Global Retail Executive Council

The Retail Experience: ON THE ROAD - Shopping for Shoes the New Fashioned Way

My post today is strictly based on retail DESIRE - not observation about what is happening in the world of retail. So read my musings if you like... this blog is meant to provide insight, hopefully inspire, and maybe even incite a lil' rebellion. And this entry is about shoe shopping... no not the pretty kind, but the functional kind, where the shopping experience could use a little improvement.

I tend to get my best ideas while out running, which means I spend a lot of time running trying to keep my creative juices flowing. Well, all that running takes a toll on my feet and shoes, and despite knowing that recent blisters and sore joints were caused by the cushion in my running shoes being completely worn out, I went many, many more miles on them than I should have. So I took the time today to purchase a new pair.

At a recent race I'd managed to pick up a coupon for 10% off at a local running store (without an expiration date mind you), and after finding the (of course printed) coupon in the junk drawer of my kitchen, I thought I'd take them up on the offer and buy a new pair from them.

Thinking ahead I called the store to make sure that they had my brand, in my size, and in stock. The result... a resouding NO. So they lost the sale. Now I don't speak for every hard core runner out there, but I have been wearing the same Saucony Omni 8's for the past 4 years and I am a brand loyalist. I wouldn't trust my feet in anything else. They manage my pronation, help keep me relatively injury free, and achieve some personal running bests! I'm not about to switch now. They retail for $110 and IF I can get 10% off somewhere and they have them in stock, they have my sale.

SO here's where I begin to think about the retail experience and where the loyalty to brand and the consumer experience could get FAR better in my opinion. Knowing what I know about running shoes, I should be getting new shoes about every 300 to 500 miles (there are a lot of variables to how many miles, but I won't deep dive here...) and I know that I like to track and log my progress.

Recently I began to use an app in Facebook called RunLogger to do this and I also know that there are several mobile apps that do that AND log for you. Many phones are GPS enabled and will tell you quite a bit about your run. THAT is fantastic! But these applications could do so much more...

What if - during that time period where I was likely to need new shoes - I was messaged by a nearby retailer and told that they have my Saucony Omni 8's in a size 8.5 in stock to either ship to me or come into the store to buy? If they wanted me to come in the store and try to upsell me on a few other goodies instead of just having my new shoes delivered, they could offer simple services like an analysis of my last pair of shoes (a review of how they are wearing, any injuries had since the last purchase, etc.) or free pair of socks to sweeten the deal. They could even make it time sensitive - my own personal "one week only sale" to get my 10% off.

And where is the natural place to reach out and touch me with a retail offer based around my running habit? MY PHONE OF COURSE!!!

So I ask you, what other things in your life do you routinely need? Milk? Diapers? Cereal? Toilet paper? Shampoo? Where does your loyalty as a consumer lie - to the brand or to the retailer? Especially with products where you KNOW how much you use and when? And what do you as a retailer really KNOW about those habits? Probably a LOT, but you aren't using that information to help me buy more, or more frequently, or higher end products.

As mobile applications create a new model for consumers to share data with retailers - and profit from the sharing, retailers need a new engagement model that spans ALL the touchpoints with shoppers - from their inbox to Facebook to their mobile phone. And don't forget, some of us rely near exclusively on the mobile versions of sites like Facebook... and if your strategy is to simply buy ads there, guess what? We don't even see them...

In the end, I bought my shoes at another store - and paid full price. They had great in store service - but the only reason I even found out about that was the simplest retail draw of all: they had my shoes in stock when I called!

And one parting thought: When I went up to the counter, they asked my name and looked me up in their CRM system... but as far as I could tell, didn't do anything at all with that little morsel. Remember, retailers: if you ask us for info, use it to help us. And a note to that particular retailer: you've got 300 miles to figure out how to get me back for the next pair of shoes...

The Retail Experience: AROUND EVERY CORNER - Shorter Path to Coffee? Sign Me UP!

