Tag Archives: retail

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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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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Feb 07 2024
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Keeping Pace with the Evolving Consumer

Shopping online became the de facto route to market for consumers in 2020 driven by necessity due to store closures. The ONS reported the proportion of online retail sales peaked at 38% in January 2021 vs 20% the year previous. While the average sales split has returned to 26% since this peak, the manner that both experienced and less experienced online consumers engage with brands and retailers, across multiple channels, has rapidly evolved. With considered purchases, in particular technology but not limited to this, it has sparked a greater importance for a brand’s omni-channel customer journey. This in turn has encouraged a race for retailers to enhance their operational agility in e-commerce to remain competitive and appealing. To play in the e-commerce space is not to simply offer a transactional site online but a well-considered data stack that ultimately understands the customers’ needs at each touchpoint and marries them up to the retailer’s unique proposition.

Further market uncertainty in 2023 continued to drive evolving consumer behaviour. This will continue in 2024 as retailers brands adapt their strategies to convert on the now normal, lengthening online consideration phase due to squeezed budgets. Retail website traffic is increasing year on year, and mobile as a share of that is also increasing. The purchase cycle is likely to lengthen, becoming normal, as consumers sit in the consideration stage for longer across multiple touch points. This is likely to increase as we shop on mobile devices cluttered  with a multitude of content at their fingertips, from social media, bloggers and reviews.

Offsite and onsite content needs to meet the demands of the consumer, wherever they are on their route to purchase. Here we have highlighted three key elements brands can focus on to drive audience engagement and discoverability on partner retail e-commerce, increasing operational agility to succeed amid uncertain market factors.

The potential of data in e-commerce

As known, Google will in a bid to make the web more private, phase out all third-party cookies by the end of 2024, currently deprecated for 1% of Chrome users as of January 2023, which represents approximately 30 million users. This move restricts the ability to track a user’s activity across multiple websites and in turn, the major resource for marketing and sales teams to personalise and deliver targeted ads. The implication for retailers and advertisers alike that rely on paid media via 3rd party cookies to target consumers and measure brand and sales impact, is about to reshape how marketing and advertising works online.

Retailers are looking to harness and better optimise their consented 1st party data to offer better solutions. The potential is positive due to the relevance of data and the control retailers will have to improve the quality of ads and personalised experiences. To realise the full potential, retailers using data as a platform to form stronger partnerships with brands and suppliers will likely uncover a better understanding of their customers and shape the narrative.

Whether it be brand-building initiatives or first-party cookies direct from transactional sites, retailers will be mindful to sensitively use the data they have on their customer’s behaviour. The current reality is low metric transparency from retail websites to the brands as retailers increasingly look to monetise their online store to brands. This highlights the importance of growing data and insight models in synergy with a brands growing media portfolio, to ensure brands see their platform as a viable solution to learn from the consumer, in a trustworthy way, to better serve their customers.

Data unlocking Retail media potential

Retail media is a rapidly growing medium of advertising on retailer e-commerce sites. Global advertising revenue is forecast to exceed television revenue by 2028 and account for 15.4% of total ad revenue. Brands are following the consumer shift to digital commerce with the added appeal of reaching consumers with personalised advertising within the category. Retailers enable varied promotional formats and tools on their owned channels and sell inventory to brands and in turn boost profitability. The benefit to brands is to show up across multiple touchpoints in both physical and digital shopping environments. The ever important omni channel journey demands content that strikes the right chord, wherever the brand is consumed. Continuity of the consumer’s purchase journey with consistent brand messaging, is proven to likely lead to increased trust and confidence to bring the consumer closer to a purchase.

Retail media networks sit in the transactional channel and so appeal to bring brand messaging closer to the point of sale. An ideal touchpoint for brands to engage with their prospective customers and brand awareness amongst the target audience since visits to a retailer’s website or store is not solely to purchase but also to research the products available to them. Tech stack will drive improved accessibility and likely standardise as the shift to retail media grows. Unlike traditional TV, which retail media is set to surpass, the measures and ROI reporting available from purchase behaviour and browsing trends will in turn elevate the brands demands for transparency in metrics and insight.

