Shopper Culture

What is the role of the retailer in charitable giving?

Many retailers get involved in supporting charitable causes, especially during the holidays. We asked ourselves the question, what should be the role of the retailer in giving? More and more people today are disconnected from charitable organizations, but have found that brands and retailers are a key gateway to giving. As experts in shopping culture, we specifically looked into the role of the retailer for the shopper with giving on their mind.

With this topic on my mind, while meandering an outdoor mall, I witnessed a key ingredient of giving. Many shoppers, on a break from the rigors of holiday shopping, were enjoying the music of a man playing the guitar. Suddenly, a sweet little girl darted out and handed the guitarist a dollar. Stunned by her courage and cuteness he stopped playing mid-song, accepted the dollar and responded with a wink, a smile and asked, "what is your favorite christmas song?" 

The situation demonstrated an age-old principle of giving -- reciprocity. What does the giver receive in return for the gift? In this case, and most of the time, its a warm, heartfelt 'thanks.' It's the Salvation Army representative at the storefront ringing the bell and saying 'Thank You'. Therefore, what does this tell us about the role of the retailer in giving? As the facilitators at the point of giving, are retailers the means of reciprocity? GAP and other retailers, in order to bring more awareness and raise money to eliminate AIDS Fund, sold t-shirts with the Product Red Campaign. Functionally, the reciprocity was a fashionable t-shirt on the back of the giver, but moreso the t-shirt provided the giver a way to signal and show the cause to which they gave. A new offering called CherryCard.org provides participating retailers $.25 cent cards to distribute at the point of sale. Patrons then go online and give the donation to the charity of their choice. In this way, the retailers facilitate the reciprocity through enabling customers to choose where their money goes. 

On the other hand, as researchers of shopping culture, we've heard that 'transactional giving', giving that occurs at the checkout counter, isn't resonating with shoppers. Radio Shack experienced some online backlash earlier in the year from their donation request via the card-swiping checkout machine. Unlike the Salvation Army representative, who smiles and thanks the giver for their dollar, the card-swiping machine or other forms of transactional giving aren't providing a key ingredient in the system of giving -- reciprocity. 

Much more exploration needs to be done to understand retailers' role in cause-based giving. But it appears that when retailers go beyond simply accepting the gift to facilitating reciprocity they better connect with shoppers.  

 

Buy Yourself a Christmas Gift AND Be Surprised

It's the holidays again, and let's be honest -- although its a season of giving, we all give a little to ourselves. In fact, the National Retail Federation recently reported that of the $704 dollars each shopper will spend on average this holiday, $130 of it will be on themselves. The dilemma with self-gifting, however, is missing out on the surprise. No anticipation. No acute listening while shaking and rattling. No guessing. And no tearing open the unknown. When I was younger, my sister used to buy herself a gift, actually wrap it, place it under the tree and open it on Christmas morning. Guess what big Sis; now you can get yourself a gift AND be surprised. The change has come about in the last couple months and just in time for the holidays. 

Many retail entrepreneurs have capitalized on that self-gifting mindset by enabling shoppers to put their trust in e-retailers to curate and assemble packages of products that surprise shoppers upon arrival. Since opening in the summer, London based Not Another Bill has individually tailored packages of jewelry, contemporary artwork (in the form of tote bags, posters, and buttons) and flea market amusements based on a member's profile. Shoppers sign up and answer a series of interest related questions. Not Another Bill then sources products from a variety of places, packages them up and sends the mto your door. You don't know what you're getting until you open the box. Similarly, in October, Ohhdeedoh.com began offering cheerful thematic boxes of age-appropriate baby gifts for parents or as gifts to loved ones. Again, the recipients didn't know what they'd receive until the parcel arrived. The Loose Button and Eco-Emi started surprising shoppers by delivering environmentally friendly snacks and household cleaners a few months back. Another e-retailer, His Black Box has already captured 500+ subscribers to its men's monthly grooming bundle that includes travel-sized samples. And just in time for the holidays, Panty by Post started a monthly lingerie delivery service. Many of the e-retailers' websites state they will wrap the December deliveries and guarantee them to your door before Santa's big day. 

So for my sister, and all you self-gifters who still want the surprise, these mystery product parcels may be just the treat you want under your tree this holiday season. 

