Shopper Culture

Taking Back Control of the Omnichannel Purchase

We’ve moved beyond the age of eCommerce as being a separate entity from brick-and-mortar retail. Increasingly, the two are becoming one and the same, influencing decisions across channels and even individual retailers. Shoppers no longer think of eCommerce and in-store as separate experiences or merely transaction points, and as marketers, neither can we.

We can see this in recent statistics concerning Click-and-Collect (or buy online, pick up in store) shopper behavior, which shows that after making selections online, 69% of shoppers will purchase additional items in store when picking up their online purchase.

Or consider mobile search in store, which we’ve seen develop as a standard shopping behavior over the past several years. As Bloomberg reported this past holiday season, 49% of shoppers will first turn to Amazon.com for a product search. From our research, we know these searches often happen in conjunction with an in-store experience when shoppers are in the aisle.

It might seem challenging to start meeting shoppers everywhere at every touch point with relevant content to move them to transaction. However, there are two fundamental steps brands are taking to ensure they’re guiding today’s eShopper in just the right moments.

1. Enhanced Content

Amazon started incorporating a more advanced version of its “A+” manufacturer content this year, which includes enhanced content like engaging videos, beautiful imagery, and other immersive content that allows product pages to feel like native brand experiences.

Augmented Reality Surges Forward for Retailers

Apple and Google have both recently announced the launch of AR platforms that will enable developers to build AR apps, games and services for iOS and Android devices. Retailers are now realizing the potential to transform their brand operations by using this technology to deliver more relevant and engaging customer experiences, such as enabling store surfaces to become an environment for virtual storytelling. Even more, eye-tracking, facial recognition and artificial intelligence are being integrated into AR apps to enable even more personalized experiences.

“[Apple's ARKit] will change how we do business, how we live and how we do retailing.” – MICHAEL VALDSGAARD, LEADER OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, IKEA

The industry is excited and optimistic about this new space. Stylus reports that "in 2017, 40 million people in the US will have engaged with some form of AR at least monthly—up 30.2% compared to 2016. With these latest developments from Apple, Google and Facebook—as well as the continued popularity of Snapchat Lenses (where users interact for 20 seconds or more on average)—we expect the use of AR apps to become embedded in consumer smartphone behavior in the next 12 months." With this rate of adoption and innovation, we are sure to see some changes in the retail landscape.

Contributed by: Scott Hauman, Dallas Office

Image Source: Apple 

The Checkout: Mobile Shopping Finally Meets Expectations

Since the addition of the smartphone to our daily lives, it has become inevitable that mobile shopping would one day be ingrained in society. Yet for years, our data showed that shopping via a mobile phone exhibited a slow acceptance rate, with only modest increases year over year. However, based on our recent findings, it seems that 2016 was finally the year of mobile adoption.

We found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of our respondents are now using their mobile devices to complete purchases– up from just 25% in 2012. Furthermore, while adoption is greatest with the younger generations, it is gaining momentum from ages all around, with 26% of respondents aged 65+ reporting mobile shopping use.

To find out more about mobile and e-commerce growth, download the most recent issue titled The Checkout: Digital found here.

Black Friday Reinvented

Over the past few years Black Friday has been a topic of debate. Some love it, others boycott it. Though its received some backlash, it still remains one of the biggest spending periods of the year among shoppers. So brands continue to find new ways to work with it. This year, we're seeing some new approaches to Black Friday that aim to please a wide range of shoppers while also expressing the brands themselves.

Example #1: WALMART

 Walmart is using Black Friday to deliver value to their shoppers in more ways than one. The retailer is offering discounts exclusively through it's mobile app. Providing ease and super deals, the Walmart app is helping shoppers get what they need this year while helping Walmart reinforce its value proposition and advancements in digital.

Example #2: PATAGONIA

Uber Helps Demonstrate The Odd Psychology of Pricing

When demand spikes on Uber, prices  go up, sometimes as high as 8X and 9X normal. Sure, "surge pricing" lets Uber capture more money in times of peak demand, but it also incentivizes more Uber drivers to get on the streets to meet that demand. And as supply of cars goes up, the surge pricing comes back down.

One really interesting nugget shared on NPR's Hidden Brain: people are more willing to hire an Uber when the price is 2.1X normal rates than when it's 2X. The explanation is that the round 2X rate feels arbitrary, as if the company is just jacking up prices to gouge riders, whereas the 2.1X rate feels like there must be some complex algorithm at work that has calculated a "fair" price for a car during the demand peak.

"Precise" pricing doesn't always work: on eBay, round-digit items ($50) sell quicker than off-digit ones ($49).

The human brain is sometimes hard to predict, which is why it's always important to run controlled experiments to see what really works in market.

Social On The Race To Prove Effectiveness

Ads are always designed to sell something but tracking whether or not they actually led to a sale can be tricky sometimes, especially when they are social media platforms. 

And now Facebook, of all platforms, is about to change all that. 

Now Facebook ads can include interactive maps of store locations to help shoppers find the physical store. In addition, advertisers will be able to track views to physical visits. 

Snapchat, too is getting in the mix and added several executives earlier this May to manage their ad tracking partnership developments with Oracle and Google. 

Augmented Reality is Coming to a Store Near You

Generation X may be less distinct from other generations, but the recent influx of 80's and 90's entertainment experiences that shaped Gen X are back, remixed, and impossible to ignore. These updated entertainment experiences mean new generations are experiencing the original story for the first time, and other generations are feeling the nostalgia of their youth. In any case, Americans seem to be eating it up. 

