Tag Archives: in-store

Australia leads the way as online shopping passes $1 trillion worldwide

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A recent report from eMarketer finds that in 2012, B2C ecommerce passed a trillion dollars US in a single year for the first time. Of this, Australia’s share was US$36.2 billion with in excess of 10 million people, or almost half of the country’s population, turning to the digital world for their shopping needs in 2012.

Spending an average of US$3547 per person, this average expenditure per online buyer is 54% higher than the US and the highest in the world, next to the UK.

eMarketer estimates the average for Australia will grow by 7.2% to more than US$3800 per online buyer this year.

High levels of dissatisfaction with the physical shopping experience continue to be attributed to shoppers’ dissatisfaction with price, availability of brands, service and visual merchandising.

Although online continues to rise, there still remains a high percentage of sales made in stores, yet eMarketer explains that operators of mainstream shopping centres need to strengthen their physical presence while investing online to capitalise on a multifarious market.

 

In-store experience lab launched to combat online retail surge

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A new customer experience ‘lab’ has opened to help retailers boost the quality of their in-store experience as they fight to ward off the threat of online retail.

Digital signage and softwear provider AOPEN and retail design firm Red Design Group have partnered to launch the ‘Retail Evolution Lab’ — a space established to “empower retail businesses to design, test and trial new retail technologies in a ‘real’ in-store environment”.

The Melbourne-based lab allows retailers to test custom-store environments; technology such as digital signage, touch devices and facial recognition; and elements of storefronts, signage and price labels to determine consumer engagement.

“With global online retail brands like ASOS and Amazon now part of a shopaholic’s everyday conversation alongside local favorites, there’s no disputing that customers are demanding convenient and engaging ways to shop both online and offline,” says Stephen Borg, global strategy director for AOPEN.

Latest industry statistics reveal online retail sales rose to an estimated $13 billion in the year to January 2013 – growth of 27% year on year — to account for 5.8% of total retails sales (excluding food).

Total retail sales by comparion, grew by only 3% year on year according to the ABS.

In-store experience, an area where many Australian retailers are criticised for their lacklustre performence, is billed as one of the keys to keeping bricks-and-mortar retailers relevant and competitive.

 

Customer loyalty at the phone tip

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On the occasion of Walmart’s 50 years in business, a recent article in Business Week highlighted how each week more than 140 million Americans shop at Walmart, a figure that far surpasses the audience of the 2012 Super Bowl (one of the most watched television events in the US) or the voter turnout of the 2008 presidential election. Back home on Australian shores, the situation will be fairly similar if we were to compare shoppers at Woolworths or Coles and the footy finals or announcement of Australia’s Got Talent winner, which was the most watched show last year.

The question I ask now is: which avenue presents more marketing and brand engagement opportunity? Consumers at home (or wherever they are watching the shows) or shoppers standing in front of your product? Point-of-purchase (POP) is still such an untapped potential for most marketers. It isn’t too often you hear of a marketing strategy that is led by POP and in-store marketing. It still forms a support function for the above-the-line and other marketing functions. That’s despite the fact that almost 70% of purchasing decisions are made in store.

In a world fragmented by technology and short consumer attention span, the need to create and retain brand loyalists through every available opportunity is more important than ever. We don’t have any excuses for not doing this either – not when the infiltration of technology is making solutions more cost effective and easy to manage. The coupon and loyalty cards which were the mainstay of most loyalty programmes is now evolving to integrate through omni-channel marketing into comprehensive social media campaigns. Technologies such as QR codes and as near-field communication (NFC)(eg. Tapit) are shaping this new wave of retail marketing and that’s the opportunity for marketers, retailers and brands.

Have a think of how new shopper behaviour patterns are shaping your marketing and retail plans. In the past, shoppers would go into a store, review the selections presented and make a choice on the product. This process would to an extent be influenced by advertising seen prior to, on the way to, or at the store. In the digital age, most empowered shoppers research purchases prior to store visit and will shop with an agenda and a clear idea of expectations. The opportunity here is in POP and how marketers convince these shoppers to not just change their mind and pick up their product, but also engage with the brand to become a loyalist.

