January 05, 2021
Who is Mercaux?
Mercaux technology acts as the ‘backbone’ for in-store digital transformation, helping to connect stores to the digital world by providing superior omnichannel experiences for the customer. Like JRNI, Mercaux shares a commitment to uniting physical and digital retail in order to enhance the customer experience.
As an existing sales and marketing partner, with a shared commitment to joining physical and digital retail, JRNI was an obvious choice as a partner for Mercaux’s appointment booking service.
Why JRNI?
JRNI made perfect sense to us as a partner. Not only do the two platforms come together in a seamless integration, but, in terms of our joint proposition, we believe this appointment booking partnership offers retailers something truly unique.
JRNI’s customizable and intuitive appointment scheduling software allows customers to request a personal shopping appointment - be it in-store or online - from their favorite retailer. When paired with Mercaux’s clienteling solution, retailers can take appointments to the next level by leveraging customer behavior data to tailor each and every interaction. Instead of providing generic suggestions, retailers can effectively personalize engagement by creating tailored looks, customized baskets, and bespoke invitations to inspire customers to keep shopping with your brand.
Before we delve deeper into the benefits of the Mercaux and JRNI appointment partnership, let’s take a closer look at what we mean by clienteling.
In its simplest form, clienteling is a technique that allows retailers to improve the shopping experience by personalizing the interactions they have with customers. When clienteling is used to its full potential (as with Mercaux’s advanced clienteling solution), retailers have access to complete customer behavior data - think purchase history, product preferences, and personal wishlists - in order to deliver a seamless and hyper-personalized shopping experience.
What does the partnership look like?
To help put this partnership in context, let’s look at an example.
Imagine that a customer requests a personal styling appointment in order to find the perfect party outfit. First, the customer heads to their favorite shop’s website to book an appointment - this is where JRNI comes into play, providing a seamless and intuitive platform for the customer to select a time that suits them.
Next, behind the scenes, a store associate can prepare for this appointment by reading the appointment notes alongside the existing data stored for that customer in the company CRM. Instead of simply offering generic outfit ideas, the store associate can prepare tailored suggestions by using Mercaux’s clienteling capabilities to look at the customer’s previous engagements with the brand, leveraging information such as the customer’s favorite colors, style inspirations, average order ticket, and previous purchases.
Once the appointment is finished, the Mercaux and JRNI partnership allows retailers to successfully personalize follow-up communication. Rather than send emails with the customer’s name simply mail-merged into the greeting, retailers can personalize outreach with messages such as “don’t forget these items we talked about” or “the jumper you wanted is back in stock!”. As a next step, retailers can use Mercaux’s remote clienteling capabilities - facilitated by JRNI’s platform - to organize a follow-up video call where store associates can check in to ensure customers are happy with their new clothes, offer styling tips to “complete the look”, or suggest some alternatives if the customer wants to try something different.
What’s next?
The past year has shown us that this partnership is more topical than ever. Throughout 2020, the repeated closure of retail stores left virtual appointments as one of the few available ways to connect with stay-at-home shoppers. What was once a high-end luxury service soon became a crucial lifeline across the industry.
What’s especially exciting about our appointment partnership with JRNI is that it can facilitate appointments irrespective of which channel a customer uses to engage with your brand. Customers can book styling appointments in-store or by video call - and, either way, store associates can leverage the same customer insights to sell in-person or remotely through digital communication tools. To find out more about personalizing the remote customer experience, please read Mercaux’s blog post on the rise of remote selling in retail.
A total integration between the Mercaux and JRNI platforms allows retailers to fulfill and enhance personal appointments both in-store and remotely. Not only does this improve the customer experience and conversion rates in the short-term, but it boosts long-term customer loyalty by showing you care about your customers as individuals.
Want to learn more about this partnership? Then be sure to sign up to speak to an expert!
