Tag: retail

Google Adds Beacon-Detecting Capability To Chrome App

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Last July, Google launched its own beacon initiative Eddystone to compete with Apple’s iBeacon, and now it is expanding the reach of its beacons by adding the capability of recognizing and interacting with nearby beacons to its Chrome browser apps. Starting with version 49, currently in beta, Chrome for Android will be able to read and interact with these Eddystone beacons.

What Brands Need To Do
With this addition, stores employing beacons will be able to reach a larger user base of devices that can detect and communicate with beacons, which has become an increasingly popular tool among retailers to provide product information and value offers to customers in store or retarget them online later. For more details on how brands can utilize beacons to improve shopping experience and reach more customers, check out the Boundless Retail section in our new Outlook 2016 here.

 

Source: 9to5 Google

Image courtesy of Google Developer Blog

Amazon Plans To Open More Physical Stores

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Three months after Amazon opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore in Seattle, the ecommerce giant is said to be planning as many as 400 bookstores across the nation, according to Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of mall operator General Growth Properties Inc. Amazon uses the data it acquires from its online properties to stock its Seattle store, and we anticipate a similar approach will be applied to its other stores as the company pushes deeper into physical retail.

What Brands Need To Do
As more and more online retailers venture into physical retail, they gain retail presence and leverage what they have learned about their customers online to enhance their in-store experiences and at the same time develop more personal relationships with their customers which can inform the online experience. Amazon is tapping the location and purchase data it has to bridge the gap between online and offline retail, and all brands with an owned retail presence need to start doing the same in order to develop a holistic CRM system that covers the entire purchase cycle.

For more details on how retailers can utilize all customer touchpoints to improve shopping experiences both online and offline, click here to read the Boundless Retail section in our new Outlook 2016.

Editor’s note: A new report from Re/code now indicates that while Amazon does have plans for more physical stores, including retail stores that aren’t bookstores, it has no immediate plans for opening 300-400 stores.

 

Source: Wall Street Journal
Header image courtesy of Amazon

IPG Media Lab Releases Outlook 2016

Posted on by Lab Team

Check out our brand new 2016 Outlook here.

Every year here at the IPG Media Lab, we round up the ideas that excite us: the market trends, new technologies, and consumer shifts that are changing the ways we evaluate, buy, and consume media. And today, we are happy to present you with our Outlook 2016 – “At Your Service”– which examines the rising challenges and opportunities for marketers in the age of media abundance and how brands can deliver true value and become “lifestyle” brands in order to break through.

Take a look and let us know what you think @ipglab on Twitter or contact our Client Services Director Samantha Barrett ([email protected]); we’d love to hear from you.

Check out our special interactive Outlook webpage here: https://www-stage.ipglab.com/outlook2016/

Uber Launches UberRUSH API For Express Delivery

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Uber continues its push into ecommerce delivery with the launch of a private API of UberRUSH, its on-demand express delivery service. With this new API, retailers such as Nordstrom and 1-800-Flowers can now easily integrate Uber’s one-hour delivery service directly into their digital products to speed up the sales cycle. Other businesses who plan on using this API include fashion rental service Rent the Runway, food delivery businesses like Olo and Eat Street, and logistics operators like Bergen Logistics and Trade Global, which are logistics providers for global retailers like Rebecca Minkoff and Cole Haan.

What Retailers Need To Do
UberRUSH’s API can help retailers, big and small, to drastically decrease the waiting time for shipping and better satisfy the growing consumer demand for instant gratification. Although only available in select cities at the moment, it seems reasonable to assume that Uber will be extending this service to more markets soon. As Uber continues to leverage its fleet of cars to compete with delivery services such as Postmates and Shyp, retail and fashion brands need to consider integrating with such on-demand services to modernize their customer experience.

 

Source: The Verge

Header image courtesy of UberRUSH

Event Recaps: NRF & Flash Pitch 2016

Posted on by Angel Mendozza

It has been a busy week for the IPG Media Lab. After the madness of CES 2016 we managed to squeeze in two events before the week ended ­– Retail’s Big Show by NRF (retail industry’s version of CES) and Flash Pitch 2016. The beauty of attending these two events was that they couldn’t be anymore opposite.

NRF held its 105th annual retail event from Jan. 15-18th, which was attended by more than 33,500 people. As expected, the event came and went with plenty of big announcements and interesting retail technology:

RetailNext (featured in our Media Lab) BT, Intel, NexGen Packaging and SATO Global Solutions announced a global alliance called Acuitas Digital Alliance. The purpose of the alliance is to combine their technology and capabilities to make it easier for retailers to integrate their front-end and back-end analytics.

T+Ink in collaboration with WestRock and Intel showcased its smart e-ink display tag technology. These tags can be mounted on store shelves and pegs to track inventory in real-time, measure sales velocity, and allow for dynamic pricing.

Mobeam showcased its light-based beaming technology that enables POS laser scanners to read barcodes from smartphone screens. This allows retailers to integrate mobile payment, loyalty cards, membership cards, gift cards, tickets, vouchers, and digital coupons into their app, which can be read through their existing scanners at checkout. For brands, specifically CPG brands, this allows them to follow their digital coupons throughout the entire shopping journey and understand which coupons are performing and which are not.