Where in-store advertising aims to influence impulse purchases, NFC technology goes two steps further to create brand engagement and give marketers the ability to roll out integrated campaigns easily. Imagine a shopper walking up to a fridge to pick up a couple of beers on Friday night. With NFC technology, the said shopper could place his phone on the fridge and have the latest footy scores sent to it instantly – adding a little bit of value and excitement to his purchase. Or, to make it more engaging, the advertising message could prompt him to enter a competition to win tickets to the State of Origin game. In a ‘here and now’ world, loyalty and gratification is made instantaneous by such technology.

The real-estate associated with the display unit also increases when you have stronger audience engagement with it. The relevance of display units within the marketing framework gains more relevance from the shopper’s perspective. From a POP design and manufacturing company’s point of view, this builds a stronger case for semi-permanent and permanent displays that display easily-updatable messages. More women buying beer from the display unit than men? Just update your marketing content at hundreds or thousands of sites from a desktop to share recipe ideas using beer or calorie counts of different beers.

With most phone manufacturers around the world committing to NFC and marketers slowly acknowledging the importance of integrating all campaign touch points with technology, this just could be the next big opportunity for brands. It lets you own the channel and not just the brand and makes your POP very pertinent in the future. And, it also helps measure the effectiveness of campaigns successfully and in almost real-time.

 

The smartphone as a retail navigation device [infographic]

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Smartphones: they can help you navigate foreign cities, local eateries, real estate and even the field of nearby singles waiting to beat down your door. They can also help you navigate the retail landscape, a fact retailers are becoming increasingly wary of. Marketing presents, and explains, its original infographic on how the smartphone is increasingly being used as a personal shopping assistant below.

As of February this year, one in three smartphone owners had used their device in-store to aid the shopping process, according to TNS’ ‘Joining the Dots’ study, a figure that’s likely to have jumped since. The savvy shoppers who use their phone as a secondary shopping channel while they browse the aisles bounce back and forth between bricks- and-mortar and online merchants, sniffing out the best products and the best deals. They seek the best of both worlds, walking the showroom for a tactile experience with products or the instant gratification of buying on the spot, and checking their phone for price comparisons, independent reviews or more detailed information.

Some categories lend themselves to the online world better than others, due in part to their nature and in part to the degree to which the category has travelled online. Electronics stands out as the most common category shopped in unison, with 79% having accessed their phone as a secondary information channel while in-store. The practice can easily lure shoppers away – 34% state they would buy online if they found something 10% cheaper, a figure that jumps to 64% if the price is 20% cheaper.

For retailers, this looms as a potential loss of control. The trend has been described as one of the factors contributing to the dwindling fortunes of American retailer Best Buy, as consumers take advantage of their well-stocked showrooms and knowledgeable staff to research products they intend to buy elsewhere. But TNS researcher, Peter Firth, says it can also be an opportunity for the retail sector. “It’s about maintaining the purchase,” Firth says. “While people are in your store, you have some control over what they purchase. If you can facilitate the purchase while the shopper’s there by offering some reward, some incentive, all the information they need or access to consumer reviews, it cuts down the risk of shoppers going home to look online or buying from elsewhere.”

For higher involvement categories in particular, the mobile is in fact a catalyst for purchase behaviour, a factor that can lose a sale but an opportunity that can be seized to keep a sale also. The mobile can be used as a tool for the retailer to connect the dots between what the consumer appreciates about bricks-and-mortar stores and what they crave from the online world. In the research, which looked specifically at this trend, shoppers were asked about the last purchase they made in-store with the assistance of a mobile device. Taking the high involvement electronics category as an example, 71% of shoppers state they wouldn’t have bought the product they did or would have visited other stores if they hadn’t had their phone on them to check their options. This means for those who are accustomed to using the phone, almost three in four purchases would have gone begging, demonstrating just how important it’s become in their decision making process.

The mobile web emerged as the most commonly accessed point of secondary research, with the website of the retailer currently being shopped and price comparison sites the most popular destinations. Apps show lower use currently, but high future demand, with 45% rating them as an ideal shopping assistant tool and 43% rating apps with barcode scanners as desirable.

As part of TNS’ study, five shopping related mobile services were tested with consumers, including a shopper rewards app, billboard grocery shopping, recipe suggestions and an ideas and inspiration stimulator. The rewards app, defined as a service that rewarded shoppers with points redeemable for discounts, emerged as the most popular option. It’s a proposition already in action in the US, where Shopkick has proven popular with shoppers.