The race to play in the retail media network space and maximise inventory can potentially de-prioritise the partnership of data and insight to brands. This should be guarded with caution, as retail media supply increases so will the standardised retail media and brands expectation to manage campaigns across multiple networks. Retailers with considered campaign control and insight reporting will unlock the potential of the data to truly drive innovation in the space and grow brand partnerships.

Digital shelf analytics to track e-commerce on site performance

Understanding the full potential of data and highlighting channels in e-commerce to understand consumer needs and trends only stand up with considerable thought into the digital shelf. Brands need to be discoverable quickly on listing pages and relevant search terms, showing up with accurate and consistent content across multiple retailers, customer reviews and how their pricing and promotion strategy stacks up against competitors.

While physical retail has evolved into finely tuned budgets to drive in-store presence, in-store advocacy and inventory management, e-commerce is a lesser-known channel. The digital shelf is the equivalent of someone exploring products in a physical store, the digital experience on a retail site in which consumers discover, learn, compare and purchase products. By first identifying the elements of the consumer experience available with physical retail that e-commerce is unable to match, for example, trained sales colleagues to assist the customer’s purchase decision, we can then identify digital shelf assets to compliment the omni-channel journey. Ratings and reviews from like-minded consumers as well as engaging, informative ‘top features’ videos on product pages will all help close down the sale successfully and are elements that consumers expect to see on e-commerce platforms.

On-site performance metrics are key to measuring impact and shaping activity in the future of marketing campaigns and content to name a few. Along with benchmarking vs competitors on pricing and presence on product listing pages. The valuable source of data on retail sites is a vital cog to brands. Brands should consider investing in a web scraping solution to automate this process and enable their sales and marketing teams to better understand their e-commerce performance both in isolation and against the competition. Like media channels, clear insight reporting of the digital shelf drives understanding of a customer’s interactions and partner retail opportunities. 

So as 2024 begins to take shape, brands should be prepared to work closely with 3rd-party retail partners to adapt to the changes coming to cookies and shopper data, as well as exploring retail media opportunities. Keeping track of on-site metrics is also vital, keeping e-commerce managers informed and enabling them to influence their brands’ presence and performance on partner sites.

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

Photo from PCR Magazine

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Feb 05 2024
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Fast Foward – AI Will Dominate in 2024

There is one main trend that has taken the world by storm in 2023 and it will only increase and improve its presence and capabilities into 2024. This is for some, the elephant in the room….AI. Contrary to popular belief, AI has actually been around for many years but not as prevalent as it is now, its resurgence has completely changed the game. From writing entire books and songs to being implemented into consumer electronics and domestic appliances to make the products more intelligent. If you take a look at some of the big players in the market you’ll notice more and more are adopting AI, whether this is for energy-efficient washing cycles or improving picture quality on TV, the use cases are becoming less niche and more general. 

2024 will see a huge shift in focus to implementing AI into many products, some that many may find surprising and will no doubt continue to enter every category. It will be used as a selling point, in the context of productivity. As evident with Microsoft who is actively using AI (Copilot) to carry out a plethora of tasks in a matter of minutes that would otherwise be considered either time-consuming or tedious processes. Alongside this, automation will see a rise in 2024, with AI becoming more intelligent and its capabilities increasing, allowing users to automate many more processes and streamline work, in turn making them more productive in a short period of time.

Integrate this capability with artificial intelligence, which helps track patterns in your laundry, cooking, and cleaning routines. This integration allows the AI to seamlessly update the software of your connected appliances, akin to updating apps on your phone or tablet. The AI features enhance efficiency, optimising processes like a more energy-efficient wash cycle that maintains excellent cleaning results through seamless connectivity.

2024 will also see the rise in sustainable technology which we saw becoming a focus in Q4 2023. The front runners of Google and Apple making their products either out of sustainable materials or providing continuous support to their products for years to come in an effort to reduce e-waste. Gone are the days when your phone would have a 3-year life cycle before needing to be replaced.

