Connected Retail: the Renaissance of bricks and mortar fashion stores by Paula Rodríguez Martínez

CONNECTED RETAIL: THE RENAISSANCE OF BRICKS AND MORTAR FASHION STORES Paula Rodríguez Martínez Major Project

Level 6 BA Fashion Marketing and Communication Major: Marketing Module: MIED 610 José Guerrero, Enric Bayó and Teresa Buhigas 29/05/2015

strongest nor the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best ― Charles Darwin, Theory of Evolution (Parthiban, 2014)

Index Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................... 2 Background ......................................................................................................................... 2 Purpose and Hypothesis ..................................................................................................... 3 Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review ................................................................................................. 5 Key Findings .................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 3: Methodology ....................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 4: Data Collection ................................................................................................... 15 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 15 1.

Bricks and Mortar: creating an unified world of experiences ............................... 16

The mobile mind shift and its challenges .............................................................. 17

Where the ‘tangible’ meets the ‘accessible’ .......................................................... 19

Big Data: the definitive approach to retailing ........................................................ 25

Transformation starts from the inside .................................................................... 37

The Omnichannel Loop: the future within retail experience ................................. 40

Chapter 5: Research Conclusions ......................................................................................... 48 Appendix .............................................................................................................................. 50 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 55 References ............................................................................................................................ 56

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background During the last decade societies from all over the world have been going through a lot of changes that have shaken their foundations. Due to the economic and social crisis and the advances in technology that have molded a new way of consumption, the marketplace has consequently changed. Retailers are facing now the challenge of adapting bricks and mortar stores to customer’s expectations at the same time that the long-term profitability is maintained.

Technology and the web 3.0 have contributed to build a new different consumer: a savvy customer who knows exactly what he/she wants, that looks for quick and user-friendly interfaces, and that is connected at every minute, from every place and through different channels – time and physical boundaries have been totally eliminated. The increased popularity of smartphones has collaborated to the shift within consumer’s behavior pattern and its usage in-store opens a new range of opportunities for bricks and mortar. Retailers are now more than ever in the need of understanding consumer’s behavior in order to take a piece of pie, and currently it is more plausible than before. Retail technology and big data are changing the way of interaction among brands and customers, allowing to track and analyze the fast pace of consumer’s desires and their purchase journey. At the same time, technology rises as the best ally to improve point of sale performance, giving to retailers powerful tools to fulfill successfully customer’s expectations.

The revolution within technology arrives at the point of sale also as a way of brand building. Retailtainment represents a new horizon for conveying the brand message in a way that was never done before.

Big data represents a huge challenge for retailers. As a way to get consumer insights and have a better understanding of point of sale performance, this element is the key for succeeding within omnichannel world.

Fashion retail has always being one step behind in terms of technological innovation; instead, the innovation of the fashion sector has been applied in terms of product, textile and logistics. With the outbreak of retail technology the point of sale is leading the change this time. As traditional patterns of purchase behavior have been changed, traditional retailing formats have become obsoletes, and consumers are demanding a rejuvenated version of bricks and mortar.

For these reasons, it is interesting to conduct a research around the opportunities and benefits that technology presents in the point of sale. It will contribute to get a closer understanding of the new role of bricks and mortar fashion stores besides the tools and strategies needed to success.

Purpose and Hypothesis The primary objective of this document is to investigate how retail technology applied within the point of sale is redefining the role of brick and mortarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fashion retailers and what are the new point of saleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s functions that this implies. The hypothesis is the following: How retail technology is redefining the brick and mortarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role?

In order to establish different areas of study, the following research questions have been created: 1. How omnichannel strategy is affecting bricks and mortar’ role?  How the merge between online and offline world is affecting in the point of sale? 2. How retail technology can contribute to get consumer insights to improve point of sale performance? 3. How companies can use retail technology to brand building? 4. How bricks and mortar can integrate retail technology and big data within their business strategies?

Limitations Due to the nature of this topic – which is currently a very relevant one in the industry, the sources available are unlimited and constantly growing. For this reason, a selection of the most relevant data had to be done in order to present a coherent overview that won’t overwhelm the lector.

Despite the conclusions presented are fairly conclusive at the time of submitting this document, as the theme of investigation is related to technology and innovation it allows and requires a further investigation beyond the data obtained.

Chapter 2: Literature Review  Retail Evolution According to the main primary retail evolution theories – environmental, cyclical and conflict theories, retail evolution is linked to a force that makes a type of retail to evolve into a new one (Sook-Hyun, 2003). The rise of internet, the outbreak of new technologies at the point of sales and the changes in the consumer buying behavior are pushing the evolution this time. The nowadays oversaturated market demands that the competitive advantages achieved by a company or a brand are beyond the traditional strategies defined by the marketing principles described by McCarthy in 1960 - product, price, promotion and place (Espinosa, 2014). Competitive advantage, defined by Michael Porter as “the value a firm is able to create for its buyers that exceeds the firm’s cost of creating it” (Porter, 1985, p.3), has been evolving throughout the years and changes in the retail macro environment are making companies doing a shift from “product centricity” to “consumer centricity” strategies.

According to the publication The Promise of Digital Technology in Brick and Mortar Retail by José P.Chan (Master of Science in Management of Technology by MIT Sloan School of Management), companies can use technology to create a competitive advantage based on enhancing user experience (Chan, 2013). William J. Stanton through his book Marketing Fundamentals supports the theory of consumer’s centricity and states that marketing has evolved in different stages: product oriented, sales oriented, marketing oriented and social marketing oriented (Bligoo, n.d.). In the same way, Antony Welfare through The Retail Inspector’s Handbook highlights that the main principle in retail is the customer: “[…] the customer should be the centre of your business and everything you do must revolve around that customer. Knowing them, and 5

focusing on them in everything you do, will help you grow your business and your team — the customer is king” (Welfare, n.d.). In his book Marketing in the 21st Century, Rafael Muñiz talks about the marketing variables, and highlights the role of the new technologies within the whole marketing strategy (Muñiz González, 2001). He states that the information that these technologies bring us are producing a deep transformation within the consumer purchase behavior and the economic cycles (Muñiz González, 2001).

Changes in the marketing environment such as the rise of internet and the demographic changes are the main factors that the ‘holistic marketing’ takes into consideration. Defined by Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller as “the development, design and implementation of marketing programs, processes and activities that recognize the breadth and interdependencies, holistic marketing recognizes that ‘everything matters’ with marketing and that a broad, integrated perspective is necessary to attain the best solution” (Management Mania, 2013), it encompasses Relationship Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Internal Marketing and Socially responsible marketing.

From bricks and mortar to multichannel and the beginning of cross-channel activities in the 2000s, Ravi Bagal - Vice President and Global Managing Director of Retail and Distribution at Verizon, states that omnichannel “is the final step of the evolution, from a single channel to a complete and holistic experience that merges these various touch points” (Harris, 2012). He also highlights the new approach into customers implied by technology: “Technology is a way of turning retail into a better version of what it always was. The advent of mobility is a sea of change for the retailer. The consumer has leveled the playing field from an information standpoint. In some ways, it’s a threat, but it’s also a huge opportunity. The mobile phone is ubiquitous in the sense that consumers will never walk out of their house without their phone. […] As we move into the world of location-based services, where on opted-in basis consumers can acknowledge through the retailer that they’re in the store or near a display, we’ll be able to understand consumer preferences based on that data. The 6

phone becomes the target of our messages but also the source of rich information” (Harris, 2012).  Consumer Purchase Behavior The demise of bricks and mortar is considered by the majority of retail industry specialists the direct consequence of e-commerce and consumer purchase behavior. Martin Manley (2012), a former United States Assistant Secretary of Labor and current CEO of RedLink, states that “Today, e-commerce is not just killing some stores – it is killing almost all stores” (Dorman, 2013).

Supporting this statement, Sebastian Van Baal and Christian Dach through their publication Free Riding and Consumer Retention Across Retailers’ Channels (2005) predict the future of bricks and mortar becoming just showrooms for online purchase (Dorman, 2013). Their analysis has at its core the free riding theory which states that “an inability to prevent use of a resource will produce a suboptimal economic result” (Dorman, 2013). They assert that the majority of retailers are not able to distinguish the actual customers from the free riders (online and in-store) and this makes impossible to combat showrooming (Dorman, 2013).

