Shopper Culture

Mother's Day: Celebrating All the Mothers in Your Life

Mother’s Day has traditionally been thought of as a day to celebrate your mom. But increasingly, consumers are seeing the day as a chance to show their appreciation for all the special women in their lives who are mothers. Mothercare, a UK-based retailer, created a Facebook video showcasing the average mom’s point of view of the special day:

“It is a day set aside to dedicate and honor the women that give us so much love.”

This expansion of celebration is evident in shopper behavior and spending. According to Forbes, 23.5 percent of Mother’s Day spending will be on wives, 10.5 percent on daughters, 8.5 percent on grandmothers, and 8.2 percent on sisters. 

Retail is responding to this shift. For instance, while Ann Taylor Loft touts its Mother’s Day Must-Haves, they also remind shoppers of all the special women in their lives. As greeting cards are a common gift, retailers are expanding their collection to offer options for different recipients (e.g., aunt, sister, goddaughter). As marketers, we have to consider for whom shoppers are buying when we message around Mother’s Day.

 

Contributed by Jillian Kyle and Molly Paskal

Bourjois Opens Its First Flagship Store In Paris

After a first attempt to install a pop-up store at the Galeries Lafayette last year, Bourjois will open its first flagship store in Paris. The store will introduce a critical turning point for the brand’s brick and mortar strategy, for it will be the very first shop owned by the makeup and beauty brand since 1923. Bourjois is thus moving from a strictly B2B2C model to a direct-to-consumer model, which will enable the retailer to showcase its whole range of products and services and freely highlight its brand equities.

Built in an all pink and bright boudoir-chic atmosphere, the shop’s layout will leverage the Parisian brand personality and offer new services such as the Bourjois Jolie Room, dedicated to eye makeup and manicures, and the nail bar, which offers cheap and colorful samples of nail polish. The store is a smart way to celebrate 150 years of expertise in the world of beauty. 

Contributed by Integer Paris

Collecting Shopper Data for the Shopper

73% of smartphone owners are concerned about personal data collection. 55% are wary of sharing information about their location. (NielsenWire.com)

That’s a lot of people who, in good faith, are limiting the data they choose to share, therefore limiting the potential of having better shopping experiences. In the world of big data and data collection, it’s critical that brands and retailers continue to push forward and use the information they collect to not only drive sales, but to improve and maintain positive relationships with shoppers.

Lagerfeld’s Concept Store Provides Holistic Digital Experience

March 2013 saw the Kaiser of Fashion unveil a brand new concept store in Paris that offers ready-to-wear collections for men and women, along with a selection of limited-edition accessories, design, and photography books.

The 200 square meter black and white shop cleverly mixes baroque-inspired and state-of-the-art digital features, paying tribute to the off-the-wall personality of the high-profile fashion designer.

Oh, And Buy The Way…

Yesterday after work I accidentally wandered into a boutique fashion store, Lavish & Squalor, in Toronto. Without any prior knowledge or anticipation (I did not pay attention to any signs outside), I was surprised when I walked upstairs to discover a cafe. Yes, a cafe in the middle of a fashion store, with bar seating and a few tables with black tablecloths. On the way out, I checked their signage. Subtle, but clear: espresso bar upstairs. 

Pretty cool. And then I started thinking about the kind of shopper are they trying to lure in. Do they want shoppers who will later tell their friends “I stopped by for a coffee, oh and by the way I got this $300 blazer, too”? Is it for the companions of actual shoppers? Either way, it was a pleasant surprise, a very comfy environment, and I might go back soon. Maybe just to chat with the bar staff, but I might happen to buy something along the way. Just “buy the way!”

Burberry Introduces Smart Personalization for Shoppers

For the launch of its new Fall/Winter 2013 womenswear collection, the London fashion house Burberry created a seamless digital shopping experience. Following a similar principle to the Topshop “Enter the Catwalk” campaign, which provided viewers with live-streamed footage of the show and customization features, The Burberry smart personalization allows shoppers to browse and shop for items they like straight from the catwalk via their mobile devices.

Once an order is placed, shoppers receive tailor-made outerwear and bags with personalized, engraved nameplates. Shoppers are also invited to virtually

H&M Gets London's Oxford Street Buzzing

Oxford Street was abuzz, but the queue strangely quiet as H&M kicked off their four day launch extravaganza for the newly refurbished 6-floor Oxford Street flagship store at 1pm Thursday March 14th. 

Traffic was disrupted as the staff performed the Harlem Shake in front of the store shortly before the doors opened. The red carpet was rolled out, DJ's span discs and staff kept the energy and pace of the launch at around high-octane level. 

Lou and Nova greet shoppers and set the tempo.

If the Shopper Will Not Go to the Store, the Store Must Come to the Shopper

We all about know food trucks. Most of us have heard of grocery delivery trucks. But that is only the beginning. Imagine if a truck delivered…pretty much anything to your block! 

Feiyue is a French shoe company that is expanding globally. As a part of its expansion efforts in South Africa, Feiyue is taking its shoes to the streets of Johannesburg. Not only does the attractive appearance of the truck take you away and lure you into the store where you make an impulse purchase of a nice pair of shoes, but you can also schedule the truck to show up at your address, at home, at the park, or on campus! (Photos courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/feiyue.southafrica)

This trend goes beyond food, shoes, and goods in general. For example, there are beer canning trucks that will bring the canning equipment for your home-brewed beer. Others offer professional grade car-repair tools and equipment. The list goes on. Do you think the mobility, on-demand capacity, and flexibility paired together with the authentic and personal touch of the trucks will soon outpace online and big-box retailing?

