New Meaning to Window Shopping

Yesterday The Age newspaper published an article about the possibility of virtual storefronts accessed by QR codes coming to Australia in the near future… Today they arrived.

Sportsgirl have clad the windows of their Chapel Street store with giant decals showcasing products from their latest range along with a QR code directing you to purchase the garment from their online store. It’s all about convenience and being able to ‘shop 24/7’.

 

It can take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to refit a store. That equates to a lot of lost sales but more importantly retailers often find that shoppers will go elsewhere in that time and may not return. Until we see a full take up of online shopping, a window store is never going to generate the revenue of a physical store. However it should go someway to maintaining a brand presence that customers will come back for.

We’re not shopping for groceries whilst waiting for the daily commute at the train station yet (i.e. the South Korean experience), however we are one step closer thanks to this initiative by Sportsgirl.

  

The Beauty Loop

I can finally say that I’m in the loop. All across the latest trends, newest products and with invites to upcoming events filling my inbox. The Beauty Loop that is.

Mecca have fully branded their customer loyalty program into something quite special. In their words, it’s “our way of recognising you. The brands you love, the products you want and the experiences you enjoy. It’s also our way of thanking you and giving you more of Mecca.”



There’s three levels that I can aim to attain in the Loop. Level 1 - A beauty devotee, you love all things Mecca... and yearn for more, more, more! For this I’ll get a complimentary Makeup Application for my birthday, invites to exclusive events and of course the latest in beauty news. All in exchange for a spend of $300 each year.

Level 2 - Meccanista is your middle-name gets me a birthday gift, complimentary Makeup Application, event invites and deluxe samples for a spend of $600. Going all out for twice that amount ($1,200) would see me attain Level 3 status - You have the key to Mecca! And your beauty wish is our command. In addition to Level 2 benefits, I would also receive one-on-one time with makeup and skincare experts, personalised new product showings and deluxe samples and previews.

Every purchase in store or online goes towards my Beauty Loop account. By setting up my profile online I can also activate the auto-replenish service ensuring I never run out of product and select what sort of products I want to receive more information about. I’m also prompted to write reviews about items I’ve recently purchased and share them with fellow beauty devotees on the site.

There’s a couple of things I love about the concept of the ‘Beauty Loop’. Firstly I feel that I’m on the inside – in the know with all the latest goss, a feeling of exclusivity. The word ‘loop’ also has a great connotation of being something that comes full circle – spending and receiving in return.

Boxpark Opens

The evolution of temporary retail space took a giant leap early last month, with the opening of Boxpark in London.

The world’s first ever pop-up mall occupies a yet to be redeveloped site in Shoreditch. With development of the Goodsyard still another five years away a temporary use for the site was needed.  Real estate developers Hammerson and Ballymore have partnered with Roger Wade, creator of the Boxfresh label and fashion brand consultancy, Brands Incorporated to deliver the concept. With the world focused on East London in 2012, there’s going to be a huge traffic footfall passing through the area. Located in the centre of the city, it will become a arts, retail and cultural hub.

 

Constructed of 60 reclaimed shipping containers it’s a low cost, low risk opportunity for retailers. Particularly those looking for an experiential style site to trial a new concept or brand line.  The beauty of course is that the containers can be packed up and shipped off to other sites around the globe as the Boxpark concept is rolled out.





What I really dig about this mall is the positioning. An industrial design in an industrial part of town. The pitch for this urban regen project is at street brands – Puma, Vans, Evisu, Levi’s and galleries like Art Against Knives. According to  Roger Wade, “Boxpark is going to be a home for independent brands. It can’t be about the High Street, that’s never what Shoreditch has really stood for. What Liberty’s and Selfridges have proved is that if you get that brand mix right, if you focus on the most important thing, the brands, then the customer will come.” Bingo!

If you’ve got a spare 15 minutes, it’s worth checking out the team behind the project.

Thanks Aveda

Mad kudos to the Aveda retreat at Hawksburn. I ran in there a Saturday morning to stock up on a few things and was generously rewarded. What looked like the manager jumped up out of his chair and greeted me asking if I was looking for anything in particular. I reeled off the list – conditioner, face cleanser and blemish relief (I much prefer the French name traitment anti-imperfection!). The beauty consultant also assisted, quickly finding the items I wanted and without hesitation offered me a voucher to receive a foot soak & scrub, 45 minute customised facial and 45 minute customised massage within the next fortnight. The catch was that it would cost me $99, but knowing the Aveda retreat price list pretty well (thanks bro for many gift vouchers there over the years) I knew that was a great deal.

What was nicest was that the consultant didn’t hesitate to introduce herself and offer up the special, saying “you clearly love Aveda products and are familiar with the range, come enjoy this”. She was empowered by the store to reward as she saw fit. From a business perspective it was an add-on offer too, an opportunity to invite me to hand over more of my cash!

