New insights into shopper marketing. Today, the retail industry is in the process of acclimating to a new multichannel environment. For today's marketers, this means a new kind of shopper is emerging -- one that engages with a wide variety of channels when deciding what to buy and where to buy it. A recent study by Shop.org, comScore, and Social Shopping Labs highlighted this trend by demonstrating that 47 percent of consumers have looked to their mobile devices for product reviews while shopping in a brick-and-mortar store. The offline and online worlds are blurring, and consumers are turning to an ever-widening variety of social and commercial information sources before making a purchase.
All these disparate strands, both offline and online, need to be pulled together into a coherent retail strategy by merchants. The process can be daunting for marketing departments worldwide, but there are many growing retail trends to capitalize on. More mobile shopping Global shopping communities Social media meets e-commerce. Three Studies Take a Closer Look at Hispanics on Social Media.
7 Retail Trends That Can Boost Your Business. U.S. retailers saw a glimmer of hope when the Commerce Department reported a 0.4 percent rise in sales in January. Given the fact that volatile variables that are key to the economic recovery have yet been solved (e.g., the European debt crisis, the housing market slump, etc.), many people, especially business owners, are taking any upswing in economic activity with a rather large grain of salt. However, Colliers International’s new report may give retailers a little insight into navigating such an uncertain economy. The U.S. Retail Highlights: 2012 Outlook gives a holistic view of the retail industry, highlighting not only the current landscape, but emerging trends as well. Although the bulk of the full report has giant retail corporations in mind, smaller businesses can still benefit from several of the report’s findings.
Here are some takeaways and trends that could help give your business an edge: Nike Portland store enters 'new evolution of retail' - Portland Business Journal. Nike Inc. The Bowerman Wall, a 12-foot-by-7-foot video display, shows a mosaic of Nike Inc. co-founder Bill Bowerman comprised of 1,404 tiny images that can be enlarged when touched. The display also includes more than 100 videos telling the history of the brand. Just like it did 20 years ago with the opening of its first Niketown store, Nike Inc. executives on Friday said the company’s new flagship retail operation in downtown Portland will change the landscape of sports retail. “We believe this store will be a catalyst for the overall marketplace and the sports retail industry,” said Elliott Hill, Nike’s vice president and general manager for North America, during the unveiling of the 26,000-square-foot Nike Portland store.
In many ways, the new Nike Portland store at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Morrison Street is a fully curated Nike museum — a showcase of the breadth and versatility of its brand, along with homages to its 40-year history. Six Stats on In-Aisle Mobile Engagement. The folks over at long-standing digital marketing agency White Horse have published an interesting new infographic that details the concept of “in-aisle” mobile engagement and it’s increasing growth in recent years. The data used for the infographic stems from a report White Horse published last year called “The Future of In-Aisle Mobile,” in which the agency conducted a first-of-its-kind ethnographic study on consumer use of smartphones to aid in-aisle shopping. The result was a dramatic picture of the gap between consumer mobile behavior in the aisle and retailers’ readiness to channel that behavior into customer loyalty and sales.
In creating the report, White Horse surveyed 390 smartphone users and turned six of the most interesting findings into the below infographic. The free report is available for download here. Infographic: Online Holiday Shopping Trends. The busy shopping days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday are almost upon us.
If last year is a guide, retailers have upped their search advertising, shopping by mobile phone will rise, women will be doing most of the online shopping searching and shoppers are after offers, promotions and especially free shipping. Audience targeting service Bluekai has assembled an infographic with these stats and more based on last year’s activity. Will the trends continue? Want this infographic for yourself? You’ll find it here: The Future Of Online Holiday Shopping (note, the site is currently down).
Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Infographics | Stats: General. Data Points: Ka-Ching! Infographic. Malls track shoppers' cell phones on Black Friday - Nov. 22. Through this signage at Promenade Temecula, the mall is notifying shoppers that their phones may be tracked as they move throughout the premises. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Attention holiday shoppers: your cell phone may be tracked this year. Starting on Black Friday and running through New Year's Day, two U.S. malls -- Promenade Temecula in southern California and Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Va. -- will track guests' movements by monitoring the signals from their cell phones.
While the data that's collected is anonymous, it can follow shoppers' paths from store to store. The goal is for stores to answer questions like: How many Nordstrom shoppers also stop at Starbucks? While U.S. malls have long tracked how crowds move throughout their stores, this is the first time they've used cell phones. But obtaining that information comes with privacy concerns. The management company of both malls, Forest City Commercial Management, says personal data is not being tracked.
Walmart Rolls New iPad, Updated iPhone Apps For Relationship Program | Digital. Mobile apps can help you spend wisely. Jim Langehennig set out last Black Friday to get a popular HDTV with a great advertised price. When the Consumer Reportselectronics lab manager got to the store, however, it was sold out. Another model had an unadvertised special, but Langehennig didn't want to buy it without checking the reviews. But he didn't have the magazine's app or mobile site loaded on his new phone. So he drove 30 miles home to use his computer.
Fortunately, the other TV was still at the store when he got back. "It would have been great to have the app right there in front of me," Langehennig says. Shopping and doing research on the fly can really pay off during the holiday season, especially when smartphones and tablets are used to compare prices and check product reviews. But credit expert Gerri Detweiler says there also can be a downside to shopping with your mobile device. "We can always be in shopping mode," warns Detweiler, co-author of Reduce Debt, Reduce Stress. 6 Stats on In-Aisle Mobile [Infographic] A guest post by Eric Anderson of White Horse. Armed with smartphones and a determination to change the way they buy, shoppers are storming retail aisles. On-the-fly comparison-shopping, scanning, and research are creating new ways for marketers to influence in-aisle buying behavior. But as smartphone usage in the United States reaches critical mass, retailers’ response must evolve rapidly.
We set out to identify the areas of greatest opportunity for retailers and CPG to develop a mobile experience strategy that aligns with changing mobile behavior. Our research included a 390-person survey of smartphone users, as well as “shopalongs” with smartphone shoppers in a range of retail environments. The infographic below excerpts six key findings from that study, which is available for download. Eric Anderson was recently named to iMedia’s annual list of 25 Digital Marketing Innovators in recognition of his work in applying new analytical methods to digital media. Epic Retail Fails 2011 [Infographic]