Tag Archives: Marketing

Aug 30 2024
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How brands can build loyalty by helping parents with the back-to-school rush

Parents everywhere are about to heave a massive sigh of relief as millions of kids head back-to-school after a long summer.

Of course, this also means there’s lots to prepare for in terms of buying new uniforms, technology and other essential school supplies.

Daniel Todaro, CEO at creative customer experience marketing agency, Gekko, believes there’s also a £2.3bn opportunity for brands to build loyalty if they step up to help parents with the last-minute dash for supplies for their young learners…

School starts up again next week, and with that comes the inevitable back-to-school spend.

According to our recent research, buying school supplies before the new year sets parents back an average of £452.40 per child, when including everything from school uniforms and backpacks to laptops and mobile phones.

With seven out of ten (71%) of parents agreeing that rising costs are making it harder to afford back-to-school spending, and 61% worried about how they will foot the bill, many parents are left feeling stressed about the experience before they even begin.

Whether they have a tendency to leave things to the last minute to accommodate a child’s potential growth, or waiting for payday, many parents may find themselves rushing around the shops in these last few days before the new term, adding to the pressures they are facing.

Over the next few days, retail marketers have an opportunity to build and strengthen their relationships with parents.

Smooth customer experiences and appropriate support from brands and retailers can go a long way to helping ease parents’ pain points – and those who do it well will be remembered.

Focusing on the in-store experience

Given there are only a few days left before the start of term, online shopping may no longer be an option for some items, and there is limited time to research more complex products.

This means parents with shopping still to do, are more likely to venture in-store looking for retailers to be prepared to help.

Back-to-School-gekko-Graphic

With teams briefed on how they can identify and support parents coming in for last minute school supplies and those in the same boat being empathetic, are able to offer support to cash-strapped parents looking for value and the right kit.

Whether it is on the most popular products this year, product features and functionality or directing them to the right place – support channelled in the right tone can elevate their in-store experience, making them more likely to recommend and return as customers to your store.

Advice is most likely to be pertinent and valued for big-ticket items like laptops and tablets.

Three-quarters (76%) of schools now expect children to have their own tech but only 12% of schools have suggested specific products, leaving parents, who often do not have a good technical understanding of products or the differences between them, to figure it out for themselves.

Ultimately, one in five (19%) rely on in-store and specialist help – so it is important that sales teams are able to provide them with the support they need.

The stores that are most helpful will be remembered and preferred in future, while those that are unprepared or have inadequately trained staff could only create frustration and dissatisfaction.

Ensure consistency across channels

With next-day delivery broadly available, some parents will still be browsing for products online, and attempting to compare both features and prices.

Brands who work with omni-channel and pure online retailers to distribute their products can add value by ensuring that their appearance, descriptions and pricing is consistent as much as possible.

Using a web scraping service or monitoring your stockists is critical for providing a good brand experience.

When retailers are presenting the same product in different ways, parents can potentially waste valuable time, further increasing pressure, trying to figure out which of two options is the best when they are actually looking at the same product on two different sites.

Creating additional confusion and frustration could prevent parents from considering your brand in future and push them towards competitors that are more clear and consistent in their messaging and product placement.

Little things can make a big difference

With parents spending a total of £2.3 billion on back-to-school supplies each year, retailers and brands are keen to be getting a piece of the action.

Special offers that make the cost more affordable will go a long way, but are a somewhat short-term solution – the relationship only lasts while prices remain low.

Brands that can make the experience less stressful and reduce the pressure parents are feeling, on the other hand, will have consumers coming back year after year.

It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of online or app-based retail, but this is a prime example of when the in-store experience really matters too.

These suggestions may seem small, but having knowledgeable teams and providing a consistent empathetic experience will go a long way in creating a smooth customer journey across all channels and winning loyal customers for the duration of a child’s schooling and beyond.

