In a keynote address this morning, PETCO’s John Lazarchic talked about the launch of a new pilot program where customers can use their mobile phones to get ratings and reviews of products in stores.
PETCO already knew that online reviews lead to increased sales and satisfaction, and knew that the information could be used in other channels. Lazarchic said when the company began sending emails featuring online reviews, emails with a customer review boasted a 50% higher click-through rate than those without reviews. Acknowledging retailers’ general concern and uneasiness of launching customer reviews, Lazarchic said the program has paid off in spades: “Customers believe other customers more than they believe us,” he said.
As the company continued to collect tens of thousands of reviews from shoppers, PETCO wanted to find a way to bring reviews into the store environment. The problem? Ratings of products change so quickly that it wouldn’t be feasible for the company to keep swapping out signage for each product.
So the company turned to a mobile solution. The program, being tested in San Diego stores, allows customers who are shopping in stores to look up reviews on products, searching by the SKU on the price tag, description, model number, or name of the product. The program is not designed to drive e-commerce sales, said Lazarchic, and does not mention item pricing. Instead, it is “a tool for a customer who has a mobile phone in their hand.”
Featuring customer reviews through a mobile application makes a lot of sense, and it will be interesting to see this program develop as cell phones become even more imperative for today’s consumers.
What are your thoughts on mobile retailing? What are the benefits and challenges of these programs?
One Comment
I love this idea! I think it’s a great way to bring the rich review content to the stores. I hope it catches on with consumers.
I wonder if offering wi-fi access, as well as 2-D scan codes on the shelves could help to further increase adoption by shoppers.
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[...] In his keynote, Lazarchic discussed a new pilot program the company is implementing in San Diego stores to provide customers shopping in stores with real-time customer ratings and reviews. Read more about this program on the NRF blog. [...]