Drawing on one of the biggest Research and Development centres in the world (Adastral Park), our showcase will be crammed full of the very latest retail technology, from digital signage and social commerce to clienteling and mobile point of sale.
You often see the “future of retail” at these events and are left scratching your head as to how exactly it will work. That’s why we’ll have real working demos of everything on show.
Because it’s not about some fantasy future – the products and services we’re demoing are based on current trends, things that are bubbling under the surface now. And products and services we’re putting into place right now.
Make no bones about it – technology is changing the way we shop.
Take mobile, for example. With smartphone wielding, product savvy customers setting the agenda, retailers need to arm their sale staff with access to the same info. That means in-store wi-fi and mobile devices.
But sexy in-store iPads won’t produce any results if the infrastructure underpinning all of it isn’t right. That’s why the future of retail is all about the plumbing – or wiring if you prefer.
This might not be as exciting as tablet devices and interactive signage, but it’s the fundamental stuff that will make or break your multichannel approach. Having customer and stock data at your fingertips will help you understand your customers and be able to personalise the shopping experience.
So as well as all the neat gizmos and gadgets to dazzle customers, we can make sure that everything works together – that all the disparate channels come together in one integrated system. As well as removing the complexity – we can host everything remotely so your bandwidth can flex up and down as you need it – this will also help remove cost from your business.
New York’s National Retail Federation (NRF) 2012 conference theme was Retail’s New Rules, and it focused on how retailers and innovators are reshaping the conventional rules of the game.
My favourite town, my favourite show. New York’s National Retail Federation (NRF) 2012 conference theme was Retail’s New Rules, and it focused on how retailers and innovators are reshaping the conventional rules of the game.
It was bigger, better and busier than ever, with 400 exhibitors and over 25,000 attendees from 78 countries. And Bill Clinton headlining! And, for me, this year’s big ideas were:
Consumer reigns Epicor’s booth showed that consumer devices reign supreme: Business Intelligence (BI) portals, assisted service, clienteling – all served up on shiny tablet devices. Equally exciting, was acceptance that customer engagement rules are changing and in response to this, our newly launched Clienteling app attracted lots of attention around the show.
‘Omni-commerce’ At the conference, I asked US retailers for their views on the subject of centrally hosted versus distributed POS systems. In previous years, US retailers have shown little interest in this deployment model, in stark contrast to their UK counterparts.
But this year there was a definite shift in attitude; among the IT attendees, the key words were resilience, virtualisation and security. And their Business and Marketing colleague’s phrases like ‘customer experience’ and ‘cross-channel’ – or the new buzz phrase at the show – ‘omni-commerce’.
Maximum security Overlaid on top of the cloud, security and PCI were also major themes. Network vendors promising the ‘elixir to PCI’ were around every corner; secure networks, secure wi-fi, secure platforms.
Clicks and mortar A different perspective on Payment was provided by PayPal, whose booth was drawing in the crowds with their cross-channel vision and inexorable push into ‘bricks and mortar’. It’s part of a process that’s moving payment from the wallet to the smartphone, with personalised pricing and promotions, while consumers shop. PayPal’s new strapline ‘Now the Best in Both Worlds’ shows Great vision in a fast moving area. Watch this space!
My summary of this year’s show: Bigger than ever, lots of optimism. Technology is where it’s at. Not just technology to meet the fast moving shopping habits of consumers, but technology that supports global reach, because that’s where the growth is. By the end of the show I was exhausted but more enthused about the future of retail and the systems that underpin it than previous years. Roll on 2012.
OK, that’s not strictly true. But when retailers got together at BT Tower recently to discuss the e-commerce journey, they were all in agreement about two things: the term e-commerce just doesn’t do justice to everything that it now incorporates and, although it’s a journey, there’s no final destination to aim for.
1. E-commerce doesn’t cover the half of it It’s not just e-commerce anymore. In a really short space of time, we’ve gone from e-commerce to multichannel to cross-channel to merged channels to… what? Forrester suggests “agile commerce” as a catch-all for the rest of the alphabet (including, e- m- and F- commerce).
In joining up the channels, it seems e-commerce will exist as a separate discipline in a few years. But what does that actually mean for retailers?
Phil Heaton from relative newcomers Getthelabel.com, talked about creating an online business and building it up to a market leader in just three years.
Phillip Heaton, Getthelabel.com, presenting at the Next Generation Event, BT Tower
In that short space of time, he’s been astounded by the changes: “Customer expectations around delivery, for example, have changed dramatically since we began. We had what could be considered an appropriate delivery model for our business at the time, but with 90-minute fulfilment and tailored timeslots around now, we know we have to change to meet current expectations.”