Happy first day of Fall everyone! Retailers are already messaging me that Christmas is right around the corner and get to shopping!  After a rough retail summer analysts are busy speculating what this holiday season holds and signs suggest that incentives to get me into their stores will continue aggressively in the 2009 holiday season.  

Just this last week, a whole batch of discount cards meant to entice me into their stores came via my physical mailbox... Some offered a percentage off, others with a modest cash discount.  From the looks of it, my first purchase needs to be a bigger wallet to hold all of these cards!  

Everything from reward cards to gift cards to loyalty cards are scattered around my house, my car and in many of my purses.  And the most painful part of it all?  I NEVER seem to have the ones I need when I am out shopping!!! So this morning I took a pick of my most recently acquired assortment and began considering... What good are they all to me OR the retailer if I never use them?  I count my nickels as much as the next guy, but realistically I'm not going keep a 2" thick rubber band bundled collection of plastic cards in my purse!  OK... Maybe with the exception of my daily used Starbucks Gold Card...  

AND that said... Just this morning the NY Times Gadgetwise Blog a glimmer of hope was offered based on a mobile phone-based test Starbucks in running in several stores. I'm delighted to read this and I don't think it's too far fetched to say that soon I'd love to be able to ORDER my special "grande, nf, 3 pump, no whip mocha" without having to even state it and PAY with a simple swipe of my mobile!  Heck, my phone is the one item I can always guarantee retailers I'll have on me!!!

Starbucks is joining a rapidly growing number of retailers that understand and are preparing for the implications of billions of smartphone-armed shoppers in their stores.  The Global Retail Executive Council has partnered with CTIA for the inaugural GREC Mobile Retail Experience™. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience mobile retailing both on the show floor in the dynamic and innovative "Tag Your IT!" pavilion and in an exciting and informative conference tracking featuring a range of topics of critical importance to both industries.

So if you’re a retailer and want to be in the know, please join GREC in San Diego - Wednesday, October 7 and listen to a dynamic lineup of speakers covering the gamut of issues faced by retailers exploring this mobile shoppers realm. www.mobileretailexperience.com And if you don’t... at least get ready to start thinning out your wallet!!!

The Retail Experience: MY MOBILE PHONE - 1960's Madison Avenue in Portland?

OK, I have to admit, what drew me into the Banana Republic store next to where I live had NOTHING to do with shopping for clothes (SHOCKING!) Instead, it was the huge window display with "Mad Men" promotional signage all over it. Now it should be said, I am one of what is known now within the circle of people who watch this show religiously as a "Maddict."  I wear that title proudly; the show’s appeal is part interest in the 1960's genre and part the glory days of Madison Avenue advertising agencies.  Oh yeah, and then there's Don Draper... :)

But I digress… (Isn't that the point of blogging anyway?) The most engaging part of this campaign was their promotion of clothing in the Mad Men-inspired style and the upcoming Season 3 debut.  Upon entering the store to find out what the contest and the "look" was all about, I was greeted by the clerk who handed me a booklet showing different character looks and explained that I could post my own "Mad Men" look online in a contest where I could win a walk-on part! (For the record, I have NO interest in becoming a movie star, but then again... meeting dreamy Don Draper... well, that's worth it...)  The booklet contained a 20% off coupon good for use later and a code to enter for the online contest. My initial reaction was that this was BRILLIANT!  But then I thought again of missed opportunities here... First, I was ALREADY IN the store, so why reward me for leaving and coming back another time instead of buying the clothes then? And second, I wanted to share this with my friends - NOW, not when I got back to my laptop at home.

