In today's retail environment, the shopfloor is no longer limited by square footage. From their phones and laptops to their local malls, consumers can engage with luxury brands at any time, and from anywhere in the world. 

Unsurprisingly, this accessibility has influenced shoppers’ expectations, and consumers are rewarding brands that keep pace. Today, omnichannel customers shop up to 70% more often than their offline-only peers. 

Despite this growing trend, few retailers have mastered true omnichannel experiences. It's understandable -- in addition to creating and launching new channels for retail engagement, bringing the best of digital and in-person shopping together is no easy feat.

We created our Connected Retail suite to make this transition seamless.

Connected Retail by FARFETCH Platform Solutions (FPS) is a bespoke collection of modules designed to elevate retail experiences at every touchpoint. With three primary levels of engagement - the Consumer App, the Connected Retail App, and Connected Devices - Connected Retail streamlines experiences to improve shopping journeys in-store and online. 

Here’s a closer look at how Connected Retail works:

The Consumer App

Online stores paved the way for eCommerce, but consumer applications are unlocking new forms of brand engagement for luxury consumers. 

Through our Connected Retail Suite, FPS builds Consumer Apps that elevate shoppers’ experiences on and offline. In addition to bringing every stage of the consumer journey into the palm of their hands, these apps act as forums for content and communication between brands, retail staff, and consumers. 

FPS-powered Consumer Apps are designed intuitively to integrate with and expand on retailers’ websites -- creating truly omnichannel experiences. This strategy gives shoppers access to everything they would expect in luxury eCommerce shops, including wishlists, order tracking, and returns enablement, alongside new mobile features like our AR-powered virtual try-on technology. 

As part of the broader, omnichannel Connected Retail suite, the Consumer App unlocks retailers' unique in-store experiences. When the consumer enters a store, their unique journey begins with arrival push notifications in-app. Retail staff are simultaneously notified of their arrival and receive the shoppers’ individual profiles to deliver best-in-class personalized experiences at every visit. 

App users can then leverage the tool to engage with a myriad of experiences on the store floor. From scanning products for additional information to seeing where wishlist items are in stock and checking in with style advisors, the Apps elevate in-store experiences with technical convenience. 

If staff capabilities allow it, customers can even book virtual or in-store sessions with personal shoppers from their apps — unlocking even more individualized interactions with loyal clients.

We understand the challenges that come with building applications and take the guesswork out of the development with our white-glove offering. Once the Consumer App is live, we go a step further to drive adoption with multi-channel global marketing campaigns via our in-house digital marketing agency. Our teams have the deep understanding of luxury consumers needed to capture their attention.

The Connected Retail App

While offering more places to shop is a good starting point for elevating luxury retail experiences - it isn't enough. Luxury consumers expect industry-leading experiences and personalization across these channels. 

To ensure retail staff have a single view of customer data to deliver best-in-class experiences before, during, and after in-store visits, we provide retailers with tailored Connected Retail Apps for their in-store and admin staff. 

These dedicated clienteling apps provide retail teams with in-depth customer notes, including search history, designer preferences, and wishlist items, so they can organically cross and upsell. Sourcing a hard-to-find bag a client loves, or locating the last pair of shoes in their size is made easier with full catalog visibility into stock points directly in the Connected Retail App. 

What’s more, the app allows staff to seamlessly contact clients via phone, email, and WhatsApp to keep them informed of changes to the retail catalog, in-store and online. Personal touches like these turn ordinary shopping trips into memorable experiences that foster brand loyalty. 

The Connected Retail App also connects with other smart devices, like connected displays and fitting room mirrors to diversify staff's selling opportunities. This was successful within our 'Store of the Future,' Browns, which saw 14.5% of the total in-store gross merchandise value (GMV) come from the App, creating a nearly 50-50 split between in-store and remote purchases. 

Our Connected Retail Apps are built on the same platform as your eCommerce, so they are quick to build and implement and cheaper to launch and maintain. With an easy-to-use and intuitive interface, the Apps ensure retail teams spend less time searching for information, and more time delivering the leading customer experiences.

Connected Devices 

The third tier of our Connected Retail solution – Connected Devices – serves as a channel for retailers to integrate the power of their online capabilities in-store. Interactive Displays on the shop floor and Interactive Mirrors in fitting rooms invite self-guided interaction so consumers are informed of the latest product arrivals, and can browse and select products to try on, buy, or save on their account for later.

Our Interactive Displays bring the breadth of retailers' full catalogs to their stores, giving brands another personalized platform to share their products with shoppers. 

The Displays offer retail staff the opportunity to support product discovery in-store by easily introducing new items, without having to do a stock run even if there’s no stock in store. Plus, brands can leverage existing brand and product content to create engaging and inspirational moments on-screen. These experiences are especially valuable when showcasing exclusive, high-value, and rare items with scarce stock, like high-end jewelry.

Alongside these shop floor Displays, Interactive Mirrors gives shoppers confidence in their purchases by exhibiting each item with impactful images, on-model shots, and videos. Shoppers can also find answers about in-stock size availability and colorways on-mirror, creating informative user experiences within the fitting room.  

Head-to-toe styling is another unique feature of our Interactive Mirrors. When a consumer selects an item, outfit pairings and accessory styling are suggested as “wear it with” to extend product discovery across categories. The technology also empowers retail staff to provide tailored styling tips by pulling up new brands, collections, and products on-screen. 

Through our Connected Retail suite, we produce industry-leading omnichannel experiences for luxury retail. We believe that the future of luxury blends the best of online and physical shopping, and through our Consumer Apps, Connected Retail Apps, and Connected Devices, we are constantly finding new ways to deliver first-of-a-kind experiences across new channels and touchpoints.

To learn more about how our Connected Retail solutions can elevate your consumers' journeys, contact us here.