Tag: retail

Sephora Expands “Beauty Workshop” Concept Stores

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Sephora is expanding its “Beauty TIP Workshop” concept store to Canada as the beauty and makeup retailer continues to push for an omnichannel approach. The new Sephora store in Toronto features an expanded Beauty Studio, which offers complimentary makeovers and product recommendations via Sephora + Pantone Color IQ touchscreens. It also has tablets running Sephora’s “Fragrance IQ” to let shoppers browse and learn more about the perfumes.

What Brands Need To Do
Those digital integrations are designed to make the physical store part of the omnichannel experiences that also includes online, mobile, and social channels in order to appeal to customers across platforms. Previously, Sephora also inked a partnership with messaging app Kik to reach mobile customers with a chatbot and support for in-app purchases.

The Lab has extensive experience working with beauty and fashion brands to reach shoppers on digital channels. Our recent work with NYX Cosmetics that includes a digital beauty bar that innovatively incorporates social and mobile elements into the sampling experience. If you’d like to learn more about developing a mobile strategy to reach connected shoppers, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: GeoMarketing

 

Retailers At Westfield’s WTC Mall Opt For Mobile-Driven In-Store Experience

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Westfield reopened its mall at the World Trade Center this week, and many participating retailers are embracing mobile-driven strategies to enrich their in-store experience. Some highlights include:

• Cole Haan will equip its sales staff with mobile checkout devices to speed up the process. A courier service will also be available for customers who’d prefer to have their purchases sent straight home or to their hotels.

• Footwear retailer Aldo is prompting shoppers to download the Aldo app, where they can check inventory, request sizes, and read reviews. The app also features “virtual aisles” that display online-only items that may help inform their decisions.

• Under Armour is integrating its Connected Fitness app into its store for the first time, displaying stories collected from app users in-store to entertain and inspire shoppers.

Why Retailers Need To Do
Even though brick-and-mortar retail still commands roughly 90% of consumer purchases, there’s no denying that U.S. shopping malls are in decline, evidenced by a steep drop in foot traffic and Macy’s closing 100 underperforming stores across the country. It’s no secret that physical retailers need to shape up and embrace digital technologies to appeal to today’s customers. With nearly 90% of retail shoppers already using their smartphones in stores, mobile offers a great tool for retailers to engage with customers and improve their in-store experience.

The Lab has extensive experience working with retail, beauty, and CPG clients to create and implement digitally-enhanced experiences for their stores. Our recent work with NYX Cosmetics incorporated the brand’s social assets into its in-store experience and offered an innovative take on sampling with a digital beauty bar. Please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) if you’d like to learn more about how to develop a mobile-driven retail strategy that bridges the gap between physical and digital shopping experience.

 

Source: Glossy

Foursquare Adds Insights Dashboard To Attribution Product

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Foursquare debuted an offline tracking tool named Attribution Powered by Foursquare in February, and now the company is adding a dashboard to the system to offer brands real-time insights. The dashboard features audience metrics including locations, age groups, gender, customer loyalty, and marketing category, and it aims to help brands tie the performance of their digital ads to real-life store visits. So far, 55 brands have signed up to use this offline attribution tool, including Anheuser-Busch, Peet’s Coffee, and Blue Bite.

What Brands Need To Do
As we pointed out when it was announced, this tool from Foursquare can help brands link mobile ads with offline behavior, offering a more dynamic look at attribution in real time so they can adjust their campaigns accordingly. By adding the dashboard, Foursquare is providing brands a more direct way to gauge how their ads are driving foot traffic to stores. If your brand is looking for a way to connect mobile ads to store visits, this Foursquare product may be worth checking out.

For more information on how brands can better utilize customer data to better understand shopper behavior and reach shoppers across channels, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: AdWeek

Macy’s Taps IBM’s Watson To Build Shopping Assistant Chatbot

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
National department store chain Macy’s is tapping into the cognitive power of IBM’s cognitive cloud service Watson to create a web-based chatbot that can help shoppers navigate stores. Customers will be able to access the Macy’s On Call bot via their mobile browsers and ask the bot questions about where they can find certain products, store information, and store-specific events. As part of the pilot program, the digital shopping assistant will be able to help customers navigate ten select Macy’s locations around the country.