This scrutiny on sustainability extends to every device and appliance on our person and in your home and AMDEA, I think, explains it best:

“Over the last twenty years AMDEA members have focused on design and new technologies which have dramatically and continuously reduced energy and water consumption of appliances in our homes. With 170 million essential large appliances in the 28 million homes across the UK, the technology in each machine that contributes to mitigating climate change can collectively make a major contribution to carbon neutrality”

Visit https://www.amdea.org.uk/campaigns/sustainability/ for more information

Another trend that will be sought after by many businesses rather than consumers will be cyber security. With more and more companies falling victim to cyber security breaches with countless consumer data being leaked subsequently, 2024 will be the year companies double down and invest. Research has shown that one in two businesses fall victim to a successful cyberattack in the past three years with the cost of these attacks to the industry expected to grow to over $10 trillion by the end of 2024.

In the context of the independent retailer whilst you may think that these trends do not necessarily apply to your business immediately, don’t delay to understand their importance. Generationally the relevance of sustainability is huge as will the shift to AI in the context of improved functionality, ease and sustainability.

AI is our friend, not a foe. It not only helps us magically enhance the photos we take on our smartphones, it helps us save money on our wash cycle and improve our cooking skills and so much more. Get to grips with it and understand it as you won’t be able to avoid the conversation in the context of your range, sales process and customer experience. It’s going to dominate in 2024 and that was evident from IFA and will be again at CES this coming January.

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

Photo by ThisIsEngineering

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Dec 08 2023
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Has Black Friday lost its gloss?

When Black Friday first emerged onto the scene just over a decade ago, retailers could expect queues out the doors, and on some occasions even fighting in the aisles as consumers sought bargain deals. When Cyber Monday entered the fray, retailers’ websites regularly crashed under the strain of excited bargain hunters.

While these events used to provide a boost across the board, there are now clear winners and losers as Black Friday discounting loses its shape and starts to merge into the Christmas shopping. With marketing and sales events starting earlier each year, is now the time for a re-think?

Pressure on retailers

It has been a tough year for retailers. Again, we have seen big names disappear from the high street, and for those that remain the environment is challenging. Increases in production and supply chain costs muddled with competition from big online retailers are reducing profit margins, leaving leaders with tough decisions to make.

Many larger retailers can afford to discount their products as brands support margins and economies of scale apply. However, it is not the case for smaller independents who have to take the hit. They feel they need to take part in Black Friday to compete, and unfortunately, this is adding to the strain they face in keeping their doors open.

Poor deals result in underwhelming sales

Those retailers who can afford to offer site or store-wide discounts are still doing well, but the deals available on Black Friday are not what they once were. Many offers are only applied to end-of-line items or overstock that were heading to the sales anyway.

As a result, many consumers are left underwhelmed. With the cost-of-living crisis, consumers have been spending more carefully than before too. While Nationwide announced a 2 per cent increase in transactions, Barclaycard transactions were down 0.6 per cent year-on-year, suggesting that consumers were happy to spend, but less comfortable with borrowing than they have been in previous years. This hesitation to spend means that consumers are often only prepared to spend on items they were already planning to buy.

The offers created are typically determined by scale and buying power of the retailer, so while large retailers can offer bigger discounts on more products, small retailers are forced to be more selective, leaving them with a smaller piece of the pie, or with severely cannibalised margins.

Lack of differentiation makes Black Friday pointless

We started out with just Black Friday – just one day of epic discounting – and over the years this has expanded to include the weekend, and the following Monday (which is, of course, now known as Cyber Monday), then the weeks before and after, and now the entirety of November, it seems.

Not only has the Black Friday discounting period expanded, but Christmas promotions, supported by seasonal adverts, also seem to start earlier and earlier. It is tough to see any differentiation or even a gap between when one event ends and another begins. Diluting Black Friday only serves to make it disappear into the ether.