Other uses of the phone in-store which proved popular among consumers were using it to get real-time advice from friends. Two retailers recently employed strategies encouraging this behaviour, gaining them social media buzz in the process – Diesel who installed webcams outside change rooms for shoppers could post pictures of outfits to Facebook and receive real time feedback and Sportsgirl who installed a digital mirror in a Melbourne store.

Short of investing in an innovative mobile solution, there are a number of commonly voiced tips for retailers to put into practice. Many are widely known, but not so widely implemented, such as ensuring your website is optimised for mobile. Optimisation of your store in mobile directories, such as Google Places, is also important, so that people searching by current location can find you. Incorporating social elements into your mobile content, like Facebook Connect, and ensuring the content is shareable can help to further spread word of your offer via mobile. And if you’ve got information online or offers to direct shoppers’ attention to, cross promote them in-store and encourage interaction via the mobile device so that your destination is the one they end up at, not a competitor’s.

However popular online retailing may become – it accounted for 5% of retail sales in 2011 according to the NAB’s Online Retail Index, compared to 7.5% in the US and almost 10% in the UK – the real world store still fills many needs. It will retain its place as a vital link in the retail chain, and possibly even be aided by the smartphone’s ability to join the dots between the real and virtual worlds.

Click to view in full screen.

Take it in-store

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Background

Singapore-based telecommunications company SingTel was looking for a way to increase patronage to its stores and increase sales for its range of products and applications.

In the highly competitive field of telecommunications, SingTel needed a solution that would give it the edge in the Asian market and ultimately increase sales, brand loyalty and awareness.

Enter two Australian companies with the retail marketing experience to transform SingTel’s image.

Brisbane-born digital media company Yeahpoint teamed up with Sydney design group Public Design Group to transform the SingTel Shop-branded telecommunication retail stores into digital media hubs across Singapore in 2009.

As two separate but complementary Australian companies, Yeahpoint and Public Design Group saw the benefits of linking forces when approaching the Asian market. 

Public Design Group director Jason Pollard founded the company in Australia after working in leading design companies in the United Kingdom. Yeahpoint CEO John Anderson established his company in 2003 when he realised there was a market for custom designed retail self-service solutions.

Realising they had similar values, Anderson and Pollard capitalised on the strength that comes from working as a team.

Campaign: SingTel Shop concept
Client: SingTel
Agencies: Yeahpoint, Public Design Group

Objectives

SingTel tasked Yeahpoint and Public Design Group to create a concept store in Singapore that would act as a digital media hub, drawing together all the elements of digital technology with an original and slick interior design. The agencies wanted to bring SingTel Shops into the next generation with digital, interactive 24/7 shopping.

They designed the first new concept store that aimed to create a unique audio visual and multimedia shopping experience for SingTel customers.

The new SingTel Shop design would feature unique interactive digital media to help, turn the sales focus away from hardware and more towards content. It would also allow customers to download anything they wanted instantly in a café style environment, with the aim for the store to become a talking point for shoppers, increasing brand awareness as well as the sales.

Strategy

Yeahpoint and Public Design Group started with one store, transferring the Jurong Bay SingTel Shop into a concept store. Yeahpoint provided the digital screen technology for the store while Public Design Group developed the new store design including product re-categorisation and retail communications design.

A wealth of interactive digital screens were embedded in everything from the store’s counter tops, to create a café style shopping experience, to the store’s glass walls which are accessible from outside the store allowing customers to buy product even after the store has closed.

The overall concept for the store included five separate multi-media zones where customers could purchase anything from a new mobile phone to movies, music or ring tones for their existing phone, all by touching a screen inside or outside of the store at any time of the day.

They also decided to move away from the white, clean, bright style being adopted by many companies and introduced deeper, darker tones to create a unique mood that were more intimate and enveloping.

Execution

After a three-month trial with the first concept store, the success was evidence enough for SingTel to commission a second concept store, which opened in April 2009. 

The subsequent success of this store also has meant SingTel has now commissioned Yeahpoint and Public Design Group to roll out the new-store format in all its SingTel Shop branded stores across Singapore in 2010.