Topshop and Google+ Revolutionize London Fashion Week

London Fashion Week is an opportunity for fashion brands to connect with shoppers and fans beyond showcasing the upcoming product lines. Topshop is fast becoming a best-in class-example in this space.

For the 2013 show, the retailer joined forces with Google+ for “The Future of the Fashion Show” activation.

Redefining Brand Engagement - British Airways

It’s the time of year when many of us are in planning mode for summer holidays because airline and holiday companies are holding big sales. I’ve scoured the internet for deals to good locations and on a recent glance at my Facebook news feed, I spotted a shared post about the chance to win a holiday. Lo and behold, it was a British Airways competition that offered a chance to win tickets to a chosen destination, such as Orlando or Barbados, every day for a week. Usually these competitions offer one pair of tickets and a highly unlikely chance of winning, but British Airways was giving hundreds of tickets away each day through two entry routes.

I could enter online via Facebook, where one person could win two tickets each day by answering a question about the chosen destination. It was an easy mechanic, and I completed the task in two minutes.

 

Shopping in your PJs: How a Children's Hospital understands Shopper vs Consumer

If any of you readers have elementary aged children, you’re well aware of Pajama Day at school. Wake up and wear your jammies to school all day. Of course Moms don’t allow their girls to just wake up and go. No. They wake up, change them into new, freshly pressed pajamas, brush their hair, doll them up and then send them to school. Boys? Boys just wake up and go. Bedhead and all. But this post into about the reasons why parents want their girls looking their best and boys looking like…

This post highlights how marketing to the shopper was applied to a children’s hospital -- a top ten hospital in the country. I, for unfortunate circumstances, spent the last three days at this children’s hospital with my son, who had a serious runaway bacteria in his stomach. The first morning, after a long night at the hospital caring for my son, I woke up, showered, shaved, deodorized, combed, changed and wandered off to find some food and fresh air. What I witnessed was nothing less than Parent Pajama Day at the hospital. Are all rules of public dress and hygiene suspended at this hospital? Did I not get the memo?

As I spent the next couple days becoming more familiar with my environment, I, too felt okay milling about in my flannel bottoms and two-sizes-too-large t-shirt. The hospital obviously took great care of children, but they knew who the shopper was. The Parents. They created an environment filled with places, spaces and activities for the adults to take care of their children and themselves.

The Second Screen Adds Engagement to Super Bowl Ads

After an eventful Super Bowl XLVII, which included two brothers pitted against each other, Beyonce’s halftime show, the power outage, and the 49ers (almost) rallying, today it’s all about recapping the ads. According to Ad Age, fans eagerly awaiting the 2013 ads were not looking to connect with a brand; rather audiences simply wanted to be entertained. The entertainment this year was brought to audiences by extending the ads onto a second screen. For example, the Coca-Cola Mirage ads added in some humorous competition plus engaged audiences via mobile. As MediaPost points out, we might start seeing more of the creative and engaging side of the Super Bowl ads taking place on a second screen. The first screen might then be used as a teaser to encourage user involvement.

The key to asking audiences to engage further with your brand on a second screen is being sure the payoff is enough. For the Coca-Cola Mirage campaign, users were able to not only vote for their preferred team, but also were able to sabotage the opposition. This addition cleverly turned the ad from a poll to a game and heightened the personalization for players.

Overall, using mobile might be the future of drawing audiences’ attention during the Super Bowl. The potential for personalization, along with a choose your own adventure component also sets brands up nicely for follow-up engagement with consumers.

In the end, the audience chose the Showgirls to win the race for the Coke, but there is a lot of discussion about which ads stole the show. Which ads were your favorites for Super Bowl XLVII?

 

Added Value for Catalog Shoppers

One of my favorite stress relievers is thumbing through catalogs. It doesn’t matter what kind, J.Jill, Pottery Barn, Athleta, William Sonoma, or Crate and Barrel. This past Sunday, while indulging in some stress relief on my couch, I noticed something in Crate and Barrel’s latest catalog, “January Inspiration 2013,” that caused me to sit up and take notice. Peppered throughout the pages were little tidbits of complimentary info that Crate and Barrel offered its readers for free. It was a brilliant added value that I have yet to encounter in another catalog. On a cozy living room design page was this suggested Scrabble app.

PYOP - Print Your Own Prize

I was reading an article on Mashable today discussing 3D printing, which has been gaining more and more recognition for potential mass marketability recently.  The article explained how the technology allows you to turn your childrens' drawings into three dimensional creatures. As a planner in the promotional space, this got me thinking about how this technology could become a game-changer for our industry.  

Imagine if we could take the "prize out of the box". The crux of many promotions are often some tanglible piece of tchotch that shoppers can find in pack, or more often than not, send away for. What happens when we can have shoppers print their own on their 3D printer based on downloadable designs.  We could allow more customization as well as variety to create stronger engagement.  Especially when it comes to kids promotions, this would allow parents to constantly refresh a promotion for their children. 

How do you think 3D printing will effect your industry? 

photo source: mashable.com

 

Buy Fast or Die Tryin'

In the wake of Puma’s successful “fastest purchase” campaign, which enabled shoppers to get higher discounts if they bought sneakers quickly, and Nike Mexico offering runners the opportunity to redeem their kilometers into currency to buy new shoes, Guatemalan shoe retailer Meat Pack just launched a funny, cutting-edge discount initiative. The amount of the promotion directly depended on shoppers’ ability to physically surpass themselves. The faster they ran, the cheaper it got.

To increase loyalty and drive sales, Meat Pack came up with a brilliant, irreverent promotional campaign addressing its core audience: hardcore sneaker fans, also known as sneakerheads. To promote the new discount, they created Hijack, an enhancement to the official Meat Pack app already used by customers.