To read the published research featuring a comment by Dan Todaro, Managing Director please visit MediaShotz

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Jul 19 2024
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Understanding Gamification: Enhancing Customer Engagement

What is Gamification, specifically in terms of Enhancing Customer Engagement? In simple terms, it’s the process of changing customer behaviour via game design, such as turning the process of completing undesirable tasks into a game. In turn, it helps instil loyalty and provides a rewarding customer experience. Numerous brands are utilising this tool to revolutionise their loyalty schemes which in turn has generated more customers and brand advocates. 

There are numerous use cases for Gamification such as:

Increased Engagement: Gamified elements make marketing campaigns more interactive and fun, encouraging customers to spend more time engaging with the brand.

Enhanced Loyalty: Reward systems and achievement levels can build a sense of loyalty among customers, as they are motivated to continue interacting with the brand to earn rewards.

Behavioural Insights: Gamification can provide valuable data on customer preferences and behaviours, allowing marketers to tailor their strategies more effectively.

Viral Potential: Well-designed gamified campaigns can encourage social sharing, increasing the brand’s reach and visibility.

Gamification in marketing can dramatically boost customer interaction. For instance, integrating game-like elements such as points, badges, and leaderboards into campaigns can increase customer engagement by up to 100%​ (Adact)​. Companies that employ gamified loyalty programs see a 22% rise in customer retention​ (Mambo Enterprise Gamification Software)​. Additionally, users spend 30% more time on websites or apps that utilise gamified elements​ (Adact)​.

Here are a few examples of Gamified loyalty schemes or apps that are used today:

Nike+ Run Club: Nike’s running app incorporates gamification by allowing users to set goals, track progress, and compete with friends. The app rewards users with badges and achievements for milestones, fostering a community of engaged and motivated runners.

Starbucks Rewards: Starbucks has successfully implemented a gamified loyalty program where customers earn stars for purchases, which can be redeemed for free items. The program includes challenges and double-star days to keep customers engaged and returning for more.

Duolingo: The language-learning platform uses gamification to keep users motivated. Points, streaks, and levels encourage learners to practise regularly, turning the process of learning a new language into an engaging game.

Gamification to enhance customer engagement has proven since its implementation for a variety of companies that it will be here to stay if anything, further development and wider implementation by more businesses looking to create a more engaging experience with the brand.

Article written by Callum Puffett, Marketing Executive

Photo from Technology Advice

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Jul 15 2024
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How can retail recruitment face down the gig economy threat?

With consumer finances feeling squeezed amid high inflation and a stalling economy, the retail sector has faced a difficult year – with an average of 39 bricks-and-mortar stores closing every day. This, along with increasing product choice, particularly when it comes to big-ticket items, is making it more challenging for brands to stand out from competitors, with customer experience becoming a focus for driving differentiation.

One way of achieving that customer experience is to play to the strengths of physical retail, offering something that the online world will struggle with: the human touch. People buy from people, and the use of brand ambassadors to focus on positive customer experiences, is a win for brand, retailer and shopper alike. A successful campaign of this nature very much hinges on the team you put in place, which means finding candidates with the personalities, skills, attitude, and experience to work in the retail sector.

In an ideal world, you will be bringing in trained experts with experience of working in the sector – but the talent pool is shrinking with the rise of the gig economy. That, compounded with low awareness of the opportunities available, means that retail recruitment is becoming increasingly difficult. So, what can brands do to draw in their ideal talent?

Competing with the appeal of the gig economy

According to research by the CIPD in 2023, just under 500,000 people are part of the gig economy, from private hire driving and food delivery to web development or translation, and with the rise of platforms like Taskrabbit and Fiverr, workers have even more opportunities.

Despite some significant downsides, workers are being drawn to the flexibility and autonomy offered by these platforms, and as a result there are fewer people willing to work on temporary retail campaigns. With a smaller talent pool to draw from, making it harder for brands to find workers with the skills and experience they need.

How to attract the right people

To compete with the appeal of the gig economy, brands should take a targeted approach, focusing both on their recruitment strategy and their value proposition.