Why wasn't this otherwise very creative campaign somehow linked to my phone? I have email, Web and a camera... and it's realtime and always with me. And why didn't they make it easy - or even more profitable - for me to share the promotion with my friends on Facebook or Twitter? "They had me at hello" as the saying goes, but they lost the opportunity to have me try on some cool Banana Republic/Mad Men clothes in the dressing room, snap a pic of myself wearing them, and both enter the contest and share the experience with all my friends. Instead, I had to go back home to my computer, log in, upload my image, and then hope that my friends would “vote me up”.  That’s a lot of work! Needless to say, the remote chance of being a Betty Draper neighbor motivated me to enter the contest, but it did nothing at all toward promoting the Banana Republic fall line.
 
The truth is that the strongest possible point of engagement is when a shopper is IN the store - where 70% of purchase decisions are made (and, I might add, where virtually 100% of pre-purchase "how do I look in this dress?" conversations happen). Wouldn't it be far more effective if I were to, for example, try on one of the Mad Men inspired outfits and have one of the friendly clerks snap a picture of me with my phone, upload my entry to their website VIA MY MOBILE PHONE and then turn around and share with my friends on Facebook or Twitter pics? That would increase both the ease of engagement - and hence participation - and the chance of "going viral" that every promotion seems to crave. Or take it a step further: respond to my contest entry with an immediate 10% discount on the exact outfit I was wearing delivered straight to my phone for immediate redemption...  or how about giving me an extra 10% off if I shared the promotion with 5 friends, along with a 10% off coupon for each of them. I mean, if thousands of people are willing to “defriend” their Facebook friends for  a Whopper, wouldn't we be even more likely to share something with our friends if we BOTH benefited? A focus on how my mobile phone could help close the loop in the store and in real time is what the promotion was lacking, and had it been there I would have likely left the store with a new dress.
 
"Mobile Marketing" and "Mobile Promotions" have been the buzzwords lately, but they need to truly transition to "Mobile Retailing" to become more than just a marketing fad.  For the time being there are very limited number of successful examples of retailers turning mobile marketing into mobile shopping, which strikes me as both odd and a bit sad. It's an exciting new model for retailers to consider and I believe that the in-store experience NEEDS to engage the consumer more... plus it's not simply moving a tired old promotion strategy onto a new platform.  

For retailers wanting to figure out how to make mobile a part of their shopping experience, the good news is that on October 7, 2009 the very first GREC Mobile Retail Experience Conference and Pavilion will be held at the International CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment event. This inaugural event will explore how retailers can take advantage of the billions of mobile phones their shoppers carry around to create a better shopping experience. You can read more about it at http://www.mobileretailexperience.com.
 
Oh, and for all of you wondering if you'll be able to see me in an episode of Mad Men this fall... I'm afraid it’s not going to happen. I never received a call and - as luck would have it - so many people voted online that the system crashed! Oh well, I guess Don Draper will just have to wait for his chance to meet me...

The Retail Experience: BARCELONA - Reinventing the mall

It is possible to learn quite a bit from a visit to the mall.  No, really.  Some city planners say that malls are devoid of character or culture and no matter where you roam you couldn't truly distinguish one from another.  It seems to me that if you look only at the surface of things, many may appear very similar in format... small fashion-centric stores, food court, and larger department stores positioned at the main entrances, but on the whole I think many critics miss the point of malls. They are very convenient, enclosed from the elements, and can surprisingly be very unique in their offerings.  

So with so many positive attributes, why are so many malls in the US struggling to survive? The second largest of the United States shopping mall owners has filed bankruptcy and just yesterday the largest mall in my state put a part of their property up for sale to try and pay off debtors.  As I read this news I wonder if there is any way of reviving this shopping institution?

My most recent trip to Barcelona had me staying at a hotel directly across the street from Diagonal Mar Centre. My time was very limited and I spent most of my day at the World Retail Congress (great speakers this year by the way) so there wasn't much opportunity to really look around, but my first night in I needed to pick up some toiletries. The most obvious place to do that was the mall. 

