RVBusiness, January/February 2018

40 RVBusiness J A N U A R Y F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8 into that local business It enables the ability to get installation It enables the business to provide information support for all the other aspects that a good manufacturer likes to see their dealer network provide Whether its in person or online Spaulding said the Retail Tech Idea Center is designed to help dealers stay current with the trends of how consumers are choosing to make their purchases One of the things that we talked about when we designed the Tech Center is whats the future of customer engagement Spaulding said We want to help retailers connect with consumers in the way that they shop and how they shop Some of these technologies bridge the gap between whats going on in Internet shopping and the transactions in a storefront Picking up on that thought Rogers added that the center helps a dealer understand the evolution of how technology is expanding the purchase event options available to consumers nowadays The consumer is out there and more and more they have different ways they want to buy research and schedule things said Rogers Everything that goes on with a purchase event theres just simply more and more options Anything they can do online or on a mobile app they want to be able to have that option Its not for everybody and there are a lot of different preferences out there but if youre not able to engage the consumer at all these different levels then you might miss them It behooves anybody that is selling in a retail environment to have the different options out there available that allow consumers to engage in whatever way makes sense for them RVB STAG Retail Tech Idea Center was the companys new Parts Via program which is designed to connect RV retailers with consumers conducting online research Traditionally a lot of manufacturers have not sold directly to consumers They have gone through distribution and they have gone through the retailers Rogers explained There are consumers that go to manufacturers websites to do research and look at different products categories features benefits and installation videos anything that those manufacturers might have in relationship to the product that they offer What we tried to do is enable consumers who are already on that manufacturers website for example doing research and looking at a lot of the product information to say Okay can I do a purchasing transaction while Im right there The Parts Via program places a Buy Now button on the manufacturers website When the consumer clicks on that button the Parts Via program automatically connects them with the nearest participating RV dealer that carries that product The consumer has the option to pick it up at the location or have it delivered to their home for an additional fee The whole idea is were trying to encourage them to go to the local business to pick it up in the store Rogers said By putting a value on the shipping were trying to make it a little less advantageous to have it shipped to the home and more advantageous to have it shipped to the local business If they select having it shipped to the local business then we will drop it off next day in most cases to that local retailer or dealer for the customer to pick up That also enables traffic going and the right way Rogers said John came through with a lot of the ideas about whats new in retail Our customers need all the ideas that they can get just like everyone does So whats new Whats coming around in terms of ideas on the retail front They all have a retail presence so anything we can do to help them in that regard we try to do on an ongoing basis It was kind of a natural to pull this Retail Tech Idea Center together and bring it here to RVDA and display it One idea featured at the Retail Tech Center was a mobile point of purchase display Instead of the traditional method of checking out at the register at the end of their shopping trip customers simply use a mobile app to make their purchases as they go up and down the aisles Another idea employed was a virtual reality storefront which allows consumers to enter a computer rendered world of RV parts and accessories lining the shelves of the respective dealership The benefits of such a system are twofold First consumers can access the virtual retail center from anywhere and secondly dealers can virtually stock countless products Anybody with a retail space and a website can basically put this out there and the consumer can go in and do a full look at the store using virtual reality just like they were in the store and they can do this from anywhere Rogers said They can see all the products in the store They can walk down all the aisles and peruse everything Thats kind of a really neat concept If youre trying to get out there and be available on every media type for the different consumer types then this is something you want to have Digital price tags are another idea Rogers added noting that this would allow dealers to automatically change the pricing of a product across multiple locations instead of going through the process of printing new price tags and physically walking down the aisles and placing them on the appropriate products If youre having a sale on a Saturday and you want to just change all the prices in the store you can do it from the back room If you have multiple stores you can do it all from a back room in one location Everything updates within the store as soon as you hit the button Rogers explained Digitally enhanced theft prevention was still another concept showcased at the center Using sensors anytime a customer is touching a certain product or even within the immediate vicinity an alert is sent to dealership personnel who can then intervene to prevent a theft or trigger a sales consultation Another feature displayed in the NTPBill Rogers left vice president and general manager of Keystone Automotive Operations NTP STAG and Director of Marketing John Spaulding