Although the next generation doesn’t place a high premium on privacy, they also don’t appreciate feeling violated by marketer invasions.  Global Retail Executive posted an interesting perspective by one of their millennial employees.  On the issue of privacy, he noted that millennials do have some boundaries that must be respected.

“Don’t bombard us with emails. Don’t call us (Domino’s Pizza started calling me with offers a few years ago after I ordered a pizza from them – Guess what? That was the last pizza I bought from Domino’s). And, for God’s sake, DO NOT text us advertisements if we didn’t ask for it. It comes across as invasive and needy, and we will avoid you out of spite.”

This is an important distinction that marketers have to grapple with as they begin to consider and employ technology. Anything that has a ‘big-brother’ feel to it is likely to be rejected.  And if something like that is integrated into the entire store experience, that means shoppers could reject visiting your store altogether. 

For instance, consider walking into a store and based on a remote scan of your face and body, which can detect things like age, weight, race, etc, media in the store start to push ads targeted at you as you walk by. Or what about neuroscience?  Last year we posted about marketers developing technology that can perceive your brain activity and market to you based on that. 

All of these things sound super cool.  But as technology evolves, we’re finding that there’s a thin line between cool and creepy (think robot dogs). Understanding the intended shopper and their nuanced use of technology is critical to its successful activation in the retail environment.

In March of this year, Arc Worldwide conducted a survey of shoppers examining how they connect social media and shopping.  They found that at this point social media is more of a pre-shopping device.  It influences brand perception and provides product information from trusted peers before the shopper gets to the retail outlet. However, social media is slowly making it’s way into the store.  Manufacturers and retailers are already experimenting with shopping assisted by smartphones.  Wall Street Journal reports that Best Buy will be employing the Shopkick app this summer which pushes advertisements through to shoppers’ phones while they’re in the store.  “With the Shopkick app, the retailer will know who individual shoppers are and can communicate, ‘when you need it, and how you want it,’ says Rick Rommel, Best Buy’s senior vice president of new business.’ Mobile retail is evolving in the US but has yet to catch up with Japan who has been out front with what they’ve coined ‘m-commerce.’

PSFK reports on multitouch displays that resemble Wolf Blitzer’s touch screen wall panels.  These life-sized screens would allow “groups of people to simultaneously engage.”  Shoppers could pull up product opinions  and information without having to talk to a sales associate. Future Of Retail: Massive Multitouch Displays – PSFK.

Instore Marketing Institute has reported on many of the technologies being explored to integrate social media and retail.  The implications are vast and growing as technology begins to catch up.

Did you know that 22% of adults have trouble reading?  How many of them are your customers? If the majority of your customers are seniors, are your in-store graphics designed to consider their aging eyes?  Do your aisles accommodate mobility devices?  Does your competitor?

Data is key.  Good shopper data drives good strategy which drives creativity which drives traffic that drives sales.  The explosion of information gathering and the easy availability of that information has raised the bar in how retailers are adapting to meet the needs of their customers.  As a result it has also raised the expectations of the shopper.  They know that you should know what they want.  Do you?

Through a network of desktops, laptops, monitors and televisions throughout the store, shoppers can research information on products just as if they were at their home or office computer.

 Comp USA has opened 32 stores featuring the Retail 2.0 shopping environment.

It may seem counter intuitive to provide shoppers with this much information in the store because you typically you want to be your shopper’s primary source of information and you don’t want them to compare and possibly see a better price elsewhere.  However, shoppers are doing this anyway before they get to the store.  Many come equipped with their Internet research in hand. So the idea is, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.  What has been coined as social retailing is about something very different from traditional retail.

The presentation below designed by Mobminds is a primer on the social retailing trend and why it might be important to your store.

What in-store elements most influence a shopper to choose one brand or product over another?  What is the best means of introducing a new product and motivating a shopper to add it to their basket?  Our informal reader poll highlighted just a few instore marketing tools. Instore experience and signage came out the clear winners.  However, the answer is that all of the instore communications tools have varying degrees of importance for creating impact with the shopper. 

The value of one versus the other depends on the product, the shopper demographic, the retail channel and the objective of the retailer or manufacturer.  In addition, one type of communication may be necessary to compliment another and drive the message home to the shopper.  Miller Zell’s Elements Report examines the impact of various instore marketing elements and their influence by generation, income and channel.  Unfortunately instore communications elements are often segmented in the retailer’s mind.  There fore, one vendor may be employed to develop a retail strategy, another to develop the retail design, yet another to install displays while some other firm develops a digital media program.  This becomes a costly version of the telephone game where the client’s objective has to be explained over and over and is interpreted in as many different ways.  At the end of the day, none of these individual suppliers can be held accountable for the total success or failure of the program.  Instead metrics have to be isolated for each portion of the process which does not provide an accurate picture of the collective value of the program elements.  This is a loss to both the retailer and the marketer. 

Integrated store development can eliminate many of the issues that arise from the typically fractured retail execution process.  This method links strategy, design, prototyping and refinement, production of fixtures, décor and graphics, installation/program management and accountability.  This holistic approach also makes it easier to facilitate ongoing improvements such as new ideas, products, displays and graphics, making continuous concept renewal a way of life.  And with the fickle tastes of today’s consumers concept refinement and reworking happens more often than it used to. 

The present store development and renovation process used by most retailers has changed little in the last fifty years.  It does not provide for maximizing the impact of all the tools that can influence shopper behavior.  It is slow, expensive and permits little accountability for results.