 

The Checkout: Make Promotions Easy to Participate in for Consumers

When asked their preference of entry mechanisms, most consumers prefer a method that is quick and easy. The top two preferred entry mechamisms were entering a code online and in-pack instant wins (Figure 4). When looking at these results in conjunction with the barriers to entry also uncovered (low likelihood or winning and too much information required) its apparent consumers clearly desire promotions that are easy to enter, offer realistic odds, and come without any strings attached.

Read more in the the latest issue of The Checkout, where we looks at shoppers' involvement in Sponsorships and Promotions, how these programs influence purchase, and drivers to increasing participation.

You can click here to download the latest edition of The Checkout - Issue 5, 2011

Home Delivery - The Mumbai Way

We are all accustomed to and love the convenience of pizza delivery, Chinese takeout, and sometimes even grocery delivery (mostly ordered online at your grocer’s site). But in Mumbai, home delivery takes on a whole new meaning regarding what you can get, how you get it, and how loyalty is built.

In Mumbai, consumers can get a variety of items delivered to their homes including everyday CPG categories; meats; vegetables; seasonal, locally grown fruits; prescription and OTC drugs; DVDs; home-repair goods; décor products; pressed laundry; alcohol (even a pint of beer); and the list goes on. One man even mentioned how he manages to get something as small as one single cigarette delivered to his apartment. Essentially, if it’s sold at a store, ninety percent of the time, you can be confident it can be delivered to you for free.

Mumbai locals I know rave about this service; some even say "can’t imagine my life without it”. For them, it is more than just convenience that makes these services so valued.  Consumers can build a relationship; have "the guy” who you always call when you need that one thing and you know you can rely on him.

If loyalty had another avatar, this is what it would be. No loyalty cards, no emails exchange, no database maintenance, just human interaction. Perhaps this is why U.S. shoppers have ~18 loyalty memberships but only use ~8 (Source: 2011 Colloquy Loyalty Census).  Loyalty programs continue to boom in the U.S., but perhaps some should offer more than just a piece of plastic if they aim to retain and grow loyalty among shoppers.

-Contributed by Priyanka Sah, Integer India

 

Retailtainment in London’s Oxford Circus

While on holiday in London I had several to dos on my list, including a walk along the South Thames; a night at the theater; and most important, a trip to the Oxford Circus Topshop. I was excited to search for unique, European fashion but was surprised and excited to find more to consume my time.  It was a unique, full-service shopping experience that made me rethink what I want from my U.S. retailers - I want more retailtainment. 

At first glance, the Oxford Circus Topshop looks like any normal clothing store, offering accessories, shoes, and a range of clothing. But, as I ventured into the store, each level and department offered a service that made me wish I had two days rather than two hours in the store.

While looking for accessories I was distracted by the cupcake, candy, and frozen-yogurt stands. Downstairs, I was tempted to skip the shoe section to get my nails, brows, and hair done at the in-store salon stations. I then wished my smartphone worked abroad so I could download the SCVNGR app, which prompts shoppers to perform in-store challenges to earn points and rewards for Topshop goods. And just when I thought I might run out of steam midway through the store, I came across the café, which offered a spacious lounging area.  

Not only were these service offerings unique and new compared to my typical clothes-shopping experience, it was also hard to miss them.  They were sprinkled prominently throughout the store among the clothing and jewelry racks rather than tucked away in a corner, like the cafés at U.S. department stores. Their prominence made me consider the service and their aesthetic made them inviting and appealing.  

Topshop’s fun and inviting retailtainment made me not only spend more time in the store but spend more money.  I am not alone. Experian Simmons data indicates that over 65% of consumers indicate that a store’s environment affects whether they shop or not. Therefore, it is important that all types of retailers from grocers to hardware stores to boutiques consider how to woo their customers. Perhaps, offering a suite of in-store services is a means for today’s retailers to personally connect with shoppers and position themselves as a service provider and destination rather than a product-fulfillment center.

Turning Subways into Stores

In August, Tesco pioneered the use of subway platforms as virtual stores in Seoul (partly because they ran out of real estate for new stores). Chinese online supermarket Yihodian.com then installed walls in 15 subway stations in Shanghai. P&G launched a similar system in Prague with Mall.cz, the Czech Republic's largest e-tailer.

Now Sears is launching holiday toy walls in airports, movie theaters, and bus stations in the US.

One implication is that any 2D surface (outdoor, wild posting, ambient, print) can become a storefront. There's a new choice in these spaces: advertise or merchandise?