Results

SingTel has experienced increased patronage and profile of its concept stores that in turn have encouraged sales (up 20% per store), and the positive results have seen the company decide to roll out the design across all of its existing stores immediately.

The creation of the concept stores had some encouraging results:

  • Customer satisfaction increased by 350%
  • Media coverage achieved internationally for the launch of the new concept store in 2009
  • SingTel Shop design won ‘Best Retail Concept of the Year’ at the 2009 Singapore Retail Awards
  • Design also won at the 2009 POPAI Awards in Sydney
  • SingTel will roll out new store formats across a further 11 SingTel Shop, and
  • SingTel is encouraging the transformation of the 104 dealer network stores that exist across Asia.

Success has been much quicker for SingTel, with Public Design Group director Jason Pollard saying projects such as this need to be profitable in the first two or three years.

By taking their industries overseas, both Yeahpoint and the Public Design Group have widened their potential markets and experienced growth in a time of recession.

Now the two companies are working to transform all 11 of the existing SingTel Shop branded stores across Singapore, as well as working with other telecommunication retailers across Asia, including Globe in the Philippines and Bharti Airtel in India.

Go in-store for greater shopper impact, says study

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In-store marketing is more influential than television advertising when it comes to grocery purchase decisions, according to research on shopper behaviour commissioned by TorchMedia.

The economic downturn is having little effect on grocery spend and shoppers are making more trips to the supermarket than previously thought, across the breadth of shopping environments from smaller local shopping centres to super-regional centres.

“The results show definitively that there is a strong need for brands to communicate with shoppers while they are in-store to influence their purchase decisions. Shoppers want information based advertising, such as recipe cards at the shelf or other forms of advertising that inform and add value,” says Kirsty Dollisson, group marketing director at TorchMedia.

Shoppers were interviewed in a series of vox pops conducted in tandem with ‘accompanied shops’, where research firm Directional Insights followed a cross-section of main grocery buyers on their shopping trips to learn about their attitudes and behaviours.

“For marketers and brand managers, now is clearly the time to invest in in-store communications to stand out from your competitors. But care is needed: while currently specials are clearly a huge factor in the purchase decision, it is important that brands avoid falling into the trap of over-discounting. In-store advertising can play an important role by adding value,” explains Dollisson

The key findings were:

  • Most grocery shoppers use a shopping list, however they record items not brands
  • Most main grocery buyers make one or twotop-up shopping trips a week
  • Awareness of in-store activity is high
  • Specials and promotions are increasingly influential, and
  • When prompted on the impact of television advertising, the vast majority said it had little or no impact on their purchase decisions.

Virgin Mobile to roll out 13 new outlets within two months

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Virgin Mobile will rapidly expand its retail presence in Australia
growing to 19 outlets in total by the end of August. The expansion is
part of a national rollout strategy, which will see Virgin Mobile open
13 new outlets across Australia within the next two months,
complementing Virgin Mobile’s existing retail partners and making it
even easier for consumers to get their hands on the best deals in
mobile and broadband. Set to be an integral factor in the growth of the
business, this rollout will ensure Australian consumers get the
complete Virgin experience with more access in their local shopping
centres.

Designed by Saunders Creative in Sydney, the new kiosks
are fresh and original, and generally oval in shape, generating an
inviting and innovative space. Customers will be encouraged to test
broadband speeds and the performance of their email and favourite
websites first hand with access to live laptops onsite. Hector Rivas,
creative design director from Saunders Creative commented, “The design
was intended to provide Virgin Mobile with a timeless look and strong
branding that stands out from the rest and sets a benchmark in retail.
Traffic flow in busy shopping centres can often push the crowds in
certain directions, so getting the angle of the oval design right was
paramount to creating the inviting nature of the kiosks”.

Virgin
Mobile’s director of sales, Geoff Hester said, “We are excited about
increasing our retail footprint and giving our customers a more
tailored Virgin Mobile experience. Never before have Australians had
this level of convenience and access to assistance for their entire
phone and broadband needs. As the rollout continues, demand for Virgin
Mobile products continues to grow, as does our retail presence and
brand awareness”.

Capitalising on christmas

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Ah, Christmas promotions. So much fanfare, so much cardboard, so much waste. It’s the marketer’s Catch-22 – damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

Or are you?

