Article by CCW Digital contributor Stephanie Mercurio
Modern Shopping for the Modern Man
In an age where you have access to the world at your fingertips with just a few clicks, it’s temping to forego putting yourself together to leave the house and enter an actual shop. With the convenience of e-commerce typically beating an in-store customer experience, why would Nordstrom make the move to open not just a store, but its first store dedicated to men? Why cram another department store into Manhattan?
For Nordstrom’s new physical location to be successful in the digital age, it has to offer more than convenience to the consumer. What Nordstrom is creating is an environment that offers a personal and unique experience that will offer an air of luxury. Nordstrom Men’s Store has created not only a space for men to go in and touch and feel the items they intend to purchase, but it feeds into the consumer’s sense of instant gratification. Waiting for two-say shipping doesn’t fulfill that desire to put the buy to immediate use.
Not simply about “instant gratification,” the Nordstrom of today is creating a shopping experience that is tailored to the busy New Yorker. Some of the tailoring services include:
- On-site adjustments, usually in under an hour, for little to no charge on items purchased
- Tailoring to clothing already owned
- Tailoring at your home, office or hotel (catering to the on-the-go businessman)
It may be a brick-and-mortar environment, but the Nordstrom Men’s Store is not averse to leveraging technology. To further personalize and augment the experience, the shop offers a suit station where men can design their own suits using avatars and virtual reality
Finely crafted clothes are not the only thing the new location is offering. While shopping, men can grab a hand-crafted coffee on the go or relax with a cocktail in their Clubhouse. Giving shoppers first class amenities only amps up the shopping experience (and libations certainly enhance the desire to purchase).
Better yet, the department store is catering their new facility to a target audience: the busy New Yorker. Nordstrom Men’s Store will be open 24-hours and offer services such self-return kiosks, classic shoe-shine and modern sneaker cleaning and around-the-clock curbside pickup for the man on the go. The department store chain is working to merge the ease of shopping online with the instant gratification of picking up their purchase on-demand.
Nordstrom is taking the comforts of home, the convenience of shopping on-line, the immediacy of in-person shopping and the first class service for which business New Yorkers – and, really, all customers – look in a retail experience.
Aware that customers have many options for buying clothes, Nordstrom is not merely adding to that saturated pool. It is instead building the luxury, engaging, personalized, easy experience the modern consumer is truly demanding.
And given the franchise's iconic customer experience history (you surely know the tire story), there is little reason for surprise.