Erik Brynjolfsson, Yu Hu and Michael Smith highlight the existence of multi-channel as one of the main causes that bricks and mortar are having a deep decline in their profits margin (Dorman, 2013). Through their publication Consumer Surplus in the Digital Economy: Estimating the Value of Increased Product Variety at Online Bookseller they state that the capability of purchasing from multiple channels implies “the loss of power for brick-and-mortar retail, which loses a large degree of power in determining prices” but that at the same time “the industry moves closer to a model of perfect competition, in which firms are compelled to accept prevailing market prices therefore accepting lower profit margins” (Dorman, 2013).

In the other hand Neil Stern, in The Impact of the Internet on Retailing (1999), highlights the positive aspects of the outbreak of internet within the retail industry and states that the 7

decline in profit margins will be compensated somehow by the benefits derived from reaching a wider target through internet (Dorman, 2013).  Origins of Big Data Big Data origins go back to the 40s, when in the university context were attempts of quantifying the volume of data growth, popularly named “the information explosion” (Press, 2013). Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company, defined in 2001 the term big data as “high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making” creating the 3-V’s characteristics of the term – volume, velocity and variety (Sicular, 2013). In the publication Big Data: Changing the way that businesses compete and operate published by EY - the global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, the company talks about analytics as the extensive use of data, “statistical and quantitative analysis, using explanatory and predictive models to drive fact-based business management decisions and actions” (EY, 2014). The company states that the function of big data is a “powerful way to identify opportunities” but at the same time “when combined with traditional organizational information the volumes of data collected can be vast and traditional storage methods can be prohibitively expensive and do not necessarily scale effectively” (EY, 2014).

In The Power of Point-of-Purchasing Advertising: Marketing at Retail Francis J. Mulhem talks about the importance of big data as a way of increasing the power of retailers. He states that big data increases the importance of marketing at retail versus the mediabased traditional marketing. At the same time, talks about the high importance of its measurement, as a way to know customer profitability, brand equity and customer response analysis (to point of sale’s activities) (Mulhem and Sandgreen, 2004).

 Marketing at the Point of Sale Continuing with The Power of Point-of-Purchasing Advertising: Marketing at Retail, Francis J. Mulhem defines marketing at retail as “the point of transaction where the customer chooses to make a purchase, takes possession of a product or consumes a service, and pays in real dollars” (Mulhem and Sandgreen, 2004, pg 15). Consumer’s insights – as the “true understanding of consumers desires, aspirations, motivations, buying and consumer behavior” and brand strategy are the main elements for all successful marketing practices, and particularly important for when consumers and brands meet: the bricks and mortar (Mulhem and Sandgreen, 2004). He describes the function of the store as media as one of the most important nowadays, and reinforces the importance of experiential retailing – “non-traditional practices that enhance shopper’s experience”, as a way to brand building at the point of sale (Mulhem and Sandgreen, 2004).

In the chapter Evaluating Retail Technology of the previous book cited, Jeff Sandgreen talks about the 3 tests that any new technology applied within retail must pass (Mulhem and Sandgreen, 2004). Meanwhile the “pull test” is related to technology that seeks solve any store problem – such as stock management, the “payback test” seeks to prove the investment – “It’s not enough just to buy the instrument. The critical investment is in learning how to properly play it” (Mulhem and Sandgreen, 2004, pg. 151). But for Sandgreen the “people test” - which is related to the point of sale technology that improves the in-store experience, is the one that prevails over the others. As he states in the book, “the key events that add up to a positive in-store experience form the essential foundation for customer preference and loyalty to brands and to retailers” (Mulhem and Sandgreen, 2004, pg. 150).

 Relationship Marketing As part of customer relationship management, relationship marketing “focuses on customer loyalty and long-term customer engagement rather than shorter-term goals like customer acquisition and individual sales” (Vaughan, 2014). In contrast to transactional marketing – which aims to increase individual sales, relationship marketing main goal is “to create strong, even emotional, customer connections to a brand that can lead to ongoing business, free word-of-mouth promotion and information from customers that can generate leads” (Rouse, n.d).

 Closed Loop Marketing Closed-loop marketing is “marketing that relies on data and insights from closed-loop reporting. “Closing the loop” just means that sales teams report to Marketing about what happened to the leads that they received, which helps Marketing understands their best and worst lead sources” (Vaughan, 2012). As a way of tracking online customer behavior, closed loop marketing identifies when visitor arrives to the website, what actions he makes, when converting into a lead through a submission form and when he becomes a customer.

 One-to-one marketing “One-to-one marketing advocates tailoring of one or more aspects of the firm’s marketing mix to the individual customer. One-to-one marketing represents an extreme form of segmentation, with a target segment of size one” (Arora, Dreze and Ghose, 2008). Created in 1994 by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers in the book The One to One Future, one-to-one marketing is a customer relationship management strategy focused on personalized interactions with clients (Rouse, n.d).

 The Silos Mentality Defined by the Business Dictionary as “A mind-set present in some companies when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company” this term has been discussed from the last 30 years (Gleeson, 2014).

In his book Silos, Politics and Turf Wars (2006), Patrick Lencioni highlights the devastating effect that this way of management has in organizations, wasting resources, productivity and the achievement of goals (Gleeson, 2014).

Key Findings The most relevant findings detected and used as theoretical framework for the development of the research are the following: -

The rise of internet, the outbreak of new technologies and the changes in consumer buying behavior are the main drivers for today’s retail evolution, in which omnichannel is the final step

“Consumer centricity” and the use of technology to enhance user experience as the competitive advantage of todays

Showrooming as the death of stores

Big Data as a way to identify opportunities and empower retailers

Consumer’s insights and brand strategy are the core of nowadays marketing at the point of sale

In-store experience as the essential foundation for customer preference and loyalty

Relationship marketing, Closed Loop Marketing and One-to-One Marketing as the grounds of today’s big data approach

Silos mentality is one of the most dangerous threats of innovation

Chapter 3: Methodology Because of the topic of this research – which is a very up-to-date and a wide one, this investigation has been carried through a very diverse type of sources, but mainly sources of secondary nature.

Primary data has been collected through a visit to 720 e-lab, the first retail lab in Spain, located San Quirze del Valles (Barcelona) and the professional guidance of Isabel Jódar, commercial manager of the retail lab. The collaboration of Marta Fernandez - Marketing Director at TC Group Solutions, company specialized in retail intelligence, through different meetings along the months of March, April and May, has contributed to reinforce the theoretical and practical framework about retail technology. Personal experiences with brands have been also taken into account as real examples of brands’ areas of failure. Secondary data has been retrieved from 146 sources – which include books, reports, thesis, articles from different media and a webinar. Due to the nature of WGSN and LinkedIn – which have very specialized articles with industry experts, both platforms have been a constant source of information throughout the project. A special remark deserves the British website Retail Technology, which with its articles related to the main topic of this research, has contributed to the consistency and coherence of the document.

 How omnichannel strategy is affecting the brick and mortar’s role? In order to give response to this question and to find the information that would contribute to generate an overview of the omnichannel, the MIT Sloan School of Management Thesis The Promise of Digital Technology in Brick and Mortar Retail (2013) by José P.Chan leaded this part of the research.

WGSN articles and reports form in a very relevant level one of the main sources of the investigation. Especially for the latest trends in consumer purchase behavior and the latest advances within the mobile industry. Furthermore, WGSN has been the main source when it comes to the analysis of the best practices in retail technology.

The book A wave of digital trends: Trends in digital. E-nnovation (2013) and the report The new digital divide. Retailers, shoppers and the digital influence factor (2014) both published by Deloitte, were a very important source of information in order to contextualize all the omnichannel strategies and the merge between online and offline worlds.

The electronic books Connected Retail - The Future of the High Street (2013) by the company Amaze and Digital at the Point of Sale edited by Syzygy were used also as one of the main sources for contrasting information and to extend data in some scopes. Nielsen report A mobile shopper’s journey: from the couch to the store (and back again) (2013) has been a very important source of information for the mobile section.  How retail technology can contribute to get consumer insights to improve point of sale performance? The reports The new omnichannel approach to serving customers (2013) carried out by Accenture and Big data: changing the way business compete and operate (2014) by EY have served as a base for this chapter as also the visit to 720 e-lab was a powerful tool to investigate in depth this part.

 How companies can use retail technology to brand building? Future Stores. How to Engage and Convert Consumers with Great In-Store Retail Experiences (2014) published by the CFI Group and WBR Digital, and Customer Experience. Una visión multidimensional del marketing de experiencias (Ruiz et al., n.d.) have been the main books used for this chapter.  How bricks and mortar can integrate retail technology and big data within their business strategies? The visit to 720 e-lab was the starting point for responding this question. The visit, leaded by Isabel Jódar – commercial manager of 720 e-lab had a theoretical and practical purpose. Having the possibility of understanding and testing the latest retail technology devices has collaborated to the accuracy of this document.

