BT Fresca & Expedite Blog

Having worked for over 25 years, in both the UK and North America, providing supply chain solutions to the retail sector, I have always been aware of the cultural differences that exist between these two territories. American retailers were always seemingly happy to get together to discuss their business drivers, opportunities and threats, even with companies that were seemingly their competitors. The overall goal being that there is a greater good, it’s great to talk and you will benefit more from what you learn than you might lose from giving any secrets away.  The UK environment always seemed to be somewhat different, a less open culture, more concerned about revealing things to our peers, with attendance at networking events perhaps even frowned upon by senior management, being seen as either a jolly or worse a sales event, or at least that’s how it seemed to me.

I think someone said that the internet would change everything and surprisingly, with the advent of email, instant messaging and social networking, these barriers seem to be coming down. Even us reserved Brits are now used to telling the world what we are doing, via Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and numerous other technologies. Suddenly we have embraced the idea that it’s OK to tell the world what we are doing and even to think it’s cool! We seem to love it!

This message is natural for BT; we are of course a technology company whose business has literally been built on people’s desire to talk, so we have always embraced this approach. Our future is based on dialogue with our customers, we want to meet them regularly and to understand their business drivers, what’s good and what’s not so good. Essentially our customers are our eyes and ears on a fast moving retail world and the global economy.

With this in mind we invited our merchandising community to spend some time with us and chose the BT Tower in central London to do this. I don’t know if the draw was the fact that I was speaking, or the chance to be whisked to 33rd floor to meet colleague and friends sample breakfast and view the London skyline, although clearly I suspect the latter.

In any event, on a bright London morning there I was meeting some old and new faces from companies such as Oasis, Coast, Monsoon, Warehouse, Karen Millen, Austin Reed, Phase Eight and Per Una. Talking to Buyers and Merchandisers about their challenges, what’s hot and what’s not is always an invigorating experience, although having proudly announced that I have been doing this for 25 years and being reminded that some of the attendees weren’t even born, was perhaps less exciting.

Fortunately, despite my apparently advancing years, I do seem to have my fingers close to the pulse as my pet topics of multichannel trading, international trading, buying and merchandising productivity and a community based approach to future developments all seemed to strike a chord. After descending the 33 floors and being guided to the Maple room, something I found very apt with our Canadian software links, all I had to do was introduce a few ideas and off we went.

Discussion flowed from company to company in a remarkably open and productive manner. We learnt what BT Expedite did well, where we should improve and how the cost pressure in the supply chain, the use of mobile applications that drive an emotional tie to the company’s brand and the truly global nature of today’s trading community is changing buying and merchandising behaviour.

In many ways, although the world is seemingly ever changing, the group’s pressure points are largely as they have always been, customers need world class service and delivery options, global and multichannel retailing means that customers essentially trade 24/7. Gone are the days where systems have day- or week-end processes, instead it’s a continuous processing environment with more and more pressure on real time inventory accuracy. All this in an environment where the Buying and Merchandising community has to do more with less people. So less people to do more work, in a more demanding world, simple really!

The good thing in all this is that we are sharing our experiences as a group, when one company wants to open stores in a territory, another has done it, when we need to explore how to manage stock across multiple channels and multiple territories, the group’s ideas and experience can be brought together and the most optimal solution discovered.

Actually discovery really is the key word for all of us and BT Expedite’s role is to facilitate this, to drive the ideas forward and to deliver high class best practice and technology solutions to the group to sustain their business for the future. So we have plenty to do and we plan to meet regularly as a group, to use online meeting technology, to visit customers to review our ideas and to prototype solutions before offering them to the market.

It’s an exciting time to be involved with this, to build on our Britishness but to be happy to let it all out!

Robin Cole can be contacted via btexpedite@bt.com. To find out more about BT Expedite’s services visit www.btexpedite.com or call 0870 850 6880.

Everyone knows the winners from the recent BT Retail Week Technology Awards by now. In fact, checking blogs, sites and tweets in the immediate aftermath, it was clear that most nominees must have had a message set up and ready to go the moment the envelopes were opened.

