Opinion: 2022 – driving sales in consumer electronics

Despite the challenges of recent months, consumer electronics brands and retailers have a real opportunity to excite shoppers with brand activation this year, creating unique phygital experiences that both surprise and delight consumers.

Scott Bendowski, Business Optimisation Director at omnichannel marketing and customer experience consultancy, CPM, shares his unique insight on the options for the consumer electronics sector to blend online and instore sales and product demos to drive sales and brand loyalty in 2022:

“According to our recent survey, only a third (34%) of all consumers claimed they would feel comfortable buying any type of product, including high-value electronics like a laptop, without any form of interaction with, or advice from, a salesperson. Somewhat surprisingly, Gen-Z (15%) and millennials (27%) feel less confident than average about making these types of purchase completely independently.

“It follows that brands need to ensure their online and offline customer experiences are working together to ensure a great customer experience and secure sales. Many consumers are going through several touchpoints before making a purchasing decision. For example, some may start online, before going in-store to see the product in real-life and then ‘flip-flopping’ between these channels ahead of the final purchase. It is important to get both online and offline correct and make the shopper journey seamless and consistent between the two channels.

“We work with many leading retailers, including John Lewis, and our teams there are reporting that consumers are coming in more educated from online research, and the role of the in-store visit is primarily to supplement that understanding with a full interaction with the product.

“The line between traditional in-store shopping and online shopping has been fundamentally blurred – meaning consumers expect the best of everything, including access to sales advice and product demos, no matter which channel they choose to buy through.

“Currently, omnichannel means having a presence across every channel, including instant messaging, email, voice search, and social media. However, just having these solutions does not mean the consumer can transact across all of them; the sales cycle is disparate and disconnected. The future of retail means addressing the gap in this sales loop, closing it for the consumer and helping brands respond to the huge opportunity it presents”.

“To that end, CPM has recently launched ACTiON, a revolutionary way for consumers and employees to interact and transact with brands and retailers, giving them the best of both digital and physical shopping experiences.

“By providing a live, omnichannel, video solution, ACTiON gives every online customer access to face-to-face advice from an expert e-promoter or trainer, whoever they are, wherever they are, whenever they want it.

“The retailers that stand to gain the most in 2022 and beyond are those that succeed at marrying together the social and community-driven aspects of high street shopping with modern, digital and experiential experiences. Many modern consumers still want to physically shop on the high street as much as they do online: it’s all about providing the best of both worlds.”