In a groundbreaking collaboration, we partnered with eobuwie.pl, a leading online shoe retailer in Poland and Central Europe, to introduce a unique physical store concept. This innovative store, powered by Snowdog's Magento Kiosk app, took a bold approach by eliminating traditional product displays. Instead, customers were invited to explore the entire shoe catalogue on tablets, select their desired pairs for trial, and conveniently collect them at a designated service point. The concept garnered immense success, particularly during the store's grand opening in Gdańsk. As an additional highlight, Pepper, the interactive robot, graced the event as a store greeter and entertainer, captivating the attention of visitors.
This groundbreaking approach to retail not only challenges conventional norms but also demonstrates the transformative potential of technology in enhancing the customer experience.
Why did we create it?
We knew that physical stores were not going away anytime soon, but there was huge room for improvement and innovating in their customer experience. In particular, shoe stores experience a common bottleneck due to the need to wait for a shop assistant to size their feet, retrieve sizes or styles from a store room.
In shoe stores, queuing is not a thing of the past…
This is especially a challenge when buying for kids, who cycle through shoes quickly, grow in size and may require different fits and widths. Often in smaller stores with only 1 or 2 staff members, customers will have to wait for their “turn” to receive assistance, which could exceed the typical amount of time a customer might expect to wait in other retail environments.
An opportunity for seamless unified commerce
We saw this as a great opportunity to try something different with eobuwie.pl. Their business began as a purely online shoe retailer, but now have already opened 12 physical stores around Poland, and are growing. Their entry into the retail space was not conventional; we harnessed the success of their e-commerce business developed a Magento Kiosk app that allows customers to browse over 100,000 SKUs on provided tablets. Once shoes are selected, an automated warehouse adjacent delivers the shoes for trying on within 3 minutes for collection or purchase.
Transforming the retail environment
Our ideas were quite out there, but using readily available technologies and designing a smooth customer experience, we believe we addressed a lot of common issues experienced by customers in physical stores.
Lack of store assistance & waiting times
The esize.me feature allows customers to use the 3D scanning technology to size their feet, avoiding the necessity of having a person physically measure their feet.
Pepper was engaging with customers to explain how esize.me and the Kiosk application worked. Voice communication with the robot was a great way to explain and promote the technology among undecided clients. Pepper also entertained kids while their parents browsed, and provided discount offers!
Allowing customers to choose the level of social interaction
While overall, consumers prefer to receive customer service and assistance from real people over chat/online/digital services, Pepper provides a nice intermediate “humanoid” experience that does not completely depersonalize the experience. Rather than being there to replace people, Pepper serves to provide complementary assistance when a shop is short-staffed or having a particularly busy time.
For people who prefer to shop with less personal interactions, the kiosk options allow minimal interface with staff. On the other hand, shop assistants will have more time to dedicate to clients and provide real help.
“Out of stock”
As online delivery becomes ubiquitous throughout cities around the world, physical stores should no longer be limited by in-store stock availability. The eobuwie.pl retail stores allow customers to order items that are not in the warehouse for delivery either to the store or to their own home.
Perfect size
Your esize.me details are also saved to your profile so you can select the correct size when browsing online or in-store. The integration of channels to one profile gives customers peace of mind, builds trust and convenience.
Robotics — not so out of place
We heard a lot of comments from customers in Gdańsk that suggested the use of Pepper in such a technological store was not unexpected. He blended in well with the kiosks and screens around the store. This allowed customers to feel a bit more comfortable interacting with him and they weren’t too distracted by him.
This is another great example of how we can change retail environments and infrastructure to prepare for oncoming technologies like AI and machine learning. This allows businesses to avoid confronting customers with completely new and unfamiliar technologies and provoking negative responses.
“It’s a totally different way to shop and totally different experience. The technology is amazing.”
Safe and secure shopping
Pepper shows how having a robotic presence can increase the level of safety and security to the store, in case staff are busy or distracted/occupied by something else.
A new era of shopping
We’re really excited to be a part of such a forward-thinking brand and working on projects like this. The interface between the customer experience and connection between eCommerce and physical retail spaces is an exciting area, which is where we are really challenged and inspired to do new things.