Of course, any recognition is good. And to be picked out as the best by your peers is particularly satisfying. I still have my players’ ‘man of the match’ award after bossing the midfield and scoring five goals in a Scotland v England under-12s international. Admittedly, it wasn’t an official international; it was set up by the Spanish holiday camp. And some of the England team were playing in flip-flops.

But as my name was misspelt in Letraset on my Big T Club certificate in the holiday camp reception area, what I missed out on was the Awards ceremony… and the ceremony is perhaps even more important than the award.

The BT Retail Week Technology Awards, sponsored by BT Expedite, proved just how special it is to have people acknowledge your efforts and share your moment of glory. It was a massive success, as retail’s IT crowd gathered at the swanky Park Lane Hilton Hotel to toast one another and celebrate the very best in the business – and be laughed at by compère Rufus Hound.

Several BT Expedite clients came out on top at the event – including Aurora Fashions, Oasis, New Look and Mint Velvet, while Halfords with BT Expedite were highly commended. The tone for the evening was set when Retail Week Technology Acting  Features Editor Joanna Perry gave a short and sweet welcome speech, before handing over to BT Expedite CEO Rich Lowe, who was equally succinct in noting that “awards are all about people.”

Early next week on www.btexpedite.com, you’ll be able to watch video highlights of the awards and interviews with the winners, as well as photos of the event. In the meantime you can see the full list of winners at www.retailweektechnologyawards.com

The first big winner of the night was Paul Forester of Monsoon who won an Apple iPad in the VIP reception draw for BT Expedite customers. This was the one prize that probably generated the most IT envy…

And while it’s only right and proper that the winners are praised, I have to mention the hard work done behind the scenes which helped make the evening such a success.

I turned up early and got a glimpse of just how much effort goes into getting every little detail just right. There were still teams of busy people beavering away on the finishing touches, right up until the last minute: The bar football tables were being assembled, the cameramen were being briefed on who to focus on and the Awards were being buffed up onstage. In fact I was shooed away when I ventured too close to the podium, because the names were already engraved on the trophies and no-one wanted an explosive exclusive tweet at that stage.

At the champagne reception before the main event, I got chatting to another early bird and, as the room filled up, it was clear he was a well-known figure in retail IT circles. It was his first awards ceremony in six years but, after 30 years in the business, he was spotted and welcomed by almost everyone else who came in – and I was able to bask in his reflected glory. I was devastated when someone pointed out that he should have been in another VIP reception in another part of the hotel!  I didn’t even get a chance to tell him about the day Paol Michell played the game of his life for Scotland.

Paul Mitchell, Editor, BT Retailer Therapy

Despite being the editor of Retailer Therapy, BT Expedite and BT Fresca’s monthly magazine, I’ve never managed to wangle an invite to the BT Expedite Client Conference - which always gave it an aura of exclusivity and mystique. This year I finally persuaded them to let me in and, suitably shaved, suited and booted, I made my way to Stratford-upon-Avon and went undercover at the 6^th annual client conference.

Officially I was there to cover some of the breakout sessions with a view to learning a bit more and getting material for future articles. But I also wanted to nose about and find out what attracts clients to the event.

Two things impressed me most:

• 1. The openness and willingness of the retailers to share experiences with one another
• 2. The energy and enthusiasm - and stamina - of everyone involved

When I write about retail, it’s often set in a context of bitter competition, cutthroat marketplace and manoeuvring for any and every advantage. But the retail technology crowd seem more like a band of brothers. They talk about systems updates and rollouts like Vietnam vets comparing campaigns - and those that have seen action are genuinely interested in helping fresher-faced recruits learn from their experiences.

So there was a real “all for one and one for all” atmosphere at the conference. This was especially prevalent during the breaks and over lunch, when people could relax and get down to the nitty gritty. Delegates clearly got as much out of talking with one another as they did from the sessions with suppliers.