But these programs also reveal something about how humans work. Why doesn't Tesco just use that wall to say, "Shop thousands of products, right this minute, right on your phone"? Why the need to choose 200 or so SKUs and post life-size 2D depictions of them on the walls? 

Our brains need familiar schema, comfortable metaphors, and visual stimuli to spur action. It's why the email symbol is still an envelope, and why 'the red carpet' means star treatment, even if it's two meters long and not very different from the regular passenger boarding lane at Gate A18.

Starbucks Bounce-Back

My husband is a coffee freak! It is an absolute no-no to talk with him before he has had his morning coffee. And he likes GOOD coffee. Which means spending somewhere between $8 and $12 a bag (whole bean, of course). Oftentimes, I have had to contemplate taking out a second mortgage just to support his habit. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to find out that Starbucks offers their customers a little pay back.

On their packaging they have this great bounce-back offer that allows shoppers to get a FREE tall coffee at participating Starbucks if they bring in their empty bag. 

Why People Don't Play Your Promotion

The number one answer is they aren't even aware of it.

Many cool promotions with big prizes end up with just a few hundred participants, even with millions spent on promoting the promotion. This is a terrible ROI.

One cure is to do one thing and stick to it. Year after year. Then awareness isn't a problem. And 'news' comes from updating the promotion or kicking it off again. It's like compound interest.

Case in point: McDonald's Monopoly is a "stodgy" 24 years old. It's been played by over a hundred million people in over 10 countries. And it's become a tradition. Traditions, you might recall, are pretty sticky for humans. This puts McDonald's Monopoly in the company of Valentine's Day, Opening Day in baseball, the Macy's Day Parade, and the Super Bowl. Not bad for a consumer promotion.

Updates to keep it fresh include new prizes, new partners (Snapfish & Redbox) and new features (recent winners are posted on their Facebook page).

 

What promotions do you have that you could repeat with a little update? What would that do to awareness levels? How much money would it save you? How much more shopper participation would you get?

The Checkout: Sponsorship and Promotions Report

This issue of The Checkout looks at shoppers' involvement in Sponsorships and Promotions, how these programs influence purchase, and drivers to increasing participation.

In focus this month:

The influence of sponsorships - Sponsorships definitely influence a shopper's purchase decision, but how much?

Sponsorships with a purpose - Sponsorships are meaningful to brands and shoppers alike, but is the meaning the same for both groups?

Skin in the game - Thirty-three percent of shoppers cite a low likelihood of winning as their main barrier to participation in promotions.

Creating appealing promotions - When it comes to driving participation, more than half of shoppers find a modest prize with a reasonable chance of winning to be the most appealing option.

For more Sponsorship and Promotions Shopper data, you can click here to download the latest edition of The Checkout - Issue 5, 2011.

Beating Back the Big Boxes

How does McGuckin Hardware in Boulder do it? Home Depot opened up a mile away five years ago. Walmart's trying to join the neighborhood. Yet McGuckin is a staple, an institution, an experience.   

They're like the Nordstrom of the crunchy Boulder world: 

• Their 250 green-vested staff are ubiquitous on their 60,000 sq-ft sales floor. 
• Their staff are super-knowledgeable.
• They are dog-friendly, kid-friendly, and just plain friendly.
• The huge green aisle numbers painted on the floor make it easy to navigate.
• They have a treasure hunt area in center store (like at Costco).
• Their biannual tent sales are epic.
• They have a wide but not comprehensive selection more notable for its breadth than pizzazz. From pipe clamps to lava lamps, planting soil to tin foil.   

 

Most importantly, they know their audience and cater to them. They deliver what their competitors can't. And they are thoroughly local. It's a strategy employed well by another Boulder institution, the Boulder Bookstore.

PMA Presentation - Dating The Mobile Shopper

The Integer Group's Director of Mobile, Ben Kennedy, recently spoke at the PMA's Digital Shopper Summit. Focusing on the ways marketers can strategically approach the mobile channel and establish a long term dialogue with their consumer base, Ben presented Dating The Mobile Shopper, a framework to contextualize the mobile investment. Click here to download the presentation and read more.

