In-Person Shopping Is Popular for Mother’s Day: Are You Prepared?
May 8, 2024
Similarly to Valentine’s Day spendings, flowers, greeting cards, shared experiences, and jewelry dominate the Mother’s Day gift lists. According to NRF, 48 percent of consumers want to buy a unique or different gift and 43 percent want one that creates a special memory in 2024.1 About one-third of NRF survey respondents plan on getting their Mother’s Day gift online2, but many also prefer picking something special for their moms in person, with:
- 32 percent heading into department stores.3
- 29 percent looking around in specialty stores, such as florists and jewelers.4
- And 25 percent buying something from a local or small business.5
These numbers urge sellers to get ready for increased traffic and sales over the weekend.
Since flowers only stay fresh for so long, florists will surely be the most frequented type of brick-and-mortar stores for last-minute Mother’s Day orders. And as it’s been established multiple times, today’s consumers are not known for their patience.
At the possibility of wait times or imperfect customer service, they’re already out the door, heading towards another retailer.
To successfully keep up with this customer demand, retailers can highly benefit from implementing CX Automation solutions that can help them drive better outcomes by:
- better managing their in-store customer experience.
- making it more convenient for consumers to do business with you.
- creating a more informed and pleasant wait experience.
Let’s uncover how technology can enhance the Mother’s Day shopping experience from the consumer’s perspective.
Save Your Shoppers’ Time This Mother’s Day by Offering Smooth CX
Pete is a dad of two who would like to teach his kids the value of family early on. That’s why he decides to involve his five-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter in surprising their mom and granny this Mother’s Day. As May 12 is approaching fast, they don’t have much time and Pete’s schedule is quite busy—plus, they must keep their plans a secret.
The kids want to show extra love to everyone, so they agree on personalized gifts: sweet-scented flowers to granny, a magic bracelet for mom, and a yummy brunch for the whole family (grandpa also deserves some treats, after all). But most importantly, hand-drawn greeting cards.
Now that the action plan is ready, it’s Pete’s job to put things in motion.
1. Help customers better plan their shopping journeys with appointments
As much as it would be easy to just quickly order a bracelet online, Pete knows that his wife prefers hand-made jewelry from her favorite local design store. The showroom is only open three times a day, but luckily the designer has digital appointment booking options on her website, so Pete can easily check available time slots for the upcoming days.
He picks a Friday afternoon slot so that he can pick up the kids from school and they can select the bracelet together—the kids will surely want to have a say in which one mom will like. One gift done, two more to go.
Pete and his family are all big foodies, so he has already set eyes on a new brunch place he recently read about. It has amazing reviews and seems to fit granny’s dietary restrictions, so Pete is sold on the idea. It must be a popular café because the booking application only offers a 10 a.m. availability for Sunday.
It’s a bit of a drive from their home, but if they can leave on time, it shouldn’t be a problem. The kids wake them up early in the morning anyway, and the grandparents are early birds, too.
2. Reduce wait times and walkouts with queue management
Pete knows that for the flowers to stay fresh, he’ll have to pick the bouquet up on Sunday morning. With the nearby florist opening only at 9 a.m. on Sunday, it might be a bit tight with the brunch booked for 10 a.m. Pete remembers his past bad experiences having to line up for pick-up services in front of a variety of stores. It takes ages. He’d love to avoid long wait times this time, so he asks the florist if he can skip the line somehow.
To Pete’s delight, the florist has recently implemented a queue management solution that alerts him when a customer has checked in to pick up their order. Pete simply clicks on the confirmation he received on his phone, letting the florist know he’s there. This way, the florist can immediately grab Pete’s order and greet him with the ready-made bouquet as he walks in.
No wait times, just a smooth pick-up process. That’s a relief, otherwise he would have had to go to another florist that opens earlier.
All seems to be in order for a perfect Mother’s Day celebration. Now Pete just has to check on the kids to make sure the greeting cards are being made, too.
Get Your Retail Business Ready for Mother’s Day with CX Automation Solutions
Consumers have never been this vocal about how they want to interact with retailers. They expect easy and connected customer journeys in which they can take the lead, purchasing products and services when and where it’s the most convenient for them.
Retailers that can offer seamless experiences through digital customer service offerings, such as appointment booking and virtual queues, have a huge benefit over their competitors. Not only can they offer more convenient and faster customer journeys but also more personalized services that can drive sales, enhance productivity, and increase customer loyalty.
Read more about how Verint Open Platform can help improve CX in your stores on Mother’s Day and beyond.
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2NRF: Mother’s Day Data Center. Where are consumers shopping? 2024.
3NRF: Mother’s Day Data Center. Where are consumers shopping? 2024.
4NRF: Mother’s Day Data Center. Where are consumers shopping? 2024.
5NRF: Mother’s Day Data Center. Where are consumers shopping? 2024.