The title of this article suggests that Barneys’ latest moves are all about digital. And though digital advances are clearly a big part of the retailer’s efforts to appeal to consumers, they are just one part. Rather, its three-pronged plan is dedicated to the notion that Barneys can do better to give customers what they want, when they want it. Technology offers a tool to help it do so.

For example, Barneys plans to enhance the connections that salespeople in its stores make with their customers by equipping them with more effective handheld technology. The iPads that sales clerks will carry can identify regular shoppers and also enable people to check out immediately using Apple Pay.

The stores and Barneys’ mobile app also will interact with iBeacons in stores. All mobile app users receive updates, notifying them of new content as it becomes available; in-store shoppers also will receive alerts about where to find products they might have put in their online wish lists for example. Barneys is determined to provide more information to customers, by pushing fashion insights and lookbooks, interviews with famous designers, or announcements about new store openings to their phones.

But information isn’t the only thing that Barneys wants to deliver to customers. It is expanding its product delivery capabilities to be able to provide same-day shipping, for a $25 fee, to customers in Manhattan or Brooklyn who order by noon.

Those New York–area deliveries will come from Barneys’ newly opened Chelsea store, an outpost built not far from where the very first Barneys opened in 1923. Thus even as Barneys seeks to leverage modern-era technology and digital options, it remains committed to the service aspects that have enabled its long and successful history.

Discussion Question:

1.  How is Barneys improving the customer experience?

Source: Hilary Milnes, Digiday, February 15, 201