Happy Pills in Barcelona

As part of the Westfield World Retail Study Tour, we went to Barcelona for the final leg of our journey last week. Heard from many fantastic retailers including Zara and Tous to Desigual.

Along the way we spotted this store concept - 'Happy Pills'. It's fun, simple and creative. In effect a "pick n' mix" lolly store, they've wrapped it up in a pseduo-medico theme (all in bright pink and white) with the underlying premise of "happiness." As you can see from the pic above, the stores are squeezed into tiny little spaces - even wedged between buildings. Environments are very clean and bright - with cheeky packaging to match.

A fun concept - one to watch.

QR code

Seeing QR (Quick Response) codes crop up everywhere. Today found this one - advertising a store in SOHO that's currently for rent. Wanted to share as I thought it took advantage of a simple, clever use. Imagine wider application of this into realestate signs.....let me know if you spot them further in this context?

VIP Plectrums by Ben Sherman

From Ben Sherman comes VIP Plectrums...

Spotted this in Carnaby street a couple days ago and loved it. Fantastic instore execution driven by a great integrated idea. Brings financial support and cause focus for their charity partners - Lifebeat and Trekstock, whilst creating a platform from which to launch their Autumn 2011 collection.

A whole variety of artists have come on board to donate their plectrums - which you can then bid on via online auction, starting May 29. Think: Keith Richard, Duran Duran, Coldplay....list goes on. They're featuring framed plectrums in their store windows which look fantastic. I also love their application of digital touchpoints in-store - their use of QR codes is simple genius.

Hope they do really well with this one. Brilliant concept. Beautifully designed and executed.

London: Selfridges 'Project Ocean'

Selfridges have just launched their latest campaign "Project Ocean" last Wednesday. Went into their store to absorb it today and there's only one word to describe it: impressive. It's running from May 11 to June 12 here in London.

Every store window is themed in this campaign. Outside the store is a dedicated interactive digital touch screen where people can touch and text to donate. Upon doing so they are allocated a fish which they can watch swim across the screen. Along with merchandise, the text donations have raised (in 5 days) more than 40,000 GBP.

Doors, escalators, floors, ceilings, walls are all used as touchpoints within the store to convey the message about sustainable seafood. It's focus is on education - helping shoppers select seafood that is sustainably farmed to reduce the stress on at-risk breeds of fish and aquamarine environments. Selfridges is partnering with more than 20 environmental and conservation groups to 'celebrate the beauty of the ocean, highlight the issue of over-fishing, help us all understand the threats to the ocean and make positive choices about the right fish to buy and eat'. They are providing shoppers with Fish Guide to help them understand which breeds are best - as well as an App that does the same ('Selfridges Fish Guide app')

It's an incredible case study which also has ties to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's project "Hugh's Fish Fight" - a documentary that famously brought this issue to public attention here in Britain about 2 years ago.

I have been absolutely blown away by the level of detail throughout the store - and the level of space dedicated to it as well. This is not "lip service"....Selfridges have wrapped an entire education campaign around "Project Ocean" and have taken it right through to their food hall where their fishmonger and sushi eatery only sell sustainably farmed fish. You can also watch the documentary instore in a dedicated "ultra lounge" screening or, if that doesn't take your fancy, you can check out the concept store with it's project-related fashion displays.

I spoke to several different members of the staff who each had an indepth knowledge and understanding of the issue and could convey to me the reasons behind the campaign. What's more impressive, was their genuine passion - again, not just something they were being told to "sell" but an idea they absolutely believed in.

Have taken loads of pics - will definitely be sharing this one when I get back as it's part of a much larger theme that I've been noticing whilst on the study tour

Check out the site: selfridges.com/projectocean

Digital layering

We've now been through Stockholm, Chicago and San Francisco. I'm currently in London and have spent the last two days in seminars and visits to retailers - from markets, to shopping centres (Westfield London) and high street.

Digital is a key theme that's repeating itself across all these places.

To be precise, I'm noticing that brands are leveraging social media media tags (think Twitter, Facebook, You Tube) increasingly on print touchpoints. Lots of QR codes also popping up everywhere (pictures above taken at Chicago airport) from instore and out. A good degree of digital signage - but I think the shift here will definitely become further towards interaction (think tablets and digital surfaces). I'm terming this "digital layering" - pulling shoppers through to content via digital touchpoints that help them navigate & experience virtual and physical brand spaces.