A Day (Week... Month...) In The Life

To truly reach target shoppers who are surrounded 360 degrees with marketing and advertising communications, you need to walk in their shoes and plot a day, week or month in their lives. We want to believe that shoppers are thinking about our brands, products and services all the time, but that is not often the case. By plotting out what happens when they first begin to consider a purchase, it offers another way to think of them as whole people — beyond their shopping personalities, as well as your product’s context in their world. If you want to have a real relationship and conversation with your consumers, you have to find a place in their trail to the sale — not just how to place them within your marketing plan.

Pictures are as powerful as words in painting this picture of your shoppers … that is why we’re using this visual to map out a typical nonlinear path to purchase:

Click here to read more about visual mapping and nonlinear paths to purchase in the latest edition of the Integer Pulse. 

Invisible Digital: Target & Missoni

As marketers, we say it all the time: “You need to have a dialogue with your customers.” But we don’t often act on it. Not when we use our Twitter and Facebook accounts to shout branding messages at our customers, not when we use text messages to interrupt their day and, ultimately, become just another one of the messages that just gets ignored.

That’s why my ears pricked up when I sat in the Boulder Digital Works Conference (@BDWCU) a couple weeks ago and listened to one of the speakers discuss how to become invisible as well as the art of thinking small. It really hit home with me and made me say to myself, “Yes, yes, yes! All of these messages, tweets, and Facebook likes are just one more way I'm tuning out media at all levels.” 

So how does a social marketer get noticed by becoming invisible? Take a look at Target. Yesterday they launched their Missoni Target line. Fashionistas the world 'round instantly recognize the cache that the Missoni name has. (In fact, I have a friend who covets her grandmother’s vintage Missoni sweater. How many sweaters of your grandmother’s are you waiting for in the will?) So if the product is the right fit, and the consumer demand is there, do you really need a large media blitz to generate excitement?

What makes this launch really interesting is that Target didn’t launch the line with any major launch parties or major media buys but through though more subtle press releases and creating an unknown champion for the line, Marina.  Marina is nothing more than a blogging doll with a Twitter handle (@marinawithstyle) and Tumbler account. In what appeared to be a leak, Marina began blogging about the 400+ piece collection and other fashion-blog related material as early as April 5. 

Integer Nordic Releases The Nordic Checkout Study

The Nordic Checkout was conducted by Integer Nordic and Research Insight Finland in the spring of 2011. The idea was to deepen our knowledge and insight on the Nordic consumer. We wanted to find out what motivates them, what affects them, how attitudes have changed and which channels are used currently.

We aim to re-conduct the study on a yearly basis as well as produce smaller follow-up studies. In this presentation we will be concentrating on six specific areas that we think you might find interesting and most of all, useful.

The study was conducted in Finland, Sweden and Denmark.

Click here to download the Know the Nordics issue of The Checkout

- Contributed by Integer Nordic

French Retailer Launches Crowdsourced App

Leclerc, a French hypermarket banner, has long been known as the cheapest non-discount hypermarket in France. Their website allows shoppers to compare the prices of nearly every product sold in their stores with the prices of the same product at their competitors. The data for the website is provided by Leclerc’s employees who regularly visit hypermarkets of every banner throughout France.

Michel Edouard Leclerc, the popular and talkative CEO of Leclerc, had the idea to crowdsource the data for the website thanks to smartphone technology. He launched an iphone app that allows shoppers to scan products while they are shopping at competitors stores. It allows them to know the price of the same product at the nearest Leclerc hypermarket. Then shoppers are invited to tell the app if the it is cheaper or more expensive than at the store they are actually purchasing the product.

There are two really good ideas here:

1)  The shopper can acknowledge, everytime he/she scans a product, that Leclerc is really, as it claims to be, the cheapest retailer. It is strong proof of a widely advertised promise.

2)  This system allows Leclerc to bypass the very restrictive law on price-comparison in the media in France. Leclerc can therefore fight against its competitors on their own terms.

Of course, all of this is nothing if Leclerc is not actually the cheapest. And, according to some comments on the itunes store page for the app, it seems that the app does not work if the product is cheaper at a competitor’s store. Moreover, it does not take private label products into account, a field in which its competitor Intermarché is much stronger.

All in all, this new app is another way for the n°1 hypermarket banner in France to show how deeply they are involved in the country’s fight for the improvement of purchasing power, a political theme that Leclerc and former outsider, now strong Intermarché, made their own since the early 2000s, leaving their main competitors Carrefour and Auchan in a complex situation.