What Brands Need To Do
As we noted in our Medium post on branded chatbots, they are great for handling basic customer service and other single-focus tasks. Macy’s Watson-powered chatbot focuses on store navigation as it aims to enhance the customer experience with a digital touch. Other retailers looking to modernize their in-store experience should take note and start experimenting with new ways to connect with shoppers via mobile devices.

The Lab has extensive knowledge about building chatbots. If you’re interested in reaching your audience on messaging apps and better serving them with a chatbot, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) for more information or to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: VentureBeat

Google Maps Shows You What You Can Buy At Local Stores

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Following its announcement of Showcase Shopping ads, Google is making another play for retailers’ ad dollars as it expands Local Inventory Ads to Google Maps. Now when users search for a local store in Google, a link marked as “search items at this store” will appear in the location detail panel, as well as in a location info card for regular Google searches. It directs users to a Google-created landing page that contains a browsable list of the advertiser’s local inventory. Individual product pages also show size availability, reviews, and the option to search other locations.

What Retailers Need To Do
This new ad product allows Google users to view products available at the retail locations they are searching for, letting them browse products and check availability before making their shopping trips. As more and more shoppers research online before heading to stores, it is crucial that retailers make sure there’s sufficient information online to convince shoppers to make the trip.

For more information on how retailers can effectively reach connected consumers by taking an omnichannel approach, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Search Engine Land

News Roundup: Amazon Prime Day Is Here Again

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Today marks Amazon’s second Prime Day sales event, the ecommerce giant’s answer to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Before you run to Amazon.com and try to get yourself some heavily discounted goods, check out all the related news about the second Prime Day:

• Amazon says this year it is increasing the number of items on sale to 100,000 across all departments and product categories, as well as upping the frequency of flash sales from every ten minutes last year to every five minutes.

• Leading up to Prime Day, Amazon started offering exclusive deals via Echo, prompting users to try voice ordering via Alexa.

• Walmart is taking on Amazon Prime Day with a week-long free shipping deal for all shoppers who order on Walmart’s website, with no minimum purchase required.

• Some major retailers such as Target, Sears, and Banana Republic are offering one-day-only deals today in response to Prime Day.

• Menswear e-retailer Mack Weldon is opting to sit out on Prime Day for it wants to ensure “ full control over customer experience.”

• According to a new CIRP report, Amazon Prime now has 63 million members in the U.S., who are estimated to spend $75 billion on Amazon this year.

Why Brands Should Care
The first Amazon Prime Day sales event last year was met with tepid response, with many customers voicing their dissatisfaction with the sale selections and comparing it to a “garage sale.” Nevertheless, it significantly boosted the sales volume on Amazon, with U.S. sales almost doubling itself year over year according to online retail tracker ChannelAdvisor, and attracted “hundreds of thousands” of new members to sign up for Amazon Prime. By all measures, it was a solid start for Amazon to develop an online shopping holiday a la China’s Singles’ Day sales event spearheaded by Alibaba. For participating brands, Prime Day provides a good opportunity to increase brand exposure and stay relevant in the ecommerce space. The ones that choose to opt out of Prime Day can still ride its coattails and capture interested online shoppers with their own sales.  

Sources: various publishers as linked in article.

Header image courtesy of Amazon.com

Walmart Rolls Out Its Mobile Payment Solution Nationwide

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Want to use Apple Pay at your local Walmart? Well, you may have to wait a lot longer. Today the national retail giant started rolling out its own mobile payment solution Walmart Pay to over 4,600 stores across the U.S. Walmart first started testing the payment app in select markets last December, allowing customers to pay via their iOS and Android devices with almost all major credit cards, debit cards, and Walmart gift cards. The big-box retailer says it already counts 24 million registered users for its mobile app. The nationwide roll-out came right after Walmart launched its free two-day shipping program last week. Together, these two initiatives point to Walmart’s plan of employing mobile payment and expedited delivery to improve the shopping experience it provides so as to better compete with rivals.