The study Estudio Omnicanal del Retail Español published by Corpora 360 in 2015 analyzes the 119 brands more representative in the Spanish retail market has collaborated with information in depth about how Spanish brands are integrating retail technology within their strategies. The report Let’s get personal published by Fitforcommerce in 2014 and the webinar carried out by the same company in May 2015 Behind the Scenes: Leverage data cleverly to personalize the shopping experience, starred by Yanna Sigenlaub – VP of Marketing at Fitforcommerce, Nico du Plessis – Sr.Consultant at Fitforcommerce and Jason Shriver – VP of Client Success at MyBuys have a very important role in this chapter.

Finally the guidance and professional expertise of Marta Fernández - Marketing Director at TC Group Solutions, has contributed to a deeper understanding of the role of retail technology within retailing, which has helped to boost the creation of the model of the last part of the research.

Chapter 4: Data Collection

Introduction The following section aims to explore in depth the hypothesis “How retail technology is redefining the bricks and mortar’s role?” Data retrieved has been organized according to the established research questions, in order to obtain a coherent and cohesive research. The first research question “How omnichannel strategy is affecting the brick and mortar’s role?” and its sub-question “How the merge between online and offline world is affecting to the point of sale?” is disclosed through the following sections: -

“Brick and Mortars: creating an unified world of experiences”

“The mobile mind shift and its challenges”

“Where the ‘tangible’ meets the ‘accessible’”

The section “Big Data: the definitive approach to retailing” aims to answer the research question “How retail technology can contribute to get consumer insights to improve point of sale performance?” “How companies can use retail technology to brand building?” is explored within the section “Retail Technology: brand building at the point of sale”. Finally, “How bricks and mortar can integrate retail technology and big data within their business strategies?” is explained through the following sections: -

“Big Data: the definitive approach to retailing”

“Transformation starts from the inside”

“The Omnichannel Loop: the future within retail experience” 15

1. Bricks and Mortar: creating an unified world of experiences “With a variety of distractions for consumers, the winners will be the ones who provide simple solutions that tap into consumer desires and enable a hassle-free experience” (Jobbling, 2013).

Consumers are becoming more complex in several perspectives: they have more knowledge, they are continuously moving and they are more demanding, more empowered, more collaborative, more diverse, and more interactive than ever (Carrol and Guzman, 2013). Consequently, the consumer purchase journey has been altered, and ‘one size fits all’ model is no longer valid.

Omnichannel represents a change in the way that customers interact with a company. In the retail scope it enables different ways of interaction that are not exclusive but complementary among them. Successful omnichannel strategies have at their core the mission of delivering a pleasant and unforgettable experience through a seamless process - that goes further than presenting the same aesthetic and content in the online and offline world of the brand. Maintaining a consistent brand message through the different channels used to connect with the customers is one of the most important things that retailers have to bear in mind. Despite the ‘euphoria’ generated around e-commerce and the possibilities of the online world, bricks and mortar are in the center of the scene again. Online retailers going offline are the evidence. As a way of merging online data with offline experiences, online retailers such as Amazon, Birchbox and Rent the Runway decided to go offline to get closer to their customers (Krasny, 2014), offering them being part of the brand world. This step provides real experiences to the clients at the same time that facilitates companies to get consumer insights about their in-store buying behavior, very relevant for implementing new business strategies. 16

Customer purchase behavior has been deeply influenced by the increased use of different devices at different moments during the customer purchase journey, which creates the need of adapting platforms and tools to these different points in order to meet the consumer expectations (Lobaugh, Simpson and Ohri, 2014). Successful omnichannel strategies have the ‘consumer centricity’ principle at their core – or what is also known as ‘me-tailing’ ’where retailers offer personalized interactions that are informed and contextualized by information gathered in real-time through mobile, social and in-store channels, as well as any other customer touchpoint’ (Anderson, 2013). Retailers have realized the importance of reinventing physical stores in order to satisfy the every time more hyper-connected consumer. Omnichannel strategies are part of this process, which is converting bricks and mortar into the center of the customer experience at the same time that serves as an invaluable source of consumer insights.

2. The mobile mind shift and its challenges “84% of shoppers use their devices to help shop while in a store, 1 in 3 shoppers use their smartphones to find information instead of asking store employees and 46% of shoppers who use their phone in a store still end up making a purchase, an 11-point increase from 2011” – Google Think Insights Report (Jibestream, 2014).

The merge of online and offline world has in the mobile usage at the point of sale its main reflection. The usage of smartphones in-store is increasing considerably, creating a unique opportunity for retailers to offer customers a richer shopping experience (PSFK, 2015).

Mobile has become one of the keys to build a successful omnichannel experience in-store. Facilitate the consumer’s purchase journey through smartphones is a must that every bricks and mortar retailer should be applying now.

Offering updated information about product details, reviews and promotions in real time for in-store customers is something that UK fashion retailer House of Fraser is already doing. Through beacon technology the mannequins send product information – price, characteristics and stock availability, to smartphones that are within 50 meters of distance (Skinner, 2014).

Enabling digital payments is another step in the path of providing a seamless in-store experience. NFC (near-field communication) – an evolution of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, allows contact-less payments directly from smartphones, through a chip incorporated in the devices in charge of the data exchange (Profis, 2014).

However, the mobile mind shift that retailers should be applying now it is not only a matter of technology implementation. With the technological costs going down the big challenge comes in form of data personalization, staff training and customer adaptation. Firstly, adopting beacon technology has no sense at all if there is not a team behind analyzing all the information that this produces to decode it and transform it into business decisions. Secondly, brands have to educate consumers in order to let them know about the benefits of using this technology (Skinner, 2014), because previously clients have to download the apps and/or switch the Wi-Fi and GPS on. And for digital payments, retailers have to inform customers about the increased safety of this method versus the traditional credit card (Skinner, 2014).  Taking advantage of showrooming Showrooming, as “the consumer trend of using retail stores as showrooms to view, touch and try products, but then buy – usually with the aid of a smartphone – wherever the best value can be found” (Digital at the Point of Sale, n.d.), is feared by the majority of retailers, meanwhile others are embracing it.

A series of online surveys conducted by SeeWhy Conversion Academy disclosed that “Shoppers who use mobile devices for showrooming are actually almost twice as likely to purchase from the same retailer in-store or online (38.0%) than buy elsewhere (21.6%)” (Nicholls, 2014).

This research also finds out that the transactions carried out in-stores through mobile devices are really low, and that the main purpose of using the mobile is just for research about prices, product information and promotions (Nicholls, 2014).

For overcoming this challenge, retailers must keep innovating at their point of sales. Offering experiences through mobile apps that just can be experienced in-store is a way of boosting in-store traffic, driving in-store sales and increasing customer engagement (Emig, 2015). For instance, using the every-time more popular Snapchat app to offer in-store coupons, and collaborate with beacon technology to send notifications with promotions just valid for in-store shopping, send snapchats with previews of new items at the store through the app, and the gamification of the in-store experience are others ways of taking profit of the showrooming trend (Emig, 2015). As stated before, besides the challenge that implies analyzing and understanding big data produced, retailers have to train their customers to let them know about its use of social media channels and the benefits for them.

3. Where the ‘tangible’ meets the ‘accessible’

One of the main contributions of omnichannel that is affecting the role of bricks and mortar is the alteration of the traditional parameters of time and space, and therefore the change of the traditional functions of retailing. The introduction of the ‘anytime, anywhere’ principle eliminates the boundaries of time, space and channels, opening the door to a ‘boundaryless’ retail.

Following these parameters retailers are facing the challenge of satisfying consumer expectations. In the current oversaturated fashion market, offering a convenient service –such as ‘click and collect’, is not valid if the output does not fit customer’s expectations. Readjusting the whole retail strategy is needed, and just the ones that are able to match the service offered with the consumer’s desires and expectations would be awarded with the every-time more-difficult-to-achieve client’s loyalty.

One of the retail technology’s reasons of existence is to make possible a successful merge between the offline world – aka ‘tangible’ and the online dimension – aka ‘accessible’. By creating a symbiosis among these two worlds the traditional role of retailing is experiencing a deep change which has in the outbreak of new functions – store as a way to get consumer insights, and new retail formats – store as a virtual catalogue, their main manifestations. Whilst the ‘tangible’ world is characterized by a physical location and limited timings – specifically in the fashion industry, the ‘accessible’ world is a 24h/7d non-stop store, placed wherever a technological device is.

