Retail Strategist: We’re Moving Away From Gimmickry And Gadgetry

December 16, 2016 by Dave Haynes

I love this quote in the Toronto Star, from the head of Retail Strategy for Accenture in Canada:

“(We’re going to be) moving away from some of the gimmicky and gadgetry that we’ve seen until now, like digital screens you can interact with but they don’t really add to the experience,” said Kelly Askew.

Yeah. Exactly. Sooo much of the “customer engagement” stuff out in the field is interactive for the sake of being interactive. You can almost imagine the meetings where someone chimes in about, “We should have something interactive. A touch screen. To show innovation.”

But, as Askew notes, it’s just a thing if it doesn’t have a point. And it won’t get used. See a lot of what’s in Sport Chek’s flagship stores.

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