When it comes to summing up the previous decade of the retail sector, direct to consumer is a concept that always had a spotlight on the need to place the customers first while serving them with facilities and products on any platform. It has become important to not just respond to the new digital reality but also capitalize on the chance it presents to provide customer experience that speaks of the brand’s personality.
Digital first branding
Digital-first branding is a strategy in which digital solutions take precedence over the traditional methods of the business. Shopping in a Digital-First World initiates a new era for retail with brands contending to build a unique digital identity in the market.
The need for a digital-first approach
In this modern age where having a solid digital presence has become of utmost importance, the way to make a long-lasting first impression on customers is also led by the digital realm. According to a research firm App Annie, Indians spend around 5 hours daily on various applications through different channels. So for a brand to not have a digital presence can lead the businesses to suffer from not being able to sustain existing clients to attract new customers. A digital-first approach is essential for the following reasons:
-Enhance customer experience.
-Ensure 24/7 availability of products and services without any location restrictions.
-Deploy targeted promotional campaigns to generate leads.
-Satisfy customer demands and get noticed by people in an environment they spend most of their time on.
Concept of Virtual stores
The facility of virtual stores is being seen on a popular basis today that has been adopted by a lot of brands to bring in the implementation of digital-first experience to customers. A virtual store enables customers to roam the setup of an actual showroom to purchase items in a real-time landscape giving rise to an increase in the accuracy of the purchase. This also makes shopping seamless and fun.
Walk through the details of this concept of a virtual store proposed by DaveAI
A virtual store can take a brand from the traditional aspects of retailing into the digital sphere in no time. A 3D walkthrough of the product catalogue enables an immersive customer experience for the users. Automated rendering allows recognizing the features of a product in detail, making the purchase accurate even on a digital platform. Making use of AI to provide personalized recommendations based on user preferences, these virtual stores provide a winning opportunity to identify the constantly changing digital landscape and consumer demands to innovate new solutions for them. These virtual stores also provide a dashboard that presents insights to keep up with new trends and evolve. A global shopping approach makes this concept of a virtual store shine bright with the prospect of the brand coming out of its local scope and changing the dimensions of the league the entire business was operating in.
You can visit this site to know more about this strategy -> Virtual Store
Key techniques for a successful ‘digital-first’ brand
Securing every touchpoint the customer has with a brand becomes a strenuous process after a while that requires in-depth formulation of a plan that can maintain the consistency of the customer engagement on all channels enabling a unified customer journey. With so many innovations and technologies taking the market in a whirlwind today, knowing where to go can get confusing and also time-consuming. So to simplify the process of forming a successful digital first brand strategy; here are a few suggestions for you-
- Customer perspective: Putting on a consumer-first lens while providing opportunities to people is essential to develop a successful digital-first brand strategy.
- Storytelling: Conveying messages the brand signifies should be done in a powerful way that leaves a strong impact on people. An emotional quotient can also be added to this strategy that makes people relate to the brand. This can be done with the use of virtual avatars or brand avatars used for narrating product features or compelling stories about the brand that builds a connection with the customers. These avatars can have interesting personalities and can be chosen from a variety, according to the business requirements.
DaveAI virtual avatars mimic the human brain to initiate conversations in the natural language. Its features include personalized product and feature recommendations, 3D demonstrations that build a compelling brand experience for the customers.
You can visit this site for more information on virtual avatars that can help you connect with customers seamlessly on digital platforms -> Virtual Avatar
- Consistency: The brand strategy should be uniform on all channels that makes the customers identify a brand from the crowd.
- Experimenting: When it comes to knowing exactly what you want in terms of the brand presence on digital platforms, playing with various options is the step towards a successful omnichannel journey. From the colours and the fonts used on websites to content used on social media, understanding what the targeted audience is liking and is responding to is very important. Small tests should be conducted from time to time to keep refining the strategy till you find what you are looking for.
Brands winning at building a strong digital presence
There are several brands that have successfully adopted these strategies and are winning at meeting the digital needs of the consumer head-on. Let’s talk about some of them.
Gucci: The immersive use of next-gen technologies of AR and VR can be seen on the application Gucci has, to provide people an all-inclusive customer experience. The Gucci application hosts a wide range of sneakers that one can explore using augmented reality to initiate the ‘try before you buy’ feature. This strategy has led to an increase in sales.
L’Oréal: L’Oréal provides an extensive collection of products for various purposes to global shoppers. The digital customer experience of this business includes several facilities like ‘click and collect’, ‘looks on the go’, ‘expert advice’, etc to provide a captivating experience to the users.
The digital footprints of the brand decide the future of retail businesses and so it is essential to hop onto the train and purchase a one-way ticket to the digital world along with everyone else to survive in this competitive market. With success stories of many brands driving this change with force, it would not be hard to contemplate a digital-first experience for all the users.
For more details on how you can jump on the bandwagon of providing a digital-first branding experience to the customers, book a demo with us now.