Evolution Bureau in SanFrancisco ran a fantastic campaign for Juicy Fruit ("Sweeten the Day") which used snaptags inside packaging to take fans through to digital content. Daniel Stein their CEO spoke about "tying fans to retail locations" via digital - loved this thought. Definitely one to keep in mind as we move forward.

Will update more soon...

Emerging retail themes

Hi from Chicago...

Amazing two days...full on but so inspiring. In the past 48 hours we've visited about 20 stores and had several seminars.

Highlights for me have included Wholefoods, American Girl, Bass Outdoors and Fox and Obel - to name a few. Today we heard from companies including Lettuce Entertain You, Groupon, Arc Worldwide and Crate & Barrel.

I'm going to be uploading pictures when I have some more time - needless to say, I've taken hundreds!

Some key themes are really emerging for me include seeing evidence of social & sharing economy (Groupon, Levi's); the rise of mass to mass niche (Wholefoods, Fox & Obel); Fusion concepting (Lettuce Entertain You) as well as omni-channel retailing (Cisco, Crate & Barrel, CB2). Countless examples of what I'm terming 'mobile manifestations' - QR codes are on everything (and I mean, everything!). And they're not the domain of the big brands - the weirdest place I've seen QR codes is on "bathroom media" advertising local businesses in San Francisco. Also noticed them being used on community messages in Wholefoods.

Mobile is definitely a key driver - with accessibility growing and the prediction that 50% of US consumers will have a smartphone by January 2012. On that note, some nice insights from Arc today on the mobile shopper:

Low involvement categories should focus on delivering exponetial value whilst in high involvement categories there is a push toward mobile being used to add value by enhancing the instore experience.

We're leaving tomorrow on our way to Sweden. Will aim to write more when I'm at the airport...

San Francisco's World Class Customer Service

Arrived yesterday morning in San Francisco and spent the afternoon looking inside retail concepts in and around Union Square. A number of themes have started to unfold but the 'stand out' one today was the delivery of world class customer service.

From the friendliness of a greeting to the questions asked, I was taken back by how consistently great, "great" service could be.

The Jo Malone concession store inside Neiman-Marcus was a stand-out as was Levi's HQ in Union Square. It was more than just good delivery of "product information". In these stores the sales staff were true brand ambassadors. They engage and create emotional contracts with shoppers.

Left is a pic of one of my colleagues who was browsing for jeans in Levi's HQ. Rather than being left to her own devices to figure out which pair would be right, one of the staff spotted us looking and came over to offer a specialised Levi's 'measure and fit.' Do they do this in Australia? I haven't seen it but assuming they offer it. The result? Service that helped diagnose which product options were best - narrowing down the choices and resulting in a very happy customer who walked in to 'have a look' and ended up purchasing.

Great service is about taking care of the customers needs and taking the time to find out who they are and what they want. It's about knowing your shopper.

The lesson? Focus on service first and the 'sale' follows.

A great start, stay tuned for more...

Customer service = competitive edge

Have been out and about across various retailers in Sydney this long weekend. And the one thing that stood out was the lack of great customer service.

I was in one of Sydney's biggest retailers and the absence of staff on the floor was mind boggling. My favourite sign? "Queue here for service"

Talk about a contradiction.

Note to the retailers: your shoppers notice. And they don't like it.

On three separate occasions in two different stores I overheard comments about the lack of available help and service.

Several ideas came to mind.

First, using customer service as competitive differentiation.

I couldn't help but reflect on the 2011 IBM smarter shoppers study. I attended the Sydney presentation where they shared their brilliant piece of (global) research. Their report showed that shoppers (of all ages) are becoming more "instrumented" (using technology to shop). Furthermore, the retailers who'll win the most hearts and minds will be the ones willing and able to serve, listen and empower their shoppers. They weren't talking about battling it out on "lowest price" - they were talking about future competition being shaped and shared by "best experience" (see my previous posts here on Value)

Second, it got me thinking about the application of technology at-retail. Think: AR, tablets, interactive smart surfaces, mobile etc. Technology opens up multiple possibilities - not least of which would be providing & supporting sales staff with the tools to deliver world class service experiences.

Thanks to M&C Saatchi, I'm heading off next week on the global retail study tour. I can't wait!

I'm keen to see how global retailers are delivering world class customer service (read: 'brand') experiences and integrating innovative uses of digital within their retailing environments to build competitive advantage.

Watch this space!