Nicely done Aveda, you’ll be seeing me again in the next fortnight.

     

Hello & Happy 2012

Happy New Year to you all!

Although it has been some time since I’ve written that’s certainly not a reflection of the state of retail, rather quite the opposite. Here in Melbourne we’ve had the momentous arrival of TopShop taking over the Borders site in Chapel Street’s Jam Factory with an impressive offering. South Melbourne Market established a curated space for young and emerging designers. And I finally made it up to Sin City to check out Westfield’s Pitt Street complex, a trip that again cemented in my mind why their leading the retail pack. Globally, November also saw the opening of Box Park – a pop up department store in London’s Shoreditch. Over next fortnight I’ll be covering off all of these (old news, but still interesting developments nonetheless).

What has been disappointing is the huge number of retailers that started their Boxing Day sales early in December. Rather than windows awash with traditional Christmas decorations, they were replaced earlier than usual with sales signage. November’s ABS retail trade figures released yesterday were labelled ‘disappointing’ by the Australian Retailers Association, though they reported “looking ahead to December we know most people leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute, so coupled with December’s interest rate cut this will hopefully mean December trade fared better on the fashion front.” We’ll have to wait another month to find out! 

Economics aside, I thought I’d use this post to share some of the interesting things I’ve seen around the traps in the past month;

A more subtle delivery of the sales message by Brooksfield using QR codes. The code revealed the discount customers received in store.

   

The best use of space in a window this Christmas goes to Jigsaw, for their oversized decorations in the Flinders Lane store.

   

Although it’s difficult to spot the product, this clever display by Paul Smith in the Eyeworks windows on Chapel Street was certainly eye catching.



Because it is the height of summer… a quick way to check your size in Havaianas. Very handy sales tool!

  

Bring on 2012!!!

Lisa Ho Swings Into Spring

Easily the loveliest window display of the season in Lisa Ho’s GPO Store, Melbourne!

Entering the Fourth Dimension… At the Core of Retailing Innovation

Tesco changed grocery shopping the way we know it, when earlier this year they engaged in the cleverest marketing campaign of 2011. That was lining a train station in South Korea with images resembling supermarket shelves and labelling each product with QR codes so you could shop from the station and have it delivered immediately to your home (read more here).

The innovation didn’t cease there. In line with a few other early adopters, they’ve now dived into the surreal world of augmented reality. 

In September as part of their ‘Big Price Drop’ media campaign, Tesco brought the fourth dimension to print ads, bus shelters and over 8,000 billboards around the UK. They partnered with Blippar, an augmented reality platform that is downloadable as an app on smart phones. It works using the in-built camera to recognise things in the physical environment and instantaneously provides a digital connection, simply by holding your phone up to hover over anything ‘blippable’ – no scanning (like QR codes) or photo-taking required. The response could be a web link, video, coupon, 3D experience or game. In the case of Tesco it links through to their website where you can download daily recipes or find your closest store.



Tesco is the first major retailer to deliver an AR print campaign using the UK-based tool. Angela Porter, senior advertising manager at Tesco, said “The Big Price Drop initiative is a major new offering from Tesco this autumn so it is fitting to partner with an equally innovative new technology for the launch campaign. We have been working hard with Initiative to devise an execution that takes interaction to the next level and by providing customers with the means to download store information instantly I am confident we have achieved that.”

Come October, they busted out the technology again to use as part of a Halloween promotion. Ads placed in the Sun and Metro newspapers brought animation and sound to the promotions around Shrek DVDs, Halloween costumes and treats. They also opened an online Facebook Pop Up store for the event, but that’s another story (read more here).

The fun doesn’t end there. Tesco have also introduced augmented reality into the online shopping experience. It allows you to check out what your TV or completed Lego toy looks like before you purchase… check out the video here.

This company is forward thinking at it’s core. In their 2011 Annual Report  (entitled ‘A Modern & Innovative Company’) they write of their approach to online retailing:

“Customers expect to be able to shop where and when they want – as shopping habits have changed over the years we've changed too. As we've grown from a UK supermarket chain towards becoming an international multi-channel retailer we've continued to innovate every step of the way.

We were viewed as pioneers when we first launched an online grocery business 11 years ago. It's now the largest, most profitable business of its kind in the world.

Using their smartphones, our customers can now scan the barcode of grocery items, order online and have their shopping delivered to their home.”

Tesco unashamedly admits their aiming to knock Carrefour off it’s No. 2 perch as the world’s biggest supermarket chain (Walmart holds the No. 1 title). Despite the economic doom and gloom that has plagued Europe in the past year, they’ve still managed to grow their store network from 4,836 to 5,380 and increase sales by 8.1% to £67.6bn. With attitude and results like that I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!