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*Héroïne is a retail design agency dedicated to Client Experience. Thanks to their ROX™ method, they are able to program in-store experiences and develop unique design concepts. The company works with different industries, such as cosmetics, food, fashion, telephony...

The company created some of Clarins' Experience Ceremonies to support their strategic launches through their retail network in different key markets. They also collaborated with Armani for experiential pop-up stores, and with French jeweller Fred on their new retail experience. Héroïne also works with companies such as Estée Lauder, Orange, L’Oréal, Rémy Martin.

Héroïne was founded 2 years ago (3 months before Covid), with the strong belief that physical retail is not dead but has to reinvent itself through customer experience. While this trend is on every retailer’s lip, we tried to better understand how to make it work. To that end, Héroïne’s founders Rémi Le Druillenec (CEO) and Quentin Obadia (Creative Director and Strategist) have answered IADS’ questions.*

Good customer experience

IADS - How do you define good customer experience in 2021? What do you think is missing? Do you see a gap between customer’s expectations and what brands and retailers offer as a whole?

Héroïne - When it comes to defining good customer experience, the answer is simple and complex at the same time. Good experience should of course match with what customers are expecting from a store visit. It looks simple, but it implies that brands and retailers, not only know their customers’ expectations in terms of product, price point…, but also in terms of experience. As it’s relatively new, this is the complex part. And it’s a preliminary phase, before even starting to shape the customer experience.

There is sometimes a gap between retailers and customers’ expectations. Retailers want to develop experiences in order to directly sell their products or their services. But from a customer point of view, the experience is not necessarily about directly buying something, but more about discovery, feelings and emotions. Of course, at the end of the day retailers’ purpose is to sell. However, it’s important to help them change their mindset to become even more customer-centric, which is the very purpose of the customer experience.

If we think about stores (and especially flagship stores), they were designed as temples using a ‘top-down’ approach for many years. As a result, they have sometimes transformed into “brand ego trips”, in a way separating the brand from its customers. There is a lot of work to be done here. After Covid, brands and retailers are more and more aware that they have to really understand their clients, which differs whether they are in Paris, or in French secondary cities, in China or in the United States. Brands now try to adapt their stores and their offer, in a more ‘down-to-top’ way.

Engage with GenZ

IADS - What do you think are GenZ's expectations in terms of customer experience?

Héroïne - As the first generation to be born and raised with smartphones, they discovered the world through internet. It means that digital has to be fully integrated in every step of the customer journey. It still happens that we meet with brands showing us their ‘experience zone’ consisting of a big screen or an iPad! The experience should both live through smartphones and in store. Most of all, such customers are expecting a full integration of the real life into the virtual life, the real life being augmented by the virtual life. In that perspective, all the digital assets should offer the possibility to continue the experience after the in-store visit, to ultimately lead to a purchase.

It’s even more difficult to track GenZ customers as they might not buy in store, physical retail being just a touch point among others. They might come in store, share pictures with friends first, then on social media, etc…, and eventually buy online…, or go back in store. In such circumstances, we not only have to measure the quality and efficiency of the experience, but also track how this experience influenced the purchase.

Develop and measure customer experience

IADS - How should a retailer proceed if they want to transform selling spaces into experiential spaces? What method are you using?

Héroïne - The method we use is based on the evaluation of 5 pillars, which are reflecting what a store is made of:

1. The Immersion: it covers all that is linked to the DNA of the brand including store concept, retail design.
2. The Usage: how the brand helps customers understand what's inside the store, the customer flow, where they can find everything. It includes signage and also tools helping customers try products.
3. The Services: they are both transactional (alteration, delivery, payment…) and relational (interactions with sales associates, small gifting…).
4. The Proof: retail is the place for the proof as you can see and try products.
5. The Sharing: the store becomes a media and facilitates the experience sharing, from good lighting for Instagram posts to challenges to engage with communities.

Once the evaluation is done, we can then work on 3 to 7 personas which are the results of our observations through the pillars, analysis of the environment, interviews of sales associates, ethnologic studies…). Such personas are adapted to each store’s specific needs. Then we build the experience which has to be seamless and not overlooked as “plugged” into the store.

IADS - You’re using a new KPI to measure results: the ROX (Return On eXperience)? How does it work? Is it easily adopted by retail organisations, or do you see resistance? How do you overcome that?

Héroïne - Once the customer experience is on, we will evaluate each pillar again to know the ROX. There are ways to overcome retailers’ resistance. For instance, when it comes to the Sharing pillar, we will measure the hashtag success on Instagram, showing the success of the experience, if it’s easily sharable and if the store is becoming a media. For the Usage pillar, we will for instance observe and measure the “breaking of flow” corresponding to the moments when the sales associate leaves the customer alone. The audit can also be done on a regular basis to measure evolution.

The results we see are different from one brand to another. They share a common trend though: the sustainability question, which is relating to the Proof pillar and have to become part of each customer experience. The Service pillar, as it involves individuals, usually raises questions. The store staff needs training especially given they are more and more having to multitask. As the Service pillar involves the intervention of different departments from marketing to sales, it sometimes reflects issues in the brand organisation, such as for companies organised in silos.

IADS - Services are more and more mixing with experience: how do you articulate both?

Héroïne - Services, as they are an extension of the Proof, are important to create long-term in-store relationships that can also be measured (think about product repair). Services also demonstrate how the brand speaks to customers, besides just selling products. In that regard, Rimowa New York’s experiential store featuring a passport picture service, is a great example as it elevates the brand from luggage selling to a travel experience.

IADS - The customer journey now accounts for 6 touchpoints (instead on 2 touchpoints 15 years ago): what is the role of the customer experience here and how do you use data?

Héroïne - Like glue, experience brings consistency to all these touchpoints, links them together (ad campaign, digital, brick & mortar…) and pushes customers to engage with the brand.

Since many brands don’t have data (or they have data but don’t know how to use it), store staff remains a great source of information, especially to really know who the actual customers are.

Current trends

IADS - In your book ‘Le Magasin est-il mort’ (translating to ‘Is the Store dead?’) coming out today (13 October 2021), you identify 5 innovation trends : What are they? What has Covid changed forever? Please share from the customer point of view and from the brand/retailer point of view.

Héroïne - The 5 trends we identified that existed before Covid, but the crisis has also emphasized:

1. Social retail: social media defining new journeys and touchpoints in store.
2. Conscious retail: more sustainability is key, especially in-store.
3. Humanized retail: the need to connect with people is more important than ever. How to reach clients with mobile stores rather than opening huge flagship stores which have been the answer to retailers’ questions for many years.
4. Automatized retail: access 24/7 to products in a fast way.
5. Virtual retail: how to create a virtual store offering a specific experience and not just replicating a brick & mortar store.

We are convinced about the future of retail, that’s what we wanted to demonstrate in the book as well as showing how we work. But knowing we can do almost everything from our couch, a trip to any store should be worth it and most of all, a place where people can connect and live experiences.

Contact: Rémi Le Druillenec

remi@heroine.paris

+33 6 11 38 40 49

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Credits: IADS (Christine Montard)