I took in five sessions - the pains and gains of implementing multichannel as experienced by Halfords and Clarks, Build-a-Bear’s Audit and Operations Management (AOM) strategy, the fantastically titled, “Dude, where’s my stock” (I’ll be nicking that one) about tracking the supply chain, moving towards SOA with Mothercare and finally an assisted selling workshop boiled down to a short presentation and rather spiky Q&A session.

I’ll be writing about all of these for the next Retailer Therapy.

Unfortunately my new shoes meant I couldn’t do quite as much dashing about as I had planned - I tended to shuffle from session to session - but even if I had been dressed as an Olympic Athlete and carried on Usain Bolt’s back, I still couldn’t keep up. The levels of energy that the delegates - and presenters - showed were amazing.

I worked Saturdays on the deli at Tesco for years so I can pretend I know how hard retail is. But as I sat through my fourth 45-minute session (on Service Oriented Architecture), I’ll admit that I started to flag. Everyone else though was still alert, involved, asking questions and debating answers. This was real meaty stuff and they couldn’t get enough of it. And most of them had been there the day before as well!

At 5pm, I hobbled pathetically out to my taxi for the train back to London feeling like a washed out rag. Behind me everyone was just beginning to warm up for the evening session of drinks, dinner and party (and possibly more drinks). The band must have just started tuning up as I was buying plasters at Marylebone station - I’m clearly going to have to start training for next year if I want to cut it with the real retailers…

Paul Mitchell, editor, Retailer Therapy www.btretailertherapy.com

We’re delighted that Robin Coles has joined us yesterday as our new Director of Consulting for Supply Chain Solutions. He will report to Richard Dodd, chief operating officer at BT Expedite. 

This is an important new role in our organisation which will see Robin provide strategic direction for the BT Expedite’s supply chain solutions as well as supporting the sales team during the pre-sale process.  Robin will lead a team of 5.

Our supply Chain solutions are an integral part of our company’s offerings.  For Retailers to be able to compete in today’s markets they need to be able to keep category and store plans integrated.  Competitor activity and changing trends mean that they need to able to change plans swiftly.  BT Expedite provides the necessary tools for faster, more cost effective and efficient supply chain management.  We currently has 19 customers who are using the Mercatus supply chain solution.  These include Aurora Fashions, Monsoon/Accessorize and Austin Reed Group.

Robin, from Northamptonshire, has more than 25 years experience of providing retail solutions to major clients including House of Fraser, Monsoon  and Aurora Fashions.  His most recent role was Director of Retail Systems at software vendor Itim Limited where he had overall responsibility for the company’s emerging retail systems.   Prior to this he was Business Development Manager at Prologic PLC looking after marketing, consulting and new business sales.

Robin will be a familiar face to many both throughout the industry and at BT as he previously worked for NSB Retail Systems when its UK operations were acquired by BT in 2003.  BT Expedite was formed as a result of the acquisition.    

Robin says: “I am looking forward to working once again with the many talented people at BT Expedite and ensuring that our merchandising solutions continue to serve the needs of existing and future customers in this fast moving industry. “ 

Robin is married with two teenage daughters and is an avid Chelsea supporter.

We ran a focus group with Operations and IT folk from some of our most forward thinking customers - from New Look, Halfords, Pets at Home, Mothercare and Aurora Fashions - to check what retailers were sensing and to test some ideas about how technology could help. Here are our findings…

Top class specialty retailing is all getting the right information to customers and staff so the retailer makes a profit and the shopper leaves satisfied to return again. John Lewis is the often quoted benchmark.

With the proliferation of cool and innovative applications that give customers more product information, ratings, reviews and opinions than ever before, this paradigm may be in danger. After all, what’s the point of a store in which the customers are better informed than the staff?

We all agreed that a key purpose of shops is to assist people who want advice or (at the very least) are looking for someone to edit their choice. Good service is not just about being polite, it needs to include product knowledge and the ability to empathise with customers and match products to their needs. Many shoppers are feeling overloaded with the huge range of options available online and the enormous range of opinions diffused through social media.

Baseline training is important.

“Do you teach your staff qualifying or summarising skills?” but also ensuring that each team member is able to deal with any question.

