R E TA I L TA P 0 6 / 1 6

Transcription

1 RETAIL TAP 06/16

2 TRENDS ACROSS THE PLANET: RETAIL Welcome to the latest edition of Retail TAP taking a little look at the latest round-up of the most innovative, exciting and creative Trends Across the Planet in the Retail Industry. In this edition, we explore Coca-Cola s cutting-edge methods to give customers clever new channels to buy their beverages. Discover more about Amazon Dash and its impact on shopper convenience and bricks-and-mortar stores. Before moving swiftly onto how French retailer Carrefour has used beacons to get their app usage through the roof, and, how AMEX has been an early pioneer of alternative payment methods. The ride then continues with the smart ways US retailer Kroger has successfully used the growing availability of analytics and the impact for offline stores. Old skool meets new school with Taco Bell s introduction of gamification and social media interaction to decades-old loyalty card schemes. Then more great meeting of minds inspiring examples of when physical meets digital in-store to boost sales and brand recognition. And, last but not least, we find out about how Nescafé are using emotionally intelligent robots to engage with their customers. Yes. We re serious. So, if that doesn t get you turning those pages. Nothing will. Get going people.

3 CONTENTS COKE S NEW WAYS TO BUY AMAZON DASH S DELIVERY AMEX PAY IT FORWARD TACO BELL S GAME OF LOYALTY CARREFOUR S BRIGHTER BEACONS PHYSICAL MEETS DIGITAL CLEVER ANALYTICS FOR KROGER NESCAFE S ROBOTS IN RETAIL CONTACT US

4 NEW WAYS TO BUY Shoppers are increasingly showing interest in buying straight from social media. So, quite naturally, networks are starting to provide them with ways to do this introducing buy buttons and integrating commerce in a much more successful way. And, it s not just social media. Television will no longer be just entertainment. It s also set to play a big role in commerce in the future, with the line between being a huge retailer and being a huge media company blurring. So in the future we can expect to see gadgets that will provide shoppers with a way of buying products seen in their TV shows directly via their TV. In fact, in Israel, Coca-Cola recently demonstrated this by using technology which features embedded ultrasonic audio signals that send out data packets to mobile devices via sound waves. A TV ad activated their devices allowing viewers to order two free ice-cold beverages, a cooler branded with the company logo and a bottle opener all delivered straight to their doorstep at the click of a button. Brands and retailers have whole new channels to experiment with, along with more points of sale than ever before. It s early days currently social media purchasing is struggling with lack of awareness, but it s really only a matter of time before customer adoption looks set to happen. 1

5 DELIVERY DEVELOPMENTS With the rise of savvy, busy consumers, there s been a growing demand for more convenience. This has led to the rise of more delivery options for shoppers, such as crowd-sourced delivery for parcels delivered in the same area. Amazon Dash is also a great example of this. The average customer has about 41 grocery items on their regular list. So with the launch of their buttons last year, Amazon Dash is aiming to help consumers with their regular grocery items. Dash buttons, now work with 100 different brands, connect to the internet via a home s WiFi network, and can be configured via an app on smartphones or by tablet. The ultimate in shopping convenience. For the FMCG category this will significantly push non-store based sales putting pressure on bricks-and-mortar stores to provide value in other ways to meet their consumer s needs. As consumers become more demanding in general, convenient delivery will be truly crucial for a successful online retailer. It s important that retailers take advantage of this. Other delivery options like pay and collect in-store are still popular amongst consumers and provide an opportunity for a second purchase when the consumer visits the bricks-and-mortar store for collection. 2

6 PAY IT FORWARD Currently 1 in 20 people in the UK use mobile payments every week. But this number is set to increase over the next twelve months with 25% of UK consumers using them by the end of this year. What s more, payments using wearables are also expected to follow the trend. Many retailers targeted shoppers on their smartphones in 2015, and again, this year s retail strategy is likely to include audience outreach on several digital platforms, including wearables and mobile. Retail sees millennials as the most loyal customers for many brands and it s those loyal millennials that will also fuel wearable adoption. American Express is an example of one such brand, who last summer allowed card holders in the United States to make purchases using a wearable fitness tracker with an embedded NFC chip. The Jawbone UP4 tracker can be used as an AMEX card at hundreds of thousands of NFC-enabled merchants. It proved pretty popular, highlighting how consumers are beginning to adopt wearables and showcasing their potential to blend in easily with their everyday lives. Contactless payments have seen such success, consumers are becoming more open to trying new and convenient ways of paying for their purchases. Concerns still remain over security, with 65% of people in the UK saying they worry what would happen if a device falls into someone else s hands. 3

