What Happened With physical retail struggling to keep up with the growth of ecommerce, a number of brands have been experimenting with new ways to draw customers to their stores. In New York City, for example, retailers such as Molasses Books and menswear store Community 54 enhanced their in-store experiences with beers and video games, respectively, to engage customers with some added fun and diversify their revenue streams.
Now, Bandier, an upscale activewear boutique, is also taking an experience-based approach for its new flagship store on Fifth Avenue. Besides the regular sales floor, the store also features a lounge space for customers to hang out or attend events the brand occasionally hosts there, as well as a fitness studio upstairs where customers can take yoga, barre, and dance classes for a fee.
What Retailers Need To Do For all the advantages ecommerce has over brick-and-mortar retailers, physical stores can still provide customers with unique experiences that are irreplicable online. By adding the lounge area and the fitness studio to its retail space, Bandier is effectively turning its store into a destination for like-minded fitness lovers, which is exactly the target audience that the activewear brand is going after. For other retailers, these examples of experiential retail should serve as inspiration to figure out how to craft an engaging in-store experience that attracts shoppers.
The Lab has extensive experience working with retail 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 in-store sampling with a digital beauty bar powered by tablet apps. If you’d like to learn more about how to modernize your in-store experiences, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.
What Happened Pinterest is taking a page out of Facebook’s playbook, officially rolling out an ad targeting tool similar to Facebook’s popular Custom Audiences product. With the new tool, advertisers on Pinterest can reach their existing audience by matching email addresses or mobile ad IDs from their CRM databases and further expand the reach of their ad buys via lookalike targeting. Pinterest has been testing this targeting option since March.
What Brands Need To Do Pinterest has been ramping up its ad products, recently adding Millward Brown and Oracle Data Cloud as partners to offer brands advanced measurements. This new targeting tool can help brands, especially retailers with a substantial subscriber list, reach their desired audiences in a more granular way. For businesses with an overlap between their customers and Pinterest users, this should be worth a try.
What Happened The Merchant Consortium Exchange (MCX) announced on Wednesday that it will be ending its CurrentC beta test on June 28th and postponing all future releases. After the beta test ends, MCX will disable all customer accounts and end consumer access to the service. The news came after MCX laid off some 30 employees last month.
What Retailers Need To Do If you have been holding out on adopting other popular mobile payment systems in your stores, CurrentC’s imminent demise should come as a wake-up call. Even Walmart started developing its own mobile payment system in December, despite being a founding member of MCX and one of the most high-profile retailers blocking Apple Pay in favor of CurrentC.
With more and more consumers now shopping with their smartphones in their hands or pockets, it is only a matter of time before mobile payments become a mainstream practice for in-store purchases as the technology matures. Therefore, for brands that wish to stay ahead of the digital curve, now would be the time to start developing a digital payment strategy and incorporating existing reward and loyalty programs into point of sale systems.
What Happened USA Network’s hacker drama Mr. Robot was a surprise hit last summer, and now the cable channel is taking a surprising approach to promote its upcoming second season. Working with concept store Story, the network took over an entire floor of the Manhattan shop and sponsored a disruption-themed store that is thoughtfully curated to reflect the tone and story of the show. The themed store features fun, interactive installments, including a vending machine that shoppers can activate by tweeting and a hackable ATM doling out real cash to the tech-savvy shoppers. It also features curated products from startup fashion brands such as JackThreads and The Arrivals, tech gadgets selected by Circuit Breaker, as well as the show’s merchandise.
Why Brands Should Care In the age of Peak TV and Ad Avoidance, it is increasingly difficult for a new show (or brand) to cut through the noise and find an audience. This concept store, however, shines as a cool example of experiential marketing. In a way, this concept store is what native advertising in a retail context looks like – a real shop with buyable goods that also immerses its customers in a brand narrative and gets its message across. While this type of experiential campaign may be costly to implement and limited in its physical reach, the positive publicity, the word of mouth, and the organic social impressions it generates will be crucial for ensuring the campaign reaches its audience and fully engage them.