2. We will never get “there” The two most-used words at the event were e-commerce and journey. But a journey suggests a destination, unless you’re in e-commerce. Sarah Hughes joint MD at BT Fresca set the scene for the day: “We’re on a journey,” she said, “and we’ll never be nearly there.”
Sarah Hughes, BT Fresca, speaking at the Next Generation ecommerce event, BT Tower
Sound a bit daunting? Not according to Nadine Sharara, e-commerce director at Thomas Pink. Echoing the views of many in the audience, Nadine spoke enthusiastically and energetically about the never ending e-commerce journey. “I think about it, not so much as a journey,” she explained, “than as a travel experience.”
Nadine introduced the latest Thomas Pink on-site product videos and explained how these were now driving the in-store experience. And the products featured on the videos are flying off the shelves, both real and virtual, proving that a more engaging e-commerce experience is more than just cool eye candy.
Nadine Sharara, Thomas Pink, presenting at the Next Generation ecommerce event, BT Tower
The stats show that retailers who grasp this idea of an ongoing journey do better than those who get everything in place and sit back. “Your e-commerce investment needs tending,” says BT Fresca’s multichannel specialist Jason Shorrock, “you have to feed and water it.”
What else did we learn? Most innovation in e-commerce is focused on channel integration and fulfilment. So ensuring that web orders can be picked up in store (offering an opportunity to up-sell) and integration with social channels, like Facebook, are essential.
Click and collect has been the kiss of life for the High Street. Almost all retailers have a transactional website. But retailers without a store footprint (even just a couple of flagships) look a little old fashioned. And multichannel retailers are faring better than pureplays in general.
This is a huge opportunity for multichannel retailers to fight back against pure e-commerce providers as they can provide better service, instant gratification and increasingly flexible delivery options. One of the best examples of this is Oasis, which offers a 90-minute delivery from store.
So e-commerce is just the beginning. Mix in a little multimedia, in-store wi-fi and social networking, sprinkle in some smart handheld devices and you’re there. Well, nearly there. For the moment…
The Internet Retailing conference (October 4th, Novotel, Hammersmith) always focusses on the latest on-line developments and this year revealed a growing chasm between the old and the new. What is different this time is that the new “old” is about old-fashioned, nothing to do with number of years trading.
Resting on the old-fashioned cliff-side are some relatively recent retailers, ASOS (founded in 2000), eBay (1995) together with an analog and digital media pioneer, HMV (1899). Staking claim to the new ground are traditional high street names such as Burberry (1856), Thomas Pink (1984), Aurora Fashions (Coast, 1996; Oasis, 1991 & Warehouse, 1976) mixed in with the cream of social networking Facebook (2004) and a revolutionary delivery company, Shutl (2008).
What sets them apart? A true appreciation of their customers’ multichannel lives.
For example, yesterday ex-ASOS visionary Hash Ladha, now 18 months in as multichannel director at Aurora Fashions announced the latest tranche of UK cities to be covered by his fashion industry leading 90 minute delivery service. By February 2012, 90% of the UK can order a dress late afternoon and be wearing it the same evening. Why does this make pure-play retailers like ASOS look old? Because ASOS do not have the nationwide store coverage to support this type of ship from store to home service. Nick Robertson, ASOS CEO, has long muted the possibility of a single ASOS store on Oxford Street, but even that’s a long way from the 50 or so stores required for pan-UK coverage.
The retail equivalent of Apple, Burberry’s recent tie-up with Salesforce.com underlines the absolute need to focus on your customer wherever she happens to be. In the same vein, presenting creative innovation yesterday, Nadine Sharara, e-commerce director at Thomas Pink, underscored the need for absolute quality and consistency of brand regardless of channel. The beautifully British Brideshead revisited theme of this years A/W campaign oozes the kind of high end luxury that thrives in the harshest recession. And the execution from store through to on-line is truly multichannel.
Of the keynotes that kicked off the conference yesterday, eBay sounded tired as it talked up its outlet channels and social media heritage. Conversely, head of Facebook commerce partnerships, Gavin Sathianathan, is effortlessly cool and unceasingly innovative as he describes the stories of the 800 million people that make up the Facebook world and the opportunities for retailers to join them.
So if e-commerce sounded old yesterday, true multichannel retailers are fresher than ever, buoyed by their years of trading and customer focus.