7 THE GAME OF LOYALTY Loyalty programs have reached their saturation point, with over 3.3 billion loyalty program memberships in America. But, the same statistics also showed 58% of members don t effectively partake in them. Even though retail loyalty programs have been underperforming over the last years, there s also confirmation their existence can still drive value. The data alone possessed by these programs can drive proceeds in the longer term. So to make sure all that potential doesn t go to waste, they need to be more engaging which is where gamification comes in. Taco Bell introduced an in-application loyalty program with a gamification focus on rewarding customers for repeat ordering and engaging on social media a move likely to appeal to younger consumers. Consumers who choose to link their social accounts to the loyalty program will be given puzzle pieces that count toward prizes. Taco Bell s algorithm will recognise designated words that indicate if a customer is Living Mas (live more) in accordance with the marketer s famous tagline. For example, if a Twitter user posts about witnessing a stunning sunrise they would get a piece of the puzzle. Prizes include tangible gift cards and complimentary menu items, as well as experiences, like a visit to Taco Bell s Irvine headquarters. Loyalty cards have been around for decades but consumers still see them as valuable. Particularly mobile loyalty apps, which make it easier for the customer to keep track of their points. Retailers that make the customer journey easier and more engaging for their consumers will be the ones rewarded with their loyalty. 4

8 BRIGHTER BEACONS Last year saw big brands undertaking large-scale beacon deployments. But this year, beacon deployments are on track to have 400 million installed by 2020 a great tool for brands with heavy bricks-and-mortar footprints, such as department stores. These stores will also take advantage of using the beacons to push proximity-based messages to passersby s wearable devices if consumers in the vicinity of a flagship store receive a notification on their smartwatch alerting them of a major sale or welcome offer, they ll be much more likely to take the plunge and wander inside. Case in point. French retailer Carrefour. They ve an extensive ibeacon network in all 28 of its hypermarkets in Romania through which the retail chain offers its consumers a simple, intuitive, fun app for orientation inside hypermarkets from area to area. The retailer s beacon-enabled app automates commercial content delivery and collects essential data about in-store consumer behavior. Its proximity marketing campaign keeps consumers informed about the products, services, and actual special offers from each of the store departments. Thanks to beacons, Carrefour has seen an astounding rise in its application s engagement rate up by 400% and the number of app users up by an impressive 600% in seven months. Not only do beacons provide the opportunity for retailers to share targeted information and offers to the consumer right where they re standing, adding value to their store visit, they also allow retailers to gather data on consumer shopping habits which can be used to improve the customer experience for future shoppers. 5

9 PHYSICAL MEETS DIGITAL Shoppers no longer recognise the old divisions between physical and digital. The introduction of in-store technology that connects with social and digital engagement indicates a future where bricks-and-mortar stores will offer truly integrated experiences. This new technology comes about as retailers are beginning to realise that shoppers who buy from them in-store and online are their most valuable kind of customer according to a 2015 study by IDC, these shoppers have a 30% higher lifetime value than those who shop using only one channel. Rail displayed physical clothes under a digital screen. The clothing rail featured blue lights above each item, rising or falling depending on how popular each item was, based on Facebook and Instagram interactions. These social interactions were fed back through data and used to activate the physical display in-store. This clearly shows social media is having an increasing influence on what we buy backing up research that 76% of shoppers buy products rated by friends online. A great example of integrating the physical with the digital was done in a department store in St. Helen s in the UK. A Live Feed Digital Clothing As omnichannel shopping becomes more popular, retailers are getting that much better at responding to keep their valued customers who expect a seamless, integrated approach between the physical and digital worlds of their brand or retailer. 6

10 ALL ABOUT ANALYTICS Traditionally, E-commerce retailers have had one-up on their brick-andmortar counterparts when it comes to being able to selectively target customers based on insights into their preferences and habits. But, by 2020, offline retailers will have the same tools available to them as online retailers and will be able to use them widely. Whether it s using analytics to map where people walk and what they pick up to improve the position of products in-store, or tracking shoppers at device level to target promotions to them, the data will be used to understand customers and increase sales. US retailer Kroger is an early example of this data usage recently drawing attention by reducing the average queuing times from 4 minutes to 30 seconds by using sensors to anticipate queues and summon staff when needed. Technological advances over recent years have all had a data focus. Knowing how to use and manage data gathered through innovative technology can be as difficult as knowing how to use the technology itself. But, when using data is done effectively the results can be key to improving the whole customer experience. 7

11 ROBOTS IN RETAIL Robots have had an established presence for a couple of years in Japan. Especially, recently, with the launch of companion robot Pepper in Pepper s artificial intelligence allows it to expand its conversational ability by listening to what customers say. In Japan, Nestlé has begun to put Pepper into its NESCAFÉ stores to tell customers about different products and services. Pepper also attracts customers to the sales areas, talks with them and recommends the best coffee machine for their needs. More recently Pepper has ventured out of Japan, setting up in France s Carrefour supermarkets. The robots will be playing games and dancing with patrons and will also have a photo booth service so customers can take a picture with Pepper and print it out. As well as entertaining customers, Pepper will track visitor satisfaction, asking visitors a series of questions. What currently feels like a gimmicky piece of technology will be sure to help retailers in the future by gathering information and interacting with consumers. As many parts of the world are still unexposed to humanoid robots, the launches of such Asian technology will begin to impact our lives more over recent years. 8

12 WANT TO GET IN TOUCH? Sources: psfk.com, socialmediaweek.org, itprobable.com, mobilecommercedaily, beaconstac.com, colloquy.com, internetretailing.net, forbes.com, cnet.com