viewpoint The best execution of in-store digital integration I David
Ripley Chief Operating Officer of Winning Moves
Digital retail integration
The mobile digital revolution continues to change the way we shop as consumers, and much has been made in recent years of power transferring from retailers to the customer in terms of price visibility and product availability. Mobile does not work for me, and I prefer to navigate a full website rather than a scraped mobile site with limited functionality, and patchy ‘on-the- move’ network availability. My iPhone has a screen approximately 5% of the size of my laptop, which makes browsing more challenging, and mobile phone on- screen click areas can be measured more accurately in nanometres. Mobile tablets are significantly better for viewing when shopping in-store, but ultimately they are cumbersome, and I see very few people strolling around a store viewing prices and availability on their iPads. Customers and their changing habits must be central to all retail digital strategies. Detailed continual research is required to understand how this dynamic approach to retailing is evolving with the introduction of newer advanced technologies. From experience, when retailers lose sight of the needs of their customers they are a short step away from failure at some level.
have seen is Argos, which accelerated its digital embrace and installed screens supporting its traditional print catalogues. These screens are abundant, and go beyond being a simple digitised full-range catalogue by also showing stock availability and allowing customers to order in-store for home delivery or collection at a later date. Within a small-stores format this is an effective solution, but how can this be done in a larger more expansive retail store? Tesco centralises it’s
Tesco.com/ Direct screens close to their ‘Click & Collect’ department in Extra’s. This area is usually situated in the back corner of the general merchandise area, which is one of the lowest footfall areas of their stores. How could a large unit store specialising in toys execute this type of integration in a high-profile way? My view is that such interactive screens should be incorporated at the actual point of sale, into the central shelving units of each key toy department. For example, in a Toys R Us or Smyths store there would be a dedicated screen incorporated into the centre of the pre-school range, fully supported with POS to explain what the screen does; not always obvious until the user scrolls through endless layered menu options. The space requirement would be no more than an
average sized board game, inserted into each major department. These screens would bridge the gap between physical and digital retailing, achieving a level of integration that is in its infancy in some other retailer channels.
The functionality of these screens also needs to be enhanced to include real-time in-store stock availability (can you imagine challenging a sales assistant when they tell you inevitably that, “sorry, if it’s not on shelf then we have sold out”, to which you respond, “no it’s
not, your system indicates that you have six units in store, so go into the warehouse and get it, you lazy...”. Also the availability of the desired product (if not
available in the store visited) in surrounding areas, the ability to order all items from the fully extended ranges for home delivery or collection should be standard features. A feature to pre-order stocks at pre-determined future delivery date would also be beneficial for the toy industry and would allow retailers to plan effectively for peak stock requirements. How easy would Christmas toy shopping and secret
storage be if a consumer could order their children’s main presents in September for delivery in December? When dormant, the in-store screens could default and be used for relevant digital marketing loops, i.e. in the pre-school department relevant advertising around the latest brands, products and promotions. Within action figures (not to mistaken for boys toys) movie trailers for the latest in-store movie launch ranges would be effective. With all-new technologies there are downsides to such a set up in store, the size of investment, required infrastructure and origination/management of digital content to support are all key considerations. Reliability and durability of these units is also questionable; all too often I come across ‘out of order’ screens at my local Tesco store. In relation to the changing face of how we shop, Asda has committed to an initiative of ‘drive-through Click & Collect’ sites within their store car parks. A canopy has been hastily erected in my local Asda and is due to go live shortly. Just like the US, how long will it be before the UK has widespread drive-through banks and coffee shops? What would the implications be for what remains of the high street?
Richard
Gottlieb Global Toy Experts
Lessons from the World Congress of Play
The present is no longer static; it moves. That is what occurred to me as I listened to Reyne Rice’s panel discussion at the World Congress of Play. Reyne, as many of you know, is a globally known toy trend specialist, and she had put together a panel of entrepreneurs that were “breaking through barriers with interactive play”. The panel consisted of Ian Bernstein (Orbotix); David
Merrill (Sifteo); Oren Jacob (Toytalk); Steve Castellotti (Puzzlebox) and Carly Shuler (Kindoma). What all of them had in common was their use of the digital to innovate traditional play formats. As I listened and watched, it occurred to me that their speech patterns and perspectives assumed that the present was in motion. Yes, they were showing us their
76 Toyworld
finished product but implicit in their representation was that these products were not finished and never would be. They and their creations were constantly revising, upgrading and updating in the moment based upon the end user experience. Traditionally, it has been taboo to represent a product as coming to market as “unfinished”. Even if upgrades were on the way, the product had to be marketed as complete. These innovators, however, saw their products, their consumers and themselves as integrated in a process. Their consumers were their partners and in today’s marketplace that means that end-users play a vital role in continual product development. There was a moment during the World Congress of
Play when I realised that in the hall, during the breaks, over drinks and at dinner a new “Community of Play” had formed. Those in attendance had come to know each other and coalesced into a group with common hopes and concerns about not only the business of play but the state of play in America and the world. During the two days of the Congress, several speakers had made impassioned pleas for a return to more play time in schools (down to 15 minutes a day in some districts) and more unstructured play time at home. We heard that most children survey cited their biggest
reason to play as, not for fun, but to relieve stress. We were also told that many educators considered play to be one of the most effective way of educating children. All of this built to the moment when I think we hit the tipping point. It was during an impassioned talk by Darrell Hammond, the founder and CEO of “KaBoom!”, an organisation that builds playgrounds…thousands of them. Darrel, named by Forbes to its list of Top 30 Social Entrepreneurs, let us know that America suffers from a dearth of playgrounds, particularly in low income areas. Darrel wants to build more playgrounds, small community ones, so that children are not miles but blocks away from a safe place to play. Darrell looked out into the audience at the World
Congress of Play and called upon the “play community”, his words, to help “KaBoom!” help kids. You could feel the positive energy from the audience. Charlie Albert, my co-founder of the WCOP and I immediately went on stage and responded that The World Congress of Play would work with “KaBoom!” to channel play community efforts into supporting play as an essential part of mental health and education. As I said those words, shook Darrel’s hand and looked out into the audience, I knew something had happened. We were more than a conference; we were a community.
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