Marketing at Retail - December 2008 - (Page 8)

S U S TA I N I N G T H E B R A N D E X P E R I E N C E consumers with the retail experience they will increasingly expect when they arrive at the store. —Matthew Coble, General Manager, Atlanta Schematic Studying shopper behavior in Japan, with changing economic situations as well as range of choices made possible by Internet, people appear to be setting a new standard of behavior. As mentioned in hedonic psychology, good shopping is not necessarily rational, and we see conviction as an important factor to it. For good reasons, some socially based and some financially based, people are trying to convince themselves what to buy — and where. Foreseeing a great and probably permanent change in our social environment, new and diverse retail spaces, with unique brand propositions and communications, seem to be the answer. I think we will see sustainable (but not necessarily large scale) new breeds of retail emerging as a result. —Masaya Shimizu, Planner, Promotion Development Division, Dentsu Inc. Tokyo In the latter part of 2008, retailers have focused almost exclusively on price rather than value. In the UK, our ‘credit crunch’ has led to ‘price crunches’, which in their own right offers short-term consumer relief. But, these are unsustainable, especially over the course of the long-term. So what can retailers do to help customers and, at the same time, maintain a commercial enterprise? Less ‘growth’ and more ‘care’; perhaps a more introspective look at who their customers are, why they choose to shop with them to understand how they can better connect with their customers and therefore nurture a relationship that’s more value-driven than pricebased. Retailers who already know how to do this need to more of it, and those that don’t may wish to learn — and fast. —Chris Heap, Managing Director, The Imperative Group They completely risk their relationship with their existing customers in an environment where new customers are hard to find. Stores particularly are a risk area because store sales have been flat if not falling off a cliff — while online sales have stayed positive. It’s tempting in that situation to cut spending on stores — inventory investment, sales labor hours, customer-facing technologies. But the reality is that no retailer out there understands how much stores actually contribute to supporting online growth. Whacking store budgets because online is floating the company may actually turn out to be ‘strangling the golden goose’. Consumers don’t perceive channels; they perceive brands. Retailers need to be thinking about how they maintain (or adapt) their brand image — in all the elements they present to shoppers, including the store experience — instead of blindly following the channel that appears to be generating sales. —Nikki Baird, Managing Partner, RSR Research Cost cutting is important but we all learned at a young age not to run with the scissors. Retailers risk the loss of brand integrity if they cut too deeply and it affects the experience of the brand. This will result in the loss of current clients as they move to other price channels and their potential return when the economy recovers. —Kevin Kelly, President, Service Retailing, Miller Zell HOW ARE OTHER COUNTRIES RESPONDING? WHAT, IF ANY, OF THEIR PRACTICES CAN WE FIND INSPIRATION FROM? Although only a handful of countries are covered, what’s clear is that this is a global issue. We’re all in the same boat, but some have it worse than others — and some are responding more rationally as well. After all, deep in our hearts, most of us realize that we’ve had a pretty good retail ride for many years now and something was going to have to give. Mr. Shimizu of Dentsu Japan brings one of the most poignant perspectives to this issue when he shared, “I heard someone refer to this environment like that after a great forest fire, where new forms of life and ecosystems start to sprout after the burn.” This is a perfect analogy for us all, as with anything else, with pain comes growth. WHAT DO RETAILERS RISK IF THEY STYMIE THEIR GROWTH PLANS TO LIMIT SHORT TERM SPENDING? What happens if retailers don’t move forward bravely with addressing core issues due to budget cuts? As much as this may be feel like a silly question, some brands are slashing budgets without realizing what they might be burning. This could be a fear-based reflex, pressure from Wall Street or gunshy leadership teams. Regardless, as Kevin Kelly of Miller Zell notes, it’s like “running with scissors” —- and it’s dangerous. As pointed out in our first question, change and evolution will be key to sustainable long-taerm growth and success. This will require multiple types of investment: via time, money, and emotion. But the customer relationship is at stake, and this is the most important asset to any retailer today. After all, stores exist to sell. And who sells without customers? Like any personal relationship, healthy customer relationships involve knowledge, empathy, consideration, support and reasons to thrive. Rarely have we had such exciting tools and methods to support this in-store, but it won’t happen if we don’t see that the benefits are long-term and may require some short-term discomfort and investment. Portugal is a small European country, with a population of ten million and GDP equivalent to the state of Missouri or Wisconsin. The country’s highly competitive retail environment has been hit hard, a result of both the struggle with economic growth in recent years, as well as the fall-out from the current global financial crisis. Recent brand, retailer and panel data indicates that consumers are visiting stores more often, but buying less, focusing their purchases on essential food items in detriment to healthcare and personal care categories. How are retailers responding? For the key players in the market, the business driver is private label, growing three times more than branded FMCG category counterparts and offering the consumer the promise of real value, despite [8] M A R K E T I N G AT R E TA I L

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marketing at Retail - December 2008

Marketing at Retail - December 2008 Contents Letters from the Editor Sustaining the Brand Experience Digital Signage Providers Producer/Providers - U.S.A. Arizona, California, Colorado,Connecticut, Florida, Georgia,Iowa, Illinois Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,Massachusetts, Michigan,Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada,New Jersey, New York,North Carolina, Ohio Oregon, Pennsylvania,Rhode Island, Tennessee,Texas, Washington, Wisconsin Producer/Providers – Canada International Directory Argentina Belgium Brazil Chile Czech Republic Denmark Ecuador England Finland France Germany Hungary Ireland Japan Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain Ad Index Sweden Switzerland Turkey

Marketing at Retail - December 2008

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