Following the prediction done by Deloitte, which states that by 2020 the only function of physical stores will be being a showroom to help customers to take decisions within their purchase journey (Bustard, 2014), fashion brands have here a new path to follow. If we merge the ‘tangibility’ offered by physical retailers and the ‘accessibility’ of the online retailers, we could see a reawakening of the bricks and mortar headed by the use of retail technology. The fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger is already starting to introduce this concept. The just-inaugurated digital showroom last January that the brand has in Amsterdam represents a new way of buying and selling for the retail customers and the brand sales team (Businesswire, 2015). Through this new platform formed by a four-meter screen, buyers are able to “ view headto-toe key looks, zoom in with incredible detail to see unique design features, and click on a

garment for specific information such as color offerings and size ranges” (Businesswire, 2015). Besides, this new approach in the traditional showroom function “reduces sample production, eliminates the need for printed order forms, and diminishes the ecological impacts of shipping. In turn, the environmental impacts of sample creation are significantly reduced, from the supply chain and manufacturing to packaging and international shipping” (Businesswire, 2015).

Fashion retailers have here some hints to take into account and translated into their bricks and mortar. But are they ready for the challenges that this implies?

 Allowing customers to design the best shopping experience Today’s best shopping experience is no longer a matter of one channel. Within the omnichannel world, the best shopping experience will be the one that integrates all the channels in one, allowing the customer to choose the way of interaction with the brand. In order to increase in-store traffic, retailers have to be able to optimize customer’s in-store visits and offer them what they can’t get online. Convenience, price and information offered by the ‘accessible’ world are some of the key elements of success of the online shopping therefore offline retailers must be able to translate this into their point of sales. In the other side of ‘showrooming’ is where ‘webrooming’ takes place. Despite the use of the web to do research and then purchase in a physical point of sale has prevailed the trend of showrooming, retailers must reinvent themselves and their business strategies in order to take the maximum advantage of this. Numbers speak by themselves: 69% of users did ‘webrooming’ versus a 50% who did ‘showrooming’ (among users of 18-36 years old); in the age range of 37-48 years old 71% are ‘webroomers’ and 53% are ‘showroomers’; and 69% are ‘webroomers’ and 44% are ‘showroomers’ among users of 49 to 67 years old (Stilson, 2014).

According to a report carried out by The Merchant Warehouse, the main reasons for consumers going online for research but purchase offline are the followings (Stilson, 2014): -

47% for avoid shipping costs

46% for touch and feel the product before purchase it

42% for check stock availability in-store

37% for being able to return the item in-store

36% for asking about price matching with online offers

23% for avoid waiting for the product to be delivered

All this data is translated into business opportunities for bricks and mortar that would only be successful if the whole retail strategy is coherently adapted to them. “According to Lee Paterson, from WD partners, in 2013 4% of consumers chose the option ‘Buy Online Pickup In Store’, and in 2014 this figure increased to 60%” (Hughes, 2014). Offering ‘Click & Collect’ service is one of the latest trends in the retail industry. Nevertheless, inventory accuracy – and a redesign of the supply chain to fulfill the orders, connecting consumer experience across the different channels and increase awareness of the service (Woods, 2014) are some of the main factors to bear in mind. Despite that this service is rising in popularity, consumers buying online don’t always want to go inside the store to pick-up their purchases, instead, alternatives such as pick up drive and pick up through lockers in center locations – as Amazon is doing in London tube stations (Hughes, 2014), have to be considered. It is always a matter of understanding the different types of customer and a matter of trying to adapt the strategy to each one offering customized solutions.

Another way of allowing customer to design the best shopping experience is by offering on-demand delivery options, such as one hour delivery. For instance, grocery retailer Wholefoods is currently doing a partnership with Instacart that allows consumers to buy online and pick up at the store within one hour time (Whole Foods Market, 2014). 22

Returns in-store and even enable customers to reserve garments online for buying them offline are others alternatives that fashion brands such as Banana Republic and Gap are already offering (Maheshwari, 2014). The unpleasant feeling of buying online an incorrect garment size and the bureaucracy that the process of return implies with some fashion brands – such as H&M in Spain, keeps customers away of using this service. For this reason, brands must enable easy and simple solutions to solve these daily and common issues.

 Retail Technology: brand building at the point of sale Convenience at the customer purchase journey is not enough. Especially in the fashion industry customers are looking for experiences that make their shopping time worthy. ‘Retailtainment’ seems to be a concept that is gaining an increased space within retailer’s minds, despite not all of them are making use of it. Endless is the discussion about the direct benefits of investing in technologies at the point of sale that just look for entertaining the clients. As these technologies are very new, their relation with final sales – and therefore benefits, is still on trial mode. “The return on investment with these innovations is probably not that high […] but like everything, it’s about experience. Things like RFID chips make a store feel exclusive… It’s cool and there’s fun to it. It’s about immersive experiences; why shouldn’t there be a rain room like at the [London arts center] Barbican? People want magical experiences, especially when they’re paying high prices” (Bearne, 2014).

The British iconic brand Burberry was pioneer to make use of the retail technology in its flagship store at Regent Street, London, in 2012. Characterized by merging its online universe with its physical world, the store has implemented some of the latest technologies that look for making customers feel an exclusive in-store experience that at the same time reflects the brand values. 23

RFID tags embedded in clothes and accessories - which placed near mirrors display video content, and screens playing marketing campaigns videos are some of the main ‘retailtainment’ technologies adopted by the brand to make customers live an unforgettable experience. ‘Retailtainment’ is basically the response to the latest changes in consumer behavior. Customers

are

now used to the interactivity

the

content

offered

through

pc, mobile and Figure 1: Rebecca Minkoff Store (Holmes, 2014)

tablets and the

convenience delivered by online retailers, therefore their demands in terms of innovation and the element of surprise when interacting with brands are always increasing.

Others elements such as digital mirrors and recommenders are still being improved in order to satisfy clients’ expectations, replacing mannequins for digital screens that provide useful and engaging content and services. For instance Rebecca Minkoff has teamed up with eBay to create a ‘connected store’ in New York, in which the merge between online and offline world is the main feature. Through what they called ‘connected walls’, clients are able to discover more about products thanks to RFID technology, which allows to identify stock available and crossselling offers (Retail Innovation, 2014). In this way, customers are experiencing a nice and new way of shopping meanwhile the brand is obtaining insights about their buying behavior.

IPads are also used to boost ‘retailtainment’ at the point of sale. Chanel implemented this technology at its fitting rooms in London with the main purpose of enabling clients to take selfies and share them with their friends and also in the racks, in order to allow customers to see the whole brand collection (Retail Innovation, 2014).

Tommy Hilfiger has also implemented IPads in its store in London, to allow customers to see the lookbooks and products of the brand (Retail Innovation, 2014). Bas Bruijninckx, IT Director for Ecommerce and Digital of the brand, states that “bringing the digital brand into the store environment creates more touchpoints for the customer, increases dwell time, and makes for more engaged shoppers” (Retail Innovation, 2014).

Still on trial mode, as there are high priced and their impact in sales is still not clear, these technologies have offer retailers the possibility of creating an unlimited brand universe.

4. Big Data: the definitive approach to retailing ‘Big Data’ applied to retailing allow companies to obtain insights of the point of sale performance, inventory, customers, industry trends and forecasts and social media, among others (See, 2014). Big data is an essential element of a successful omnichannel strategy, in which the main goal is to deliver personalized seamless experiences to the customer and improving point of sale performance. Obtaining insights about the customer and monitoring stocks and products to optimize sales and save costs is the main function of big data that will revolutionize the role of bricks and mortar. Despite both offline and online retailers obtain invaluable amounts of data, not all of them are succeeding in the management of it. The main areas of failure are leaded by the lack of knowledge of the retailers and their way of approaching data.

The understanding of big data as a way of obtaining consumer insights that can be later applied to improve customer experience is unknown by the big majority of retailers, which just think about data as a way of stock management, pricing and driving sales. Besides - when approaching data analysis, instead of centering just on one scope of big data, retailers must understand the holistic view in which it has to be built upon, which encompasses an integration of technology, people, processes and information (EY, 2014).

Within this panorama, the main challenges that data presents are leaded by the huge quantity of information that companies struggle to manage, the lack of focus on the customer (personalization), the problem of privacy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which could be solved through crowdsourcing, the lack of well-trained staff to analyze data and the reaction in real time to it (Kemp, 2014).

According to World Federation of Advertisers 54% of brands struggle to manage data (Kemp, 2014). Burberry is one of the fashion brands that are not part of this figure. The brand, through the use of enterprise technology software SAP HANA, facilitates in-store staff all the information needed about customers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which includes their buying history, shopping preferences and social media information meanwhile at the same time, a back-end system is ensuring that products are available for each customer (Kemp, 2014).

