Shopper Culture

The Biggest "Bundling" Deal Ever

 

 

Retailers offering sustainable products and habits continue to grow and gain momentum – and more and more retailers are thinking of innovative ways to engage consumers on becoming Green. 

Sam’s Club, like so many other retailers, is focusing their retail efforts around sustainability and Saving Green. They offer great eco-friendly products and tips both in-store and through their catalogue – but are now taking their sustainability efforts to a whole new level, by offering a “for purchase” Eco Home Makeover. For just $44,000 all of your eco-dreams can come true. The package includes solar panels, a wind turbine, high efficiency appliances for your kitchen and laundry, and energy efficient lighting. All of this aside, you also get put up in a luxury eco-lodge in Maine during installation, and you come home to a house-warming party to celebrate your eco-wonderfullness! Now that's what I call a package deal!

"Bundling" seems to be a relatively new concept, at least in its current context. Companies are bundling/packaging their services left and right. What began with vacations is now being offered by companies like Comcast, the largest cable company in the United States. It seems to make sense. As our lives get more and more complex, the more we want (and need) to simplify.

This offer is quite unique, however. Never before have I seen such a 360 degree approach. Comcast is certainly not sending you for a mani/pedi while they sync up your wireless to cable to tv to music. In fact, your schedule is at a disadvantage by opting for their services. Sam's Club, however, has pretty much covered every possible excuse you could think of to not do this. For example:

    1. "I don't want their unsightly appliances in my kitchen."

    With Sam's Club, you can choose the appliances yourself.

    2. "Where are we going to go while they tear everything apart?"

    Sam's club will not only put you up, but fly you so far away that the sound of wrecking balls is the furthest thing from your mind.

    3. "How am I ever going to clean up the inches of dust they're going to leave in order to show off our new home?"

    They're not only going to clean, they'll throw the whole darn thing for you! And bring PBS camera men!

It will be really interesting to see what kind of traction this gets in the marketplace. This is clearly not a "bundle and save" offer, nor is it a "go green, save green" initiative. This is pure convenience for the eco-minded shopper.

In this lies the potential to change the way we offer services. Is there a limit to what people will pay for this type of worry-free experience? Will brands/companies/services be forced to turn into experiencial machines to stay afloat? Time will tell. But it seems as though the gap between "do it yourself" and "have it done for you" is getting wider and wider.

Read more at http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=11606

Managing the Myriad Forces Impacting Retail

The more we read and hear about the retail space, the less clear it sometimes is about where things are headed. PRISM hopes to simplify the media aspects of it, while retailers are becoming more interested in custom customer specific programs as well as now customer/shopper specific efforts.

There was an interesting article in the Hub about shopper marketing which raised questions for us about the myriad forces at work in retail marketing. The article written by Chris Hoyt and Gail Peterson of Hoyt and Associates basically outlines the shift by retailers to better shopper segmentation and what it means to anyone selling goods at retail. Check it out here.

The net net is that retailers are aiming to better serve their shoppers by customizing stores (product selection, layout, etc...). The hope of the more "shopper relevant" store is, as always increased sales, but also increased loyalty. "This store understands me" seems to be the general response that retailers are looking for.

This is smart and makes complete sense, but will change what agencies are going to be tasked with in the future. The challenge will no longer be to create customer specific programming across a client's top 5 or 10 retailers (for example) but is going to grow geometrically as each customer specific program will have 4 - 8 "shopper segment" twists. This, however, is a challenge worth stepping up to as it this will inevitably lead to more targeted programming which means more effective and successful work.

 

So as planning looks to become more targeted and customized, in working with the PRISM consortium, we see the science side of in-store looking to generalize and simplify. This then raises the question, as stores differentiate further, what does this mean for attempts to create uniform measurement and planning?

One could argue the measurement factor can remain less affected as "eyeballs are eyeballs" in the world of media measurement. An impression in prime time TV is added on top of an impression in Time Magazine and then added again to a Yahoo impression is terms of overall plan delivery. Yes, the levels of engagement are different, but that's a separate consideration as a part of the planning process. As far as Nielsen is concerned, they are measuring "opportunity to see"; again eyeballs are eyeballs. (It’s the same song for TV, Print and everything else measured.)

So, this leads us to the part which is affected by all these shifts in retailer/shopper specific planning. While thanks to PRISM we will know how many people will see our in-store pieces, how to interrupt and engage will become a more important art. Encouragement on the part of retailers for more specific programs around shopper segments in particular store formats provide an opportunity to create more relevant creative.

This opportunity raises some very interesting questions from a creative insight standpoint. How do we drive relevance across different store- and shopper-types? What are the vehicles that allow the flexibility to creative these types of campaigns? What kind of creative measurement do we establish to test what works where and for whom?  How can PRISM’s science help in development and measurement of the more artistic side of planning?