  1. Know your talent pool
    Each brand needs to understand the job market to stand the best chance of attracting qualified candidates who can represent your brand and enhance the customer experience. This means understanding priorities, pressure points and how to reach the right people, and tailoring your approach to appeal to them, including using the right language or tone of voice, creating employee profiles, and highlighting brand values.
  2. Get your timing right
    Anticipating future needs and employing data tools to model demand is essential, especially in industries with variable requirements. Recruitment efforts need to align with job availability to prevent negative impressions and bolster the perceived suitability of the work for potential candidates.
  3. Highlight the benefits
    In a market where many desirable candidates are turning to the gig economy, highlighting how campaign work differs and addresses some of the downsides, can appeal to qualified candidates.

    Despite the flexibility and autonomy offered by gig economy work, there is a lack of security that can lead to work-related anxiety and financial vulnerability. Gig workers do not receive the same benefits as those on PAYE, such as sick pay and paid holiday, and they also face the additional hassle of completing tax returns. When it comes to pay itself, gig workers often find that they earn less than minimum wage after overheads, when campaign recruitment would pay more.

    By focusing on the additional pay, increased security, other benefits, and flexibility (if it’s on offer) brands can show the value of campaign work and draw in employees who would otherwise turn to gig work.
  4. Increase visibility
    Most campaign work offers similar flexibility to gig work, but it languishes in relative obscurity. Put simply, the right candidates simply don’t know it exists. Opening up discussions and promoting this type of work as an alternative to the gig economy will help to net top talent.

The challenge of finding the right team for campaign work is a burden for many brands, which are also juggling other complex priorities. Working with a company, like Gekko, which can draw on a pool of readily trained experts to create promotional teams that can be dropped into stores and immediately deliver results for brands.

To read the published article by Lizzie Street, Recruitment Executive, please visit Retail Sector

Photo from Pexels

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Jun 06 2024
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Gekko recruits Rob Holmes as UK and Ireland Sales Manager to head up Reze partnership

17th May 2024: Gekko, the retail sales and marketing agency, has appointed Rob Holmes as UK and Ireland Sales Manager to head up its new Reze partnership, bringing new consumer technology brands to the UK and Ireland.

Rob is a highly experienced Commercial, Go-to-Market & Premium brand-building professional. He has managed and developed premium global CE and tech brands including Google & Panasonic, where he spent over 11 years in senior National Account roles. Of particular note is his role in establishing & growing Fitbit from a start-up to the category dominant & market leading brand.

Working alongside Daniel Todaro, Gekko Group CEO, Rob will be responsible for identifying suitable brands and their product portfolios, identifying sales opportunities and defining the GTM planning. In addition, he will provide ongoing management and continued support to develop emerging partner brands into category leading brands.

Through the partnership, brands represented by Reze internationally will work with Gekko Group as their sales and marketing partner to secure their first footholds in the UK market with retailers and distributors. With product categories from personal care to small domestic appliances as well as sound and vision, Gekko will be aiming to establish and develop these new and innovative brands in the UK retail channel, offering retailers high-quality alternatives to some of the most exciting new consumer tech products.

Commenting on the appointment, Daniel Todaro, Group CEO, Gekko said: “Rob’s impeccable sales credentials and our retail marketing and customer experience is a brilliant combination to ensure our Gekko x Reze partnership flourishes. There’s so many exciting brands and products that want to assist in launching in the UK and Irish market by providing a 360 service from distribution to marketing.”

Rob Holmes, UK and Ireland Sales Manager comments: “This is an exciting time to be joining Gekko to lead the Reze collaboration. The consumer technology market is constantly evolving and there’s an array of fantastic brands and high-quality products, not yet available in the UK and Ireland, that consumers and retailers alike are going to love.”

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Jun 03 2024
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Retail therapy: The health & beauty brands delivering the best in-store experiences

Lush keeps it simple on the High Street

Physical retailers have faced immense challenges in recent years as shoppers have taken their purchases online, Covid closed shop doors for months and the global cost of living crisis has forced a decline in footfall and, as a result, sales.

This means that traditional brick-and-mortar retailers now have to fight harder and think more creatively than ever before to deliver seamless customer experiences in their stores. So, which brands are doing it the best in the eyes of marketers?

We continue the Retail Therapy series by looking at health and beauty retailers.

