Solutions Innovations:

Can Apps ‘Fundamentally Change’ Shopping?

A roundup of technology-driven tools that drive consumer understanding, engagement and conversion on every step of the path to purchase.

BY BILL SCHOBER

Klarna, the Swedish global payments provider and shopping platform, unveiled an all-in-one shopping app in November that the company says “will fundamentally change” the end-to-end shopping experience. The app, available in the U.S., U.K. and 11 other Eurozone countries, will enable shoppers to perform multiple actions without having to switch between apps, such as: Shopping at all stores online, unlocking deals and price-drop alerts, and tracking delivery and returns on all Klarna and non-Klarna-bought items. It also adds a “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) tool that sets up interest-free exible payments at all online retailers — regardless of whether they’ve partnered with Klarna or not. This nancing option is delivered through “virtual one-time cards” that Klarna says are free to use. Future features may include a collective loyalty card space and visibility into price histories, reviews and store availability. Klarna, which has its U.S. headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, says that 18 million consumers already shop through the app every month.

In December, Tempe, Arizonabased BrickSeek, a 6-year-old service that checks inventory both online and in-store at some of the nation’s largest retailers, launched its rst app. The app is being made available to all membership levels — Basic (free), Premium ($9.99/month) and Extreme Deal Hunter ($29.99/ month) — on both the iOS and Android platforms. BrickSeek says it has inventory checkers operating with a number of major chains, including Walmart, Target, Lowe’s, O ce Depot, Home Depot, CVS and Dollar General. The BrickSeek app’s barcode scanner lists available online o ers for a speci c product, as well as info that can be used for price comparisons across retailers and availability in-store nearby. All membership levels let users do basic things like create and manage alerts, but those with higher levels get to see key deals rst, access nationwide trends data and greatly expand their personalized search areas.

In November, Los Angeles-based ZeroWasteStore (ZWS) extended its online sustainable marketplace through an app it claims will be a “ rst-of-its-kind” sustainable shopping experience. The company says that all orders handled through the app will be carbon neutral and packaged with zero waste, using only materials that are backyard compostable or recyclable. The new app, available on Apple and Android devices, o ers enhanced search functions through categories such as “low-waste swaps” and “zero-waste items,” while letting users discover brands such as Stasher, No Tox Life, Elate Cosmetics and Suds & Co. Elate Cosmetics and Suds & Co.

Bill Schober is Editor Emeritus of Path to Purchase IQ. He’s been associated with the Institute since 1994, covering all aspects of consumer marketing with a special emphasis on the shopping experience. He welcomes any questions, comments, requests or pitches about Solutions & Innovations, and can be reached at bschober@ensembleiq.com.

Solutions & Innovations

Niantic, the company that created Pokemon Go, announced in November that it was working with Fold, a crypto rm with a bitcoin rewards app, to create Fold AR, dubbed the rst-ever augmented reality bitcoin-earning feature “in the metaverse.” Atlanta-based Fold’s gift-card platform enables shoppers to earn Satoshis (sats) through its Visa rewards debit card or by buying prepaid gift cards for top retailers. Shoppers can then purchase clothes and be rewarded with up to 100% back on every purchase, or even a whole bitcoin that’s transmitted straight to their bitcoin wallets. Once Fold AR is fully deployed in 2022, instead of hunting for Pokemons named Bulbasaur, Fold users will be hunting bitcoin and other prizes that are “placed” in their physical surroundings by Niantic’s “planetscale” AR technology. Fold says it currently has 250,000 users.

In October, San Francisco-based Instacart acquired Caper AI, an arti cial intelligence-powered “Smart Cart/Checkout” tech platform. New York-based Caper uses an object recognition system that enables shoppers to place bulk items (i.e., fruits and vegetables) into a cart without having to scan or weigh them, and then check out from the cart. The system features touch-enabled screens with maps that aid in-store navigation and suggest other purchases based on what is already in the shopper’s cart. Caper’s smart checkout counters use cameras and a weight sensor to auto-detect items placed on its counter. Eventually, Instacart says it plans to integrate these technologies into its own app and websites, as well as those of its 600 national, regional and local retail partners. Caper’s smart carts, which already are deployed at some Kroger and Wakefern stores, were the rst approved under the National Type Evaluation Program (NTEP), certifying that it can accurately sell items priced by weight and measures.

Hamburg, Germany-based online service Neuro ash can write, test and validate marketing copy for you in English and German. Using arti cial intelligence, Neuro ash is said to “learn your writing style” and then produce copy for everything from product descriptions for Amazon and other e-commerce sites to direct-marketing emails, Facebook and Google ads, and social media posts. Basically, after you enter your rst draft into the service, the AI produces variations and then tests them. If, for example, you entered an email subject line, the AI will cough up alternatives and then predict the open rates for the di erent versions. The magic is in GPT-3, an “autoregressive language model” launched by OpenAI in 2020. GPT-3 is based on a neural network with 175 million synapses that developers claim can generate its “own thoughts” and texts that the rest of us can’t distinguish from those produced by actual humans.

