Retailers need to get savvy with tablets, kiosks and geolocation in 2011

Forrester Research have just launched a report - "Five Retail eCommerce Trends to Watch in 2011" with the key take-out that 2011 will be "marked by an even more disciplined approach toward multichannel retailing, investments in mobile and tablet presences..."

Some topline points:

• Retailers hoping to boost their e-commerce sales this year should focus more on such areas as in-store pickup for online purchases and making shopping appealing for consumers with tablet computers.
• Retailers must boost their multichannel offerings (as evidenced by growth in 2010 of e-commerce spending, including during Christmas)
• Offline (the store) has to integrate online - kiosks as a touchpoint flagged here along with geolocation apps such as Shopkick
• Ads / offers need to be based on shoppers' browsing behaviours

Creating Shopper Value

Enter 2011 and everywhere I go as a shopper, ‘value’ continues to be a promise I’m surrounded with.

And with this overriding observation comes the cold, hard reality that there’s often a gaping difference between what I’m promised and what I get.

Put plainly, it sucks.

Why? Because I end up feeling devalued, duped and disappointed.

In an era defined by choice, channel, connectedness and community it’s a 101 imperative that brand experiences live up to expectation (and then exceed them).

Last year I suggested a redefinition of value from lowest price to best experience.

I’d like to add an additional thought.

And that is, we need to ensure we’re helping shoppers feel genuinely valued.

I don’t want to get into a long spiel about “loyalty” but suffice to say that valuing shoppers needs to become a far more personal affair. As we move from mass market to mass niche it’s the brands that engage us as friends & allies that will win the day.

Take Moose Jaw for example.

Based in the US, Moose Jaw is everything that their competitors aren't. Which is, I hear you say, arguably why they’re so successful. Take their opening description:

At Moosejaw we want to make shopping as much fun as backpacking the Chilkoot trail, climbing in Yosemite, mountaineering in the Himalayas or playing red rover with the neighbors who you don’t like that much but they’re always ready to play any game in the cul-de-sac so you make do.

Hardly a brand you could say no to, right?

This is a brand that lives and breathes the language & lifestyle of their shoppers, interacting with them across multiple touchpoints. Further to this, they live their values and make the shopping experience personal, fun & rewarding in unexpected ways. Take their ‘guarantee’ for example (or should I say “Living Will” ) as another quirky example.

Five thoughts toward creating new shopper value in 2011:

1. Reward shoppers for interacting with your retail brand- not just buying from it.
2. Offer an exchange of value at every touch point through seamless online/ offline integration
3. Stand for something great - create value by having values that are seen, heard and felt
4. Surprise and delight in personal, unexpected ways to strengthen differentiation, relevance and loyalty.
5. Get 'brand mobile' to enable your shoppers to engage and buy from you wherever, whenever.

Brands join up with Farmville

Macca's Chicago have just teamed up with Zynga (creators of Farmville + other social media games) to launch a one-day campaign whereby Macca's branded and launched a neighbouring farm on Farmville that enabled players to earn virtual points via McCafe etc to spend within the game. Very cool.

According to Brandchannel:

It’s a significant crossroads for in-game branding and a first-of-its-kind campaign for McDonald’s. McDonald's currently serves 26 million customers daily, while Zynga attracts more than 215 million monthly active users, and FarmVille remains its most popular title.

Dubbed a “neighbor farm” for the one-day campaign which ran yesterday, Farmville highlighted the MacFarm and visitors who helped grow tomatoes or mustard seed crops received in-game rewards dubbed FarmVille McCafe Consumable.

The Consumable is a valuable virtual good that makes game-play easier and delivers energy to players that doubles navigation speed and awards McDonald's Hot Air Balloons for decorating one’s farm.

7-Eleven ran a similar promotion this year (see pic above) when they teamed up with Farmville and integrated Farmville codes onto real products which were sold in 7-Eleven stores (think "Farmville Slurpee")


It allowed customers to "bite - earn - play" as they put it. This was another potent example whereby a brand facilitated the intangible (virtual online game) becoming real.

You know my passionate stance about retail being "anywhere a transaction happens" .......well digital convergence is making this happen (and it's only going to keep getting faster).

This latest Macca's example is further proof that the lines between online and offline have blurred. Savvy brands will continue to find even more ways to create experiences of value within and across these two arenas.

Meat Your Match

No longer do you need to worry about choosing the perfect chook. From the most talked about butcher shop in Sydney comes their new educational app "ask the butcher". Once downloaded it helps meat lovers find their perfect cut as well as grab recipe tips for whipping up a meal that would make Jamie proud.

