Zooming in on consumer engagement through smart tagging technology

The COVID-19 pandemic is acting as an accelerator of a digital transformation of the Fashion and Luxury industry that has been a long time in the making.

 50% of Fashion and Luxury brands have already adopted a consumer-facing product tagging solution, to respond to the ultra-connected consumers’ demand for ever-more refined digital interactions capable of blending offline and online, physical and digital.

It therefore comes as no surprise that brands have started to turn their attention to one of the most powerful touchpoints with their customers, one that embodies the identity of the brand like few others and one that more than any other touchpoint gives substance to the emotional and commercial bond between the two, the product. Consequently, interest in socalled “smart product tagging” solutions, which can turn a physical product into a digital two-way communication channel, has grown significantly in recent years.

For companies making use of consumer-facing smart tagging solutions, the 3 most pressing strategic issues are:

• the expansion of their eCommerce capabilities 
• the innovation of the customer experience 
• the development of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) programs 

This is consistent with the fact that consumer-facing smart tags turn physical products into relationship-enabled, digital touchpoints that can become an integral element of the customer journey as well as a bi-directional communication channel.

Overall, 36% of all responding companies to SDA Bocconi study have already adopted a consumer-facing, smart product tagging solution, of which 63% use it primarily to confirm product authenticity, although providing content and information is also an important application (38%).

Surely the level of confidence in smart tagging as a means to activate consumers through interaction with a physical product depends on experience: those who have implemented it know that it can work, however they also know that consumer engagement is higher if services and contents attached to the product are relevant, interesting, useful and the experience is designed with the end user at the heart.

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