Future Trends in Retail Marketing: 2015 Event report SPOTLIGHT. Thursday 18th September Powered by

Transcription

1 SPOTLIGHT Future Trends in Retail Marketing: 2015 Event report Thursday 18th September 2014 Powered by

2 London s Century Club was the unique venue for the latest Tag Spotlight forum. After our successful Masters of Multi-Channel event, this time the networking breakfast explored Future Trends in Retail Marketing. Brand leaders and senior marketing specialists used their experience and expertise to look at trends currently affecting both specific businesses and the wider retail sector and pinpointed the factors that will have a huge impact in the future. 3 key speakers led the way: Meredith Smith Senior Consultant at GDR Creative Intelligence Lynne Wood Head of Customer Experience at John Lewis Richard Robinson Director at Google

3 Top five trends for the future: GDR Creative Intelligence Meredith Smith kicked things off. She shared five tips on catching the attention of customers who are timepoor, demand wi-fi in-store and are often bombarded by conflicting content Communications as Service brands are understanding the importance of helping their customers through digital tools. Mobile apps are helping retailers understand customers tastes and also helping to efficiently process in-store orders. Personalisation and product suggestion increasingly, customers want to be in control of their own data and use it to their own advantage. Consumers are more comfortable when their data is used to make relevant suggestions rather than to make a hard sell. When they feel comfortable, they are more likely to use technology to make product comments and share positive brand experiences. This merging of digital and physical in-store experiences also helps customers narrow choice and feel more comfortable with their purchases. Relax and buy shoppers spend around 15% more when they re relaxed. That s because they re free to focus on a higher order of decision-making, i.e. assessing purchases, which has a positive impact on the purchasing state. To help them relax, retailers should focus on improving the buying environment and communicating the benefits of products and services not just the attributes. It s about making it easy to buy; understanding retail s role in the consumer s life and creating a deeper engagement through e-commerce. Retailers should also consider other things like parking, drinks and how easy it is to get into the store.

4 4 5 Branded downtime no one likes to queue. But it is a great opportunity to make the most of consumers thirst for content. Whether they re waiting on a train platform or in a restaurant, people are often on their smartphones and potentially open to ideas and suggestions. Brands are creating games to occupy that time, advertise offers and create marketing space alongside e-commerce a bread trail to a purchase or increased brand awareness. Social discovery and advocacy from tactical to social, on and offline: every message you send consumers is a portal to your brand and your store. In particular, e-commerce can easily pinpoint best sellers. And by sharing that information in-store at the point of purchase, you can boost top product sales. Meredith s tips showed that retailers need to think holistically about behaviour; connecting online and offline with pre-shopping, in-store and post-shopping experiences. After all, one consumer s post-sale experience is another s pre-sale research. Back

5 A brand driven by love and trust: John Lewis The second Tag Spotlight speaker was Lynne Wood, John Lewis s Head of Customer Experience. Lynne explained how John Lewis s success as a customer service leader is built on the relationship between partners, values and technology. For Lynne, the development and consistent delivery of an omni-channel customer experience is key. And John Lewis has created holistic policies and operations that understand customers values and behaviours. Primarily, the John Lewis brand is driven by love and trust. So the shops focus on the relationship between customers, partners and profit. However, technology plays a pivotal role. And because John Lewis doesn t have shareholders, the business was able to take a significant risk in online technology in It paid off brilliantly. Connecting in-store and online: the benefits and challenges Even in a difficult economy, the company s outgrown the market. And Click and Collect has driven a lot of that growth, expanding both regional stores and their loyal customer base. They ve stuck to their core values and made it their business to know their range of customers. It s not without its challenges, like stores accepting online order returns an issue John Lewis is looking to reduce in the long term. Also, when you re online, you can get the in-store advice John Lewis is famed for. So how do you create the same level of expertise and advice online? But even with these issues, omni-channel continues to make sense financially and in terms of increasing brand loyalty. Built on trust, it underpins a seamless end-toend customer experience making sure the customer knows what is happening at any stage of the purchase, whether they choose to contact via phone, online or in-store. Back

6 Wearable Technology: Google Glass Tag Spotlight s third presenter, Director at Google Richard Robinson, explored how wearable technology will enhance customer service today and in the future, before giving delegates a demonstration of Google Glass. Richard set the scene by outlining how the consumer is changing, how the pace of this change is accelerating and that much of this change is being driven by technology. Technology seems to be embraced by everyone, from children who entertain themselves in ever more sophisticated ways, to adults where technology is now part of their everyday lives. In the UK, for example, 28% of 3-4 year olds use tablets. We are all familiar with the concept of dual screening, but now we are moving into a world of six screens, from desktops to mobiles, tablets to wearables, TV to in-car. Wearables (such as Google Glass and Smart watches) are making technology even more integrated into our everyday life and it is predicted that 110 million devices will be shipped annually by What s clear is that the future isn t as far away as we think: driverless cars, blue-tooth enabled contact lenses, all these ideas will soon, relatively-speaking, enhance the way people live. So, Glass? Effectively a smart phone on your head. The technology s small enough to be part of you; yet invisible to others, above the eye so we can get on with things; but still allow us to hold eye contact, to stay social. Today, Glass is driving forward service industries, from medicine videoing operations and live streaming patient information to delivering floor plans to firemen in smoky buildings, and customer engagement giving customers a more personalised service, and operational efficiencies through store room and logistics optimisation.

7 Spotlight Forums 2015 If you d like to attend future networking events, please tagmarketing@tagworldwide.com For more information about how Tag Worldwide are helping brands today, please info@tagworldwide.com Powered by