It was nearly 9 pm and the mall on the whole was still very busy for a Tuesday night.  Once I entered Alcampo Hipermercado, I could understand why.  Alcampo was still packed with shoppers on both the food and the home goods levels.  The product assortment, great prices and even home delivery service for larger purchases made both the hypermarket and the mall the go-to place for daily shopping, not just a weekend "shoppingtainment" destination as so many American malls strive to be. What differentiates the mall experience in Spain - as well as many other European and Asian cities - from malls in the US is that the goods and services offered that are woven into the fabric of the community.  Grocery has long been left out of the American mall - not that stand-alone grocery stores would be a good addition to the average suburban mall - but why don’t we have true hypermarkets in the US? And could they be a part of the formula for resurrecting the struggling mall format across America?

And there was one other thing that caught my eye (and my taste buds) as I exited Diagonal Mar. (Yes, I get excited shopping for food - shoes aren’t my only vice…)  It was the specialty food kiosk located right outside Alcampo selling -  JAMON!!! Jamón Ibérico to be exact.  A beautifully organized and displayed grouping of sweet, sweet pig legs.  I had to wait a bit here to purchase my 100 grams as there was a long line even at this hour.  I was remiss that I didn’t know the differences in the grades or speak Catalan, but I concluded that no matter which leg I selected my slices from; my patience would be rewarded. And I can tell you in all honesty... it was worth every minute of wait to enjoy the simple pleasure of melt-in-your mouth goodness that is Spanish ham.

The intriguing thing about Diagonal Mar is that it embraced the extremes of shopping in a way few American malls have. On one hand, the mall is anchored by a quality hypermarket, offering one-stop shopping for daily needs. On the other, specialty retail isn’t limited to cloned fashion stores: where US malls focus on selling food to eat in the mall, specialty food stores offer a reason to come to the mall besides shopping for clothes.

I think that the key to all this is that a mall needs to truly serve the needs of the community it is in, and as those needs change, new and existing mall developers need to incorporate innovative ideas like hypermarkets and specialty food to lure in shoppers whose needs are changing as well.

The Retail Experience: SINGAPORE - Changi Airport is a refreshing change in retail

You know you're in for something good when you're traveling and everyone you encounter from the taxi driver to the concierge of your hotel asks you if you have been shopping at the airport or advises you to get there early to do so.  What???  Seriously, shopping at the airport?  Isn't that where your total purchase is basically nothing more than the ubiquitous magazine, pack of gum and a bottled water?  Outside of that, I've never considered the airport as a shopping destination.  That is, until I flew out of Singapore's Changi Airport.

Where to begin... I must first say that I am very pleased that I listened to the advice of our gracious country hosts and arrived with two hours to kill.  As soon bags were checked and boarding pass procured, I headed into Terminal Three.  To my delight, besides having one of the most internationally diverse (and delicious) food courts I've ever been to, a free 24/7 new-release movie lounge, spa, roof top swimming pool/hot tub, and other traveler-centric amenities too numerous to list here, there was a open and well laid out transit mall just beckoning me to linger!  The entire spectrum of retail was represented, from  high end luxury brands like Burberry, Coach, and Prada to mid-price offerings from retailers I'd never seen in an airport setting like Esprit, Sunglass Hut and Levi's.  I strolled from store to store browsing an incredible comprehensive selection of unique and desirable products.  One of the biggest "wow" factors for me here was that I was doing this at 7 in the morning!  The stores here are open from 6 am to 1 am.  Where else can I try on the latest in fashion at 7 am before I board a flight???  Brilliant!

I settled on a pair of fairly-priced, high fashion Roman sandals from Singapore-based chain retailer Charles & Keith.  The whole experience of shopping in this store was perfect.  You would think that at that hour, they would have only one or MAYBE two employees to wait on you, but as soon as I entered I was tended to. As I pulled shoes off the shelf, there was a clerk right there getting me my size, escorting me directly to the cashier and bagging my purchase.  It deserves mention that at the time the store was full of shoppers - yet THERE WAS NO WAIT!!!  If this is how all the other stores work here at the airport, then these retailers are spot on.  Time means everything to a traveler at an airport and no one has time to wait or waste.  Service must be exceptional to account for that and when it comes to Charles & Keith, they delivered in spades.