Daniel Todaro, group CEO, Gekko: “Without a doubt Lush, started in 1994 and still rocking it on the High Street. It’s not about tech or gimmicks; it’s about knowing and staying true to who it is, what its customers want and how to deliver it. And the fact that it doesn’t sell online means it has constantly evolved and prioritized its physical environment. The smell of a Lush store teases the senses and invites you in. Once in, it’s a playground of discovery for all ages, full of affordable products accessible to everyone’s pocket. Greeted by friendly staff who encourage you to play immediately, testing products in sinks and enabling you to try before you buy, or not, but still immersing you into the brand and its ethical range of products. Clever at retail and culturally on-point, the Saltburn bath bomb was genius reactive marketing. Bravo Lush.”

Clare Cryer, EMEA vice-president of growth, Outform: “Shoppers flock to Charlotte Tilbury, the luxury beauty brand, for newness, bestsellers and incredible advice. Its phenomenal success has led to growth across the makeup segment at its parent company, Puig. CT concessions have made the beauty counter a place to ‘play’ and feel part of a community getting better and repeatable experiences. They are a destination. The human element is paramount. Products are showcased with clear navigation and messaging. In-store ‘zones of learning’ inform, inspire and drive sales brilliantly, explaining complex product features and formulations in terms of how to use and product benefits, all brought to life by authentic content and reviews.”

Sara Parrish, experience strategy director, Imagination: “It’s clear retail experiences are changing. The Korean eyeglass brand Gentle Monster offers an escapist atmosphere akin to a surreal avant-garde gallery, while House of Vans in London has successfully created an entertainment space that features a skate park along with rotating art, music, and cinematic installations. Experiential retail stores serve as a powerful tool for building understanding around a brand’s products. Dyson understood its technology was innovative in its category, so it took a leap and created the Dyson Demo Store. These pop-ups offer customers space to learn, demo and use their technology. This blend of educational and aesthetic elements creates an immersive space for consumers to interact in a meaningful way and increases the likelihood of customer retention, building loyalty through experience.”

Lee LeFeuvre, chief commercial officer, SMG: “Boots has revamped 170 beauty halls and launched its first beauty-only store in Battersea, creating a ‘beauty destination’ with over 250 brands. Offering services from LED light treatments to Dyson hair styling stations, the digital-first store features over 10 screens for an engaging experience, including a trending pillar for influencer and TikTok content. Boots regularly hosts free experiential events, like the Braun IPL launch with Frankie Bridge and a gamified campaign with Fenty, giving customers a chance to spin to win. This immersive approach leaves customers informed, entertained and more knowledgeable about their beauty regimes, offering a unique experience that online shopping can’t match.”

James Barnes, co-founder, Backlash: “Beauty is a hyper-competitive retail sector. It probably has the greatest number of new products and new brand launches of any category to contend with. The multi-brand beauty retailer Space NK appreciates that social hype and experiences excite beauty audiences. As a result, it has built a regular program of in-store and out-of-store beauty experiences with immersive, experiential pop-ups. These experiences generate anticipation for consumers, encouraging them to engage with the brand to find out when the latest launches and pop experiences are happening. In addition, the in-store experience is exciting and ever-changing, with areas dedicated to pop-ups and exclusive promotional offers from the brand. In the past 12 months, we have created an immersive, 4D-sensorial Japanese Zen Garden experience in Covent Garden for Space NK X Tatcha and highly themed, in-store pop-ups for Ilia Beauty and Caudalie, with many more brands activating on an almost weekly basis.”

Vic Drabicky, CEO and founder, January Digital: “We have found the best retail store experiences combine elements of curation, community and ease. One of the best examples is Kendra Scott. It has an incredibly well-curated assortment, each store is tied into the local community, and the shopping experience is virtually frictionless. While there are many retailers who nail one or potentially two of these elements, executing all three greatly accelerates the retail experience and sales.”

To read the published article featuring a comment by Dan Todaro, Gekko Group CEO, please visit The Drum

Photo from The Drum

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Apr 29 2024
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Let’s take this outdoors

As the great British weather improves our attention moves to making the most of every moment we can enjoy outdoors, in our gardens, balconies or public spaces with friends, family and pets. We do so at home with a view to bring the indoors outdoors and live alfresco to eat, drink, play, listen and watch. As a result, this change in habits opens up new trends for the consumer electronics industry and opportunities across many categories for all retailers.

