According to a study, nearly 50% of shoppers who purchase products online first go to brick-and-mortar locations to see the product, a tactic coined 'showrooming.' With US Census retail shopping data for Q4 of 2012 revealing marginal growth, while e-commerce sales continue to experience 3x increase over retail. Presenting obvious concern to retailers, ArmorActive is responding to this problem by offering apps for business and iPad stands and mounts, which enable retailers to engage with their customers and buck current shopping trends.
Early this month, ArmorActive supplied the new branch of the Kate Spade brand, "Saturday by Kate Spade," with iPad mounts to add a modern, interactive atmosphere to their flagship store in Tokyo, Japan. Using the ArmorActive Full Metal Jacket Enclosures and Figure 8 mounts placed around the store which display messages and showcase models wearing various Saturday by Kate Spade clothing.
"Businesses continue to face challenges as shoppers look to the Internet as their preferred shopping destination," said Scott Paul, Founder of ArmorActive, "but you can't replace the value of holding a product in your hands before you buy it. Retailers have approached us looking for ways to grab the sale while customers are physically in the store, and incorporating iPad kiosks into the retail space has proven to be a relevant solution."
Sports merchandise specialists Fanzz incorporated iPad table mounts to create a better in-store shopping experience. With endless amounts of apparel for various sports teams, Fanzz needed a way to stock all sports merchandise in a small location. Fanzz turned to ArmorActive for a custom iPad kiosk solution to allow customers to purchase any piece of merchandise offered by the chain via an "Endless Aisle." The custom Endless Aisle solution has all Fanzz merchandise ready to view and purchase in-store, using a simple iPad POS kiosk with card swipe capability. Truly a show(rooming) stopper!
For Zappos the challenge was reversed: taking a successful online shopping experience into a retail shopping space. Utilizing ArmorActive kiosks, Zappos used 5 Radius iPad stands and Evolve enclosures to set up a physical store in the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. This hip, attractive environment lent itself perfectly to the goals of Zappos, taking their digital world into a retail shopping experience. The iPad has proven an effective method of implementing tablet technology as retailers incorporate a variety of use cases to accomplish similar goals.
Looking to the future ArmorActive continues to cement its place as an industry innovator with the introduction of Voto Booth. A full solution iPad kiosk, Voto Booth capitalizes on the popular social application Voto for consumer feedback in an app for business. Customers try on 2-4 styles, snap photos, then post to Voto to gather user feedback. Social validation provided by Voto Booth urges store visitors to make purchases at the point of interaction. Voto Booth as a business software app is just one more way ArmorActive integrates iPad stands and enclosures into the retail space to engage users at the point of contact.
