Remote Selling is of the the top five most popular solutions currently being implemented (29%), as reported in Mercaux's survey of 500+ leading retailers (Pulse of Retail). In this article we take a look at what Remote Selling, combined with Clienteling, looks like in practice for one of Mercaux's longest standing customers - and how you can deploy this into your own stores in a short period of time.

Proven Results

Remote selling is providing a brand new channel for retailers to engage with customers, and convert conversations, whether this is via WhatsApp or SMS. And crucially, it can all be launched in a matter of weeks.

Seems too good to be true? That's we thought!

So, here's a real like example from one Mercaux customers who has been reaping the benefits of remote selling for more than three years.

What was the customer (a fashion & apparel retailer) looking to achieve?

The retailer was leveraging Mercaux's Clienteling solution already in-store to provide customers with a hyper-personalised in-store shopping experience, achieving fantastic results in relation to Customer LTV, conversion, and sales, but they wanted to do more.

Knowing that one of the biggest asset they have as a business are their Store associates, they wanted to explore ways in which they could extend their skills beyond the four walls of the store, so they came to Mercaux with this challenge. Luckily for them, we had a remote selling solution that could simply be "switched on" for them.

Furthermore, they would be able to leverage their existing investment in Mercaux's Clienteling tool to provide store associates with tailored talking tracks so they know what to communicate with customers, and how, with Mercaux's library of best practice messaging templates.

The retailer has a track record of embracing new retail concepts (such as pop-up shops) which made the leap to remote selling much easier. In fact, the development of a personalised shopping experience via messaging was already in their roadmap for utilising their team’s availability during times of low footfall.

Project Launch and Staff Onboarding

By building on their existing Mercaux Clienteling solution, the retailer launched the remote experience in just a few days. To ensure every store associate communicates on brand to every customer in the correct way, Mercaux was able to provide clear instructions for how to use launch new messages, or respond to inbound messages, through east-to-access training materials. They were also provided with best practice messaging templates of what to say to the customer to not only stay on brand, but to also ensure that the customer is able to purchase as a result of these conversations.

To take the guess work out of messaging even further, Mercaux provided the customer with the ability to create remote selling lists to Store Associates, so they knew who they had to contact on a daily basis, and with what message (e.g., thank you for visiting the store last week, here's >an item< that would go well with your purchase).

Here's how Store Associates use remote selling

1. Store Associate views a list of customers they need to contact on that day

2. Store Associate accesses a customer's previous omnichannel engagement 

3. Based on the customers profile, Mercaux provides suggested looks to share with the customer 

4. Store Associate launches WhatsApp and chooses a best practice template

5. The message is sent, and the customer begins the conversation

6. A pre-populated basket of items is sent to the customer for them to click and purchase

Clients are able to purchase via the eCommerce site (being directed to the product page in the email) or to place an order via their personal shopper to be delivered to their home and paid in advance or upon arrival.

Email template for communicating with customers via email

Not only was feedback from staff and customers positive, but this was backed up by the results themselves, demonstrating that a highly personalised, 1-2-1 approach is a winner both in-store and remotely, leading to improved online conversion and bigger baskets.

Still need to be convinced that customers are willing to engage remotely?

Only recently, we conducted our own industry research, asking 1,500 consumers if they would be keen to engage with retailers remotely, even when stores are open - the answer was a resounding yes, with 44% saying they would still be keen to engage remotely via WhatsApp. What this shows is that remote selling will remain a valuable revenue stream for retailers both now and into the future - and if this story is anything to go by, it can all be launched in a matter of weeks...

Interested to learn more? Visit Mercaux's remote selling solution page here.