With the advent of the bifold door, the garden as an additional room to your house is now common and therefore with more families spilling out into the garden, it’s not that unusual to see an outdoor kitchen combined with dining and living spaces which convert into entertaining and cinemas spaces at dusk.

So let’s start with cooking outdoors and the new appliances appearing on the wish lists of would-be chefs looking beyond traditional BBQs and wanting to offer their guests more than the usual fare of burgers, bangers and cremated chicken drumsticks. Peaking into the world of Grilling opens up a plethora of options for homeowners with buying decisions being made for a variety of reasons including their culinary ambitions, the desire to impress guests, the outdoor space available and of course budget.

The Grilling category includes portable grills, smokers and outdoor ovens and in the UK is estimated to be worth around £177 million currently and is expected to reach almost £200 million within 5 years, growing at a CAGR of 3.70% during the forecast period (2024-2029).

One brand leading the way here is Shark Ninja, which offers a range of innovative outdoor cooking appliances to meet the needs of many consumers and in doing so, enhancing their culinary experiences. The Ninja outdoor range, which has been marketed heavily over recent months, includes the Woodfire Electric Outdoor Oven, Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker & the Woodfire Pro Connect XL Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker, which as the name suggests, features smart connectivity allowing the user to control their BBQ & monitor cooking progress on their phone.

Another area for growth is the outdoor Pizza oven market which is anticipated to grow at a considerable rate over the next 5 years. A number of brands are making their mark including Gozny, Ooni and Witt, all of whom offer a modern, convenient, user-friendly take on the pizza oven.  Together with outdoor electric grills, pizza ovens are something home appliance retailers should certainly consider ranging, opening up sales opportunities in other areas of the home.

One step on from the outdoor appliances are actual outdoor kitchens, something that frequently makes me envious. Imagine having an outdoor kitchen equipped with built-in appliances like refrigerators and sinks. Standard in smart Mediterranean villas for decades but now popping up in Acacia Avenue across Britain, this is a trend that for many who sell kitchens, may see their business evolve over time. Believe it or not, the outdoor kitchen category grew globally from $6.3 billion last year to $6.7 billion in 2024 and is estimated to grow to almost $9 billion by 2033.  

So once you’ve whipped up a culinary feast in your outdoor kitchen, what’s next? Well perhaps kick back and set the mood with a smart outdoor lighting system allowing homes to control and customise their setups with ease. These app controlled solutions, from the likes of Philips Hue, can be programmed to change colours, adjust brightness levels and can be combined with your music via an outdoor audio system to enhance the outdoor living experience. We all know that music adds ambience to outdoor spaces and all-weather solutions are becoming increasingly popular, with weatherproof speakers and sound systems specifically designed for outdoor use that are wireless and Bluetooth-enabled, allowing users to stream music from their smartphones or other devices.

To complete the indoors outdoors experience, CE retailers should be adding some outdoor TV options to their ranges, offering their customers the opportunity of immersive outdoor cinema experiences, day or night. The category is starting to build momentum and unsurprisingly Samsung is at the forefront with The Terrace which comes in both 65” and 75” screen sizes and is specifically designed for open-air use. Another brand to watch is Sylvox which has a much larger range of outdoor TVs. Aside from being weatherproof, they are also more durable and resistant to extreme temperatures and feature exceptionally bright, anti-reflection screens so you can enjoy your favourite content even on the sunniest of days.  Bearing in mind the high price points, the large screen sizes and the intended setting for these TVs, I would suggest that offering an installation service would be a real benefit to your customers.

So, British weather permitting, it is entirely possible to create a new heart of the home, outdoors. By transforming your garden into a living, dining and entertainment space, homeowners can truly embrace an al fresco lifestyle. As we head towards summer, retailers can capitalise upon the opportunity by complementing their usual in-store offering with something different, where your customers can let their imaginations run wild!

