How can we elevate the shopping experience? In this conversation with Joana Gomes, Retail & Education Director at Roudolph Arié Perfumaria e Cosmética, we explore the current and future landscape of retail, particularly in the luxury and beauty sectors. Joana offers a compelling take on the enduring importance of offline retail, highlighting how the sensory, emotional, and personalized nature of in-store shopping experiences cannot be fully replicated online.
As the retail industry continues to transform, Joana shares her thoughts on the challenges, technological innovations, and evolving customer loyalty strategies that will shape its future.
Interview Retail Sector – Joana Gomes – Elevate the shopping experience
We start by assessing the current context of the retail sector. Will offline disappear?
I don’t believe at all that offline will disappear, especially in the context of luxury retail, neo-luxury and beauty, given the specific characteristics of these business segments.
Online purchasing, with all its great advantages, is a very functional purchase, which does not provide the same level of emotions of achievement, sensorial experience, immediate satisfaction, personalization of service and even identification/affiliation.
I think, however, that offline stores will go through a profound transformation process to elevate the shopping experience, and this effort could lead to a geo-centralization of their presence.
Technology will be fundamental to elevating the shopping experience in a physical store
What are its defects and virtues in front of online retail?
I see as the main defects or troubles, the need for travel, in a society struggling with its agenda and commitments; the effective smaller range of offer, when new brands and new products reach us every day; the difficulty of locating items in the store, that sometimes it is not easy and leads to demotivation; and the lower availability of stocks, as it’s very frustrating to arrive at the store and release the product you’re looking for and the product that you are looking for is out of stock.
As for virtues, they are also numerous, but I believe that the most relevant are: the much more immersive and playful shopping experience, in which the consumer is strongly stimulated from a sensorial point of view with textures, colors, aromas, complementary products, other categories …; the confidence of trying before using, that in fragrances, cosmetics and makeup is crucial; the personalized and specialized service, because, whit so may information and stimulus its not obvious what is the best choice for us; and obviously, the immediacy of the acquisition, “I what it, and I have now”.
The main problem today is the lack of a sufficiently specialized and dedicated level of service
What is the biggest problem or weakness that retail has to face?
In my opinion, the main problem today is the lack of a sufficiently specialized and dedicated level of service, whose interaction with the consumer is overwhelming. This is something very difficult to achieve, in any retail area, given the staff rotation across all sectors, and which becomes even more complex in segments with a prolific offering of brands and products. But of course, there are good examples.
In the current context, what role does technology play in retail?
Technology will be fundamental to elevating the shopping experience in a physical store, making it more surprising and with greater engagement. It will help consumers find proposals increasingly targeted to what they are looking for, more quickly, and with greater freedom not to interact with advisors if they don’t want to. But I believe that many steps still need to be taken to truly begin to feel its impact. So far, there are obviously some proposals, but in a timid and not very robust way. I believe that the real revolution is yet to come.
I believe that the real revolution is yet to come
What does it take for a store to work? Is there a magic recipe?
I don’t think there is exactly a magic recipe, but there are some points that are obviously crucial, and without them, the chances of success are highly conditioned: from the store’s interior environment, which is intended to be welcoming, well iluminated, with aesthetic codes that define an identity. No one feels the pleasure of shopping in dark environments with undifferentiated codes; inevitably a good selection of offers and well thought out merchandising, which not only reflects the most salable products, but which combines them in a stimulating way with complementary products and ranges, and even more surprising proposals; I think it is essential in segments that involve luxury brands, a staff with attentive, knowledgeable service, dedicated to the consumer, and who understands how to conduct a sale that satisfies and creates the desire to return; and of course, a good stock management, to wait two days… we ordered it online.
How is customer loyalty achieved? How do you engage your customers?
I think that loyalty comes from the continuous identification and affinity that is created between the consumer and a brand, a product, a retailer, an advisor… and for that to happen, firstly, there needs to be an identity, signature, style, individuality… that is clear and secondly consistent across the different points of contact. This tripartite balance, of “what”, “where” and “how”, is very demanding, but guarantees a very virtuous and lasting connection.
I think that loyalty comes from the continuous identification and affinity that is created between the consumer and a brand
How do you see the future of retail?
Projecting the future is obviously always a very intimate exercise and therefore highly subjective. But in my mind, the future of beauty retail will be divided into three perspectives: one of continuation of multi-brand spaces with a wider range of offerings, increasingly technological and with less interaction in service; another that involves the emergence of multi-brand spaces with a much smaller selection of offers, but at the same time with a more holistic approach, and with a highly specialized and personalized service; and a final increase in single-brand spaces with very immersive experiences and a level of service that is also specialized, but above all, deeply dedicated.
