via Mobile Commerce Daily

The rapid adoption of the smartphone and the mobile medium is one of the most important trends that shopper marketers are tracking this year and next.

Consumers are not only using their mobile phones to make purchases, but also increasing using them to perform shopping research on their way to a store and while they are in the store.

This trend will only increase with Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone activating 450,000 phones a day and as a generation of teenagers, who currently average 3,339 text messages a month, come of age.

Luxury shoppers are early adopters of powerful smartphones, but paradoxically, luxury brands are lagging behind when it comes to leveraging mobile marketing.

This is not unusual in and of itself.

Mind the gap
Luxury brands traditionally trail other retail brands when it comes to technology adoption and in providing cross-channel user experiences.

Unlike wide-appeal brands such as Gap or J.C. Penney, luxury brands’ core customers often have higher service expectations due to the higher price points of luxury goods, which luxury brand managers mistakenly assume exclusively means personal service from sales associates.

In reality luxury shoppers’ expectations for high-quality service extend to great self-service tools and rich multichannel shopping experiences.

In a recent New York Times interview, Christopher Bailey, chief designer at Burberry, explained that part of the continued success of the venerable luxury fashion brand is due to its new cross-channel initiatives, especially in the mobile medium.

In fact, during the fashion house’s runway shows, spectators are furnished with mobile devices that allow them to reserve items in real-time while they are viewing them on the runway.

However, Burberry – which ensures that its customers can interact and experience brand consistency across every possible channel – is the exception to the rule.

(See Burberry takes third place: Luxury Marketer of the Year)

Many luxury retailers continue to invest their resources in the same old tools.

For instance, luxury brands spend millions on store facades and interior fixtures, yet ignore the parking lots that surround the stores – leaving them aesthetically displeasing and visually at-odds with the brand experience inside the store.

There is a similar incongruity related to mobile.

While their in-store experience may be unparalleled, luxury brands often receive failing grades when it comes to pre-tailing, an increasingly important step in a consumer’s purchase decision.

Luxury brands need to move quickly to offer mobile and online pre-shopping tools that seamlessly integrate with their existing ecommerce and retail experiences.

These marketers must ask themselves: Do all channels have visibility into a customer’s past purchases, gifts and wish lists?

In many ways, mobile represents the latest incarnation of the venerable clientelling practices that luxury brands have leveraged for years.

Associate sales, not sales associate
Why is mobile so important for luxury brands? Brand perception, loyalty and retention, for starters.

Luxury brand customers feel they have a relationship – even a bond – with the brands themselves, which does not extend, interestingly enough, to the sales associates or other human faces of the brands.

Mobile, in particular, allows customers to limit their interaction directly to the brand via the use of technology and to keep their interaction and brand experience consistent with their own perception of the brand.

For example, users of Gucci’s iPhone application are treated to exclusive music mixes by celebrity DJ, Mark Ronson, as well as sneak peeks of forthcoming merchandise, such as the Gucci Kids line.

The brand is rewarding its customers for using the mobile medium, offering a more intimate interaction than might be had in a bricks-and-mortar store, while also removing the chance that a single sales associate’s bad day could translate into lasting damage to the brand via customer dissatisfaction.

Of course, one of the primary justifications for the mobile medium is the same for Walmart as for Neiman Marcus: simple convenience.

Consumers increasingly rely on mobile devices for everything from calendaring to weather forecasts to GPS, and this ubiquity extends to shopping.

In fact, according to a recent survey by Brand Anywhere and Luth Research Inc., Web retailers could increase consumer engagement by 85 percent simply by offering a mobile version of their Web site (see story).

So, the time is now for luxury brands to add mobile to their channel mix.

While the benefits are numerous for all retailers, luxury brands, in particular, stand to gain higher engagement, sales and retention rates by offering a strong user experience to customers who clearly want – and expect – a direct, intimate and convenient way of interacting with the brands.

Jason Goldberg is vice president of strategy and customer experience at CrossView. Portland, OR. Reach him at jgoldberg@crossview.com.