To read the published article written by Dan Todaro, Managing Director please visit ERT

Photo From Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens

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Mar 28 2024
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How data underpins e-commerce effectiveness

During the pandemic, the volume of online shopping doubled due to necessity. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), e-commerce represented 38% of all retail sales in January 2021, in comparison to 19% in February 2020. This sudden shift forced brands to think about their omnichannel customer journey, particularly when it came to considering purchase items.

This was already the direction of travel, and while online sales proportions have dropped back to the mid-twenties (hitting 26%in January 2023), the acceleration of brands’ e-commerce plans has started a race to enhance operational agility to remain competitive and appealing.

The size of the drop indicates the ongoing power of in-store shopping and the importance of the omnichannel experience. However, we can expect the online share to return to a stable growth in the months to come.

It is not enough to present consumers with a transactional website, a well-considered data stack is needed to provide the customer experience they expect. The right set-up will help to identify consumers’ needs at each touchpoint, which is where performance marketing comes in.

Understanding the customer journey

As Google has now started the process of third-party cookie deprecation, brands are less able to track a user’s activity across multiple websites. This impacts business’ ability to recognise the full extent of the customer journey, and personalise and deliver targeted ads to support a better experience.

We can predict how certain factors will play a role in changing consumer behaviours through different kinds of tracking and experience. For example, we know that the consideration phase is likely to lengthen due to squeezed budgets as people take more care over how they spend their money. We can also expect that as the volume of retailers doing business online grows, the consideration phase will extend further as consumers look at their options across multiple touchpoints.

Trends like these need to be considered at every point of the journey, both online and in-store. Identifying changes like these is not always easy, and data should be at the heart of your strategy for enhancing audience engagement and discoverability, giving your brand the operational agility to succeed amid uncertain market factors.

Harnessing the potential of dashboarding

Without cookies, brands are working to optimise their consented first-party data, and work more closely with third-party sites and stores, so that they can gain an in-depth understanding of their customers that can shape their marketing activity accordingly. The current reality is that there is low metric transparency from third-party websites to the brands, as they, in turn, seek to monetise their proposition.

As many brands find themselves working with more third-party retailers, data and insight models become more important if they want to better serve their customers in a trustworthy way. Rather than relying on shared data, an end-to-end web scraping solution could help to marry e-commerce intelligence with insights from bricks-and-mortar retailing to provide visual and actionable trends.

This type of service provides a dashboard that consolidates insights from different websites, allowing brands to track other measurables, like share of voice, availability, pricing, promotion and reviews, and use the data to build more informed strategies.

Unlocking retail media potential

Retail media is a rapidly growing form of advertising, with global revenue from retailer e-commerce sites expected to exceed television revenue by 2028. For brands, the potential boon of reaching target consumers while they are already browsing or shopping in the category cannot be ignored.

Combining this type of digital advertising with physical shopping environments ensures that brands are showing up in the right places and times across relevant channels. When this is done well, relying on insights from data and human expertise ensures continuity within the purchase journey alongside consistent brand messaging, which will ultimately bring the consumer closer to making a purchase.

However, brands should be careful that they do not de-prioritise data and insight in their rush to play in the retail media space. As retail media supply increases, brands will have to manage campaigns across multiple networks, and it will be those with campaign control and strong insight reporting that will unlock the potential of the data to truly drive innovation in the space.

Building data into the digital shelf

Using data to understand consumers’ needs is the first step, but brands still need to think about what their insights mean for the digital shelf. Browsing the digital shelf is the equivalent of exploring products in-store, but they need to be discoverable quickly on listing pages and under relevant search terms.

Benchmarking against competitors for pricing, promotions and presence is critical and this data, along with on-site performance metrics, are incredibly valuable to brands. This can be a time-consuming process, but with an automated solution like web scraping, brands gain the same knowledge that can be used to form campaigns, and free up time for sales and marketing teams to focus on other priorities.

So, with the deprecation of cookies and the continued evolution of how we track and manage consumer data, brands should be prepared to optimise their own tracking data and work more closely with third-party retailers.

