Design Forum » Brand strategy

Experts Answer: What do retailers do next?

Lynn Gonsior — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:31:11 +0000

While our annual 2010 State of the Retail Industry report delineates the challenge for retail brought about by consumer behavior changes in reaction to the great recession and the rapid adaption of mobile technology—many of those challenges will take several years to address. To find seven things that retailers can do right now, we asked our experts. Scott Jeffrey, Chief Creative Officer Push for differentiation. There is no time to rest on your laurels. Realize that innovation isn’t a stage, it’s an ingrained brand behavior. In fact, stop thinking of innovation as a “next step” all together--"step" as in a phase of something that stops and starts, or merely cycles through. My ideal retail brand would be one that never completes a store design prototype. The “never done” mentality is always asking, “What else? What else can we do to make it better?” That type of thinking requires courage. Belief in the importance of change. Granted, not every one of your new ideas will be a game changer, but once you entertain doubt and back off, you pretty much lose momentum. Particularly now, when the customer expectations are so far ahead of what most retailers are delivering in terms of the brand experience. The minute you rest on your laurels and let your brand and your stores get outdated, you have a really big, hardest-to-do maneuver on your hands: a turnaround. If you have a fleet of any size, you’re in danger of being too big and too rigid to manage a turnaround. But if you’re a constant seeker, a brand that remains loose and nimble, the maneuvers are much smaller and easier to manage. Your creative adjustments and transitions will be happening all the time. Knock down any silos in your way and get to that mindset as soon as you can. Bill Chidley, Senior Vice President, Shopper Sciences Consumers’ rapid adoption of the smartphone means it’s time to start thinking about connecting and communicating through that little screen. To make the most of the opportunity to drive demand, mobile optimization should be a top priority for your brand. It’s all about being in the game. Don’t try to justify mobile initiatives with ROI. Move forward with a reasonable hypothesis and prepare to learn and adapt. Don Rethman, Senior Vice President, Architecture Consider doing a site survey. Do your shoppers expect to share their shopping experience instantly? Do you plan to make fast calls to action in the store? Your building needs a wireless-based backbone to support that, with wireless connectivity that allows for transitions. This goes even beyond the creation of mobile hot-spots. Buildings must have a distributed, robust and flexible IT infrastructure which will allow technical access to all spaces. It helps if you’re working with architects who are aware there is such a thing as a path to purchase so they can help create a store that increases productivity and doesn’t skimp on the brand experience. Amanda Yates, Vice President, Strategy & Analytics It’s vital to map the “customer journey” to understand where best to make the wireless investments, as well as other investments that help your brand drive choice. Mapping will provide the insights that will help you gain advantage and protect sales by offering shoppers what they want in the modes they desire. Not every retailer will need a full-blown program, but each must understand the needs of its customers, what information and access they are looking for and where or how they want to access it. Once these insights are known, the appropriate level of investment and how to spend it will become much clearer. Dave Nixon, Executive Director, Digital Strategy The multi-channel ideal is a seamless transition from the physical shopping experience to the virtual experience through every digital touchpoint--one that’s painless for the shopper and profitable for the retailer. However, for most retailers that’s not the first thing you can do. There will be silos to take down, brand strategy work and brand engagement initiatives to adopt before that nirvana is reachable. I’d like to elucidate further on what Bill says (above)—“Get in the game.” Companies that spend too much time planning their next technology steps will find themselves playing catch up to those that are already moving. One of the main benefits of digital is the ability to deploy it quickly and then modify or adapt the solution depending on the performance metrics for success. In that respect, adopting new digital platforms into your channel strategy is less expensive and presents less risk than physical channels. The time is now to leverage digital technologies for increasing revenue, efficiency and customer loyalty. Kris Medford, Ph.D., Director of Shopper Sciences Get to know your shoppers again. Segmentation that is a few years old is downright archaic so make sure your insights are recent and actionable. Who are your shoppers—both those in your store today and those you want in the future? What’s important to them from a digital perspective, and how can you use digital help to make your brand be more relevant to their lifestyle? Justin Wartell, Senior Consultant, Brand Strategy The physical store needs to evolve from its position as the “jewel in the crown” to a “tool in the arsenal.” For retailers, the most important thing that can be done right now is to (re)examine the relationship between the physical brand experience and all of the other expressions of the brand. Brand experiences are inter-connected organisms that create an overall customer feeling about the brand. By understanding the role that retail plays in the context of the other touchpoints that are, or can be, deployed, retailers can drive loyalty, reputation, efficiency and value across their organizations.