“How do you get the knowledge out the heads of the experts and available to all staff”

Better training would also remove the need for clumsy scripts (how annoying is it to be always asked if we want polish every time we buy shoes) and the kind of robotised prompting that disempowers staff and annoys customers.

But even the best trained staff are going to struggle if they don’t have access to product information unless provided with tools at least as good as the customers have. This is not just about access to all the data the retailer has. It needs to include material from suppliers, expert bloggers and competitors too. This is going to prove a challenge to some more conventional retailers believe that the more technology the staff have, the less time they’ll spend doing something useful.

Multichannel retailing is changing.

Multichannel used to be about bringing the best of the store onto the web, now it’s the other way around. This means that technology - kiosks, in-store ordering, browsers on the tills, tablet devices, applications on customers smart phones - will all play a role. Much depends on the individual retailer’s situation.

A slick process, comprehensive selection and a choice of delivery options the minimum retailers should be offering for in-store customer ordering in 2010. Of course, staff will now need to be expert on the complete range of products available not just those stocked by their outlet.

Kiosks are widely viewed as a failure.

We heard anecdotal evidence of successes where store staff and shoppers used kiosks  together (co-browsing) but the experience of them as stand-alone devices was not a happy one. And co-browsing would be better done with a tablet-like device.

The iPad sounds fantastic but is way, way too expensive.

“PoS just seems to be getting dearer. First it was connected to a £20 keyboard, then a £200 touchscreen, now we’re talking about a £600 multi-touch device”.

“What I want is a £200 10 inch multi-touch screen. If I could buy four for the price of a till, we’ve got a deal.”

The Key Performance Indicator impacted of using these kind of devices for assisted service would be conversion rate - the proportion of people entering a store that go on to make a purchase. This is the key effectiveness measure of the way a store is run. Surprisingly, only a few retailers measure this although almost all obsess about online conversions.

Everyone agreed that store-staff need to be credited with all sales generated, no matter where the order ends up, otherwise no in-store initiative will succeed, however exciting it is.

Finally, we talked about the way store applications and customer applications are converging and that this was likely to “bringthe first discontinuity since EPoS was introduced 20 years ago.” Retail systems and customer systems have been developed independently in the past but now there needs to be a fundamental change.

Long term, it’s likely that most retailers will use a version of their store systems on assisted service devices “retailers don’t have large capital budgets so if we can merge the front and back offices into one device, then it makes sense” but most want to keep complicated product information requests and co-browsing away from the till. They want to keep this for payments but would like iPhone-style usability.

We found the session extremely useful and will use the findings to guide our product development over the next 12 months or so. We’re already working with some customers on mobilising in-store applications on tablet devices.

For ten rollercoaster years, e-commerce has been operating at the wild frontier of business life – an exciting, fast paced discipline which threw off new ways of working, new business models and new customer insights almost every day of the week.

Well, that was then. Now, things are very different – at least, that’s my conclusion from two days at the Retail Week/Drapers E-commerce Summit which BT sponsored and hosted at our HQ last week.

I was expecting industry leaders to be discussing the strategic stuff that matters such as what multi-channel retailing really means now that the smartphone revolution has put a web browser in everyone’s pocket? Or whether consumers’ shift to value products is temporary or permanent? Or whether vertically integrated producers/retailers are still viable in an all-digital world? Or how superfast broadband will drive a radically different approach to building brands’ web presence?

Instead, we got a series of lectures on multi-variate testing, user testing, best practice in online consumer surveys and list upon list of KPI’s; all helpfully inscribed in PowerPoint better to befuddle the audience. One speaker even suggested that since running a slick e-commerce operation was all about manipulating spreadsheets, then the marketers should hand it over to their colleagues from the finance department

This heavy lifting is all terribly important, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not new, it’s not controversial and it’s not the stuff of debate worthy of a Summit. All e-commerce managers know they should be continuously testing don’t they? I got a strong sense that the e-commerce world thinks it’s cracked the ten year old conundrum of how to build the perfect website. You just need to work hard and follow best practice. Job done.