The expansion of the sales window means retailers can take a chunk of the seasonal revenue in November as there’s no longer the frenzied buying for Christmas in December. And for consumers, there’s no panic to buy over black Friday weekend as they know there will be other sales, which is understandable and makes commercial sense.

Do consumers care if Black Friday dies?

Recent research from PwC reveals that online interest in Black Friday has dropped from 61 per cent in 2022 to 44 per cent this year. This is mirrored by Google Trends data, which reveals that ‘Black Friday’ as a search is less than half as popular as it was four years ago. With waning consumer interest, it’s clear that Black Friday just doesn’t hold the same intrigue it used to.

Rather than thinking about what we could do to rejuvenate Black Friday, perhaps it’s time to think about whether we should. Black Friday certainly isn’t working for all retailers, in particular independent retail, and it is starting to lose consumers too. It no longer delivers the same benefits for consumers: excitement, buzz and big bargains, or the same, sizeable sales uplift for brands. In some cases, it is coming at the expense of the customer experience, which threatens the long-term performance of brands.

Is it actually worth retailers’ time and effort? My hunch is that it has detracted from the millions invested in Christmas advertising campaigns that now seem almost irrelevant, and blend in as white noise as we skip through the ads to go make a brew.

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

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Nov 07 2023
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IFA 2023 – A Core Ingredient in the Evolution of CE

Once again IFA 2023 was the place to be seen for all technology brands and not just those from the CE category. With the show sold out across 26 halls covering 130,000 sqm of exhibition space, filled by 2059 brands from 48 countries, there is no other show that competes. IFA 2023 affirmed its position as the de facto CE showcase, forecasted to host 180,000 visitors from 144 countries over 5 days.

The fact that we have witnessed all markets contract in every category, shrinking by an average of 7% and in particular CE which is down 12.4% globally. The EU market outlook is looking increasingly positive at a more palatable contraction of 4.5% year on year. No doubt this is making the rest of the world a bigger problem for those whose presence is not as prevalent in the EU market, compared to other brands. The economic reality is that the globe is in a  Polycrises, a simultaneous occurrence of several negative global events such as war, extreme weather events, food and energy Inflation which is compounded by increased Interest rates and social unease, unsurprisingly stops people from spending. Therefore the need for a brand to increase its voice rather than remain silent is critical and to do this with a new perspective. Doing so through a new lens that better understands the pain points consumers are experiencing and appeals to the user’s pleasure points. Perhaps achieved through ethical practices, practical time and cost-saving innovations that help ease the pain on a macro level, rather than add to the global situation. That’s why IFA as a cultural hub, is so much more than an exhibition, its place is essential to the industry as the centre stage for the globe’s CE brands not just to brag but to demonstrate how to solve the problems we share as we coexist on this planet. Making IFA a core ingredient in the evolution of the consumer electronics industry.

All brands, big and small, were in attendance with 350 of those 3059 brands being CE startups from across the globe. These included all manner of concepts and categories and there were several robotic floor care startups displaying and showcasing, however, one that caught my imagination was Dreame’s Revolutionary Flagship Robotic Vacuum L20 Ultra with Industry First AI-Driven Mop Extend™. Which is definitely worth a look. However one of my most memorable chats was with the haircare brand SharkNinja and its ultra compact SpeedStyle hairdryer. The irony is, as a follically challenged man, I’ve not owned a hairdryer for 30 years yet I was enthralled by its functionality, design and huge potential consumer appeal, it’s going to be a Christmas wish list essential item.

The themes were consistent across every manufacturer and focussed on Sustainability – Renewables – Connected by AI and  Premium. Let’s start with the latter as while aspiring to be a premium brand is admirable there, in relative terms, there can only ever be a few brands who genuinely sit in the category otherwise it defeats the terminology of ‘premium’. It’s down to the consumer’s perception of what constitutes premium based on how much they are prepared to pay for your products and brand. What you and I may think of as being premium may well not be the view of others and is likely to vary greatly, depending on whether you’re Gen Z or Gen X.

