Brands, Retail, Technology, Robotics (and more) by David Roth
This week sees the launch of our BrandZ Most Valuable Italian Brands 2019. Last year I did a series of short films with some of the key insights from the 2018 study. I never published them here. So, for the next few days here is the catch up. Their insights are still sharply relevant. Today’s is about Italian Consumers …2
At STREAM Commerce in Miami I interviewed a number of the key speakers and participants as part of my “In Conversation with…” series. I am very grateful to everyone who graciously participated in the recordings and were were so generous in sharing their insights.
Todays “In conversation… is with Kim Snow, Creative Director at Google. Have a good weekend when you get there…
At STREAM Commerce in Miami I interviewed a number of the key speakers and participants as part of my “In Conversation with…” series. I am very grateful to everyone who graciously participated in the recordings and were were so generous in sharing their insights.
Todays “In conversation… is with Danielle Bailey Managing Vice President, Gartner L2
Each week I will be posting my picture of the week. An eclectic selection from my pictures taken from around the world.
Here is this weeks….from Peru.
THE MOST INTERESTING STORE IN THE WORLD… At least that’s what Showfields founder and CEO Tal Nathanel is confident he is creating.
In a world where many retailers are closing physical space, this plucky entrepreneur has gutted an iconic building in New York’s trendy NoHo area and is creating a new four story brick-and-mortar retail concept intended to bringing digitally native and direct to consumer brands to a physical life. Its proposition for brands centres on configuring their space online via a six-step process, which will then be fitted out and staffed by Showfields. It costs a flat fee per month (no turnover related element to it.). All the tech comes as standard – including mobile POS, data sensors and visitor analytics.
It’s currently in its “soft launch” stage. Just one of its four floors are open but that has not stopped a number of digital brands opening their space already including “Quip” electronic toothbrushes which started life as a Kickstarter project. Their space at Showfields actively encourages you to try out the brushes for yourself. Difficult to do that on a web site.
Or “Gravity Blanket” the weighted blanket for sleep, stress and anxiety. Which I have to say I had heard a lot about but never really understood or seen the value in until Tal persuaded me to try it out for myself at Showfields. It really was good and worth the premium!
Quod Erat Demonstrandum (QED).
Sometimes you really do need that physical experience…And that is what Tal is banking on.
As he took me on a behind the scenes tour of the yet to be opened floors Showfields strengths become more apparent. Its official opening will serendipitously be on the same day that Gordon Selfridge opened his Iconic Selfridges department store in London’s Oxford Street, back in 1909. That redefined retailing in Europe. And Tal’s betting on doing the same around the globe.And serendipity is what underpins the customer promise. He discusses this with me and other topics in this video interview you can see here. http://bit.ly/2TbglGx
Go see Showfields for yourself. It’s on corner of Bond and Lafayette Streets in NoHo, New York.
The world’s most interesting store…It could well be…It deserves to be successful.
At STREAM Commerce in Miami I interviewed a number of the key speakers and participants as part of my “In Conversation with…” series. I am very grateful to everyone who graciously participated in the recordings and were were so generous in sharing their insights. Over the next few days I will publish here the individual interviews as well as the consolidate live broadcast that we took pace each day.
Todays “In conversation… is with Brian Moroz, Creative Strategist, Google
WeChat gets even bigger The role of WeChat as the ‘super app’ that does just about everything will expand even further in the Year of the Rooster. WeChat combines an online browser, messaging app, social media platform and payment function under one virtual roof, and has in excess of 700 million users who can access over 10 million internal apps (known as official accounts). Appy days – WeChat gets even bigger WeChat provides the ultimate gateway through which retailers can reach consumers. Retailers can use their WeChat account to do everything from sharing news and special offers to customer engagement, loyalty programs and payment. WeChat allows users to get product recommendations from their peers, then choose those products directly from the site and pay for them via WeChat wallet – without ever leaving the WeChat app. It’s a proven business model and one that overseas retailers should embrace as its influence increases. WeChat
With the rise of mobile, social and cloud technologies, customer expectations of the brands they engage with are constantly on the rise. The pursuit – and expectation – of unique and memorable retail interactions makes customer experience the new battlefield for brands. Those brands that deliver a winning experience will attract new customers and keep them. Cutting out the middleman When manufacturers sell through retail distributors, their ability to influence how their product is sold is often limited. They’re essentially at the mercy of the distributor to ensure that every shopper leaves the store – whether that’s online or offline – a happy customer. In 2017 we expect to see a stronger push from brands to cultivate direct relationships with their consumers. They’ll offer more focused brand experiences that build their brand story, and will be able to deliver more targeted messaging. By selling directly to consumers (DTC), brands can determine how the customer journey should be, and work to make that vision a reality. Going DTC provides not just a sales channel but can also give a huge boost to the lifetime value of consumers; brands can gather information about their customers and use it to provide personalized shopping experiences. Nike and Under Armour are leading the charge on DTC. This year, there’ll be more entrants in the race to deliver the best customer experience, directly.