As retail media grows in years to come, keeping track of metrics across the board will become vital for brands if they are to maintain consistency, manage campaigns and influence presence and performance on e-commerce partner sites.

To read the published article written by Dan Todaro, Managing Director please visit Performance Marketing World

Photo by Negative Space

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Mar 13 2024
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Gekko launches new retail web-scraping solution GWS

Today customer experience agency Gekko has launched a new retail web scraping solution, GWS, enabling sales and marketing teams to better understand their brand’s e-commerce performance. GWS is an end-to-end solution for brands which integrates real-time e-commerce data and Gekko’s own brick-and-mortar intelligence to boost effectiveness and identify sales opportunities.

With in-house developer capabilities and Gekko’s market knowledge of brands, categories, retail and consumers it’s developed a powerful, cost-effective tool. Providing brands with visual and actionable e-commerce trends that marries e-commerce intelligence with that from bricks and mortar retailing giving a whole market view.

This is an end-to-end service with Gekko consulting, building and managing this customisable and flexible service and providing brands with the data and insight outputs via an intuitive dashboard. GWS is capable of extracting hundreds of thousands of data points across multiple retailers in a matter of minutes each day, allowing unrivalled up-to-date information and insight. The service enables brands to track share of voice, availability, pricing and promotion, ratings as well as shopper reviews. Brands can consolidate their online product space into one insightful clear and concise dashboard that will enable them to make more effective data-driven commercial and marketing decisions.

Daniel Todaro, Gekko MD comments: “The GWS solution enables us to combine real-time performance data with our in-depth understanding of shopping and shoppers, to help brands enhance product performance. It’s a very competitive landscape and intuitive brands often succeed using as much insight as possible to fuel their decision making. GWS from Gekko enables a brand’s sales and go-to-market teams to look at a myriad of layered scenarios, from how competitor products and new launches may have affected a brand’s market share to showing the relationship between promotions and Share of Voice (Share of Shelf).”

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Mar 01 2024
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Good CX cannot exist without good staffing

The recent Centre for Retail Research figures showed that around 120,000 retail jobs were lost last year. While some job losses could not be avoided as behemoths of the UK’s high street collapsed, other retailers are reducing staff numbers to cut overhead costs and align with reduced footfall. But what does this mean for customer experience? And how could that impact retailers’ ambitions?  

The truth is that cutting staff overheads requires a careful balance to maintain good experience for the customer, whatever sector(s) you’re working in. If you have too many staff members, then revenue will struggle to cover operational costs, which is devastating in a sector with increasingly tight margins. At the same time, with too few staff you will struggle to deliver against expectations, in terms of customer experience, sales volumes or both. 

There are issues for companies either way, but having too few staff could be catastrophic for businesses that are already precariously close to the edge. From managing staff morale and turnover, to making big-ticket sales and generating loyalty, there’s a lot to consider. Furthermore, the human interaction that physical retail offers is one its principal USPs over the online shopping experience.

Burnout and lose out

In a global survey by McKinsey, an average of one in four employees were experiencing signs of burnout, resulting in cynicism, exhaustion, and emotional distance. Understaffing, resulting in overwork and poor working conditions, can often be a significant factor in burnout, often affecting multiple team members who are left to pick up the slack. 

Not only can undervalued and demotivated staff have the obvious impact on customer service, long-term understaffing is likely to lead to higher turnover, and the resulting loss of knowledge and skills that can help drive sales and deliver a more engaging customer experience.  It is not just the experience (and its impact on sales) to consider though. 

A little encouragement goes a long way

When it comes to considered purchases, consumers are unlikely to part with a sizeable proportion of their monthly budget on products and services based merely on a snap impulsive decision. When it comes to ‘big-ticket’ items or other considered purchases, particularly in the retail sector, our own research reveals that around one in five (18%) of consumers will head to a physical store to seek expert advice. But what happens when they get to the store, and the experience isn’t quite what they had hoped based on a lack of service, attentiveness, knowledge or customer journey.