Additionally there is no GST on any purchases made here so it's just another added incentive for tourist to leave a "few" more dollars here before departing.

Changi is a relatively new airport (Terminal 3 where we were opened in 2008) and I believe a model that more airports around the world need to emulate - in particular the USA.  When passing through ORD, LGA, or LAX I breeze past the same ol' airport standards as I rush to reach my gate - typically seeing the same expected souvenir shops and magazine stands repeated from terminal to terminal, with a rare spotting of a specialty retailer and the standard Duty Free shops - but NOTHING like what I experienced here. Granted, there are a few world-class shopping experiences at airports like London Heathrow and Munich, but what sets Changi apart is the combination of unbelievable service and convenience. Shoe shopping at 7 in the morning almost makes up for getting up in time to get to the airport that early!

If I have any criticism at all it's that I had to shift around items in my already bulging carry-on before going through security.  Would I have passed up the shoes because of this? Maybe some might, but like the discomfort of sitting in a packed economy class seat for 17 hours to get to beautiful Singapore, a great pair of shoes is worth tolerating ANY inconvenience.

One last observation I want to share is that the airport itself has done a very good job of marketing the retailers to travelers.  There is a very attractive, well-formatted magazine Changi Class readily found all over the terminal and several smaller brochures summarizing the retailers that can be found here.  The magazine contains no "ads", but instead well-written articles on travel, trends and events, with attractive photography of products found in the airport that not only make the entire publication read like a high end travel/lifestyle magazine, but where in the terminal you can readily acquire the products they feature!

Given current economic conditions, success in retail isn't easy anywhere and neither is airline travel for that matter, but Changi's Terminal Mall has taken convenience, service and selection and elevated the otherwise un-glamourous, stressful, and entirely unentertaining experience and turned it on its ear.  I personally can't wait to return - and next time with a larger carry-on.

The Retail Experience: PARIS - A Place Where Drinking and Driving DO Mix!

My first stroll down the Champs-Elysées on a late Friday night was not only delightful but eye opening.  Close to 2 am the street was still packed with people filing in and out of crowded bars and restaurants.  Our Parisian friend generously offered to show us Paris nightlife, and at the same time introduce us to retail experiences that many might find quite "foreign" - especially in the American market and certainly to me. At our first stop, we weren't allowed to go in because of a private event being held, but we did peer through the windows and our guide challenged us to guess what the concept was. 

Initially, I assumed it was just another bar, but it turned out to be Heineken's answer to the wine bar: Culture Biére.  Devoid of any Heineken branding from the exterior, and what I could see of the interior, the concept is to take wine-loving Parisians and introduce them to the pairing of food and beer (and I assume turn them into Heineken brand devotees).  I can't suggest whether or not this goal has been successful, but having held this location on the Champs-Elysées since 2005 and with the number of people lingering inside, I assume something must be working.

Our next stop truly impressed me. L'Atelier Renault.  Wha? A car dealership open at 2 am?  Turns out, it is neither a car dealership or exclusively a showroom.  On display were Renault's Formula 1 racing car, concept cars, as well as newly introduced touring models that visitors are encouraged to explore.  Unfortunately, we were NOT allowed to get into the Formula 1 racecar. *sigh*

On the ground floor, there is also a nice display of branded merchandise available for purchase.  The restaurant/bar is suspended above on the second floor where guests can enjoy birds-eye views of the cars or take in the sites through huge window views of the Champs-Elysées. 

Surprisingly, this blending of retail/entertainment turns out not to be new. Since 1963 Renault has had a pub in the showroom at this location - in 2000, they did a remodel that moved the pub to the upper floor.  The other surprise... NOT ONCE did some sales person attempt to come up to sell me anything.  Refreshing.