We’ve always been a fan of tablet computers and have long thought they could add fantastic value to in-store operations. But when iPads first appeared, we were very sceptical about whether Apple technology was right for our customers.
We have to admit we were wrong. We’ve spent many hours evaluating a range of alternative devices, from HP to Acer. We’re running a pilot at Aurora Fashions and have our clienteling application running on iPads in another major fashion brand. We declare ourselves converted.
Here’s eight reasons why iPads rock in fashion retail!
They help staff serve customers better – staff can photograph customers trying on garments, front and back, so that shoppers can easily see which dress and which colour suits them best, they can look at their own (or a competitor) website and place orders from the fitting room.
They’re great for clienteling – we’ve got a fab iPad clientling application especially designed for fashion but, at a more basic level, we’ve found staff keen to digitise their own “black books.
They help staff and head office communicate better – retailers often email store staff with important information, such as visual merchandising plans. These emails are accessible on the back office PC or at the till. With an iPad, staff can have the right information in their hand, wherever they are in the store. And in colour. We can’t tell you how surprised we are at how many of our customers only have black and white printers in their shops.
Everyone knows how to use one – we don’t underestimate this. People pick up iPads and use them. They don’t ask for the instruction manual or a training course or call the help desk. They just pick them up, turn them on and off they go.
They can double as an EPOS – Store 6, our EPOS software, works great on an iPad and, when the tablet’s not in use, it can dock on top of a cash drawer and double as a fixed till.
They are always on brand – change the wallpaper, add a sleeve and your iPad is immediately reflects your business’s personality.
They don’t run Windows – okay, we all know that there is no Windows device that comes close to the iPad’s usability but we think there’s more than this. Windows = work. Our experience is that people generally only use Windows devices for the purposes they are given them for. In contrast, with iPads people don’t feel constrained by the technology. They experiment, play and come up with use cases nobody had thought of.
They don’t go wrong – it’s early days but we’ve iPad apps deployed at a few retailers and in a number of countries and we’re not getting many service calls. Fingers crossed.
In this world of multiple channels, always on, 24/7, 99.999% up time, as technologists it’s rare to find time to pause for breath. So to be able to relax in the comfortable surroundings of Chicheley Hall for our bi-annual customer CIO Forum, pausing for reflection and chewing the fat with ones colleagues and CIOs from some of our leading clients was a welcome diversion. Not that there was much fat on a meal that included an entire stuffed quail, followed by venison, mind you. For the former was it really Quail or perhaps the smallness of the bird was because we were simply eating from a long way away, driven by talk of applications provided on the cloud, obscuring our vision.
Prior to this veritable feast, conversation had raged round the table, amongst BT Expedite management, and retailers from the clothing, footwear, pets, automotive accessories and outdoor sectors. Key themes that emerged included the following:
How can retailers retain control of brand values, yet put the customer at the centre of the business? Would the move to providing more product information, opening up Facebook channels and customers using their smart phones to research, lead to the loss of control of brand, or would product always be king? Perhaps it depends on the sector of retailer?
Should retailers spend money training their staff on their increasingly diverse product ranges, or perhaps focus on providing detailed content directly to the increasingly savvy consumer, via iPad and iPhone channels? Would customers see that as a service?
When would we see the death of fixed POS devices, chained to desks, only there to take money? Would the increasingly sophisticated product information and multichannel needs of stores finally result in moving to a true point of service environment, enabled by tablet and/or retail hardened iPad devices, with customers paying by their own smart phones?
When will we see the end of paper based receipts, replaced by emails containing all the relevant information? Wouldn’t that be an easier way for customers to manage things when you need to provide proof of purchase, when things go wrong?
As ever what is happening over the pond and particularly what was previewed at the recent NRF show was a topic of general interest. Could an idea like the Adidas information wall where the in store range could be supplemented by technology capable of viewing items in 3D have general use? Would the iPad really be robust enough to withstand retrials usage, or would these devices simply disappear from the store? Who knows but dinner was nearly upon us….
Full of Quail and Venison, we then listened to BT plans for the 2012 Olympics, frighteningly not much more than 500 days way. We learned, how BT is a key sponsor, also commissioned to provide all the telecommunications for the Olympics itself, the visitors and broadcasters, something that had never been done before. With the massive uptake of smart phones, we could only imagine the massive bandwidth requirements, the thousands of miles of cabling and the work this entailed. Our retailers’ attention was held by talk about the opportunities for pop-up shops around the country, at the various council led venues and whether this was practical. Time will tell I guess, but retailers being retailers, I am sure they will find a way.
