I’ve been to my fair share of conferences and Shoptalk has easily become my favorite. This was my third year attending and I’m even more impressed than ever before.
Here are the highlights from this year’s sessions and show floor:
Mobile Experiences in the Customer Journey
Key takeaway: Apps and digital channels should be at the forefront of retailers’ business plans.
Panera Bread: Everyone claims to have a mobile strategy but few have actually perfected it. Mark Berinato, VP, Digital Experience spoke to the evolution of Panera’s core customer. He explained that its loyal consumers want to feel recognized and special. For that reason, Berinato implemented a ‘digital flywheel’ of connected touch points. Whether the customer dines in, takes out or orders delivery, Panera’s personalized end-to-end journey heavily relies on its point of sale, back of house, 1:1 marketing, customer data and big data to create a seamless experience – not an easy feat when the majority of its customers dine during three “core” mealtimes. And the company’s digital customer is much more valuable than its regular customer: The chain sees increased frequency and incremental transactions from digital diners, as well as an additional 1-2 visits per year. So just how powerful is Panera’s digital journey? In 2017, the company did $1.2 billion in digital sales (30% gross sales through digital). Additionally, Panera has a 5-star mobile app rating and 30 million MyPanera Members.
