Nike's Virtual Outdoor Adventure

Article - https://www.marketingdive.com/news/nike-store-plots-virtual-outdoor-adventure-with-mobile-tech/594093/

Building off the observations from my initial blog post about the growing applications of AR in media, I recently came across this announcement of a real-world AR activation from Nike. It appears Nike engaged a retail experience agency to bring this digital augmentation to life in its flagship NYC store - aptly named the House of Innovation. This new activation mimics a 'treasure hunt' expedition that re-creates the physical experience of visiting Smith Rock State Park in Oregon via QR codes. In a retail landscape that has quickly had to pivot consumer engagement strategies to be socially distanced in a Covid-restricted world, it's interesting to see one of the world's largest brand's place so much confidence in its ability to re-attract consumers to physical retail locations. This new form of "phygital" marketing, where physical and digital elements are blended, is definitely something to watch in the experiential space and I think we will see more brands start to embrace new digital innovations to attract and retain customers.

Retailers' Digital Initiatives to prepare for the Holidays

With the holidays approaching, retail brands have reached its annual climax in unleashing marketing creativity. Given the growing popularity of online and mobile platform, brands like Sephora and Net-A-Porter have invested heavily on digital this year to forge an omni-channel shopping experience.

Sephora, the subsidiary brand of LVMH, has rolled out its first Flash Boutique in Paris, which served to ramp up its consumer experience through a mobile-connected experience. Consumers will be able to shop from a digital catalogue featuring more than 14,000 items from approximately 150 beauty markets in addition to its usual makeup collections. Should shoppers unable to locate certain products, they could virtually add the merchandise to their digital baskets that enable them to pick up the desired cosmetics from Sephora in the future.

In addition to digitalize its product catalogue, Sephora has opted to experiment its digital perfume testers, allowing shoppers to pick up a Communication tag for the scent so that they could scan it on a nearby screen to smell the fragrance and explore more about the product. Of course, if they are interested in purchasing the fragrance, they could simply add it to their digital basket.

Moreover, the Flash Boutique offers a selfie mirror to allow consumers snap photos whilst trying on new items. Sephora even offers customers the opportunity to win a 1,000 Euro gift card should they disperse their selfies across social media with appointed hashtags.

Net-A-Porter, the British online retailer, made use of Sky’s Adsmart platform to target ads at viewers based on a number of demographic factors so that different consumers will see different versions of its video campaigns. For example, for its most recent “All For You” advertisement, viewers who prefer to watch long and HD videos on YouTube would be shown the long version that delineates the retailer’s stellar service and transparency. On the other hand, should users demonstrate a viewing preference for short and catchy ads, the short 30-second version would appear.

Net-A-Porter has previously implemented multiple mobile initiatives this year. The social media app it launched in April – The Net Set, is now available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The app enables designers, brands, fashion personalities and consumers to interact with each other real-time, sharing inspirations and their own sense of style in a two-way dialogue. Consumers will also be able to scroll through a feed of trending fashion items from across the world, give friends shopping advice, share images, interact with style icons, and view personalized “love lists”.

According to the 2015 GPShopper Holiday Mobile Shopping survey, 35 percent of consumers plan to create shopping lists and 24 percent intend to check product inventory from their phones. Pinterest has upgraded Product Pins so that they allow retailers to automatically update their merchandise inventory information through their product posts. Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr have planned to implement similar initiatives such as collaborating with fashion bloggers to make social media channels the forefront of fashion enthusiasts’ discussions.

Given the current social media trend, brands should perhaps learn from Sephora and Net-A-Porter, and to synthesize digital and Brick-and-Mortar shopping experience by allowing greater transparency of their product inventory and pricing information, creating target contents for different customer segments, and fostering long-term customer relationships through interacting more with followers.


Links:

http://www.luxurydaily.com/sephora-blends-mobile-with-bricks-and-mortar-for-first-connected-boutique/

http://www.luxurydaily.com/net-a-porter-mr-porter-sway-holiday-shoppers-in-new-campaign/

http://www.luxurydaily.com/checking-product-inventory-goes-mobile-this-         holiday-season-report/

Can Urban get its cool back?

If you haven’t heard the term “omnichannel retailing”, then you’re missing out. Urban Outfitters is attempting to really integrate its marketing efforts in this way. The brand has been struggling a tad, and now the retailer is trying to get its cool back through mobile marketing.

Urban is putting beacons in 15 stores in Philly, Boston, New York, Atlanta, New Jersey, and Delaware. What are beacons you ask? They are small devices placed around the stores that ping messages to shoppers who have the app on their mobile phones. Swirl, the platform that powers the beacons, says that 2/3 of customers shop in-store with a smartphone so hopefully this will work well. 

Urban won’t be pinging shoppers with offers, but instead will focus on Urban’s loyalty program. The loyalty program is a section in the app that gives customers rewards and access to events. To start, Urban has identified 3 areas to focus on: 1) the entrance, 2) the fitting rooms, and 3) the checkout line. 

When shoppers first come in to the store, they receive a push notification that encourages shoppers to check-in on social media so they can unlock a special offer. Once they are trying clothes on in the fitting room, shoppers are prompted to take selfies and post them on Insta with Urban's popular hashtag #UOonYou and the selfie might even get put on Urban’s website. At payment time, shoppers get another push notification to show the loyalty card on their phone to earn a digital badge.

My concerns are:

1) Will shoppers download the app?

2) Will those who have downloaded the app actually use it?

3) Will the pinging get annoying?

Either way, pretty cool idea!

Why Beacon technology may be not the future of retail

When I read Nick's post on Beacon technology, I was immediately excited. I've been following this space for at least a year now and have been waiting for some revolution to take over my local BR, Zara, and TJ Maxx stores. But nothing has happened, or maybe something has, but I haven't noticed it (which would be bad from a marketing perspective!). First and foremost, I wholeheartedly agree that Beacon technology has massive potential to change how we approach communication, customer engagement, and service; it can become another form of digitally-driven marketing to form a personalized and valuable relationship with consumers, particularly from a retail or in-store perspective. However, I do think there are a number of challenges. I list them below:

1. Opting-in is a must.
When I think about wanting a better in-store experience and how Macy's can do that for me through beacon technology, I ask myself, what do I have to do? I need to have the Macy's app on my phone (which I don't) and I need to turn on BLE (which I previously didn't but only do so now in support of BLE-tech). If I make it past these two steps, I then need to be able to receive push notifications and to be realistic, how many consumers want more notifications? Not me. Downloading the app and opting in may present a large barrier for many retailers, but an opportunity still exists.

2. Consumers may not want to be engaged via their mobile device while shopping in the store.
As a consumer shopping in a retail clothing store, I am rarely on my phone checking out deals or looking up trends on blogs. I am just browsing. How often am I on my phone, holding onto it as I browse the t-shirts rack? Close to 0 times. Now, on the otherhand, this application may work for electronic stores, public areas such as airports, and sports stadiums where beacon technology could prove more powerful because the phone is a more meaningful device for the consumer experience.

3. The in-store digital experience will bring in more revenue.
Let's say I happen to be spending a little more time in the jeans section and Levi's knows my historical purchasing history from my registered account; why should Levi's give me a promotion? Are they giving money away unnecessarily? There is a trade-off in what could have been organically-driven revenue versus promotion-driven and what falls in-between is money left on the table.

I'm sure there are many other challenges Beacon technology faces but these are some of the biggest barriers from my perspective. However, the industry is quickly learning that other channels outside of retail are potentially more valuable and larger in scale. I'm looking forward to where beacon technology lands and how I can be positively impacted as an end-user.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/08/in-five-years-ibeaconbluetooth-low-energy-device-market-to-reach-60-million-devices/