The top three customer reasons for shopping in-store instead of online are to browse products, touch products and try on clothing. But one thing is clear: Now that online shopping has brought new expectations of convenience, the next era of in-store retail has a higher standard to meet.

A proliferation of new commerce channels has prompted many retailers to go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate what the original in-store channel should look like.

“You need to create something that engages customers in a new way in order to draw them into the store when they could just buy online,” said Sara Alloy, North America Retail Experience Industry Lead at Publicis Sapient. “Retailers are going to have to think bigger and consider what’s important to customers now to engage them and give them a reason to shop in-person."

How will top retailers meet customers’ appetites for the in-store experience? Behind the flashy pop-ups and buzzworthy concepts is a strong foundation of interconnected technology.

“Brands recognize they are competing on experience,” said Jackie Walker, Retail Experience Strategy Lead at Publicis Sapient. “When a customer has a really good in-store shopping experience with a brand, that sets the bar higher for everywhere else they shop.”

Often, these best-in-class store experiences do one of two things: create efficiency or create engagement.

Making the in-store retail experience more efficient

Customers are now browsing, buying, picking up and returning merchandise through various interaction points, and their choices are often made based on what is most convenient in that particular circumstance. Target’s drive-up pickup option is seamless for customers and has been scaled to all their store locations. Customers can rely on it, and it makes their shopping journey simpler.

A key bottleneck point when shopping brick-and-mortar is the point of sale, and with e-commerce, customers have gotten used to a faster and easier checkout. At most grocery stores today, customers or checkout clerks still have to scan each item individually—and for produce, even enter in each product code themselves. Many grocery retailers are testing a checkout-free system that would allow customers to just walk out or scan their entire cart at once, providing an experience almost as seamless as hitting the “Deliver” button after grocery shopping online.

Making the in-store retail experience more engaging

There are also many opportunities for retail stores to up their game on engagement compared to e-commerce shopping. In the past, stores have relied on associate-led or conversation-based engagement strategies. Today, with staff shortages, many stores are turning toward more technology-based experiences to connect with customers in-store. According to Publicis Sapient research, 76% of customers engage with retailer apps in-store to locate products and look for reviews, deals or clothing fit information.

For example, Home Depot’s mobile app allows users to see store maps to navigate to different items, scan product barcodes to read product reviews, take photos of items in their home that they need to replace and reverse image search to find the same products in-store. The app also integrates AR, so customers can visualize how certain furniture items would fit in their own space.

Wawa is another retailer that’s mastered in-store engagement with its ordering kiosks. The kiosks allow customers to quickly and easily browse through menu options to build custom hoagies, get prompted to add certain items to their order and see seasonal promotions.

The PetSmart app goes even further through personalized content and an in-app game called “Treat Trail” that allows users to rack up coupons and rewards. After uploading personal pet information, the app curates customized checklists and articles based on the type of pet to deeply engage users.

Some brands have looked to larger-scale experiential installations in physical retail. And while some of these experimental flagship store experiences can be incredibly engaging for customers, most of them are difficult to scale.

“When retailers are thinking about activations in their stores, they have to consider how to impact the largest number of customers possible,” Walker said. “It really has to be a deliberate choice to heavily invest in experiences that can only ever scale to a small subset of stores.”

Connecting physical and digital shopping experiences together

The best retail in-store experiences are both efficient and engaging when e-commerce and brick-and-mortar blend together. This means that at each stage of the customer journey, whether that’s browsing on social media, entering a retail store or shopping on a retailer’s website, customers have a blend of personalized shopping offers and experiences that are fully cohesive.

One piece of this is consistent branding across channels—from the website, to the app, to the print marketing and merchandising in the store. Keeping consistent, authentic branding in-store and online creates a better customer experience.

This relates to marketing offers, too. Customers that normally shop at a retailer online still expect to be known as customers when they enter a new channel, like the store. The key to building loyalty for retailers is matching experiences across channels to amplify the strengths of each and unify the brand. RFID technology embedded in loyalty cards, like store credit cards, retains customer information and allows retailers to identify when a customer is in a store and prompt in-store kiosks to display relevant ads.