Let’s be Honest: Brands Need to Evaluate their Corporate Citizenship Efforts for ROI

Jay — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:08:27 +0000

There’s little doubt about it, Corporate Citizenship has become a force within many brands and organizations. Some of these efforts are very large in scale and highly publicized (think Pepsi Refresh project). Others are as simple and small scale as creating an office recycling program. Either way, it seems as if people within organizations of all sizes and types are actively seeking out opportunities to be better corporate citizens. The momentum behind the movement seems so great that it almost seems assumed that something must be done by each and every brand and organization. One question must be asked, though, when considering whether or not your brand should engage in an activity; what is my motivation for doing this? That’s right, I said it. As much as it pains me to say, your brand better have very specific reasons for being a better corporate citizen, or you may be doing more harm than good. I’ll spare you the lecture that economist Milton Friedman would give on this topic. I’ll just say that anything that takes a brand’s eye off of the singular focus it was created to achieve makes the brand a little less competitive in its market and a little less viable as an ongoing concern. In an ever more competitive world, it doesn’t take much of a slip to lose your competitive edge and set you back. So, if you’re considering doing something in the Corporate Citizenship realm, you need to ask yourself a very important question. “What is my brand getting in return for this effort?” The problem I see with the body of knowledge on the topic is that nobody really knows how much these efforts drive purchase.

Pay Attention CPG Friends, Pantene Does it Right!

Rhonda — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:26:50 +0000

While I spend my days understanding shopper behavior and applying rigorous research and analysis methods to help companies “grow categories,” I spend my weekends shopping like crazy. With my bank account being the victim of all of these great growth strategies! As you know, retailers and manufacturers are always finding new ways to create incremental growth or, simply put, make shoppers spend more. One of my favorite places to shop is Target. Before I even make it into the store I have generally blown $20 on the dollar spot. After piling my cart with a bunch of stuff I really have no use for, my second stop is always the shampoo aisle. Regardless of need, I always stop. Something about the colors and the arrangement of the shampoo aisle just makes me feel so clean and orderly and I generally end up picking up something guaranteed to fix frizzy hair or give me more volume. Well, much to my surprise, my venture into the shampoo aisle a few weeks ago yielded a fantastic new surprise! The new Pantene display! Aisle violators grabbed my attention as they organized the offering by color and hair solution. That’s right, hair solutions--easily found! And not only did the aisle violators frame up the offering, but the bottle packaging was new and perfectly coordinated with the signs. You can image my excitement as I quickly zeroed in on the “fine” solutions area. I left the aisle with a whole new system of hair care.

Imagine a Conversation with your Brand. Would it be Worth Listening?

Scott Jeffrey — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:32:11 +0000

The new Stoli ad on tv caught my eye the other day. If you haven't seen it, it depicts Hugh Hefner sitting down and having a drink with himself. Smoking jacket Hef on one side and a suited Hef on the other. The conversation gets at the idea that Hef wants the same things as any regular guy, companionship and the like. (I for one, think he's set the bar stratospherically high in that dept, but that's just a hunch.) It's a thought-provoking display and it made me wonder what a conversation with a brand might be like.

I think that the idea of persona is evident in many brands, but not all brands might have that much to say. Having a distinctive personality or tone of voice can be such a huge competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace. I look at the personality that Starbucks has been able to create over the years and compare that to their Seattle's Best rebrand. Both sell a similar product, but their voices are much different with how they talk and relate to their customers. If I sat down with both brands, the conversation from one to the other would be vastly different I think.

The Value of Brands

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:29:45 +0000

Design Forum has changed its name… sort of. When we became part of Interbrand in 2002, we kept the name of the company that I founded in 1978. Since then, we’ve evolved from a pure design entity into a multi-disciplined consultancy with a deep pool of talent, including a lot of brand expertise. “Design Forum” contains valuable

Radical Ideas

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:11:22 +0000

Recession or no, our research shows that shoppers enjoy finding something new in the store. It’s human nature. Whenever retailers bring energy and inspiration to the game—even when shoppers are thinking long and hard before opening their wallets—they still give the store credit for a better shopping experience. And from a better experience comes all