Interactive and personalized shopping

Retailing has reached a high level of sophistication in its marketing and communication strategies. Development of brand image, segmentation studies determining the target clientele preferences and needs, advertising, as well as different selling techniques, from trustful salespeople to creative merchandising have long been applied to retailing by specialists in order to impact consumers’ buying behavior. In addition to that, the persistent quest for differentiation through unique offering is still a key element for a successful long-term retail strategy. More recently, with the development of technology and the arrival of new distribution channels, new ways of defining the relationship with customers as well as new interfaces allowing them to communicate with retailers have emerged further enriching the retail landscape (Pantano & Timmermans, 2014; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016; Grewal et al., 2017). This chapter considers the influence of new technologies on the definition of the customer interface in retail. It first presents a rationale for the collection of consumer information in retailing, and discusses the influences of point of sales characteristics on consumer information processing. The presentation will emphasize the fact that the retailing interface, defining the relationship between the retailer and its customers, is a source of unique information and of strong influence on purchasing behavior. It will also underline the diversity of the points of sales and interfaces used by different retailers depending on their positioning, their target markets, and their competitive environment. Then we present the question of consumer information that can be extracted from the purchase, and its application to enhance customer satisfaction and to redefine the interface policy. The insights developed in this chapter lead to a general conclusion about the future of retailing in relationship with its customers, emphasizing the dual need for improving shopping enjoyment and for better merchandise selection and allocation.