What Retailers Need To Do
By officially launching its own mobile payment system, Walmart is once again saying “no” to third-party mobile payment solutions and taking full control of its check-out experience. Time will tell if customers will forgo the native payment solutions on their phones and opt for Walmart Pay. In the meantime, Walmart will get to enjoy the perks of owning its digital payment solution, which helps it to simplify the process of tying purchase data to individual customer profiles for retargeting purposes. As more and more customers incorporate mobile devices into their shopping trips, it would greatly benefit brick-and-mortar retailers to devise a digital payment strategy and incorporate existing reward and loyalty programs into point of sale systems.

For more on what retailers can do to reach today’s connected shoppers across sales channels, please check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: ZDNet

 

Barnes & Noble Adds Restaurants To Its Bookstores

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
In a bid to attract more store visits, Barnes & Noble is expanding its retail bookstores by adding a full-service restaurant to select locations. Soon, customers at four concept stores located in Eastchester, New York; Edina, Minnesota; Folsom, California; and Loudoun, Virginia will be able to wine and dine right in the B&N bookstore.

This announcement continues the ongoing trend of brick-and-mortar retailers enriching their in-store experiences with add-on services to lure shoppers into stores. Supermarkets such as Whole Foods and ShopRite are now offering bike-repair services and fitness classes, respectively, at some stores, and brands like Bandier are designing retail stores as a community space that encourages customers to hang out.

What Retailers Need To Do
Although growth in ecommerce has outpaced that of physical retail, brick-and-mortar retailers still hold one obvious advantage over online shops: unique in-store experiences that are hard to replicate online. By bringing restaurants into its bookstores, Barnes & Noble is giving book-lovers a good reason to visit their stores and stay longer, while also gaining a new revenue source. For retailers, this type of experiential retail should inspire new ways to create an engaging in-store experience that attracts shoppers.

 

Source: Eater & WSJ

Walmart To Challenge Amazon With Nationwide 2-Day Shipping

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Walmart has officially started rolling out its 2-day shipping service to all U.S. shoppers as the brick-and-mortar retail giant steps up its ecommerce game to compete with Amazon. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company has been testing 2-day shipping in select markets since last summer, and now it is making its ShippingPass membership, which offers free two-day shipping and costs $49 per year, available for all domestic customers. Walmart is also offering a 30-day free trial to entice signups.

What Retailers Need To Do
This move is illustrative of Walmart’s plan of building out its ecommerce services and locking in customers with an Amazon Prime-like membership. This is not the first time Walmart has ventured into quick delivery service – it started a partnership with Uber and Lyft to enable on-demand grocery delivery for customers in June. As more and more consumers turn to online shopping for the convenience and flexibility, physical retailers need to learn from their online competitors and start branching out into the ecommerce space and exploring new ways to modernize their shopping experience.

To learn more on what retailers can do to reach today’s connected shoppers across sales channels, please check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: AdWeek

Walgreens Integrates Digital Coupon Support With Apple Pay

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Walgreens is making it much easier for shoppers to use digital coupons with Apple Pay. The Deerfield, Illinois-based drugstore chain was one of the first retailers to accept loyalty cards via Apple Pay and has allowed members of its Balance Rewards loyalty program to clip digital coupons from various sources for redemption in stores. Now with a deeper Apple Pay integration, Balance Rewards members will be alerted when they shop online of available digital coupons, which they can clip with one tap and redeem when they check out via Apple Pay in the Walgreens app, on its website, or in stores. The company reported that to date over 135 million digital coupons have been clipped through its app and website.

What Retailers Need To Do
Earlier this month, Walgreens introduced two new APIs, one of which enables third-party apps to access their digital coupons, signaling its intention to expand its support for digital coupons. Now with this Apple Pay integration, the drugstore chain is making coupons a lot more user-friendly to its loyalty program members. The added perks will likely help boost signups and activities for the Balance Rewards program, which can help Walgreens lock in shopper loyalty regardless of where they choose to make the purchase. Other retailers need to take a cue and start making their loyalty programs more accessible across platforms.

For more information on how retailers can effectively reach connected consumers by taking an omnichannel approach, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: BusinessWire