The Economist Intelligence Unit states that only 30% of retailers believe in big data as a way of increase sales, and affirms that this is caused by the fact that analytics have always been more sales-focus, forgetting about customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s profile (Kemp, 2014).

Combining the prediction made by technology with the insights and the intuition of the employees is the way to take more humanized decisions, and therefore more successful ones.

In accordance with the global market intelligence firm IDC, 34% of the internet data was useful in 2014, but only 7% was tagged for analysis and just a 1% was finally analyzed (Kemp, 2014). This is related to the fact that companies lack of specialized staff and therefore struggle to manage all the data compiled.

Real time data is the solution to anticipate to consumers desires and deliver them just in time

what

expecting.

For

they

are

instance,

establishing a relationship between weather and online and offline purchases could help retailers to â&#x20AC;&#x153;create a system that predicts when conversions are likely to increase due to the current weather and then helps Figure 2: Data-driven marketing (Fish, 2014)

retailers know when to boost media spend and by

how much" (Kemp, 2014). Some companies such as Prism Skylabs and RetailNext provide insights about consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activity in-store which help retailers to re-design their store layout (De Jonge, 2014). Through heat maps retailers obtain information about where do clients go more and which is the last store area of visit before leaving (De Jonge, 2014). This data will help to place different categories along the store, with different purposes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for instance, impulsive buying products.

 Connecting the dots Retail technology along with big data represents the most powerful tools to empower bricks and mortar stores and transforming them into something superior than fashion stores: big containers of data that aim to meet and exceed customer expectations in terms of convenience and experience, the most important elements of a point of sale.

According to Intel, 78% of customers are more likely to purchase from a brand that sends them products that matches their interests and preferences. Data personalization, which is defined as ‘changing a user interaction based on data, such as purchases, demographics or preferences’ (Experian, 2014) is –along with data management, one of the main challenges that companies are currently facing. In fact, as states the participants in the webinar ‘Behind the Scenes: Leverage data cleverly to personalize the shopping experience’ carried out by Fitforcommerce last May 20th, data personalization represents with omnichannel and content management the top three priorities for retailers. This figure shows that at least companies are aware about the importance of personalization.

Despite it might look a new term, data personalization has been used since the beginnings of commerce. Small retailers used to remember their loyal customer’s preferences and buying history and bigger retailers reach customers with emails or text messages. But this – if it ever worked, is no longer enough.

The company Experian in a study carried out about data personalization - Maximizing personalization. How to improve data insight for better consumer connections (2014), has find out that 71% of customers find personalization as a powerful tool to find the right products and 74% of them do not like to receive notifications that have nothing to do with their interests.

Also, despite what the majority of people might think, it is interesting to find out that more than half of clients would provide personal information to retailers as long as it is treated carefully and they can perceive the benefits of doing it. Privacy when treated carefully is no longer an excuse for customers’ data collection.

In the side of companies, the main drivers for applying personalization are for increasing customer engagement, revenues, prospect conversion and maintain the brand integrity (Experian, 2014).

Customer experience is to a brand what a heart is to a body. It is its reason of existence and when it fails, everything that surrounds it starts to crumble and threats to disappear. In an oversaturated fashion market, consumers are every-day more demanding and the experience that a brand offers is one of the most important elements in the customer purchase journey. They don’t care about brand loyalty unless they receive something in exchange, and they don’t want to receive the same as everyone else and neither by the same channels. They want brands to know how and when to reach them.

When successfully applied, personalization improves mainly customer prioritization, crosssell or up-sell offers and relevancy of loyalty offers (Experian, 2014). Knowing how the customer buys, what, when, where and how often increase the possibility of converting a potential client into a loyal one. Within this panorama big data is the fuel to boost customer experience through personalization. Retailers can’t afford to expect from clients to tell them what they want, they have to anticipate and predict their needs before anyone else does it. As a way of personalization the customer shopping experience during the whole purchase journey, big data – when optimized, makes possible to identify and create ‘buyer personas’, drawing with precision the different type of costumers to reach them in more personalized and therefore successful ways.

Currently - instead of precise and targeted information appealing to the customer, nontargeted messages continue hitting people personal and professional devices, creating a loss of time and money for companies and making consumers angry and frustrated about receiving notifications that have nothing to do with them. Therefore content is one of the failure areas when approaching clients that retailers have to solve taking advantage of big data. Besides, channels used to approach consumers are not always used in the right way, creating nothing else but the loss of thousands opportunities from retailers from all over the world. The company Experian has defined the following stages within the ‘personalization path’:

“Chaotic: a single channel approach where some historic off-site processing takes place and is mainly designed to verify users;

Reactive: a multichannel approach with regular batch processing;

Defined: a multichannel approach with automated processing and batch processing. More automatic approach in terms of personalization;

Proactive: an omnichannel approach where data is coordinated. Processing of customer information takes place upon input in addition to some regular processing. Profiling and monitoring of customer data takes place on a regular basis;

Predictive: an omnichannel approach that has processing upon input, but it is paired with profiling and monitoring improvements and the incorporation of predictive models based on data quality and behavioral and demographics data” (Experian, 2014)

Although ‘predictive’ stage is the optimal one – in which omnichannel strategy is developed successfully and data gathered is used successfully for creating ‘personas’, statistics show that only 10% of companies are already in that stage meanwhile the 26% of companies are in the ‘reactive’ phase, followed by a 21% that is executing the ‘defined’ phase, a 20% the ‘chaotic’ phase and a 18% the ‘proactive’ one (Experian, 2014).

All this is translated into the fact that a big majority of companies are still very far away from using big data at its highest levels.

Capturing data is challenging - right, and normally higher budgets mean higher opportunities – right too, but if bricks and mortar continue having this kind of mindset, they are destined to fail and therefore to disappear in a near future.

The key for implementing retail technology and achieve a successful omnichannel strategy through data personalization is based in 3 stages: research, test and analyze. Retailers have to research about the different kind of opportunities that are out in the market and that best suit their business and their budget, they have to test them having in mind that the results won’t always be the desired ones, they have to analyze such results obtained and start again. It is an endless process that has already started and retailers must to take part of it in order to be competitive.

Traditional stores that lack of knowledge see innovation as something really far away from its frontiers and that’s why they are called ‘traditional’. If a retailer wants to evolve, it would have to adapt its strategy to the current times. Once those retailers have decided their strategy and have implemented the technology, the second challenge appears: recollecting valuable data – lot of it is poor, fragmented and inconsistent, to filter and to analyze it. When recollecting data, a high percentage of companies (40%) that participated in the study carried out by Experian - Maximizing personalization. How to improve data insight for better consumer connections (2014) stated that the main challenge when personalization is obtaining data quickly enough to anticipate to consumer desires.

This

challenge

followed

the

problem

not

having enough data or having inaccurate information, lack of internal having data,

resources, too

much

inability

gain insights from data and inability to access

information

(Experian, 2014).

Figure 3: Challenges with personalization (Experian, 2014)

The integration of all the information obtained is other scope where retailers are not succeeding at all. In the same way that a company can has the ‘silos syndrome’ in terms of management, data presents the same problem. To have a holistic view of customers that will allow creating individual profiles, it is essential to unified all the data that comes from different sources. In form of ‘silos’, there are mainly two units that have to be integrated into one: data, and devices (Sigenlaub, Du Plessis and Shriver, 2015). Data silos is formed by all the information originated from offline, online, first party and third party sources - the different sources from where companies can obtain customer insights, meanwhile device silos implies the different technological devices used by customers to connect with the brand (Sigenlaub, Du Plessis and Shriver, 2015). All this is translated into two main things: different channels and different types of data that overwhelm bricks and mortar and leave them in the middle of confusion. According to the webinar ‘Behind the Scenes: Leverage data cleverly to personalize the shopping experience’ (Sigenlaub, Du Plessis and Shriver, 2015), 81% of customers expect 32

recognition across the different channels and 78% of shoppers want integration among their online and offline activity.

So, the main question is: How do bricks and mortar start to integrate all this data?

In order to put all this together and to obtain valuable data that can be translated into valuable business decisions, the first thing to do is to transform all transactional data – information that comes from POS system for instance, into statements and conclusions about customers. There are some softwares such as 720 moda1 offered by 720 e-lab that collaborate with the most advanced companies in retail technology and integrated all the data gathered from different technologies (such as in-store and external pedestrian traffic counters, i-beacons, RFID, digital signage and digital mirrors) in order to have in the same ‘cloud’ all the information of one business.