In November, Boston-based home decorating site Wayfair launched “Wayfair On Air,” a video-commerce experience that brings entertainment and design inspiration into a “seamless” mobile shopping experience. The content lineup includes studio show formats as well as segments shot inside the homes of various “creators,” such as celebrity chef Danny Boome, family blogger Amiyrah Martin and shopping expert Albany Irvin. New episodes are slated to appear daily throughout the week. Consumers can access Wayfair On Air through Wayfair’s app (iOS only for now), and browse every product featured on the episode while they watch, adding items to their own lists or to the shopping cart.

Insider Intel

SmartyPants, Instacart Launch ‘New Year’ Campaign

BY PATH TO PURCHASE INSTITUTE STAFF

Unilever’s SmartyPants vitamins and supplements brand teamed up with Instacart to drive awareness and sales during the category’s crucial “New Year” season.

As part of the brand’s “New Year, New You” campaign, SmartyPants worked to own the rst week of January on Instacart with prime advertising real estate on the grocery delivery and pickup service’s platform: a dedicated banner ad that sat at the top of the storefront page of any retailer where SmartyPants is sold, including Walmart (in limited markets), Meijer, Costco, Target, CVS, Walgreens and Sam’s Club, as well as Kroger’s agship and Ralphs. Each ad linked to a landing page listing available SmartyPants gummy vitamins and supplements for men, kids, women and expecting mothers (prenatal) at the respective retailer, and also dangled a $1 digital coupon Instacart shoppers could apply to their carts throughout the month to further incentivize trial.

“With this activation, we’re really excited, because we’re owning the most top-of-funnel prime real estate for the entire rst week of the year,” says Amy Avellar, director of shopper marketing at SmartyPants. “SmartyPants is the only brand for this rst week that you will see in this [Instacart] space. [It’s] a really large opportunity for us to drive brand awareness and reach those new buyers and extend our awareness as much as possible.”

The banner ad creative was unique to each day, with the brand testing and learning with di erent creative messaging and products featured, Avellar says. Marketing support also included a dedicated email to Instacart shoppers; targeted display ads, including Instacart’s new search keyword banner ads; and featured product ads on the platform throughout January.

SmartyPants also was tapped by Instacart to be the solo brand partner for its own “New Year, New You” campaign. As the brand partner, SmartyPants’ products and branding was showcased within Instacart’s campaign, which ran throughout January and focused on engaging consumers as they hit a collective “reset” button.

The New Year season (followed closely by back-to-school) is extremely important for the brand to capture those new buyers and those shoppers with renewed interest in the category to maximize that year-round consumer value, Avellar says.

“New Year, New You timing is where we go the strongest in terms of activations and budget to support,” Avellar says. “We know if we’re able to convert them in January, we as a brand see really high repeat and retention.”

Beyond Instacart, SmartyPants’ New Year e ort this year also runs through February and includes: • Retailer media networks, such as

Walmart Connect and Target’s

Roundel; • Third-party mobile media company Ogury, to execute targeted mobile ads driving consumers to speci c retail partners or product pages for purchase; • Social media activity on its own accounts; • In uencers and paid ampli cation with in uencer company Acorn; • Demos at Costco and Sam’s Club; • Meijer’s January beauty wellness box; • FSIs; • In-store shelf talkers and on-pack neckhangers through Neptune

Retail Solutions; • Digital incentives via Ibotta and

Prodege; and • Sampling through Target when it returns to the store.

Across all the digital and physical touchpoints, message consistency remains key for the brand. “We’re creating this integrated marketing campaign that spans both digital and physical, because we know that the path to purchase no longer is straight, and we want to make sure that we have our brand presence and communication to the shopper at every step of the way,” Avellar says. IQ

2022 WEBINAR TOPICS

FEBRUARY 9:

The Store as a Community Hub

APRIL 26

Beer, buds and brew — how BevAlc, cannabis and coffee are changing the retail game

JUNE 23

Grocery Retail’s Winners and Challengers

AUGUST 9

Beauty Retail — trends across mass merchant, specialty and drug store

SEPTEMBER 28

Get Well Soon: The boom of healthcare and wellbeing at retail

DECEMBER 15

Retail Roundup: A special panel of retailers will recap 2022 and a share predictions for 2023 and beyond Featuring special retailer guests in each episode, join us for a dialogue about current trends and strategies that are driving innovation for the next era of retail. In partnership with Great Northern Instore, the Path to Purchase Institute invites you to listen in to a discussion with executives from today’s leading retail chains, emerging brands and parallel industries as we dive into the issues impacting the evolution of retail.

Attendees will:

• Hear firsthand retailer insights and experiences navigating successes and challenges in the market

• Discover how changing shopper behavior is reinventing retail across various segments

• Explore the shifting dynamics that will impact commerce marketing across all channels of the retail arena

Sign up now to gain insights, get inspired and go enact change at your own organization with the learnings from Retail Intel 2022.

PLEASE VISIT P2PI.ORG/EVENTS FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER.

AN OFFICIAL EVENT OF

PRODUCED BY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH