The two areas where brands and retailers broke the shopper marketing mold in 2014 were retail experience innovation and an enlightened approach to social. Here are some winners for each of these quickly evolving elements of shopper marketing …
INNOVATING RETAIL EXPERIENCE
Who hasn’t been stuck in a dressing room waiting for an associate to grab a new size, make a recommendation or find the perfect accessory? Or standing in a department store with cash to spend –but no access to product details or brand information to help you decide? We were excited this year to see retailers who were focused on creating differentiated experiences that catered to real shopper needs and desires:
- Bloomingdales worked to overhaul their whole shopping experience with a new store brimming with efficient and user-friendly technology – ranging from smart fitting rooms outfitted with tablets giving shoppers additional product info and recommendations to complete the look, to touchscreens in every department that give shoppers a look at new styles coming next season.
- Burberry’s newly renovated flagship store was designed to allow customers to “experience every facet of the brand through immersive multimedia content exactly as they do online” –through digital signage on each floor that reacts to RFID tags attached to merchandise, interactive mirrors and other next-gen tech.
ENLIGHTENED SOCIAL APPROACH
2014 was a year of game change as we started to see clients explore using common social mediums beyond their immediate face value. Brands started to appreciate the true nature of what these tools are intended to facilitate – connection, expression and immediacy. We applaud those who found a way to drive access to product while staying relevant to the medium …
- Target was the first to leverage the social strength of Instagram inspiration into immediate purchase by inventing a crafty method enabling shoppers to purchase products featured on their Target and Target Style Instagram accounts. Target made it possible for users to select posted images of products they are interested in and then click through to view the grouped items on Target’s website to make the actual purchase.
- Home Depot partnered with Twitter to test “buy now” functionality allowing users to seamlessly buy products directly from a Tweet. Fittingly, the user experience is the equivalent of a 140-character path-to-purchase.
Bloomingdales, Burberry, Target and Home Depot won our hearts this year, but brands and retailers are getting smarter every year. We are excited to see what unforeseen territory is explored in 2015!
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Laura Moser is SVP, shopper marketing practice lead for Momentum North America