Post date: Jun 21, 2013 11:4:56 PM
Reuters Business Report - Ready set go- shopping!
Kate Spade Saturday wants consumers to literally stop in their tracks- and shop.
The new online- only brand has set up four "shoppable windows" in New York City- selling 30 items from storefront screens. Customers order products, put in their phone number- and have their stuff delivered to them in about an hour.It's a way to expose the e-commerce experience to the brick and mortar customer says Brand Director Kyle Andrew:
KYLE ANDREW, BRAND DIRECTOR, KATE SPADE SATURDAY:
"We are able to seamlessly connect those two sides and make the customer feel like it doesn't matter where she is shopping, it should be just as easy, just as simple, just as fast wherever she is shopping. So that was our goal from the beginning to really make that a very seamless experience. We don't want that kind of tension between the two types of channels that most retailers have."
Payment, by credit card or eBay's mobile PayPal Here, doesn't happen until the courier delivers the goods.
Ebay is the technological backbone for the touch screen shop.
Spokesperson Amanda Miller:
AMANDA MILLER, SPOKESPERSON, EBAY INC. :
"What we have done here is, we have created a really interactive experience that brings the best of technology off line into the physical world with a very engaging experience, the bells the whistles the colors, all of that reflects the technology and what we know consumers want."
BRIDGE: BOBBI REBELL, REUTERS REPORTER :
"So despite this eye catching bright yellow facade there are no products inside in fact when customers go and try to get into the store they find out pretty quickly there is no store."
Tech companies like LightSpeed are also leveraging retailers' omni-channel ambitions.
It recently launched a product called Show and Tell. In-store customers, for example, buying a dress can instantly see- and buy accessories to go with it- even if the items aren't right there - thanks to a salesperson with an iPad ready for the up-sell.
CEO Dax Dasilva says shoppers can't get that just sitting at home.
DAX DASILVA, CEO, LIGHTSPEED:
"There was a reason to get off the couch and come in. You know and they would want to come back because it was efficient too."
Customers get the deep inventory of e-commerce- but get the instant gratification of an in-person experience.
But fear not- Kate Spade Saturday does plan on opening brick and mortar locations - a natural progression in the omni-shopping universe.