California Apparel News

The basic model for the physical store has not changed in decades, but the traditional setup of merchandise, cash register and sales staff might be taking a big step forward with new technology.

Call it an arms race for consumers’ attention, said Chitra S. Dabas, assistant professor of apparel merchandising and management at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Physical retailers are seeking new ways to attract shoppers without using the blunt instrument of a big sale. “Price competition has gone up so much,” she said. Giving stores a new tech edge is one way to appeal to the e-commerce generation.

Examples of models being used to give physical retailers a technological edge include one from Starmount Inc. and another from a tech partnership with Macy’s, Intel Corp. and Possible Worldwide.

Starmount’s software was adopted by 400 Urban Outfitters Inc. stores in 2011, and the Austin, Texas–based Starmount offers software that, the company guarantees, will equip sales representatives with more knowledge and mobility.

With mobile devices such as cell phones, iPads or tablets, store clerks can handle a sales transaction, check inventory and access detailed information on an item in any part of the store, said Jerry Rightmer, president and chief technology officer of Starmount.

“A major goal is to reclaim valuable store space for more merchandise,” Rightmer said. “The software also will give associates the ability to ‘save the sale’ and provide better customer service,” he said.

With salespeople not chained to the cash wrap area, they can engage customers in any part of the store and execute sales transactions before consumers can slip out of the store or get second thoughts about a purchase. Rightmer said the Starmount system gives sales associates the powerful information tools of an e-commerce store—but with the added benefit of instant gratification. Instead of waiting for delivery of their purchase, consumers can take home a product the moment they purchase it.

Store management can evaluate how sales associates spend their work time by tracking the information they access on the Starmount software. As the technology evolves, store management might be able to coach salespeople what to recommend to customers in real time.

Displayed at the National Retail Federation’s Retail’s BIG Show 2012 last month, Macy’s Beauty Spot was created to mix the best of online and bricks-and-mortar shopping. The kiosk’s technology was supplied by Intel, the touch-screen was designed by Possible Worldwide, and the look was crafted by Macy’s.

It will garner the attention of people who think conventional cosmetics retail is as useful as an 8-track tape. “It’s for younger customers,” said Eric Mauriello, senior vice president of Possible Worldwide.

Accessed through 40-inch touch-screens on the sales floor, Beauty Spot is currently being tested at four Macy’s locations—two in Houston; one in Tyson’s Corner, Va.; and another in Wayne, N.J.

In the typical cosmetics departments, single brands dominate specific real estate. The Beauty Spot kiosk is, instead, devoted to a wide array of brands, including multi-line cosmetic e-tailers such as Ulta Beauty (www.ultabeauty.com).

The kiosk also hopes to engage consumers with its “Top 10 Picks” page, where shoppers can view top-selling products, user reviews, special pages on specific categories such as foundation and tutorials on how to put together a certain look. If the consumer has a question, he or she can consult a Macy’s Beauty Spot concierge, who is knowledgeable on all of the products in the cosmetics department.

Macy’s is testing how much Beauty Spot’s information will whet consumers’ appetites. Possible Worldwide believes that Beauty Spot will inspire consumers to visit Macy’s conventional beauty counter to ask more about specific products. “It allows the customer to be informed, and the informed customer is the best customer,” Mauriello said.

Eventually, a similar kiosk could be used for apparel sales.

Macy’s spokesperson Jim Sluzewski said the retailer would watch how customers engage with the machine before opening it at more locations.

“This is a new concept in a lot of ways. It takes more than one trip to get engaged with it,” Sluzewski said of Macy’s cosmetics consumers.  “The first time, they may not glance at it. But the next time, they’ll get more engaged.”

Although technology such as Beauty Spot allows consumers to seek and find product information on their own, the technology will never make the human sales interaction obsolete, said Cal Poly Pomona’s Dabas. “If it is Macy’s, Nordstrom, and if you go up the price chain, there always will be a need for sales associates,” she forecast. Shoppers often rely on salespeople to judge how a garment looks on them and to find other clothes to try on. No machine has been made to do that.