I’m in catch up mode.
It’s been busy…no excuse so a lot of ground to cover. So let’s start with Chinese New Year.
A few months back. Here are a few thoughts on what is in store for retail in China during the year of the rooster. Here are 8 trends (one per day) in collaboration with a friend and colleague Mike Smollan that you should all be looking at if the “Year Of The Rooster” is to be a retail success for you. More of everything for the world of retail Every year in China, we predict a period of unprecedented change for the 12 months ahead, and all indications are that 2017 will be no exception. In the Year of the Rooster, we expect more of everything for the world of retail: bigger challenges, but also bigger rewards; heightened consumer expectations, and greater wins for the retailers and brands that meet them and even greater ones for those that exceed them. Change has become the only constant in the Chinese market, and that change is happening faster than ever. This makes retailing an enormous challenge. The retail sector is at the nexus of the biggest forces shaping people’s lives: digitization, brand building and a rebalancing of the Chinese economy away from manufacturing towards services and consumption.
To help you focus on what’s most important right now, we’ve distilled this vast ocean of change into 8 key retail trends in China for the Year of the Rooster. To learn more about Chinese New Year and how this national holiday unlocks year round opportunities for brands and retailers, download this informative and visual BrandZ™ study: . We hope this will help develop your insight into China, and help you better understand the ever-changing business of retail in this dynamic market. Here’s wishing you a very happy and successful Year of the Rooster. Gong xi fa cai.
Pooling resources One of the ways businesses in China will adjust to slowing economic growth is to focus on efficiency, delivering strong productivity while reducing costs. Crowd-sourcing labour is one way to achieve this, and we expect to see this help fuel agile brands and businesses in the year ahead.
The competitive nature of the in-store environment means brands have had little choice but to use traditional sales and promoter businesses; in a tougher economic climate, the need to connect with stores and consumers is just as important, but the pressure on costs means brands are looking for new ways to achieve this. Crowd-sourced labour – something we’ve seen succeed in many mature markets – is something we expect to see more of in China’s retail industry in the year ahead, particularly in lower-tier cities where there is a hunger for market information but not necessarily the budgets to gather it in the traditional way. Deploying people whose work is paid for in ‘slices’ of time can help give brands a presence in remote places at a very reasonable cost.
This approach has, until now, been mainly used by start-ups trying to minimize their cash burn; this year, we expect crowd-sourced labour to be deployed by more mainstream brands as they work to reduce costs.
The Chinese New Year, known in china as spring festival, is the country’s most important holiday. The Chinese New Year is based on a calendar established about 4,700 years ago. Various legends explain the origin of the Chinese New Year. One describes how people dreaded the New Year because a fearsome beast named Nian annually terrorised the population and devoured children. Then one year a child appeared dressed in red. The beast, frightened by the colour, fled and never returned. That’s why the Chinese New Year traditionally features red lanterns and noisy firecrackers to ward off evil spirits.
The Chinese New Year is based on a calendar that calculates time using both lunar and solar events. Time passes in 12- year cycles, with each year represented by an animal of the Chinese zodiac. Traditionally, people prepare special foods and hope for a future of good luck. They attend many family dinners, starting with a New Year’s Eve feast. Travel home for the family reunion produces a mass migration. The New Year period culminates in the lantern festival, a joyful celebration around the first new moon in the lunar New Year.