As the evening drifted on our minds became focussed on more pressing subjects, so we drifted towards the bar and eventually onwards to bed, wondering what it would have been like to live in this house, perhaps every night was a Quail night….
We took a dozen senior IT folk from UK retailers with us to NRF. After two days trudging round three aircraft hangars full of technology, here are our joint conclusions below – you can also watch a short video of NRF 2011 Conference highlights:
1.Free Wi-Fi – Most large format outlets have a steel frame which, if you remember your O-level physics, forms a Faraday cage that doesn’t let radio waves in or out. So 3G coverage in retail is very patchy. If retailers want to encourage their customers to use their app in store (see previous post for the rationale), free Wi-Fi makes good business sense. With Wi-Fi, shoppers will always need to pass through the retailer’s landing page which is a terrific opportunity to promote their products. What’s more, the retailer can often get anonymised data about which other sites their customers are visiting. Free Wi-Fi will also be important for 2012 Olympics as foreign visitors hate roaming charges but like Wi-Fi. Burberry already offers it free. Tesco and Food Lion announced at NRF that they were going to. Definitely one for 2011.
2.Cloud Computing – a very confusing area complicated by there being no firm consensus on what it actually is. Long term, big picture, our customers don’t see running data centres as a core activity and welcome discussion about hosting their enterprise applications elsewhere. But, they tell us, the devil is in the detail; notably (1) how to get from where they are to a fully hosted environment without increasing costs in the short term and (2) what manner of integration framework might be appropriate.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t much talk about cloud computing at the show. Pretty much all the application vendors claimed to offer hosted or SaaS delivery models but the big SI’s such as IBM and Wipro were focusing on their software rather than infrastructure-as-a- service.
3.Digital Signage – this has come in leaps and bounds over the past five years. Intel showcased some HD screens of such astonishing quality that even seasoned signage sales people took off their hats. Our customers saw the value of being able to control point of sale messages centrally but still have two major concerns. Firstly, do shoppers really take notice of the signs or do they merge into the background as Tesco’s found with its in-store media network? Secondly, can the digital signage take a simple feed from existing content? No retailer can really afford to have to photograph its products twice, once for the web and a second time for HD 3D screens.
Intel are always good value at NRF. They don’t really have anything to sell so can put their marketing budget into showing cool stuff that they hope will increase the demand for computing generally.
4.Electronic shelf edge labels – No interest from our retailers. None at all.
5.Apple – every stand had an application running on a tablet and three out of four put you in a raffle to win an iPad if you let them scan your delegate badge. While many manufacturers have tablet devices on the market, this show was wall to wall Apple. Our customers explained how they’d spent the last twenty years keeping Mac’s out of their corporate IT but either had been or would shortly be over-ruled by their management. Apple technology is here to stay and technology vendors need to shape up to be able to offer support.
6.Payments – there was a huge amount of innovation around F2F payments ranging from fitting sleeves around iPad’s for card tranasctions to loyalty apps with embedded payment software so that customers can transact on their own devices. The business case, at least for US retailers who are incandescent about the commissions charged for credit cards, is to steer shoppers to the most favourable tender types. For example, the payment screen on your app would highlight store cards or gift cards and put Visa and Mastercard “below the fold”.
7.RFID – here at BT we’ve been big fans since we implemented the automated stock counting system in M&S stores in 2005. We see a strong role for the technology supporting cross-channel retailing as inventory accuracy is becoming of critical importance. There was surprisingly little RFID at NRF; really just Avery Dennison (BT’s partner) showcasing their fashion solution. None of the big application vendors or SI’s mentioned it.
8.Self-check out – the marmite of the retail technology world; some people are evangelical about self check-out while others see it undermining the long standing relationship between a retailer (represented by its staff) and its customers. Undeniably, the machines do tend to be rather ugly although if you can put the transaction on the customers’ phone then self-checkout hardware could be rather smaller. The verdict: we can all see advantage in reducing the queues in fast fashion but still struggle with how you remove the security tags. One to watch for 2011.
9.3D virtual fitting rooms – Microsoft cancelled their prime stand by the main entrance two days before the conference which was very fortunate for one lucky 3D virtual fitting room vendor. Our small group wasn’t impressed. The garments don’t hang properly so you can’t genuinely see how they would look on you and (yet again) all the clothes would need to be re-photographed for this application. Maybe one for 2013.
Geoffrey Barraclough is BT Expedite’s Strategy, Marketing & Propositions Director
