Specialty retailer looks to bring digital customer experience to in-store shoppers

Barneys New York is employing technology to give shoppers at its new flagship in downtown Manhattan flagship even more personalized attention — and an experience that combines the best of physical and digital retail.



The luxury fashion retailer is utilizing the Relevance Cloud personalization platform from RichRelevance to deliver personalized editorial content to customer mobile devices and also help associates provide better customer service via a clienteling app. The retailer is integrating in-store beacon technology with the platform to share targeted content such as videos, lookbooks and designer interviews from its editorial site The Window with shoppers as they move about the store.



Customers who opt-in also receive personalized notifications when they nears items in their mobile shopping bags or on wishlists.



Barneys is also using the platform to power a new clienteling system that uses customer-centric personalization. The app is available on associates' iPads, which are also used as mobile POS devices with Apple Pay.



The new clienteling app connects consumer, product and inventory data to deliver personalized product and content recommendations based on each shopper’s unique history with Barneys. It also provides ‘endless aisle’ capabilities that give associates access to inventory across all Barneys stores and, from the store floor, to aid immediate order fulfillment in the store.



These new digital initiatives build on a long-term partnership between Barneys and RichRelevance to personalize the digital experience, including an increased focus on personalization in Barneys recent redesign of e-commerce and editorial sites. Barneys is using iBeacon technology to share informative and relevant content (videos, look books and designer interviews) from The Window, Barneys luxury editorial site, with shoppers as they move about the store. Beacons are integrated with the Relevance Cloud platform to deliver personalized recommendations of content to users who choose to opt-in for this experience via the award-winning Barneys New York app. The app also delivers personalized notifications when a shopper nears items in their mobile shopping bags or on wishlists, creating a seamless and efficient shopping experience for the knowledgeable Barneys customer.



For an upscale retailer like Barneys, price is less of a competitive differentiator than customer experience and product availability. The company’s new store personalization platform helps ensure it offers a high level of both.



“The customer experience in this store runs parallel in importance to the design, product and historic location," said Barneys New York COO Daniella Vitale. ”We want the customer to feel as though anything is possible when they walk into the store. With the seamless integration of technology, our incredible staff, and a deep appreciation of our customer, we really do feel that everything is possible."