Retail Store Tours has named the winners of its 2020 Consumer Experience Awards, which include retailers such as Sephora, Nordstrom, Starbucks and b8ta. Winners are named in seven categories, based on individual factors that promote consumer engagement and drive retail shopping growth. An eighth category was added this year for Excellence in Shopping Center Experience.
The winners for 2020 are:
- The Human Touch: Atelier Beauté CHANEL
- The Use of Technology: Sephora
- Store Design: Shanghai Roastery: Starbucks Reserve
- Brand Story: Gentle Monster Shanghai
- Employee Training: b8ta
- Change: Nordstrom
- Unique Value Proposition: Camp
- Excellence in Shopping Center Experience: Hudson Yards
Retail Store Tours developed its Consumer Experience Index from a multi-year global research effort that included both in-person visits and interviews with retailers and consumers to identify these seven factors:
- The Human Touch: The ability to empathize with customers, such as by hiring sales associates based on their kindness and their ability to inform and entertain customers;
- The Use of Technology: Building technology that aligns with the customers’ needs and desires, such as behind-the-scenes IT infrastructures that support a multitude of applications within the organization;
- Store Design: The best store designs match form to function;
- Brand Story: An engaging brand story designed to cultivate customer loyalty and transform loyal customers into brand evangelists. Furthermore, once they become identified with a brand, today’s consumers should be able to offer feedback, and they want their feedback to matter;
- Employee Training: Hiring for attitude and training for skill, while additionally accounting for cultural fit and interpersonal agility;
- Change: The ability to capitalize on rapidly changing trends in consumer behavior; and
- Unique Value Proposition: A buying experience not found elsewhere that has significant appeal for consumers seeking originality.
Retail Store Tours partnered with Retail TouchPoints in May 2019 as part of the publication’s fifth annual Retail Innovation Conference, to give 90+ executives an exclusive, in-depth look at nine of the top stores and venues at Hudson Yards. Retail Store Tours also partnered with the National Retail Federation (NRF) to lead guided tours within Hudson Yards, the Oculus, SoHo and Midtown during the NRF Big Show from January 12-14, 2020.
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The tours are typically created with a distinct narrative and learning objective in mind, with the selected stores based on evaluation of the seven consumer engagement factors. The stores provide an expert who ranges from CEO, founder, senior executive or appropriate brand spokesperson. Retail Store Tours selects the topics based on feedback from retailers, the financial community, architects and tour participants.