For more information on how brands can deal with the rise of Ad Avoidance among consumers, please check out the corresponding segment in our 2016 Outlook.
What Happened Pinterest’s red “Pin It” button enables users to quickly save images or product pages from third-party sites to their collections. Now Tok&Stok, the biggest designer furniture store in Brazil, is bringing a physical version of those iconic pins into its store to add an interactive layer to its in-store experience. Working with a local agency named DM9DDB, Tok&Stok placed a number of Bluetooth-enabled Pins around its store, and when shoppers who install their “PinList” app see something they like, they can simply push the physical Pin to add the corresponding item to their digital collection. You can see how the Pins work in this demo video.
What Retailers Need To Do This innovative retail installation offers an interesting case of reverse engineering as a brick-and-mortar retailer modeled the physical Pins based on how their digital counterpart works. It points to the new retail reality that most people shop with their phones, which retailers should take advantage of to devise new in-store experience, incorporating digital elements into their physical space to intrigue and engage with customers.
What Happened Walmart is partnering with Uber and Lyft to test an on-demand grocery delivery service beginning within the next two weeks in Denver and Phoenix. Walmart will charge a $7 to $10 delivery fee when online orders are placed so customers don’t need to pay the Uber or Lyft drivers when their orders arrive. This new services puts Walmart in direct competition with Amazon, which offers similar services via Prime Now and AmazonFresh.
What Retailers Need To Do Walmart has been taking measures to modernize its online retail experience in order to effectively compete with Amazon, including launching a mobile payment app in December and testing an online order pickup program. This new move marks a significant step in Walmart’s ecommerce expansion as the partnership with two leading ride-hailing services gives it a huge logistical boost to fight against Amazon. Retailers need to take a cue from the two retail giants and start testing similar on-demand programs to meet the growing consumer demand for convenience and instant gratification.
What Happened Pharmacy chain Walgreens is extending its developer efforts with two new APIs, making it easier for third-party apps to pull out information about their stores across the country and access their digital coupons. Walgreens launched its API program in 2012, allowing developers to send print requests to its in-store photo kiosks. Since then, the company has expanded this program to allow fitness app developers to access its Balance Rewards loyalty program and an API for apps that handle prescription refills and transfers.
What Brands Need To Do Walgreens’ API program provides a great example for brands and retailers to make their information and services readily available for app developers. Previously, for instance, Walgreens would send an Excel or CSV file to developers who requested access to its store locations, which is an ineffective way to share such information. By releasing those APIs, not only is Walgreens building some goodwill among the developer community, it is also leveraging third-party apps to reach more customers. Therefore, more brands should take a cue from Walgreens and start releasing their own APIs.
For more information on how brands, especially retailers, can effectively reach consumers across platforms by taking an omnichannel, data-driven approach, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.
What Happened eBay worked with Australian department store Myer to develop a virtual reality shop that allows users to shop with their eyes. Using a system called “Sight Search” that eBay developed, users can choose items by staring at them for a few seconds or add items to a shopping cart by staring at the “Add to Basket” button. eBay says it is also working on a payment solution that will allow customers to pay with their eye movements. The shop contains products sold through Myer, including 3D models for the top 100 items in each category, and it can be accessed through existing headsets such as Samsung Gear VR. eBay is also giving away 20,000 Google Cardboards it dubbed “Shopticals” to spread the word.
Why Brands Should Care This new VR department store offers a glimpse of the future of ecommerce. To entice and attract shoppers with this type of innovative shopping experience, retailers and brands that sell directly to customers online may consider integrating VR technology into their online user experience.
Your guide to tech-driven changes in the media landscape by IPG Media Lab. A fast read for you and a forward for your clients and team.