Complementing the app is their "Ask the Butcher" website where anyone can write in and ask for help on meat-related challenges - for example, "How do you cook the perfect steak?" This is a really clever way for the brand to provide value and pre-influence shopper behaviour whilst skillfully capturing (future and existing) customer data to sustain future conversations.

VC's offers home delivery for orders over $100 plus a cooking school and other experiences (like store tours). They are a great local example of a retailer that's truly changing the playing field.

FCUK make shopping (more) personal

Touted as the world's first personal shopping experience on YouTube - FCUK have just launched YouTique - check it out here

As reported on NMA:

The site was created by digital agency Poke. It features a series of stylist videos, such as How to Look Cool on Casual Friday, or How to Sparkle at a Wedding.

Stylist Louise Roe selects and talks through items and accessories from the retailer’s latest collection.

Users are given the option to select an item from the video when it has ended and can click through to a page of the French Connection online store to buy it.

The fashion retailer is the first UK brand to use YouTube’s Annotations feature, which has already been trialled in the US by brands such as Old Spice and Toyota.

Facebook Gets Physical

Been meaning to blog about this one for a couple weeks now...

Earlier this month Facebook launched the sale of gift cards through Target stores in the USA.

For me, this launch provides another great piece of evidence of the online-offline blur = a totally online brand (Facebook) merging into a physical store location (Target USA). According to Mashable, Facebook are looking to launch the card through three other national US retailers this year.

The Facebook "credits" card will operate as virtual cash redeemable on games (think Farmville), web applications and virtual goods.

According to one report on Inside Facebook, "the virtual goods market is expected to reach $1.6 billion in the US alone this year... with $835 million coming from social games alone"

Retail Futures

This year's "Best Global Brands 2010" report from Interbrand held some particularly interesting refrences to the future of retail. Key points of interest for me were their predictions surrounding multichannel retailing, retail-as-brand space and convergence of technology into the retail space.

Three stand-out points for me related to the following:

Store space as brand place:

'For the first time in history, retailers are
being forced to see themselves as brands"

Retail as anywhere a transaction happens

Mobile shopping effectively
flips the priority from the box to the screen.
Retailers have no choice but to focus and
concentrate their brand power in order to
create experiential moments of delight and
emotion at these wireless touchpoints.
However, in the short-term, most retailers
still lack an understanding of the qualities
of their brand and how it translates in the
shopper’s mind. Acting like a brand demands
clarity of voice, diff erentiation, innovation
and value-add like never before. Virtual
and physical brand spaces both need to
become rich, personal and meaningful

Changing the way we shop

Consumers aged 16–34 are most likely to use technology, including
smartphone apps and e-commerce sites. Smart retailers are testing iPad apps, text
alerts, mobile sites and social networking to become more involved with multichannel shoppers. The more closely engaged the shopper, the more loyalty and frequency can be expected. Over the next five years, companies will gain even deeper insights into behaviors around mobile shopping so that they can create multichannel strategies, shelf principles and store designs that are in sync with the mindset of tomorrow.

For full report visit brand channel and download the white paper

No cash? No worries

Contactless payment is a technology more brands are adopting into their retail* spaces.

For me, this is direct evidence that the promise of "convenience" is now far, wide and even more expected by customers/ shoppers.

In the US, Visa has just recently launched their contactless payment alternate for New Yorker commuters using a bus, subway, train and taxi. Payment can be made via a pay-wave card or by downloading an app to their smart phone. According to the article in Mobile Commerce Daily "the programs in New York and New Jersey are part of Visa’s long-term strategy of extending the speed, security and convenience of Visa acceptance to new locations."

To a different type of Subway, contactless and cashless payment is starting to evolve more rapidly particularly in high-demand convenience industries such as QSR. In countries such as Asia (think Japan and Korea) and the USA it's helping to facilitate easier customer transactions. Customer benefits include convenience (ie: 'order ahead'), speed and personalised service whilst restaurants are being attracted by increased revenue from larger order sizes (evidence from GoMobo points to this), faster order handling and greater opportunity to build & retain loyalty.



* retail = defined as anywhere a transaction occurs (not just a physical store)

30pc of consumers accessing retail content on mobile are not online or in-store

The August SMART report just published by Millennial Media USA, has found that nearly 30 percent of subscribers accessing retail content on their phone cannot be reached online or in-store.

The research was conducted in partnerhsip with comScore with the purpose of investigating mobile retail advertising, usage and growth over the past year.

The study points out the opportunity for brands to connect with this potentially 'forgotten' audience when planning their forthcoming retail Christmas campaigns.

For the full report look under 'research' on Millennial's website here