With the increase in online competition and overseas brands continuing to enter the local market, the Australian retail industry has been going through a tough trading period. In an attempt to offer an innovative solution, four passionate and highly motivated entrepreneurs combined their resources to develop a new iPhone app that using smart technology to help drive increased foot traffic, loyalty and revenue for bricks and mortar stores.
MiiBrand, pronounced “My Brand”, uses location-based technology to encourage customers with special offers when they are close to the physical stores. They can also keep up-to-date with in-store activity and gain instant access to sales and exclusive offers through their smart phone.
It also taps into the emerging trend of gamification, rewarding customers with better offers for engaging with brands by taking actions such as sharing offers on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, checking in at stores via the iPhone app and answering simple questions from brands called ‘Insights’.
When customers join MiiBrand they are provided with a choice of which brands they would like to follow. Once they follow a brand they automatically become a ‘Follower’, and as their level of engagement and interaction with a brand increases so does their ‘status’. Levels include `Groupie’, ‘Entourage’, and `Celebrity’.
The App has already secured 20 premium local and international fashion brands including Life with Bird, Diesel, Sportsgirl, Witchery, Seed, Tigerlily, Superdry, Gorman and Zomp.
We took five with two of those brands, Sportsgirl and Life with Bird to quiz them on how the new MiiBrand App will benefit their retail business; what their current strategies are for attracting customers in-store; and how important it is to offer a `truly omni-channel’ experience.
Read our chat with fellow MiiBrand retailer, Life with Bird at Fashion Exposed Online, fashionexposedonline.com.au.
You are considered one of Australia’s leading brands when it comes to your ‘omni-channel’ retail model – how many channels do you operate under Sportsgirl now? and how different is this to manage compared to your traditional bricks and mortar retail stores?
Sportsgirl’s digital offering includes our website, our mobile site, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. The service and brand expectations of our digital channels are no different to those in our bricks and mortar stores. Our customer expects the same level of engagement, experience and service across all brand touch points;
Do you think Australia is starting to catch up with Europe and US as far as online shopping technology and delivery? Where do you think we stand internationally in this area?
Challenge is good and it’s important for growth. Australia has risen to the occasion and will continue to meet expectations in relation to online shopping technology and delivery.
You already have a popular presence on the high street as an iconic Australian brand, and now with your online offering you seem to have everyone covered – will you always keep the two retail models? or do you think online will overtake bricks and mortar in the future? What’s your forecast?
There are no plans to change our current offering. Our digital channels are used to support our in-store offering and vice- versa. The two models work hand in hand with each other and enable us to offer our customer a truly omni-channel experience.
Our Chapel Street store, home to the Sportsgirl interactive mirror successfully blends together the online and in store experience, enabling our customer to share her fitting room experience via social media (Facebook and twitter) as well as shopping from the Sportsgirl website.
You have just signed up to take part in the MiiBrand new app that uses online technology to encourage consumers to follow their favourite brands and keep up to date with sales and offers – you already have a strong online community, why do you need this app? what do you think it will offer that your other networks don’t?
Sportsgirl’s mobile offering has seen positive growth over the last 2 years, and we know how important mobile is to our customer and are open trailing opportunities in the mobile space.There are a lot of players in this field at the moment, it’s important to pick an offering that is right for your brand.
When MiiBrands approached us we saw this as another opportunity to further merge our online and offline together. What we like about their platform is the messages we can share with our customer are relevant to both the online experience and in-store offers as well as in store events relevant to her closest store.
The appeal of mobile channels to our customer is engaging where our customer is. It is about being in her world as opposed to her fitting into ours. MiiBrand allows us to take this one step further and pin point deliver targeted messages to our customer in relevant locations. It’s about being connected, having a share of pocket, being able to engage with your customer in a meaningful way in their environment.
Do you think MiiBrand and other apps such as this will help retailers who don’t have a strong online presence yet? how?
We are trialing MiiBrand as part of our overall digital offering. It certainly opens up the opportunity for a digital and relevant conversation with your customer.
What’s in store for the future of Sportsgirl both online and in-store?
We are working on a number of exciting projects. Watch this space.
Great idea; would love to see this expanded to more countries.