From store layout, to point of sale, to checkout, retailers are working to modernize their technology and improve every touchpoint for the customer. There are five key interaction points where retailers can re-think standard methods of operating in a new era of in-store shopping—and which will bring the most value:

The rise in popularity of e-commerce has provided an interesting view into customer shopping behavior and needs that retailers have never had access to. While certain aspects of online shopping don’t need to be replicated in an in-store setting, there are others that are worth experimenting with.

For example, many customers use their online shopping carts as virtual wish lists. They will fill a cart with items, basically bookmarking them to go sift through them later to determine which items they’ll actually purchase.

 “When customers are shopping in-store and physically loading a shopping cart, it is very different than online “Add to Cart” behavior,” Alloy said. “In an online cart, it’s a bit easier to compare and discard items—and watch the order total—than it is with physical merchandise.”

Another example of this customer behavior is influencer interaction and styling when it comes to clothing. Online, customers can easily see different outfit options for certain products styled by different models and influencers. In stores, retailers are still relying on mannequins to show off products.

Retailers have the opportunity to use mobile apps, as well as cart or dressing room design, to enable customers to replicate this online behavior in-store. By connecting a mobile app to in-store inventory, customers could build their “cart” on their mobile phone and even get a fitting room started, which would allow them to see their cost total, save their cart history and see clothing on real body types.

In the age of the internet, customers are used to being more educated than ever before. E-commerce sites, online forums and news articles alike offer customer reviews and feedback to factor into purchase decisions.

While in-store shopping relies on instant gratification as a sales tactic, many customers still look for a higher level of product information and social proof.

Retailers can use different technology pieces such as digital kiosks, QR codes or even AR mobile apps to provide product details.

Smart, or intelligent, inventory is an often-overlooked aspect of the back-end store experience that becomes really important at the intersection of physical and digital shopping. Today, many customers want to look at real-time e-commerce and in-store inventory at the same time.

In fact, 72% of customers say they’ve checked store inventory online before visiting to ensure the location has what they want. One of the biggest advantages of in-store shopping is speed and immediacy, so a customer might choose to come to a store because they’re looking for a specific product right then and there, and they don’t have to pay for shipping.

“How annoying is it when you as a customer look on the website, see you can order something for pickup and then two hours later, the retailer emails you canceling your order because they didn't actually have the item at the store?” Walker said.

Also, many customers will make an additional, unplanned purchase while they are in the store to pick up their buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) order, and the same is true of their online shopping habits. While 46% of customers shop with something specific in mind and only buy that item, 36% will get inspired to purchase more while shopping.

There are many products, like running shoes or sports equipment, that could be sold better with an explanation from a human expert. However, modern technology has the ability to elevate those interactions for both the sales associate and the customer.

 “We have reached a point where we can make it much easier for employees to better serve customers with digital tools,” Alloy said. “Armed with the right data, employees can have much better interactions with customers and create far more value.”

Some retailers are integrating tablets into the sales experience, providing sales associates with key customer information. This not only helps customers make more informed decisions, but also makes it easier for any sales associate to continue a conversation with a customer based on previous interactions, especially as retailers struggle with staffing.

Online shopping has much higher return rates than in-store shopping, and many customers are taking those returns in-store, creating disruption. While many retailers are improving the in-store return experience for customers, it’s still a key area that’s ripe for change.

 “The interplay between the online experience and the store experience when it comes to buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) and buy online, return in-store (BORIS) still has a lot of room for improvement, especially when combined with the rise of in-store traffic and staffing shortages,” Walker said. “There is more work for employees to deal with the needs of customers coming in from online, and the tools and processes in place don’t make those interactions seamless, which can have a negative effect on experience for all customers in-store.”

At the very least, it’s key for retailers to allow customers to return products to stores even if they’ve purchased them online, with no added cost, and vice versa. Over 70% of customers say they’d be likely to stop shopping at a retailer that charged for shipping back return items. On top of that, customers no longer expect to wait in a long line for returns. Contactless returns or quick drop-offs are better alternatives.

As we look to the future of brick-and-mortar retail, there is more value to be found at the intersection of physical and digital. There are many experiences that are better in-store, and retailers need to embrace the natural propensity of customers to browse, experience products tangibly and be inspired in ways that just aren’t possible when shopping online. There is also plenty of work to be done to improve the store associate experience, which directly impacts the ability to better serve customers.