Shopper Journey

Hello everyone!

Long time no write I know…

But yours truly is in the process of a transatlantic move and therefore things have been in a bit of flux. But we will be back bigger, better and more frequently and in fact, with more people contributing to this space.

We’d like for this to be a thriving source of shopper and retail inspiration and looking forward to an engaged conversation with all of you.

So as they say, watch this space! We will be back latest by end of July!

Pop-up’s have popped up everywhere! First, the trend was about shops that opened for limited times and then disappeared. Later, pop-up restaurants arrived on the scene.

But this one is special: a vintage English double decker bus, turned into a mobile restaurant with a view (also on Twitter and Facebook).

30 Seconds on the @WorldFare BUStaurant! from VidFu on Vimeo.

German shoppers are very price conscious and used to giving up on the shopping experience.

But the grocery store next to my home seems to be going a bit too far! Tampons, remedies (anti-virus), dish liquids and batteries next to food products, altogether in one price-promotion box (don’t perishable products like cream cheese and milk need to be kept cold, by the way?)!

I won’t mention the retailer’s name here, because really, this could be anyone. To call a spade a spade: this is not an exception. Instead, it’s the harsh reality in Germany’s retail environment, unfortunately.

Well, maybe we don’t want it to be different. I mean, the grocery market share of discounters in Germany is almost at 50%. So why spend money to build retail brands, then? Something is obviously totally wrong with the German retail environment!

There is this huge difference between telling people about the brand and letting them experience it for themselves. Most in-store experiences don’t keep up with the intended brand images. In the era of experience marketing, reality simply catches up with communication!

So, your in-store (and shopping) experience has to be in-line with the brand image, if you want to build your retail brand for real. Else, all your communication efforts are useless!

Apparel retailer GAP, currently having almost 550,000 Fans on Facebook, has added a new application. The “Lookbook”, developed in scope of the promotion of a new premium jeans collection, enables users on FB to create combinations of jeans, shirts and jackets. Each item or the matched outfit can be purchased on the GAP website, afterwards.

Although, it’s a nice idea, the application seems to be created quickly and I am missing any passion: there are only 5 x 5 combinations possible for men and women. Furthermore, it is not possible to personalize the outfit, I can’t take it away to my user profile in order to share it with my friends (only the link can be shared) and get their opinions. In short: I hope they will come up with a revised version soon, otherwise it’s really just a traditional lookbook and therefore of limited use value within the context of Facebook.

Unfortunately, most retailer advertising in Germany is (still) price driven, hard selling and not very creative.

But there are some exceptions – like the posters by pet food retailer Fressnapf.

Tomorrow March 24^th, at the Retail Advertising Summit in Wiesbaden, Fressnapf will be honored with the Merkur Award for creative trade communication. My esteemed colleague, Leo Burnett’s Client Service Director Andreas Cordt, will hold the laudatory speech.

In line with Best Buy’s Greener Together™ initiative, this billboard in New York City’s Time Square uses letters that are composed of outmoded gadgets.

Photos via ScoutingNY

Google rules the world! There is not any business they are not in, yet.

A few days ago, Google released its “Google Shopper,” an application for Android mobile devices that utilizes Google’s online shopping data and offers a variety of different ways to search for products - unfortunately aimed only at US Consumers, so far.

A shopper can scan bar codes, take a picture of cover art or search by voice for a retail item and his mobile retrieves the according prices, detailed product information and enables the shopper to compare prices. Additional features include the ability to star items for return visits and share things with friends.

Although, Google is only an early follower in this market (ShopSavvy, for example, was one of the first barcode scanners on the scene), due to Google’s power this will have a huge impact on how people shop in the future.

Whew! So many new mobile shopping apps, so little time to stay up-to-date! Well, it’s not that the world of shopper marketing is becoming boring, at least!

Watch the demo video below and then grab your own copy from here.

My apologies but I abandoned this space for a couple of weeks due to the fact that I was in Milan for work. But I have come back richer from the experience. Or I should say poorer from the shopping!

Not only was it great fun to work with an Italian-Brasilian-German-Russian-British team, but Milan is also a shopper’s paradise. Although time for shopping was very limited, I was able to discover three stores that were really inspiring and exciting for me (though these stores already exist in other cities across the world, they were new for me).

Ferrari Store: I’m neither a Formula One fan nor a Ferrari fanatic, but I admire the culture enough to walk into the store. As a tribute to the history and spirit of Ferrari, true fans find here souvenirs, sports articles, model cars, clothes, toys and accessories spread over five floors. While the staff is dressed like a Ferrari F1 pit crew, the whole store highlights Ferrari’s innovative and lively spirit. Furthermore, a replica of a Formula One car catches the eyes of the visitors as they enter, while they are welcomed by the roar of a Formula 1 engine (Here is a video of it from the store in Maranello, though.)

Riedizioni: This store stocks unusual products such as dresses, bags and wallets, created by pressing fabrics and metallic threads between layers of translucent plastic. All items are made from recycled textiles. A brilliant use of products in their afterlife.

Muji is a Japanese no-frills store, full of minimalistic mass-market aesthetics or plain wares such as apparel, furniture, housewares, beauty products, and small electronics. The first character “mu”, means “without”, the second character “ji” means “brand.” “Muji” is simply short for brandless quality goods. Muji has maintained a “no brand” credo, refusing to put its name on any of its products and instead, reduces every product to its essence.The most exiting aspect for me is how fundamentally Muji herewith redefines the idea of design. While others apply design to a product to get it noticed, Muji designs products to be essentially useful, natural and simple.
Designed to be in service of Muji’s philosophy, the store was also plain in design and experience and as a result frankly, a bit boring for me, unfortunately… but definitely extended the brand’s promise.

What happens when Online-, Mobile- and Shopper Marketing converge with the hottest technology trend AR?
Integrated Marketing - put into the hands of the people, literally.

Japanese advertising agency Dentsu has started an experimental coupon download platform called iButterfly. The free iPhone application allows users to collect coupons, using AR and the device’s GPS functions: by looking through the app on their iPhone, users can find butterflies flying around, carrying content. By shaking the mobile, it will be able to catch them physically in order to get beneficial information, content and coupons related to the location.

An entertaining idea to deliver targeted promotional coupons on the mobile!
By the way, butterfly in Japanese has a double meaning: Chou means also collection book.

Click on the image below to watch the video.

Annoyed about billboards and sale signs everywhere?

Well, watch the video below about an interactive shopping mall façade covered in QR codes: with the appropriate iPhone application, shoppers of a commercial tower in Tokyo will now be provided with shop information including Twitter updates from the building’s inhabitants.
People are also enabled to make reservations, to download coupons and to see user comments.

via