These generations and to be fair, everyone now, wants quality as standard and brought to them at a reasonable price, as well as being produced ethically in all aspects including the manner in which those products are brought to market. Whilst GfK expects the global CE market to still be in the red by the end of this year, the trend is for consumers to replace appliances, as home tech becomes increasingly more innovative, making even those devices and appliances of five years ago look exceptionally dated in look and functionality. Today many want technology which most now consider commonplace in the home, not luxury or the unattainable.

Almost all appliance brands included smart connectivity in their product line-ups presented at IFA 2023, which enables you at a basic level of connectivity, to control your appliance from your phone, hub or television. Personalisation is the next step in the development of your smart home where you can not only change the panels and the lighting of your cooling appliances such as the LG MoodUP Instaview Freezer but also create your own wash program and save it as your personal wash cycle as LG have also done as part of their wider LG THINQ UP 2.0 concept. Taking cooking to new levels of perfection as Haier has done with the ID series featuring a unique style and the exclusive Bionicook technology. With the ID Series, you can not only view what’s cooking in your oven with its built-in camera but also see it on your phone or TV and the built-in screen on the oven’s facia. It’s opening up the options for personalisation in your home tech to meet the needs of the household to a unique level of personal satisfaction.

Combine this with AI, assisting in noting your trends on laundry, cooking and cleaning, which enables it to update the software on your connected appliances as you would update the apps on your phone or tablet. The AI functionality improves the efficiency of, for example, a more effective wash cycle so that it uses less energy while still giving you a great wash thanks to the connectivity and the hOn app which allows users to get the most out of their Candy Machine. Increasing innovation and enhancing sustainability credentials which for many brands also extends throughout the entire product, and not just its materials. With almost all brands now adopting a policy where a percentage of all products are made utilising recycled materials and not just its packaging. At the forefront of this message was both LG and Samsung who were championing this throughout their product categories. Taking the initiative a step further, linking these credentials into the aspirational brand qualities, which many consumers are now looking for in a true premium brand.

So what’s different this year is that people are asking more questions and drilling down on the specifics. While 74% said they will search online before buying, search data also shows sustained growth in terms containing questions — up 25% compared to the past three years during the same period — and searches for “which is best” and “where to buy” continue to garner momentum in the shopping category on Google Trends. Those searching online, we know like to shop in-store when it is a considered purchase. So make sure you feature on that where to buy ist.

Whilst the wealth of bands at IFA 2023 were vast, you could not miss one brand in particular whose branding adorned the neck of almost everyone with its very clever lanyard sponsorship. That brand was Hisense who was this year, IFA’s headline sponsor and gave the opening keynote delivered by its Global President,  Fisher Yu whom also announced the brand’s sponsorship of the Euro 2024 Football tournament due to be held in Germany. When you are a brand that not only makes TV but also appliances and applications, it’s easier to integrate your devices and with VIDAA at the heart of the ecosystem, Hisense products and its fellow brand stable mates can integrate via the VIDAA interface making the TV in your home, the hub of the household that connects your smart home ecosystem. Making the screen the focus of your living space where you control your appliances around the house via your Smart TV. With ViDAA now in 180 countries and connected to 22 million devices, the task for Hisense is perhaps slightly easier than it may be for other brands in the CE sector. Coupled with the shift from content to services the next step is how to monetize this conversion and its integration with responsive and predictive AI, to further enhance the user’s experience and lifestyle. Easier done when you own the platform and make the devices it connects to.

It’s fair to say that the outlook for retailers is exciting with increasingly more innovation in all categories and an enhanced social responsibility tone that now takes on many more subject matters. These include AI and sustainability which are now common parlance in the sales approach by brands to their target consumers, old and new. For those amongst us who ignore the trends that come out of IFA, do so at some risk, as these trends will inevitably become standard messaging across every category and brand within the year, not the distant future. It’s crucial for the success of all within the industry to embrace, understand and develop these trends to create meaningful consumer conversations.

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

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