The Highlights
Google Instant Apps allows brands to enable immediate access to their apps with the native experience consumers expect, including frictionless payments
Google Assistant is a personification of Google search for both voice and text with hints at brand partnerships
Daydream is a new virtual reality platform, building on Cardboard with headsets customized to future high-end Android phones and giving brands an important new platform to engage consumers with immersive content
Firebase 2.0 is a new toolset for brands to create apps across Android, iOS, and the web on a budget with integrated analytics to understand customer interactions
What Google Announced Google’s annual developer conference started on Wednesday, and the company announced a series of products including a voice-controlled, smart home speaker; a rebranded and updated virtual assistant; a new Android Wearable OS; two new communications apps; and a new virtual reality platform. Wired has a great summary of all the announcements, but here’s what marketers need to know:
Google unveiled Android Instant Apps to enable fast, temporary access to Android apps with just one click. Similar to App Streaming, which was released last year, Instant Apps allows users to access native Android apps without installing them. Unlike App Streaming, Instant Apps requires that app development is modular, with parts that are quickly downloaded as needed. Importantly, Android Pay works with Instant Apps so that consumers can pay for products and services in two taps instead of filling in their payment and shipping information.
Google consolidated OK Google and Google Now voice search to the rebranded and expanded Google Assistant, a conversational virtual assistant that can process natural language and offer contextual answers and follow-up questions. Google Assistant will be available on all platforms eventually, but for now it will be the service powering the voice on Google Home, a connected speaker similar to the Amazon Echo, and via text in Allo, Google’s new smart messaging service. It will start with a limited number of partners including Uber and OpenTable.
Google also announced a new VR platform called Daydream, which will be a native part of the upcoming Android N. Google said it is working with major Android OEMs including Samsung, HTC, LG, Xiaomi, and Huawei to make Daydream-compatible smartphones with 4K screens. Daydream is effectively a much-more-advanced Cardboard platform, allowing Android handset manufacturers to create comfortable headsets that compete with Samsung’s Gear VR (a partnership with Facebook’s Oculus). Daydream compatible phones and headsets will then have access to shared VR content and a remote control-like input device designed by Google.
Among the developer tools that Google announced today, Firebase 2.0 stands out as a great tool for brands to create and test their apps. It allows simultaneous development for Android and iOS and includes advanced analytics, secure storage, and targeted notifications. Its main competitor is Microsoft’s Xamarin, another cross-platform mobile development toolset.
What Brands Need To Do Google Instant Apps gives users the power of native apps with instant loading and without the usual commitment of download time and storage space. The feature works with 95% of Android phones — back to Jelly Bean — and can help brands by overcoming the initial app installation hurdle and dramatically reducing payment friction; however, users might not fully install an app and keep the app icon on their home screen as a reminder to come back later. Also, links from messaging, social media, or elsewhere could lead to a native app experience on Android, instead of just a website. Because Google Instant Apps works with Android Pay, it supports frictionless payments and checkouts that will help retailers boost conversions. Brands could use Instant Apps in many ways. An auto brand could use this feature to drive potential buyers to a build-your-own feature that works better natively than as a website, and an entertainment brand could leverage this feature to reach more users with their in-app content. Therefore, brands need to work with developers to break their branded apps into appropriate modules to enable this feature. Look for ways to convert Instant Apps users into habitual app users.
With Google Assistant and Google Home, Google is trying to catch up to the success of Amazon’s Alexa and Echo by leveraging Android, their industry-leading machine learning expertise, and strong developer ecosystem. While we are skeptical that Google’s new messaging app Allo will ever have a meaningful audience for marketers, it might be a great way to test integrations with Google Assistant before it rolls out to other platforms (if Google opens the API soon as expected). For brands, this is another push toward a meaningful presence on conversational media channels and to optimize their content and partnerships. There are new rules of SEO in conversation that are much closer to winner-take-all, because unlike Google Search there’s no second page of results and there’s often only one recommendation per request. Not every brand is a good fit for this ecosystem but there are lots of opportunities. For example, travel brand may integrate their service with Google Assistant to enable personalized recommendations, booking reservations, or checking itineraries. On messaging services like Allo, those services could extend to integrations with all participants’ calendars.
