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Axiom's secret sauce for customer experience in Dubai

October 2, 2012 by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

Last stop on my around the world tour of retail was Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In a land of perpetual heat, it is easy to understand why consumers flock to air conditioned mega malls! The Mall of the Emirates has more than 500 stores plus a ski resort complete with chair lift. The visual merchandising in these stores is as compelling as anywhere in the world. But, the most intriguing store for consumer experience turned out to be one using technology to focus on consumer engagement and experience beyond expectations.

Dubai – A city of surprises and extreme retailing

Most have heard stories of Dubai, the city literally built in a desert. When I landed at 5:30 am it was already 33C ...that's 93 degrees F at sunrise. The afternoon temperatures easily top 40C (well above 100F), so the people head to the air conditioned malls. With these kinds of temperature extremes daily, the stores of Dubai get more traffic and repeat visits than retailers in other major cities. Hence, online shopping is not as prevalent in Dubai as other countries.

A complete ski run, chair lifts and winter wonderland within the Mall of the Emirates.

My first exposure to extreme shopping was the Mall of the Emirates, as I mentioned it has over 500 stores ... and, are you ready for this ... includes an enclosed ski slope complete with chair lifts! While this first mall was impressive, the Dubai Mall had over 1,500 stores. These are not small stores like found in an Asian IT Mall. They are large stores from all the major worldwide brands, as well as local retailers. In this high rent district, these stores are dressed to the nines with visual merchandising. And, the price range of merchandise can easily go into the stratosphere given the wealth of the local residents and foreign visitors.

Electronics retailing very boring except for Samsung's popup store

In Dubai and the Gulf in general, the major brands have quite literally "bought the floor". As per last post regarding whether "retailers will lose their soul", most consumer electronics retailers in the Dubai malls let the brands merchandise their kiosk and supply the labor to staff their area on the floor. From Carrefour to the high end electronics stores, this practice has resulted in a very boring and unfulfilling consumer experience for the following reasons:

• Many of the displays are the same from store to store
• They are focused on the brands and branding, not consumer experience
• The presentation is very product, feature and price centric
• Unlike Apple displays, there are no demos or the potential to try out the products
• The brand promoters on the floors recommend only their brands, and can't cross product lines to provide a consumer with a solution

Major electronics brands did in fact have their own complete stores within the mega malls. For the most part, the consumer experience in these branded stores was better than at the brand kiosks within full range electronic stores. Samsung also had their own permanent store within the mall, but what was most impressive was their pop-up store within the center of the Mall of the Emirates.

Kids totally immersed in a tablet experience at the Samsung pop-up display in the center of the Mall.

As you can see from the photo above, the pop-up site was designed to be completely experiential for consumers:

• The staff immediately engaged you and got you exploring products
• There was a specific kids area where kids could play and draw on tablets
• You could have your photo taken and the print given to you in a coffee mug.

The only problem with this pop-up display was that you could have a great experience, but you literally couldn't buy anything. They seemed to direct you to their Samsung store or another retailer, which was literally required walking hundreds of yards. Why can't this quality consumer centric experience be incorporated within the electronic store itself?

Axiom – A secret sauce for experience that is not readily apparent

The most impressive retailer I visited in the malls of Dubai was certainly not the flashiest, or the one with the most impressive visual displays. The best description of Axiom is that it's a Telco, or store focused on phones and mobility products. And beyond handsets, they sell profitable contracts for voice and data. As you can see from the photo below, their stores are certainly modern and well merchandised like most Telco stores. They didn't have the grandiose visual merchandising of other retailers in the mall.

Axiom is truly "unlike others" in terms of consumer experience & personalization.

In IMS Retail University, we cover the 5 Ps of creating an engaging consumer experience:

• People
• Process
• Personalization
• Place (Merchandising)
• Product Solutions

All too often, people get hung up in the visual aspects of the store. Merchandising and store design are merely the "stage." To have a great experience requires "actors" with talent and a great "script". Axiom focuses on applying technology in a unique way to ensure consistent execution of a process to personalize, and differentiate service for consumers.

What is not seen in the photo above is the fact that most Axiom associates wear headsets. To the consumer, it appears that they are used for communication within the store. I have been told that the headsets are also used to monitor the staff's execution of Axiom's process to engage consumers. Associates are carefully monitored to ensure that they are asking consumers the Ws (who, when, where questions) on how they will personally use the products. Store leaders can monitor behaviors so that they can coach improvement.

I cannot personally verify all of Axiom's strategies to execute a personalized consumer experience. I can verify that in my Axiom shopping experience was the one and only where they asked me about my preferences and how they could customize both a product and service ... a solution for me. All the other "brand promoters" in the other electronics stores were totally focused on the deals of the day and lowest prices.

You can have a great theater experience with great actors and a script on a bare stage ... but the most elaborate stage by itself does not ensure great theater or experience. Axiom's secret sauce of how to engage consumers with personalization will win on any stage.

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