Surely there’s a risk that the e-commerce world has become too inwardly focused as it obsesses about rising to the challenge of the 27 different ways the British spell hummus? If it is, then e-commerce people will have journeyed from dot com pioneers to statistical geeks in less than a generation; finishing up as marginalised website optimisers, rather than contributing their knowledge and customer insight to the big challenges retailers are facing as we all claw our way out of recession into a brave new multichannel world.

@geoffreyb

As BT is the official communications services partner for London 2012, I’m fortunate enough to hop on a bus tour of the Olympic Park this snowy morning. What is immediately clear even through the misty windows of the bus is the incredible amount that’s already been achieved at the Park. The area, the size of London’s Hyde Park, was a forgotten and polluted backwater that’s now taking magnificent shape and is currently crowned by the wafting beauty of Zaha Hadid’s iconic Aquatics Centre roof. The roof itself weighs 2,800 tonnes, spans 160 metres and is supported in only three locations.

As I listen to the announcer tell me about the 2,000 newts that were temporarily relocated to an undisclosed holding area, my attention is caught by another habitat that’s been created in front of the hyper-connected regional transport station. It’s the enormous new retail centre.

Westfield Stratford also rises

Westfield Stratford City is 1.9 million square feet of almost unclaimed retail space. Anchor tenants Marks and Spencer and John Lewis / Waitrose have yet to be joined by any other major retailer. Recent mentions of Primark in Retail Week and The Independent indicate an interest in a 70,000 sq ft venture. Of course since the recession landlords generally have experienced an understandably cool reception for their retail properties. But perhaps this time the retailers should take closer look.

Will retailers go for gold at Stratford?

What’s uncontested is that while the Olympic Delivery Authority is on target to hand over the Park to the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG), right next door, the massive retail opportunity sits untenanted. Up to three hundred stores could open for business in Westfield during the autumn of 2011, at the moment there are just three. On the strength of what’s been achieved so far, the London Games will be a tremendous success on many fronts. Not least the legacy of the Park and it’s many facilities.

Let’s hope that our UK retailers will include Stratford in their plans to give East Londoners a retail legacy, and show the world what world-class retailing looks like.

One of my good friends has a family-run men’s tailoring shop in an exclusive town in the counties, close to where I live. Their clothes are for those with deep pockets: the exquisitely tailored suits are hand-made by them or sourced from the finest tailors in Europe and typically retail at £2,500 or more.

There are not many shops like this one left in Britain. As a basic requirement they demand devotion, an unsurpassed knowledge, and an unwavering commitment to customer service.

Despite this, they are still challenged by today’s market conditions. As we sat discussing what options they had to generate new sales, we reviewed the marketing plans, multichannel plans, customer loyalty and family resources.

It struck me how ironic this is. I spend most of my time working with large retailers helping them to build customer loyalty with CRM programs and technology. These retailers are essentially trying to mimic the personalised service of my friend’s shop using pro-active personal communications, and reactive customer recognition & service in the store. Almost always with the careful application of a well thought out programme and the right technology these large retailers can improve their customer service significantly.

And so here I was, talking to my friend and helping her small enterprise adopt tactics that work for my clients. She has customer relationships that all retailers aspire to, and now she is reaching out to new customers to fight the affects of the recession.

For instance, due to her very short depth of style/colour/size combination (she often only buys one size deep) she is worried about advertising items on her site. I suggested that she allow the customers to preview early Spring Collections, and incentivise her customers to purchase items now, with personal delivery immediately the Spring Collection arrives with a bouquet of spring flowers.  Although she buys with key customers in mind, this way, she can determine who else may be interested in particular garments – garments that would not have been available in the shop come spring as they would have been reserved immediately for the loyal customer.

And then, I have high street brands asking how they can get more personal with their customers. Ever thought of holding a 50 year anniversary party at the local art gallery for key employees and your top customers – try your top 300 customers? That is what my friend’s family did – and the sales eclipsed previous years’ sales in the same period in the 6 months following that great thank you. I know of some retailers – only a select few – who do offer ‘lunch with the buyer’ or ‘VIP customer ticket to seasonal press launch’ for their very best customers. Not very costly – but track those VIP customers in your CRM system and you may be amazed how that can incrementally impact not only those customers ongoing spend – but that of their friends – who often behave like your the VIPs.