But for make this possible there are still some gaps that have to be fulfilled. As stated before, in order to have a more pleasant customer experience it is important that clients are recognized through the different channels used – which at the end of the day it means a more personalized buying experience, and want online and offline areas to be integrated in order to avoid information that is not interesting or not valuable for them. At the moment, for bridging the gap among online and offline behavior, customer’s email addresses represent the first key. It is very important that the retailer gathers this data about their clients. Without it, the total integration is impossible. Integrating forms in the retailer’s website in which customer information has to be completed is another way of doing it. Depending on the retailer type and needs, some information would be more relevant than other. Another data that would facilitate this – but not all the clients are willing to facilitate if retailer doesn’t show any advantage of giving this information, is the telephone number 1

See Apendix for further information

which would allow reaching customers in a more personalized way, tracking their behavior and even increasing the physical store traffic. Creating ‘loyalty programs’ for integrating the basic customers’ information is the first step in the path of personalization.

For those retailers that have developed an App for their clients, it is very important that this element gives an added value to the customer shopping experience in order to promote its use and obtain customer data. Implementing WIFI in the physical point of sale represents a huge opportunity for identifying clients through their mobile phone and loyalty programs. Installing beacon technology can be used not only for interacting with the clients that have already downloaded the brand’s App, but also for obtaining insights about their buying behavior. These technologies make possible the recognition of the clients through different channels – linking their email addresses to their phone numbers and their activity at the physical point of sales, and the integration among all them.

Another area of failure in the process of data personalization is linked to the demographics segmentation. Despite the majority of marketers have overcome this stage, the truth is that there are a lot of companies that still rely just on this method to segment their customers. If this variable is not crossed with behavioral (does she buy in-store? how often?), psychographic (what kind of lifestyle does my customer has?) and even geographical data the ‘persona’ created wouldn’t be nor accurate nor real and therefore not valid at all.

Historical data is something very important too for building accurate profiles. Tracking customers since the beginning of their relationships with bricks and mortar would increase the level of precision of defining the ‘buyer persona’ and therefore would increase levels of engagement.

 Customer Relationship Management and Customer Experience Management The link between data collected and retailers is done through Customer Experience Management. It is the way of managing big data and obtaining meaningful insights. CEM is an evolution of traditional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that allows companies to turn visible each customer experience, in every touch point and along the time that the relationship between customer-retailer takes place. The internal focus of CRM – that sometimes left customer out of the center, is overcome by the external solutions that CEM aims to deliver (Baker, 2015). However, one of the main challenges for companies is something that does not belong to the software expertise, which is the corporate culture of the company. Integrating technology in a company is not an easy task therefore this process has to be implemented from the top of the management structure to the down. Training the employees to know how to handle these technologies is not the only way to succeed. Staff has to be motivated enough and also well informed to face the new customer in a satisfactory way.

 Improving point of sale performance Retail technology does not only imply huge possibilities to improve customer experience, but also to boost point of sale performance in terms of sales, revenues, stock and buying orders management. For unbelievable that it might look, there are still a lot of bricks and mortar fashion stores that lack of knowledge in terms of retail technology, meaning that they keep using the traditional ways – pen and paper, for stock management and buying orders. Sometimes the problem is lack of knowledge - and sometimes it is about lack of vision, letting at the end of the priorities list the investment in this technology.

One of the main advantages of the companies that have integrated vertically all their processes is the quicker capability of reaction to overcome unpredicted market scenarios. 35

But for those bricks and mortar that are not owners of the whole productive process there are tools that facilitate gathering all the information.

Using a common language among retailers and brands is the first step in order to start a process of collaboration in which both parties can obtain high amounts of data that will impact in their final profits. According to Isabel Jódar – commercial manager of 720 e-lab2 the first retail lab of Spain, bricks and mortar stores still think that sharing information such as sales figures with brands is going to harm them, instead of facilitating its tasks and empower them. This statement confirms the fact that at least in Spain, there is still a lot of work to do for changing companies’ mindset.

In terms of sales, stock and contents management, implementing software that integrates both retailers and brands data allow having a unified view of the business in which the seamless flow of information would allow: -

Analyzing sales by unitary products 24h/7days per week (which will allow to see in detail for instance which products perform better and therefore react quicker)

Having a global vision of the bricks and mortar stores (very important for those retailers that own more than one business and for those brands that distribute via multi brand stores)

Planning in a more efficiency way to avoid stocks

Sharing brand content for achieving a coherent and professional brand message that sometimes is not conveyed by the point of sales (in case of multi brand stores)

RFID tags can be used – besides to interact with customers, to improve point of sale performance in terms of products management. Through this tool, products can be counted both in-store and at the back office with precision (99.9%) – letting sales associates know instantly if there are any of the products lost, quickness (75% to 92% quicker than traditional ways of doing it), generating an increase of sales (2% to 8%) and improving gross margin (720 e-lab, 2015). 2

See Appendix for further information

In a superior level of innovation is where the smart mat has its place. What look like a simple mat is a loss prevention system and a stock management tool that identifies the products immediately at their moment of arrival at the store and there is no need of the store associate to integrate manually any of the products in the system.

All these tools combined with the correct analysis of big data will transform de store into a big ‘cloud’ of insights that would boost its performance at its highest levels.

5. Transformation starts from the inside

A successful, well-driven omnichannel strategy is achieved by an ‘omnichannel team’ leaded by a unified marketing department and a humanized human resources department.

No matter the level of omnichannel achieved, a company must ensure that these departments are interconnected and ‘human centered’ in order to make a good use of the technology and deliver to its clients a coherent, consistent and satisfactory shopping experience. Lots of companies - especially the big ones, are still struggling with management; what is known as ‘silos syndrome’ - each business unit or function interacts primarily within its own “silo” rather than with other groups across the company (Vilet, 2012), has always represented a huge threat in the management of a company but now, with the outbreak of omnichannel strategies and retail technology, the problem is perceived by the final customer as never before.

Some of the main problems at the point of sale that integration of technology and big data aim to solve are the followings (Retail Touchpoints, 2015):

Lack of engagement with high-value customers 37

Lack of knowledge about consumer’s picking up online orders

Lack of real time stock

Lack of cohesive loss prevention systems

Lack of employee training

Picture the following situation: today is Caroline’s birthday, and she has got an email from her favorite beauty retailer – which is an international retail chain, saying ‘happy birthday’ and informing her that she has a 20% off to use it as a birthday gift. She runs to the store in order to take advantage of this and purchases that expensive item that she has been thinking about lately. When she is about to buy it, she shows the email from her smartphone and - sadly not so surprisingly, sales associates don’t have any idea what she is talking about. What was supposed to be a nice visit to the store is transformed into an awkward situation between sales associates – who are meant to have at least the same information as the client, and Caroline - who represents the every-time more informed type of customer that feels frustrated in these situations.

 Getting ready for the ‘asteroid strike’ The combination of the connected consumer – known also as ‘phy-gital’, and the ‘tsunami’ of data that has been hitting all the sectors in the past years act as an ‘asteroid strike’ in the grounds of every company that has not predicted – and therefore has not prepared, the arrival of this phenomenon. Bricks and mortar are the reflection of each company’s performance. Because of its closeness to the final customer point of sales can act either as a driving sales element and an asset for achieving a client’s loyalty or as an ‘innovation killer’, reducing the efficiency of retail technology and all the omnichannel strategy. Small brands and companies have more facilities when it comes to drive a unified strategy alongside all their businesses units, meanwhile big companies have more obstacles.

Sharing information between all the business units seems to be a problem that has also arrived to marketing departments. Instead of unifying online and offline marketing strategies, big companies lack of a common share of strategies and content, which is translated into a waste of data, time and profits. This company segmentation has as its major consequence the client loss of credibility and the damage of the brand image. All marketing efforts can be ruined in a simple way as that.

 Human Resources: where the magic happens During the last years it has been talked about the importance of taking care of customers, making them the center of the whole marketing strategy and making sure that all marketing actions are focused on ‘customer engagement’.

Nevertheless, companies can’t forget that their first customers are their own employees. Sales associates and staff represent the very first brand ambassadors and they are the only ones capable of boost visitors’ purchases therefore the need of training and motivating them is crucial (T-cuento, 2015). Because, what is the point of taking care of the final customer if retailers forget about the first link of the chain?

In this context, a successful omnichannel strategy would be only achieved once that a company realizes that: 

Customer experience is the most important thing for a brand



Employees are the brand ambassadors and the first clients



Company culture is the ground of the marketing actions (Neosperience, 2015)

Gamification arrives as a way to build successful brands from the inside-out.