To examples of Gen X remixes are Ghostbusters with an all female last, and Pokémon GO using Augmented Reality (or AR). 

Content Is King, But Can It Also Be Another Revenue Stream?

Mondelez International is making headlines with their new media strategy - branded content that's so entertaining, it not only helps build their brands but also adds a new revenue stream. Their "fearless" plan comes in three phases: it all begins with a live Skydiving stunt for Stride Gum, followed by a partnership with Buzzfeed, and lastly, a series of mobile games.  If the way to consumer's hearts and wallets is from entertaining content, why not make that content and make extra from distribution rights, brand integration, and ad space? Their goal is to "break even (globally by 10%) or turn a profit by 2020."

"Interruptive advertising is irrelevant," they argue. "This new approach will make our media spending more sustainable," they say. It sounds great on paper and I understand the holistic 'why not' but let's be realistic. 

Remember Flappy Bird? The low budget game from a no-name Vietnamese developer? OK, now try and remember the last branded mobile game you downloaded (research reasons don't count). No? I didn't think so. 

Paperless Coupons–Saving Money, Saving Trees

Happy Arbor Day! Let’s celebrate with a look at trends in paperless coupons.

While paper coupons still dominate the landscape, digital coupon penetration has increased every year since 2012 while paper coupon penetration has slightly decreased according to a recent report from Valassis. And as the user experience at checkout improves, adoption is expected to continue to increase.

Here are some money and tree-saving techniques savvy shoppers have at their disposal:

Brands Use Social Exchanges as Currency at Coachella

This past weekend was the conclusion of Coachella, the popular music festival that stretches over two weekends each spring. Every year, the event draws in a crowd just shy of 100,000 young and hip festival-goers per day, making it a highly desirable venue for brands. Fighting to stand out in such a crowded space, marketers are finding new ways to entice consumers to buy their products. One of the most highlighted tactics from brands this year: using social exchanges as a form of payment instead of traditional money transactions.

Mobile Use and Implications for Retail

According to a new report from App Annie on age and usage behavior, email is slowly dying as a communication tool with younger users. For ages 13-24, messaging apps are taking over. Meanwhile, the older crowds (45+) spend far more time on traditional desktop apps such as email and browser. 

Email dying as a communication tool is probably not too surprising, it is good to get actual stats against this behavior.

What is interesting, however, are the shopper implications.

Tracking emotions? Really?

Revealed at the last CES 2016 in Las Vegas, Sentio’ s emotional tracker, called “Feel” is wearable tech that is supposed to help wearers keep track of their emotional wellbeing and make recommendations. The objective of “Feel” is “Hack Happiness.” Throughout the day, “Feel” gives advices on healthy habits that promote happiness and positive feelings. This type of device raises several questions. Do we need to track our emotions? Do we need a device that tells us that we are under too much stress or that we didn’t get enough exercise? Do we need a device to understand how we feel? It is part of our journey as human beings to cultivate the awareness of how we feel.

“Feel” assumes that our everyday objective is happiness, and secondly, it reduces the pursuit of happiness to actions such as “laugh more” or “be more active” or “meditate”. Yes, these recommendations are healthy, but it sounds a bit simplistic, no? How can a device track the complexity of human emotions and psyche? At the price of $200, will this device be really believable to shoppers?

Let us know your thoughts!

Image Source: www.myfeel.co

New Checkout Study: The On-demand Shopper

Culture tends to be cyclical and reactionary, yet every once in a while, a disruption comes along that is so gigantic that it shifts society forward into an entirely new era. Less than a decade ago, we could easily trace the pathways of our shoppers; it was a very linear process. Of course, today, that’s no longer the case. The digital age has reshaped and reimagined shoppers’, and retailers’, expectations and experiences. We're now surrounded by a constellation of new devices, information, and services that are sparking different behaviors and resulting in a brand-new type of shopper, the on-demand shopper. 

In this edition of The Checkout, we'll explore the triggers brands and retailers need to implement in order to reach this new, on-demand shopper. For example, did you know that 41% of respondents now look for discounts/promotions on their mobile devices while shopping in a physical store? Or, that 28% of respondents find access to various social platforms and the ability to use "buy now" buttons as one of the most compelling reasons for shopping online?

Click here to learn more about this new shopper in the latest edition of The Checkout. 

New Issue of The Urbanist

The new issue of the Urbanist is kicking off 2016 with the best of what's happening in the world of urban retail.

 

It's covered happenings including: 

— Pop-Ups Becoming More Permanent (e.g., Lands End)

— Innovative Out Of Home Campaigns (e.g., Kit Kat)

— Manuquin Make-overs

— Color Trends

And don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@_The_Urbanist) for even more updates. 

Personal Products Getting More Personal...

According to Mashable, "At-home pregnancy test company First Response announced on Wednesday at International CES the first-ever Bluetooth-enabled pregnancy test, which syncs up with an app and houses all test results and dates in one spot."  The one-time use traditional 'stick' has gotten smart and now shares data with the branded app that provides optimal cycle timing as well as previous and current test results.  

From smart home to smart bathroom to smart womb, how will marketers continue to toe the line of adding value without becoming intrusive? 

Photo Source: Mashable