Thinking like a small retailer – where the customer must always be thanked personally for their custom – is not such a great leap of faith for large retailers – whether your ATV is £2000 or £20. Customers can be thanked cost-effectively - it just takes thought.

Tanya Bowen is head of CRM consulting at BT Expedite. You can contact her at tanya.bowen@bt.com.

Video is not a new addition to on-line retail. In fact, brands have been using it for years to increase the depth and add stickiness to their websites.

ASOS are industry leaders in their use of catwalk imagery and have had video on every single garment for a long time, but interestingly few retailers have followed suit.

However, with the launch of marksandspencer.tv earlier this year and the announcement that Next will be launching Next.tv shortly, it would seem this medium is finally gaining mainstream acceptance.

Video content is no longer seen as just a branding exercise, but a search engine optimisation (SEO) tool, and a revenue generator too.

As the ecommerce market place becomes busier, retailers are looking for ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and customers are demanding more from their online experience.

While online can never replicate the tactile, in-store experience, video gives you the opportunity to engage with, and excite your customers.

Not only that, but it can also aid customer retention and be used as a branding tool. Give your customers a reason to visit your site and show them something they can’t find elsewhere. Even something as simple as an enhanced product page can leave customers wishing for the same level of detail when they visit another site. What better reason for them to come back again?

The recently launched www.annoushka-jewellery.com has already begun to use video effectively in their wardrobe.tv section. A great branding exercise that adds warmth to the site, it is used as a customer communication tool to explain their stackable rings concept.  It gives you an insight into the brand philosophy that written content could never emulate.

Also worthy of note is the great use of catwalk video on designer website www.matchesfashion.com. Here you can select your favourite designer, watch their catwalk shows and shop directly from this video content.

Before now little consideration has been given to how video content can improve SEO. Without a doubt the richer and more relevant content your website has, the better.

However, don’t forget you can now search on Google by images, videos, maps, news, mail, books and blogs to name just a few. So the way brands think about search engine optimisation needs to change.

Let’s take the word ‘dress’ as an example, a highly sought after search term on Google listings. If you search for this word under the traditional Google web search, the page is awash with big brand names. Now take the same word and search on Google’s video search and you will find not one fashion brand come up. It’s most certainly not virgin space, but does show a clear opportunity.

In short, video content is used in three ways:

1.      Generate traffic - give customers something they cannot see elsewhere:  a reason to visit your website.

2.      Drive up site conversion & reduce return rates – engage with your customer, let the customer see exactly what they are going to be buying. Inspire them & show them your vision.

3.      Enhance SEO – optimise your site on multiple levels, because if you don’t, soon your competitors will.

Given the current climate it is doubtful that many smaller retailers can, for the moment at least, follow in Marks and Spencer’s and Next’s footsteps and create a new online channel, but brands need to embrace video now or risk being left behind.

Author: Laura Summers, Online Marketing Services Manager, BT Fresca

We’ve been supplying networks to retailers since 2004 and now connect over 2.600 stores with their HQ. Lee Wakefield, our head of networks, tells me that retailers are increasingly keen to source networks, hosting and in-store applications under a single service agreement. As the Americans say, there is “one throat to choke” and often a better financial deal too.

Lee’s had a busy year and has implemented new networks for Youngs Brewery, Graftons, Schuh and Barratts Priceless and others.

What’s next? As retailers are increasingly moving to thinner in-store applications, many are looking for extra network resilience by using 3G routers as back-ups. And  there’s Superfast Broadband which BT is piloting in London and Cardiff before rolling out nationally from 2010. This will bring low-cost connections of up to 40 Mb/s to the nations’ high streets which will give savvy retailers the potential to greatly enhance the in-store experience.

High definition video-links to remote experts, rapid up-dating of in-store advertising material and the delivery of much more engaging e-learning packages are just a few of the applications that Superfast Broadband will enable.