‘The science of applying game theory and dynamics in non-game contexts’ (Neosperience, 2014) has been a way of connecting with customers mainly through mobile devices, in order to increase brand awareness and boost brand loyalty.

In this current context in which big data is having its big moment, applying gamification to motivate employees is one more piece in the puzzle of the omnichannel strategy. Gamification has to be implemented combining motivation, analytics and the right strategy adapted to the each business. ‘By tracking activities and responses to incentives, gamification can help employers not only identify and reward high-performing employees, but also determine why certain employees are high-performers. Then, those invaluable behaviors can be cultivated across the enterprise’ (Bunchball, 2014).

Customer service is the most important element in the shopping experience, therefore bricks and mortar stores that implement this tool will be empowering their omnichannel strategies, creating a very complete and successful path to achieve the goal number one in every point of sale: an excellent and unforgettable customer experience that would lead to increase sales and create customer loyalty.

6. The Omnichannel Loop: the future within retail experience

In the same way that ‘one-size’ model doesn’t fit anymore for approaching consumers, it doesn’t fit either for designing an excellent customer experience. Implementing retail technology and data analysis systems in bricks and mortar has to be according to each brand’s strategy and objectives.

Products are no longer part of the equation for reaching customers and making them loyal ones. Customer shopping experience combined with convenience is the main assets for bricks and mortar to survive. 40

Due to the dynamic nature of retail technology, which implies that what was new and extraordinary yesterday today is an essential and ordinary element, omnichannel strategies have to be always in continuing evolution and test. Big companies tend to try the latest technologies, especially in terms of ‘retailtainment’, testing them, cheapen them and making customers get used to the new ways of shopping that these imply.

The main barrier for a retailer to implement retail technologies is lack of knowledge and lack of budget – and the first element is more difficult to overcome than the second one. As stated before, corporate culture is vital when it comes in terms of innovation and changing the game rules, so at the end it is the role of bricks and mortar to choose what they want to be and what they want to achieve, and retail technology and big data are just their best allies.

The Omnichannel Loop is conceived after the previous research to try to stablish certain parameters that retailers have to be taking into consideration within their businesses strategies. It is the way of answering to the hypothesis of “How Retail technology is redefining bricks and mortar role?” Because of the nature of retail technology and big data, the best way to approach them is by a ‘loop’: they are endless tools that are in continuing develop whose future is unimagined and unlimited. In the other hand, these tools that conform different levels of retailers have a ‘progressive nature’, meaning that they are complementary among them and not exclusive, and being in one level involves to have overcome the previous one and therefore to have implemented successfully the previous stages.

The parameters established for retailers have been divided in assets, results and future challenges.

‘Assets’ are the tools that bricks and mortar have for achieving a successful omnichannel strategy, and they are formed by: the retail technology and the services that it offers, social media and its use, online facilities and mobile possibilities given to the customers and the human capital. ‘Results’ are the consequence of using these assets in a certain way. This category is formed by: integration between online and offline, brand experience and level of engagement, customer insights, customer expectations and point of sale role. The category ‘future’ represents the next challenges that bricks and mortar have to face in order to continue evolving.

The loops originated until the moment are 4, but due to the nature of the topic it is an open model that will continue evolving through time.

In the first layer of the Omnichannel Loop are the bricks and mortar that are just offering a product, without any added value than those that the products themselves are contributing to the clients. Customers don’t expect to find there anything new in terms of shopping experience; they just want their primary needs to be covered. Physical point of sale is not technological adapted at all. Retailers that are in these scenario just survive because they are well known in their activity area – they have been there for a long time, and because their activity costs are not higher than their revenues. The role of this retailer is just a ‘convenience’ one: its activity is limited to offer products to a limited geographic area. 

Retail Technology: the essentials, just the POS system, loss prevention and EAN codes for identifying the products



Services: no extra advantages for retailers nor customers



Social Media: none or just one channel without being developed enough



Online Facilities and Mobile: those that have website have a very simple one, used as an advertising element with no elements of interaction with the customer at all. The ones that have also online store have a very simple tool that just enables the customer to buy the product. Websites are no ‘mobile friendly’



Employees: limited to their role of traditional ‘sales associates’. They are no motivated at all and their role just covers the store basic needs



Integration between Online & Offline: none. Channels are totally disconnected given no consumer insights no brand experience



Customer Insights: none. Data is collected by one channel and it is purely transactional, derived from purchasing activities but this is not analyzed at all. These retailers are not used to the term ‘Big Data’ and do not track customers. They lack of knowledge about what they are missing in terms of business opportunities



Customer Expectations: limited to find products that match their needs



Brand Experience & Level of Engagement: none



Point of Sale Role: it acts as a convenience store in which customers go shopping because it is near to their living or working area.



Next Challenges: start to understand the ‘omnichannel’ approach in order to survive and expand their limits

In the following layer of the loop are situated those bricks and mortar that have already embraced the omnichannel concept, but still in a very starter level. Retail technology starts to have its role in form of stock management and sales analysis. Bricks and mortar have much more personality than in the previous stage but still are not achieving the level of integration between online and offline world needed to target more precisely customers and offer them personalized experiences. Online and offline stores are more coordinated than in the previous level, clients are recognized in both channels if email address has been used to match the profiles. Social media channels are used to engage customers and to increase physical store traffic. 

Retail Technology: the previous one and RFID



Services: in this first level of RFID, this technology is used for sales analysis and orders management. This tool allows retailers to keep a record of their sales and orders



Social Media: social media channels are integrated within the online brand world



Online Facilities and Mobile: online store (if existent) with ‘wishlist’ and share button connected to social media. Some of them are also ‘mobile friendly’, allowing customers to have a pleasant experience when browsing with their mobile devices



Employees: they are ‘fashion informers’. Despite they lack of brand culture and brand purpose and their motivation is not boosted at all, they are aware about the products they are selling and start trying to engage customers



Integration between Online & Offline Store: Inexistent



Customer Insights: demographics



Customer Expectations: higher than in the previous stage but not met as they wish. They expected more integration and a more pleasant customer experience that the retailer is offering them 44



Brand Experience & Level of Engagement: medium. They like the brand, but they are not willing to do an effort to go physically to the store to buy it, nevertheless it has gain a position in consumer’s mind. Customers follow the brand in social media



Point of Sale Role: the ‘shopping journey’. It attracts customers that are in a ‘shopping mood’, meaning that they will go to the physical point of sale if they are in a shopping journey in the surroundings



Next Challenges: omnichannel hub. Embrace retail technology to increase levels of brand awareness and customer loyalty through the use of different tools that would help to obtain customer insights and improve customer experience

The third level is formed by those retailers that are part of the omnichannel world. Integration between online and offline worlds is considerably achieved, meaning that they are able to identify their customers in both spheres. Retailers are embracing big data to design their point of sales strategies and to make the shopping experience more pleasant. ‘Retailtainment’ starts to have a role within the point of sale. 

Retail Technology: WIFI, NFC, Pedestrian Traffic Counters, RFID combined with the ‘Cloud’, Smart Devices



Services: o Retailer App o Heatmaps to monitor and design the store layout and stock allocation o Payments via mobile o Internal & External Traffic Knowledge: stock allocation, human resources planning (according to the hours when store receives more visits) and KPI's manage o Assortment planning, forecasting, loss prevention control (due to the capability of monitoring in a quicker way each product at the store) and interactive content linked to products o Integration online & offline multichannel sales and inventory, product information, retailtainment, online & offline integration and in-store facilities 45



Social Media: highly developed and integrated within the brand world



Online Facilities and Mobile adapted: online store with ‘wishlist’, share button, browse items in the brand website, cross selling, offline stock availability check, ‘click and collect’, buy online and return in-store, book on-line & pick up in-store and online promotions related to offline. Website ‘web responsive’ (adapted to several type of devices from smartphones to smartwatches)



Employees: higher levels of brand commitment and brand knowledge. They are more product and brand oriented than in the previous stages, nevertheless motivation is very low



Integration between Online & Offline: high. Actions are driven for both channels



Customer Insights: demographics, historical and situational



Customer Expectations: higher and sometimes achieved



Brand Experience & Level of Engagement: higher. Majority of customers are prosumers nevertheless they are disloyal at the same time, as competence is wide



Point of Sale Role: the buyer trip. Customer plans to go to this point of sale because of need and desire. Going there involves leisure more than convenience



Next Challenges: data personalization for a better approach of customers and for create loyal customers that will choose the brand above others

Finally, the last level is called ‘the customer nirvana’. Because of high level of omnichannel achieved and personalized shopping experience, these bricks and mortar fashion stores are the ‘paradise’ for customers. These types of bricks and mortar are the keystone for a brand. Customers are willing to do an effort to go there. 

