user take aways:
- Columbia gave an exemplary brand experience, even though I was shopping in a box retailer.
- I was inspired to purchase their apparel because it’s obvious that they want to connect with their users.
- The brand took care to educate me on their products, instead of relying on the retailer’s sales staff.
So tell me in the comments below:
How can/does your brand uplevel the in-store experience for customers?