Of course, staffing is always about balance, whatever sector you work in, but having too few staff or poorly trained team members could result in lost sales, your customer heading to a competitor or worse, not buying into a brand at all based upon their experience. When we’re talking about products like TVs, white goods, sofas etc. developing the customer journey is essential to secure sales. In the current climate, making cuts is inevitable but if you are reducing staff levels to the point where you can no longer fulfil customer needs, your customers may just stop shopping with you all together.

Innovation only increases staffing needs 

Looking at some of the products coming out of CES – LG’s transparent OLED TV, virtual reality headsets and microwaves in handbags – and thinking about our general societal shift towards smart devices and products, the need for knowledgeable staff will be essential for providing a good customer experience, and ultimately developing new and existing categories through sales.

Products are becoming more complex every year, and there is more choice. For many consumers, the wide array of brands, products and features can be overwhelming, and that is where customer experience becomes even more important. While they will research products online, many people like to head into a physical store to see the products in person and get some guidance, support as well as reassurance before making a considered purchasing decision.

Investment in training is essential to develop the customer journey and brand experience, which enhances staff retention due to personal development and job satisfaction. In many cases, brands are taking things into their own hands, as they have done for many years, by installing trained staff into stores to ensure that their products are well-explained to customers seeking help, owning the customer journey. 

Work smarter, as well as leaner

The brands and retailers that get it right and enable customers to get the support they need – whether that is in-person or online – will ultimately win out. Once consumers feel an affinity with a particular store or brand, they will return if they receive consistency and service that they enjoy and can trust. 

To read the published article written by Dan Todaro, Managing Director please visit CXM

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Feb 14 2024
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Love is not all around for retailers: 24 million will skip Valentine’s gifting

  • 54% of UK adults aren’t going to buy gifts this Valentine’s Day
  • Under 35s are more than twice as likely to buy cards, gifts and experiences
  • Limited spend and a growing focus on experience-based gifts should be cause for concern for retailers

New research from customer experience marketing agency Gekko suggests that Valentine’s Day is no longer the retail bonanza of old, with over half of UK adults (54%) not bothering to buy any gifts for their significant others, friends or family members.    

Of the 46 per cent UK adults that will buy gifts, only 13% plan to spend more than £50 on a gift, with consumers most likely to spend up to £20 on a gift (34%), so not great news for those big-ticket retailers. In fact, people are likely to spend less on significant others than they would on family and friends, which is perhaps due to the changing relationship dynamics in society.

Young love still drives Valentine’s Day with nearly three in five (58%) of those aged between 18 and 35 agreeing that it is important to mark the day with those you love, including friends and family. This age group are more than twice as likely to buy cards, gifts and experiences for loved ones as over 55s (65% v 31%).  

Another trend that was evident in the research is that experiences are becoming far more popular as a Valentine’s Day gift preference, with 37 per cent of adults saying they prefer to give experiences over physical gifts. This includes taking a significant other to dinner (27%) or gifting an experience like gig tickets and wine tasting (6%). 

This shift towards experiences suggests that retailers may need to reframe their strategy to rely less on the gifting moments throughout the year. More than two-thirds (67%) dislike the consumerism associated with gifting days and moments, with nearly three-quarters agreeing that retailers put too much focus on Valentine’s Day.

With most consumers inclined to purchase fewer, less expensive physical gifts, retailers are left trying to entice a smaller share of the market. A quarter (25%) of consumers agreed that discounts would encourage them to buy physical gifts, but ideas that would help make a gift ‘extra-special’ also appealed to consumers, particularly 18-34-year-olds. 15 per cent of UK adults agreed that product personalisation would encourage them to spend, and 12 per cent liked the idea of limited-edition products, increasing to 22 per cent and 20 per cent respectively amongst under 35s.

Daniel Todaro, MD at Gekko, said: “With consumers’ focusing more on experiences and creating memories with their loved ones, amongst growing disaffection with commercialised gifting moments, retailers will have to reinvent their strategies so that they can get a larger piece of the shrinking heart-shaped pie. And while offering discounts is one way to go, it would be best for competing retailers to avoid a race to the bottom. Instead, setting your offer apart can help to drive differentiation, with personalisation, limited editions and even customer service itself all helping to make Valentine’s Day work harder.”

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