INTERNATIONAL. DFS Group, the world’s leading luxury travel retailer, today participated in a dedicated WeChat virtual press conference to become a founding member of the WeChat Retail Growth Plan and to showcase winning solutions.
Due to the global travel restrictions and the world’s current business environment, businesses are being challenged to migrate their operations from offline to online channels, DFS noted.
During this period of uncertainty, WeChat is celebrating the tackling of adversity by showcasing a select number of retailers that have demonstrated successful models utilising WeChat to drive traffic and awareness. Today’s virtual press conference was livestreamed on the WeChat platform to Tencent-invited guests spanning media partners, retailers and trade and industry peers.
DFS Group Vice President Digital and E-Commerce Development DK Ding introduced the luxury retailer’s partnership with Tencent and DFS’ positioning and pioneering initiatives within WeChat. He then presened a video highlighting the retailer’s achievements leveraging the WeChat ecosystem.
The video showcased various digital touchpoints in a customer’s journey, including:
- Pre departure: DFS E-shop
- The E-shop Friends & Family feature has made it possible for customers to shop and browse for products without visiting a DFS store. This particular WeChat platform allows shoppers to shop, check out and pay before assigning a designated friend or family member to pick up the products in-store. The E-shop Friends & Family feature received recognition from the LVMH Retail Lab in 2019.
- In-location: LOYAL T new member sign-up
- Conscious of the environment and to eliminate paper sign-ups, DFS in partnership with WeChat launched the Customer Connect Mini Program in January 2019 to provide a fully digitalised experience for customers, which simplified and digitalised the sign-up process to become part of DFS Group’s LOYAL T program. New member sign-ups are now completed in just under one minute and over 90% of PRC members sign up through this feature.
- In-location: Scan & Go
- The latest addition to DFS’s digital innovation portfolio is Scan & Go, which debuted at San Francisco Airport with the aim of saving valuable time and provide a seamless and efficient shopping experience when a customer is under a time constraint to catch a flight. The Scan & Go option allows individuals to convert their own mobile device into a POS through integration with WeChat Pay and skip queues by self-checking out.
- Post departure: Customer Connect
- The Customer Connect mini program is a hub for DFS customers’ every need following their purchase. It showcases the wide range of products and experiences available in each store, specific in-store offers, a LOYAL T membership dashboard, global guarantee and more.
DFS Group’s use of the WeChat ecosystem enhances the shopping experience for its Chinese customers by offering “unparalleled efficiency, safety and convenience”, the retailer commented. The WeChat initiatives eliminate a number of steps and time to complete a transaction, decreasing overall wait time for the customer and increasing efficiency and shopping flow for the retailer.
“DFS is proud to be at the forefront of digital innovation, providing a seamless shopping experience for our customers,” said DFS Group Chief Financial Officer Zac Coughlin.
“Tencent has proven to be the perfect partner for DFS and we are delighted to have the opportunity to create content that attracts, engages and satisfies our discerning traveling customer within WeChat’s exciting and dynamic ecosystem.
DFS noted that it is dedicated to being the leader in digital innovation in travel retail. “We continually seek to find new omnichannel touchpoints that provide our discerning customers with a seamless online and offline shopping journey and offer innovative and exciting ways to access DFS’ quality products, services and experiences,” the company said.