Do you spend inordinate amounts of money on Christmas-ifying your point of sale in order to be ‘part of the Christmas spirit’, and risk being lost in the visual clamour of all the other red, white and green things? Or do you stand on the sidelines, potentially Scrooge-like, and watch the Christmas parade pass by while you promote your point of difference?

In other words, do you Zig or do you Zag? Well, as with most things in life, it depends.

Below are some steps to successfully negotiate the in-store Christmas clutter with the least amount of grief. Whether you should Zig (‘be in it’ in terms of Christmas theme and price promotions) or Zag (do your own thing, and not necessarily drop price) depends on the relevance of your category to Christmas shopping occasions.

There are two basic shopping occasions surrounding the Christmas season: entertaining and gifting. We’ll deal with categories in each of the above two occasions, and also what to do (or not to do) in categories that fall into neither of the above.

Entertaining
Which categories? The basics are:

  • food: traditional Christmas dinner items such as hams, chickens, turkeys, puddings, mince pies, prawns, ice cream and custard for the pudding, gourmet condiments and sauces
  • treats and snacks: chocolates, dips, cheeses, crackers
  • liquor: beer, sparkling wine, table wine, RTDs
  • non-alcoholic beverages: bulk packs for entertaining
  • decorations: tree and home decorations including baubles, tinsel and lights, wreaths for doors. gift wrap, tags, bags
  • utensils: paper plates, cups, napkins, and
  • lighting: indoor (candles), outdoor (bamboo lanterns, fairy lights).

In-store execution: create solutions
Shoppers shopping for Christmas entertaining are in stock-up mode, but they are time pressured, harried from dealing with crowds, and therefore looking for convenience and a ‘one-stop shop’. Entertaining occasion categories should be ‘redded up’ in traditional Christmas gear, put all together if possible to create an ‘entertaining solution’ display and have a clear occasion message, e.g. ‘Christmas dinner’.

Entertainment solution displays may be divided into the following:

  • cold foods/delicatessen
  • decorations, lighting and utensils, gift wrap
  • treats, snacks and condiments, and
  • drinks.

Don’t discount turkeys at Christmas
Because it’s a one-stop shop with a time limit, the grocery shopper mindset for Christmas shopping is ‘how fast can I get out of here?’ not ‘how much can I save?’. Entertaining occasion items would be purchased anyway, so there is no point in decreasing your and the retailer’s profit for the same sale. Price should only be dropped as a mechanism to secure display, if necessary. Price point should be communicated on point of sale, but being ‘on special’ is less important than getting display visibility with a clearly communicated occasion.

Gifting
Are you in a gifting occasion category? If not, can it become gifting by changing pack format or gift boxing, e.g. single serve chocolate bars versus gift box chocolates? Can your category ramp up the indulgence factor to play in gifting occasions? Who would buy your category, for whom? And what does this mean for pricing and execution?

It starts with for whom the shopper is buying
Is there a ‘type’ of Christmas shopper? For instance:

  • ‘on a budget’ – I only have $X to spend across everybody, or $X per person, or
  • ‘the right thing’ – I want to buy them the right thing to show I care, regardless of the cost.

In reality, a shopper might be either depending on for whom they are buying.
The shopper’s relationship to the gift recipient is at the core of what they are likely to buy and what they’re likely to spend on it. Let’s look at three levels of relationship – intimate, close and distant – and their impacts on gifts bought.

Intimate
Who they are: immediate family such as mothers, fathers, kids, wives, husbands.

Shopper mindset: I want to show that I spent time and effort in thinking about them and make sure that I get exactly the right thing for them. Price is not very important. I am happy to spend several hours getting the right thing.
What they buy: specific, high-value products and brands, potentially with a degree of uniqueness or customisation. Unlikely to be gift box format unless a very high-value item.

Categories: books – specific authors; music – specific artists; perfume – premium and couture; accessories – belts, scarves, ties, handbags; jewellery; digital and electronic devices; toys and games – higher value; tools; sports and leisure, e.g. golf clubs, fishing rods; high-value vouchers; chocolates (high-end, as additional present to the primary one).

Close
Who they are: close friends seen frequently, grandparents.

Shopper mindset: I’m happy to spend a few dollars on something nice that shows I know them, but isn’t too intimate. And I don’t want to spend hours looking for it.