Google Home is an Amazon Echo competitor
Daydream, the new VR platform built into Android N, will offer brands a new channel for immersive content that approaches the reach of all Android users like Cardboard but with more power and headsets comfortable enough to use for more than a few minutes. As the audience for VR content continues to grow, brands can follow the good examples set by early adopters like Marriott Hotels and JCPenney and start developing branded VR content. Google also mentioned it is partnering with a number of media companies including The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and USA Today to create VR apps for Daydream, and users will also be able to watch content from YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Major League Baseball. So brands can also team up with one of those media partners to create or sponsor VR content.
Firebase 2.0 is a great toolset for brands developing their own apps. Production cost is kept low by developing once and then Firebase does the work of making the app work on Android, iOS, and even the web. Other features particularly appealing for brands include an integrated social referral system to easily convert your most loyal users into advocates, automatic App Indexing so that in-app content is shown in Google Search, customizable and segmentable push notifications, and powerful analytics that even syncs with AdWords campaigns to aid in customer acquisition and lifetime value analysis. All of these features are free with paid add-ons for hosting and database storage.
Market Impact Google’s announcements this year are mostly about playing catch-up with its competitors. While the new products and features enrich the Android ecosystem, they will not necessarily pull users away from iOS. Google Home, however, will put pressure on Amazon, particularly with Home’s ability to push content to TV screens. Whether or not consumers will be more willing to trust Google or Amazon to keep an open ear inside their homes remains to be seen. Google Assistant gives Facebook’s M a significant threat and the competition should make both better, faster. We don’t expect Android Wear to catch on based on the 2.0 updates but Firebase 2.0 is a real threat to Microsoft’s Xamarin with a full suite of tools and an active community.
How We Can Help The Lab has extensive experience in developing text-based Messenger bots, voice-based apps as Alexa skills, and VR content. We can help our clients assess market trends and figure out how to apply emerging media technologies in marketing strategy. Please contact Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) if you would like more detail or to schedule a visit to the Lab to discuss how Google-powered and other solutions can help you better reach and serve your customers.
For previous editions of Fast Forward, please visit ipglab.com. Please send any constructive criticism or feedback. We want these to be as useful as possible for you and your clients, and your input will help us immensely.
Pictures featured here are promotional images courtesy of Google.
What Happened Quick service chain KFC has partnered with Baidu, China’s leading company in search and AI technology, to create a new concept store in Shanghai that uses conversational robots as servers. Billed as “the world’s first human-free fast food restaurant,” the new KFC store Original+ replaces human cashiers with small robots named Du Mi, which can take orders and process payments. The pear-shaped robots are designed to be cordial and engaging, ushering customers through their ordering process.
Why Brands Should Care This innovative store by KFC offers a new example for how brands, especially those operating physical storefronts, can partner with tech providers to incorporate emerging technology – such as voice-activated conversational interfaces in this case – into their in-store experience. As consumers continue to seek out new experiences, brands need to be mindful of the new technologies that can help modernize the customer experience.
Our website uses cookies for various purposes, including to enhance the site's functionality, and help us understand how you use and interact with the website. To learn more about the cookies used and your choices, please see the Online Privacy Notice. Please indicate below whether you agree to the use of cookies for the purposes described above:
You may adjust your cookie settings at any time by clicking here.
Privacy Overview
Our website uses cookies for various purposes, including to enhance the site’s functionality, and help us understand how you use and interact with the website. To learn more about the cookies used and your choices, please see the Online Privacy Notice. Please indicate below whether you agree to the use of cookies for the purposes described above. You may adjust your cookie settings at any time by navigating the tabs on the left hand side.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
Strictly Necessary Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
Cookies that may be in use after you enable:
moove_gdpr_popup These Cookies are used to save your Cookie Setting Preferences. 1 Year N/A
Analytics and Customization
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our site.
