What Isn’t In-Store Interactivity?

“Interaction is achieved when a device, game, website or computer program presents choices in response to a user’s request or action. By making different choices, the user controls the action of the device or the outcome of the game or program,” said every engineer in 1973, or maybe a hardcore Nintendo user in the mid-80s.

Before the rise of the machines, an interaction was simply a verbal or non-verbal exchange between people. If one was teaching a lesson, one was interacting. Gossiping was interacting. So was parent/teacher conferencing, playing Monopoly, sharing a meal and [shudder] participatory theater.

In the 1960s and 70s, computer technology gave that exchange a name – “interactivity” – and altered its context from human-to-human to human-to-machine. And that’s where the definition remained for a few years.

Flash forward to a Maker Faire. A backlash against “cold, isolating” technology and a renewed appreciation for all things authentic shifted the concept of interactivity back into the human space. An interaction is no longer just about technology. Interactivity is again an instrument for human engagement and expression.

It’s also a mandate for retail marketers.

Interactivity is paramount in this era of consumer-driven, multi-platform, experience-based shopping. Retail marketers would be wise to embrace and understand the countless ways brands can and must interact with shoppers.

And by countless, I mean these 53 shopper interaction opportunities:

1. Price Check
2. Product Return
3. Email
4. Text
5. Pop-up Ad
6. “Hello” from the Greeter
7. Receipt
8. Sales Associate Encounter
9. Tech support Call
10. Product Delivery
11. Billboard
12. Phone Solicitation
13. Gift Wrap
14. Presentation of the Purchase
15. TV Ad
16. Twitter Reply
17. Online Video
18. Inspirational Content
19. Pinterest Page
20. Snapchat page
21. How-to Content
22. Facebook Page
23. Signage
24. YouTube
25. Website Design
26. Website Experience
27. Store Entry
28. Store Window
29. Print Ad
30. Sponsorships
31. Loyalty Program
32. Check-out Experience
33. Product Search
34. App
35. Store Layout
36. Display
37. VIP moment
38. Concierge Experience
39. Response / Hold Time
40. Sale Offers
41. Digital Pings
42. Navigation (in-store)
43. Navigation  (website)
44. Welcome Beverage
45. Suggestive Sell
46. Customer Service (in-person)
47. Customer Service (online)
48. Contests / Sweepstakes
49. Bathroom Cleanliness
50. In-store Music
51. Line Wait
52. Store Departure
53. Shopping Bag