Here’s why
People don’t have to leave their homes to buy things anymore. This is not an understatement. Almost anything you want can be delivered within days, if not hours.
So retailers have had to choose: close their stores and join the highly competitive D2C marketplace or add an experiential component to their brick-and-mortar operations.
The best of both worlds
But why not do both and outperform your competition? Adding booked experiences to your business cements your role in customers’ lives because you’re curating happy memories for them. This is what consumers want more than anything else. It has the added benefit of being a great social mission and a public good because happy memories have been proven to actively reduce anxiety (cit here from the happiness institute. Perhaps an illustration of a personal recallinga retail memory with friends).
When you offer booked experiences, know that third-party booking apps often ruin the customer experience and hurts your brand. You’ve carefully designed and curated your digital and physical storefronts so why ask your customer to jump to an unfamiliar booking/ticketing/reservation tool that destroys the brand experience? We get why retailers do this, by the way. Technology that facilitate booked experiences is complicated and difficult to integrate - but it’s worth the effort! Do not shove your customers off to Eventbrite or equivalent to close the deal. We believe you must control the entire experience at your domain, control the conversation, and hang on to all your customer data - cost-effectively.
Memories are your best loyalty program
The memories made, with your brand at the center, transcend the value of what’s been consumed and result in higher average order values, more customer lifetime value, and FOMO generation - we’ve seen this work across almost every industry and business vertical (although there are the usual suspects in sports, entertainment, travel, and dining).
- The candle I made at the homewares retailer is a memory prop for a great time me and my besties had.
- The cooking class I took at the Kitchenware chain reminds me of how much I love the family I took the class with, how much I enjoy food, and how much I value the retailer that facilitated it.
- (Some more here, probably)
As retail has changed, retailers have inherited a new mission - happy memory creation. Join the party.
To get your juices flowing, here are some examples of retailers we’ve seen employing booked experiential to great success:
To get your juices flowing, here are some examples of retailers we’ve seen employing booked experiential to great success
- The Unexpected
- Museums
- Breweries, Wineries, and Distilleries
- Workshops and classes held by retailers
- Location-Based Entertainment (VR/AR fun, Laser tag, etc)
- Goat yoga
- Cat Cafes
- Etc
- Etc
Helpful Human exists to create the most effective digital solutions for retailers that understand they must bring people together to succeed. Gone are the days of hoping people stumble into your store. We are experts in helping you take control of the value of bringing people together with your brand at the center.
