Apparel retailers continue to look for innovative ways to enhance the consumer experience of their brand, particularly in real life, serving as a complementary service to online purchasing options. In this show, Kevin Harwood, vice president of technology at athleisure brand Outdoor Voices, explains how his company is leveraging AR to integrate physical activity with the shopping experience, encouraging users to venture out to a particular hiking trail or bike path, where they can then view and purchase exclusive apparel in 3D on their mobile device.

Integrating AR apps into their services to provide experiential shopping is just one way that retailers are building customer engagement. For more information on how brands are enhancing the consumer experience, see PSFK’s report pages.

Scent may be the most subtly influential of the five senses. While visual and audio elements have taken priority when designing a store or product, now brands are increasingly looking to the power of the olfactory sense to enhance the customer experience. In this show, PSFK founder Piers Fawkes speaks to Olivia Jezler, a sensory designer and fragrance expert, as well as Guillaume Rolland of the scent and wellness tech company Sensorwake, to uncover the immense potential for incorporating fragrance into retail and brand experiences.

Marshaling the power of scent is just one way that brands are further engaging and immersing shoppers. For additional information on how retailers are enhancing the customer experience, see PSFK’s report pages.

Lead image: beauty in nature stock photo from Natalia Deriabina/Shutterstock

Listen as PSFK President of Research & Strategy Scott Lachut and Strategist Avery McCaffrey guide brands and companies through key actions, perspectives and takeaways presented in a webinar for our CX Playbook report, which includes a customer-brand journey in which consumers are authentically empowered by purpose-driven initiatives.

The report presents readers with an actionable, trends-inspired framework that will attract customers through value-driven brand perspectives and cultivate long-term loyalty by nurturing their progressive lifestyle. For more information, view the CX Playbook.

Firstage is a company that creates augmented reality experiences in the music entertainment space, using the latest technology to give artists better access to their audience while helping them generate additional revenue. In this show, PSFK founder Piers Fawkes speaks to Keith Lawler, Firstage’s founder and creative director, about launching the world’s first live augmented reality stage and what it means for advertisement as well as the consumer experience in the world of music.

For more about the AR experiences, see PSFK’s Exploring Augmented Reality’s Impact On Brand Engagement report.

How can you see the future by looking for ideas today? This is Piers Fawkes of PSFK, and in this show I speak to Ariel Waldman, advisor to NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, a program that funds the futuristic, sci-fi, out-there concepts that could be transformative to future space missions as well as to endeavors here on Earth. Listen to Ariel explain her process of spending time thinking about new ideas emerging today and making connections between varied disciplines to dream up tomorrow.

In this show, we explore the practice of direct-to-consumer retail, an increasingly popular distribution model that cuts out the middlemen involved in traditional retail and wholesale by using digital tools and platforms. In this episode, Piers Fawkes of PSFK speaks to Dave Lippman, vice president of design and executive creative director at eBay, how the e-commerce retailer is innovating to more directly target consumers and build brand rapport with them.

For more information about trends taking place in DTC retail and the related customer experience, visit PSFK’s report pages.

John Wantz is the CEO of SHOP,  a company that is using blockchain to shift the power of retail back into the hands of brands and consumers, and away from Amazon. In this show, Piers of PSFK speaks to John and his colleague Jamie O’Shea about their plans to launch their Shop Coin later this year.

You can read more about the impact of blockchain on the customer experience in our reports: psfk.com/reports

Businesses are increasingly turning to AI services like chatbots to easily input information and manage their data, optimizing their efficiency and streamlining workloads. In this episode, Piers Fawkes, founder of the business intelligence company PSFK, talks to Rob May, co-founder of Talla, a Boston-based startup, about how his company automates the content management of companies and workplaces using its smart knowledge base.

For more about how businesses are optimizing and streamlining their services by improving the user experience, read PSFK’s newsletters and download our reports.

Lead image: chatting online messaging stock photo by rawpixel.com on Shutterstock

Today’s brands distinguish themselves by building rapport with their consumers, which is why companies are increasingly looking to technology to provide new ways to foster closer connections and personalized service. In this episode, Piers Fawkes, founder of PSFK, speaks to Jarid Lukin,  vice president of e-commerce at Kind Snacks, about the importance of having a direct relationship with the consumer and how doing so serves to differentiate the brand.

For more information about innovation in DTC retail and the related customer experience, visit PSFK’s report pages.

For more information about innovation in DTC retail and the related customer experience, visit PSFK’s report pages.