What they buy: category may be matched to individual recipient, but may or may not be brand- or product-specific. May be in gift pack format.

Categories: books, music and DVDs – category specific; liquor – focus on bottled wine, sparkling wine, spirits, imported, micro- and home-brewed beers and kits; bags; perfume – mainstream, gift boxed; personal care pampering – bath packs, foot care packs, skincare; homewares – kitchenware, e.g. platters, particularly with an entertainment focus, candles; toys and games (low cost) – for both kids and pets; pot plants and flowers; cosmetics – gift boxes; chocolates mid- to high-end, e.g. Lindt, Cote D’Or.

Distant
Who they are: friends seen only occasionally, acquaintances and work colleagues, clients, extended family, e.g. cousins.

Shopper mindset: I need to be seen to be doing the right thing, but don’t want to spend too much time and money. How many people can I knock over all at once in one store for a total of $X? What can I buy in bulk?

What they buy: categories not matched to individuals. Generic, ‘safe’ categories, lower value items, likely in gift box/value pack format. Multiple recipients may receive the same item.

Categories: liquor – red wine, gift boxed liqueurs with glasses; homewares – candles; toys and games – stocking fillers; pot plants and flowers; chocolates including themed, e.g. Santas, coins, roses; food items, e.g. hampers.

Impacts on POP execution
The type of relationship impacts upon what is bought. This in turn impacts upon how the category should be executed. Let’s look at how each of the relationship categories would work in-store.

Intimate categories
Brands in categories falling under intimate relationships should ‘Zag’. That is, they should focus on their own branding, uniqueness and point of difference. Ensure your POS embodies your brand and reinforces shopper decision as to why they should buy you. Do not use Christmas colours in the point of sale. Focus on shelf space, and an additional display in the immediate vicinity of the category, as the category is a destination. Price point is relatively unimportant. Chanel is famous for not discounting its perfume. Ever. Yet it remains popular as a Christmas gift because of its brand strength – shoppers buy it anyway.

Close categories
Products in categories falling under close should concentrate on quality and value for the money, particularly for gift boxes. Point of sale should carry images of the gift pack and outline its contents and the price point: ‘For $XX you receive all this…’ Christmas colours and messaging should be subtle. Displays should ideally be located at the front of the store, or at least within the category vicinity.

Distant categories
Front of store rules for displays. If you’re not in a large display bin at the front of store or on a gondola end, don’t bother. Colour up your point of sale to reflect Christmas, decide on a sharp price point, and communicate value – provide an incentive to buy your product versus the competitor’s. Quality is less important here than price and convenience. Ideally use promotional staff to communicate your product and generate trial if necessary.

This can be summarised in the featured table.

What about other categories?
What if you’re not in an entertaining or gifting category? For example, what if you are: apparel (lingerie, socks and jocks, and apparel vouchers excepted); staple groceries, e.g. milk, bread, toilet paper; health foods and health products; personal care staples, e.g. shampoo, toothpaste; general household goods, e.g. garbage bags? Staples don’t require being Christmas-ed up as they bear little relevance to the occasion. For instance, it’s hard to see a roll of toilet paper on Christmas promotion unless it’s a novelty roll of loo paper with Santas and reindeers etc. on it. You can capitalise on the stock-up shopping occasion and additional store traffic with price promotion and ‘just in case’ messaging without turning everything red and green and adding to the clutter.

For household categories that are guest-facing, you might be able to up-trade shoppers to a higher quality product. An interesting UK study outlined in The Retail Bulletin highlights the tendency for consumers to trade up to higher quality items across most categories during celebration seasons due to ‘snob value’ – the need to impress guests. Products in this category include beverages such as juice and coffee, and personal care items such as soaps, hand wash and, yes, toilet paper.

So as we’ve seen it’s all about the occasion and the shopper’s relationship with the gift recipient. If you’re a ‘distant’ category then it’s all about Zigging – rolling out the red, white and green and the sharp price point and ‘buy in bulk’ messages. If you’re a ‘close’ category or entertaining occasion the focus is on communicating the occasion, quality/value equation and convenience of the one-stop shop. And if you’re an ‘intimate’ category or a household staple not related to Christmas you should Zag – stay away from Christmas colours and messaging and instead concentrate on branding and up-trade.

Merry Christmas!