Offline shopping can be hi-tech, too

At a time when online shopping is catching on, retail brands are gearing up to shift your eyeballs from your computer screen to their brick-and-mortar stores.

Brands are now looking at leveraging technology to customise the search for products and even personalise their offerings, thereby adding zing to the offline shopping experience.

Take for instance Pepe Jeans, which is bringing the concepts of “Custom Studio” and “Magic Mirrors” to its stores. Consumers will be able to customise designs and embellishments for their denims that include using laser technology to print messages in a few minutes.

At the same time, Magic Mirror will capture multiple images of the products as consumers try them on and help them compare the looks on one screen.

Said Kavindra Mishra, CEO, Pepe Jeans India: “Worldwide, there is movement towards customisation and personalisation in fashion. So we are using technology tools to help our consumers personalise their Pepe Jeans and have an enhanced brand experience. We are strategically investing to make the offline space vibrant.”

Starting from the launch at its flagship store in New Delhi, the company expects to take these concepts to its key flagship stores across the metros in the next few months. It will also look at launching Custom Studio as a pop-up store across malls. Mishra said the company is not only investing in importing these machines but also training staff to offer customisations in a few minutes at the stores.

At present, customers are seeing the use of technology only for online shopping but the brand hopes to use technology for offline shopping as well, he added.

Globally, companies are increasingly using technologies to bridge the gap between the online and offline space. According to brand expert Harish Bijoor, these are essentially marketing strategies used to create excitement at the physical stores as Indian consumers straddle the online and offline world.

Japanese sportswear brand ASICS, which recently launched its first partnered mono-brand store in New Delhi , featured the Foot ID static, a 3-D foot scanning technology.

The Foot ID performs biomechanical analyses to help consumers make accurate foot measurements, and pick the shoes that fit their running style.

Rajat Khurana, General Manager and Director of ASICS India, said: “This technology helps consumer experience the brand in an innovative manner at our stores. As we add more mono-brand stores with partners, efforts are being made to take this technology to our key stores in the top metros.”

The company has for now identified locations to add three mono-stores in the next few months, in cities such as Mumbai and Chennai.

COMMENT NOW