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Post tags: Android, e-commerce, fashion, google, Gucci, iPad, iPhone, Jason Goldberg, luxury, luxury brands, mobile, mobile 2.0, Mobile Commerce, multichannel, retailers, social shopping, web 2.0

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via blogs.wsj.com

Shopping continues to shift to the Web, but the years of torrid growth are coming to an end.

In 2009, e-commerce in the U.S. managed to buck the recession that dragged down the rest of retail, growing 11% to reach $155.2 billion, according to Forrester Research. The research firm is predicting in a report out Monday that e-commerce in America will grow another 11% this year.

Just a few years ago, online shopping was growing at more than 20% per year. But today, that growth is stabilizing, as shopping habits have shifted to make buying online a more regular occurrence for many types of products. Already, 52% of all computer hardware, software and peripherals are bought online, says Forrester – and growth in online sales of those products is likely to slow considerably in the coming years.

“There are still high levels of growth. But we are on a much bigger base now,” says Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester’s e-commerce analyst. Compare 11% online growth to the 2.5% predicted by the National Retail Federation for U.S. retail overall in 2010.

In 2010, e-commerce will likely account for 7% of all U.S. shopping, excluding auto, travel, and prescription drugs. That could go as high as 20% someday, says Mulpuru, as a generation that has grown up with e-commerce gains more spending power. In the immediate term, online shopping is going to be driven by purchases of electronics and apparel and footwear, and relatively less mature categories such as furniture, beauty products and groceries.

And a new area of focus for retailers isn’t online buying at all. Rather, it us using the Internet and mobile technology to influence sales that happen in stores. Already Forrester’s study found that 42% of all retail purchases in 2009 – worth some $917 billion – were influenced by the Web in some way. By 2014 that figure is likely to jump to 53%.

In the future, the lines between online and offline commerce are going to get even more blurry. “If somebody buys from a mobile device in your store, is that a Web sale or a store sale?” asks Mulpuru. Retailers “need to think of some new ways that they can take into account the Web’s influence,” she says.

SOURCE: blogs.wsj.com

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Post tags: e-commerce, Forrester Research, Internet, mobile shopping, mobile technology, National Retail Federation, online buying, retail, retailers

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via retailcustomerexperience.com

IDC Retail Insights 2010 Top 10 Predictions

1. Retailers will seek growth strategies based on “same shopper” sales and first-time buyers.
2. Retailers will launch aggressive technology investment programs to support new business models while reducing traditional IT costs.
3. Retailers will extract more value from their supply chains, responding adeptly to customer, supplier, and regulatory influences.
4. The devil is in the details — retailers will find heaven where information informs intelligent automation.
5. Retailers will focus on customer experience solutions convergence.
6. Retailers will drive mobile consumer interaction — entering the open shopping era.
7. Retailers will focus on building customer intimacy and loyalty while improving brand performance.
8. Retail investments in demand intelligence and BI are driven by a need to lower inventory costs and be more customer centric.
9. Retailers will build sustainable lean retail enterprises.
10. Traditional retailers are on the Titanic; the approaching iceberg is online social commerce.

a fragment from Ten retail IT predictions for 2010

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Post tags: brand, customer experience, IDC, IDC Retail Insights, intelligent automation, mobile consumer, open shopping, Predictions, retail, retailers, social commerce

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Style Star at the NRF Conference in New York with Microsoft and Avanade

Moda e Tecnologia, Microsoft and Avanade will be at the National Retail Federation’s NRF 99^th Annual Convention & Expo at the Jacob Javits Center in New York from January 10 – 12

with a Style Star lounge, booth 100

Because fashion and luxury goods are intrinsically tied to identity for many people, retailers are constantly looking for better ways to create a strong emotional connection to the brand and more actively engage consumers.  Moda e Tecnologia, Microsoft, Accenture and Avanade have developed an offering that helps fashion retailers create immersive interactive experiences with consumers across both real world and virtual channels.

After 60 years, the fashion and luxury landscape is undergoing significant change. Runway shows no longer seem the only way to promote fashion in the globalized, technological new world of the 21st century, and the fashion and luxury consumer is no longer seen as a target but as an individual demanding participation, exchange and co-creation. Forward-thinking, visionary luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Prada, Tod’s and Ferragamo are experimenting with new forms of brand communication and promotion for a mix of digital and traditional media, including cinematography and short film vignettes.