On the other hand, The Flash Pitch event presented by NYU Polytechnic Incubator was a combination of speed pitch meets Shark Tank. Eight early-stage startups were given the opportunity to pitch for two minutes followed by a four-minute Q&A. In classic fashion, the judges from Bain Capital Ventures, BMW iVentures, Corigin Ventures and Pilot Mountain Ventures were relentless, firing questions to learn more about traction, growth strategy, defensibility, current challenges, etc.

When the dust settled, LiquidTalent, which offers companies a marketplace to find high-quality developer and designer talent on-demand, and Denarri – an electronics-focused shopping app that remembers user preferences as they use it to make future shopping faster – were the two startups that caught our eye.

Adobe Makes Its Ad Platform “History-Aware” For More Effective Retargeting

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Adobe promises to help retailers eliminate ads for products that the targeted consumer has already bought. It is making its Marketing Cloud ad platform “history-aware” by incorporating past behavioral data including purchase histories into retargeting, the company announced at the National Retail Federation’s annual retail conference earlier this week. Moreover, Adobe is also tapping into contextual data to help retailers send more relevant triggered messaging to prospective customers via email, texts, or push notifications.

What Retailers Need To Do
Adobe’s new addition to its ad platform helps eliminate one particularly annoying part of digital advertising – being retargeted by ads that are no longer relevant. It also highlights the value of integrating customer data into their digital efforts, something that retailers should work with their ad tech vendors to implement, which will make for more effective retargeting and ultimately drive better sales.

 

Source: VentureBeat

Amazon Brings Automatic Reordering To More Connected Home Devices

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Following Whirlpool’s announcement at CES to incorporate Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Service (DRS) into its smart appliances, Amazon has announced today that a slew of connected devices have gained automatic reordering capability via DRS. The line-up includes select models of Brother printers, a GE washing machine, and the Gmate SMART blood glucose monitor, which will be able to reorder printing ink, detergent, and testing strips and lancets, respectively, when supply runs low.

What Brands Need To Do
Automatic reordering is a great tool for developing and maintaining consumer loyalty. Amazon’s DRS makes it easier for CPG brands to forge win-win partnerships with manufacturers of smart appliances so as to cultivate a long-term relationship with consumers that encourages habitual re-purchase.

 

Source: TechCrunch

Timberland And Rite Aid Dip Toes Into Proximity Tech

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Timberland and Rite Aid have joined the growing list of retailers that incorporate proximity technologies into their stores. At its NYC flagship store near Herald Square, Timberland has enlisted CloudTags’ NFC technology to create an interactive in-store experience, where customers can simply tap a product tag against one of the tablets installed throughout the store to bring up more information about the item, as well as recommendations for similar products.

Rite Aid, on the other hand, has finished installing beacons in all its 4,600 stores across the states, and is preparing for one of the largest beacon activations to date. The company is looking to use beacons to push relevant information and value offers to customers in stores via its mobile app.

What Retailers Need To Do
Proximity technologies can be of great use to retailers in creating a shopping experience that bridges the digital and the physical. To better compete with fast growing ecommerce rivals, brick-and-mortar retailers should tap into these kinds of new technologies to create engaging in-store shopping experience that help drive store visits and improve online/offline attributions. For a more advanced look at how proximity technology can help retail brands, check out one of our recent Fast Forward editions.

 

Sources: Digiday & GeoMarketing

CES 2016: ModiFace Brings Next-Gen Smart Mirror To Retail

Posted on by Lab Team

Smart mirrors that virtually change outfit or makeup for customers are exactly new – Ralph Lauren has started testing smart mirrors created by Oak Labs at its NYC flagship store. But at CES 2015, ModiFace came out with a new smart mirror that brings interactive mirrors to the next level. Not only can it change makeups on demand with great accuracy, it can also be programmed to simulate skin-care, anti-aging, teeth whitening, and contact lens effects on users’ live 3D videos. It even features gesture control in some makeup selections that allow users to change lipstick colors by kissing the camera or changing their eye shadows by raising their eyebrow.

Dubbed ModiFace Mirror HD, it is available for brands to customize for their products and put to use in stores today. For brick-and-mortar retailers, especially those in fashion and cosmetics, this offers a great new tool to engage shoppers in stores and encourage on-site sampling.

For more of the Lab’s CES coverage, click here,

 

Header image courtesy of ModiFace

 

Best Of The Lab 2015: Improving Physical Retail With A Digital Touch

Posted on by Lab Team

Welcome to the Lab’s year-end review, looking back at some of our best and most popular posts from 2015.

2015 saw tremendous growth for ecommerce, so much that it has seriously eroded Black Friday sales. But that doesn’t mean it’s all over for the brick-and-mortar retailers. In fact, traditional retailers have been actively incorporating digital components such as beacon technology, mobile payments, and in-store display of social media activities to build out rewarding interactive retail experiences that connect with shoppers. Here are some highlights on how they are improving physical retail with a digital touch.

Fast Forward: How Yext’s Xone Can Reach Black Friday Shoppers On Cyber Monday
JCPenney and Shopkick Inspire Cinderella Moments for Consumers
How Elle Used Proximity And Beacon Tech To Drive 500,000 Retail Store Visits
Ralph Lauren And Sephora Testing Interactive Retail Experiences