“Style Star offers a new way of communicating and selling fashion and luxury goods to consumers by combining interaction with emotion across digital marketing, ecommerce, customer relationship management (CRM) and Web services,” said Marina Garzoni, President of Moda e Tecnologia and founder of Style Star.  “Moda e Tecnologia and Microsoft developed the Style Star MSN format melding fashion and cinema that directly reaches out to consumers and amplifies the advertising and promotional reach of the fashion and luxury industry’s short film production and promotional efforts.”

In addition, at the NRF Conference Moda e Tecnologia, Microsoft and Avanade are showing how fashion and luxury goods retailers can drive strong brand messages through multiple channels, including real world, digital and social media.  This approach brings new technologies to fashion for a more immersive consumer experience.  The offering was first previewed in Italy at the Venice Film Festival and Milan Fashion Week in September.

“Luxury brands are actively exploring immersive new ways to communicate with their public.  I found Style Star to be a very positive experience that allowed me to communicate the message to many through a new combination of technology, fashion and film,” said Edoardo Winspeare, Director of the Louis Vuitton short movie Les Noces de Papier (http://donne.it.msn.com/stylestar/video.aspx).  “A new era is coming.  People are asking for more authenticity and interaction.  They wish to participate and share their emotions.  Louis Vuitton understands the importance of this powerful new phenomenon and I appreciate the freedom I was given to express their message.  I was honored to be part of the first Style Star event during the 66^th Venice Film Festival with Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Ferragamo.”

Since September, major retailers in Europe have shown interest and are exploring Style Star solutions.  These include new ways to drive a unified brand message across multiple channels, including real world, digital and social media combined with an immersive new way to drive commerce.  As a result, Style Star generates greater brand visibility, attracts existing and new customers, increases sales and boosts customer loyalty.

“Emerging technology has expanded the relationship between the brand experience and the consumer by providing a 360-degree way of communicating through both virtual and real world channels, providing a connected consumer experience”, said Garzoni. “Style Star provides a whole new way to engage customers in interactive formats such as mobile, web, Surface, cinema and 3D. This builds a strong emotional connection to the overall brand and products.  Retail brands can take advantage of Style Star to excite their customers, amplify their promotional efforts and showcase their creativity and innovation.”

Thanks also to collaboration with Leo Burnett, the official communication agency of Style Star, and Microsoft MSN, Style Star now will span both the real and the virtual digital worlds.

“Style Star is an immersive experience for the fashion industry with strong appeal that connects consumers more directly to the latest trends.  Fashion and luxury brands embrace innovation and pride themselves on being leaders for the international scene.  We are evaluating this new concept which we believe represents what is next in advertising,” said Enrico Dorizza, Creative Director for Leo Burnett.

“We believe that today more than ever, having seen the economic link and the changes that are taking place, there is a need in the fashion and luxury world to explore potential of the mix of fashion, cinema and the technology and the impact it can have on the future of the industry,” said Garzoni.

About Style Star

Style Star launched in Italy at the 66^th Venice Film Festival and the Milano Fashion Week in September with Marina Garzoni, President and Founder of Moda e Tecnologia, with Microsoft.

The concept is a new way of communication and selling to fashion consumers combining interaction with emotion across digital marketing, ecommerce, CRM and web services.

Style Star is an innovative format, with interactive fashion vignettes, cinema and MSN which amplifies the advertising and promotional reach of the fashion and luxury industry through short film vignettes.

For more information, go to www.stylestarfestival.com or contact us at press@modatecnologia.com

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Post tags: 3D, 66th Venice Film Festival, Accenture, Avanade, brand, Chanel, co-creation, connected consumer experience, Creative Director, CRM, Dior, ecommerce, Edoardo Winspeare, Enrico Dorizza, Expo, fashion, Ferragamo, Leo Burnett, Les Noces de Papier, Louis Vuitton, Marina Garzoni, Microsoft, MSN, National Retail Federation, NEW YORK, NFR, Paula Paravecchio, Prada, retailers, social media, Surface, Tod’s, virtual channels, Web services

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