Retail Technology: previous ones and Beacons, Digital Signage, Content Management System, Recommenders, Smart Fitting Rooms and Digital Mirrors.



Services: the previous ones and the following ones: o Customer recognition and customer interaction with the brand o Sales associates empowerment o In-store facilities (easy pay from the fitting rooms, etc.) 46

o Content management across all channels that gives the retailer the opportunity to maintain the same brand image and convey the same messages through its whole channels of communication 

Social Media: 100% part of the brand world. Higher interactions among users and brand



Online Facilities: the ones offered in the previous stages and free shipping, personalized customer service through a 24h chat, added value online shopping experience (online and free personal shopper, etc.)



Employees: brand ambassadors. Highly committed, highly motivated and highly informed



Integration between Online & Offline: the highest level. Both platforms are mirroring the same brand image, brand values and brand experience



Customer Insights: Demographics, Historical, Situational and Behavioral. The ‘buyer persona’ is perfectly described, therefore marketing actions are more personalized and content is highly targeted



Customer Expectations: high and met in the majority of the cases



Brand Experience & Level of Engagement: high. Customers are the brand ambassadors



Point of Sale Role: the customer nirvana. Customers are willing to go to bricks and mortar store in order to live the experience that it offers. It is more a virtual store in which products are delivered through an unique and seamless experience



Next Challenges: continuing innovating in terms of retail technology to fully embrace big data at the most precise level. Data personalization has been achieved, so the next step would be ‘data tailor-made’, which involves the implementation of data analytics systems that instead of creating ‘buyer personas’ formed by groups with common characteristics, they target customers with a name and a history behind that the system will automatically detect. Customer expectations are no longer met, they are overcome. Data flux is no longer bidirectional, it has as many interactions as technology and software implied in the process

Chapter 5: Research Conclusions Retail technology is deeply transforming the role of bricks and mortar fashion stores. With the implementation of omnichannel strategies retailers have the opportunity to boost their point of sales performance and converting them into the center of customer shopping experience at the same time that a big ‘data container’. The seamless process generated through the different touchpoints offers customers a new way of enjoying the purchase journey, which can be initiated online and finished at the point of sale (or inversely). Mobile represents a key element for retailers’ strategies, which facilitates customers’ insights and contributes in customers’ purchase journey.

Brand building has been always a must for every fashion brand to succeed, and the point of sale has been always a way to acquire it. In the pursuit of expressing the brand values around the whole marketing assets, physical stores have in ‘Retailtainment’ a very powerful ally. Despite there is still no conclusive data about the return on investment that displays such as digital mirrors offer, what is clear is that these type of tools are important assets to attract customers in-store and increase their engagement with the brand, at the same time that facilitates the task of obtaining personal data about them. Instead of a matter of quantity, big data is about quality and how retailers are able to manage it in order to analyze and implement strategies that match and overcome customer’ desires. The development of Customer Experience Management facilitates the task of getting to know the customer more and better. Customers have evolved, but software tools that enable to track and manage customer’s insights have too. Personalization of big data represents the most challenging part of omnichannel strategies, but it also is the answer to achieve great customer experiences and it is grounded in the integration of data obtained from different sources and devices. 48

The advances of retail technology boost point of sale performance thanks to the use of big data. As a way of empowering sales associates, the use of retail technology implies powerful tools that contribute to the improvement of the overall in-store performance. Achieving and implementing the right methods has its beginnings within the corporate culture, which must be in harmony with the brand’s target and products/services offered. Online and offline marketing departments have to be joined in one, and human resources has a very important role for achieving a successful business performance. This time big data is used and implemented to engage the first brand’s client: the employee.

The renaissance of bricks and mortar fashion retailers can be felt as never before. Despite the emergence of online retailers that looked to be threatening the traditional way of retailing statistics have shown that customers still prefer buying in-store. However, due to the huge competence existent in the fashion industry, retailers have to reinvent themselves in order to take a piece of pie of the every-time more over-saturated market.

The efficient use of retail technology combined with data analytics of every touchpoint of the customer purchase journey is the tool to become a more competitive business. Bricks and mortar evolve into big ‘data containers’ able to satisfy both customers and retailers expectations, in which customer experience is positioned as the top priority and data analytics systems go further than defining ‘buyer personas’.

Tailor-made data will make possible the total identification of customers and the total customization of shopping experience will make possible a more personalized brandcustomer relationship. Bricks and mortar fashion stores evolve then into humanized point of sales which enable relationships among brands and customers that go beyond the traditional barriers of time, space and channels.

Appendix ď ś Visit to 720 e-lab Situated in Barcelona Moda Centre, Retail Lab is pioneer in Spain in the recreation of a multi-brand fashion store. With products from brands such as Yerse, Munich, Le Coq Sportif, and Original Buff, it aims to be a showroom for retailers to see and test the latest retail technologies. Born from the collaboration between the companies b2bSportmas and BMC-Barcelona Moda Centre, 720 e-lab gathers the worldwide leaders technological enterprises dedicated to big data and retail technology: Avery Dennison RBIS, Keonn, Beabloo, OgilvyOne, Abantia T-Cuento, Creativesystems, Sinergialabs, Posiflex and ISPO Munich. All the data produced by these companies is integrated in one common software: 720 Platform.

Figure 4: Retail Lab (Pinkermoda, 2014)

The visit to the Retail Lab was on March 30th and was leaded by Isabel JĂłdar, commercial manager of 720 e-lab, who has collaborated with professional insights about retail technology. Through a technical presentation of all the latest technologies of the market and a practical test of the majority of them, retailers can see by themselves how these innovations can improve their point of sale performance (mainly in terms of time management, cost management, sales increase, improve of the customer experience and getting to know the latest technologies). 720 e-lab is also addressed to those brands that: -

Want to get to know more about their end customer

Want to know the performance of their products at the points of sale, in order to take quick and smart decisions based on data analysis

Want to manage their brand content and brand awareness in all the different channels (website, mobile, social media, points of sale)

ď ś Main technologies and software available 720 moda: software that integrates on-line and offline channels, created for retailers that want to implement a management tool to have integrated their whole businesses. It facilitates some tasks such as the stocks and orders management, buying decisions, sales, CRM, and online store.

720 e-lab: software that allows brands and retailers to collaborate and work together in order to gather and analyze all the data. It allows get to know about the performing of the products at the point of sale, get to know more the final customer, optimize sales, reduce costs and rotate inventory. Figure 5: Pedestrian Counter (720 e-lab, 2015)

In-store and external pedestrian traffic counter:

In order to get to know the number of potential customers that pass by the store, the visitor and customer conversion rate, to check that staff is distributed according to the store activity, the performance of the marketing campaigns and windows shopping.

(Figure 6: RFID720 e-lab, 2015)

RFID stock: tool that allows to manage stocks in-store and at the back office in a very short time with precision (99.9%), quickness (75% to 92% quicker than traditional ways of doing Figure 7: RFID (720 e-lab, 2015)

it), increasing sales (2% to 8%) and improving gross margin (720 e-lab, 2015).

Digital signage: content management of one or more channels. It allows managing from a simple message to whole marketing campaign,

unifying

the

message

automatically in all the different channels.

Video and radio analytics: to analyze consumer behavior at the point of sale and Figure 8: Digital Signage (720 e-lab, 2015)

take decisions.

Recommender and intelligent fitting room: interactive elements that aim to interact with clients and improve their customer experience through recommending them related

products, outfits, product information and even call the staff without getting out of the dressing room.

i-Beacons: it allows to know the position of the client in order to send more specific and personalized messages according to the data collected. It also enables to create experiences for those users of the retailer/brand mobile apps, in order to improve their shopping experience.

Besides all these tools, the company Ogilvy offers the possibility of create content for the brand, Ispo Open Innovation offers consultancy for launching new products and HMY Yudigar the equipment needed for the point of sale.

Future

Results

Assets

Pedestrian Traffic Counters RFID +

Cloud

Beacons

Digital Signage

Recommenders, Content Management Smart Fitting Rooms & Digital Mirrors System

Brand Informers

Data Individualization

Data Personalization

Omnichannel Hub

Start Embracing Omnichannel

Point of Sale Role

Next Challanges

The Omnichannel Loop

The Customer Nirvana

The Buyer Trip

Loyalty Customers & Prosumers

Higher & Prosumers

Moderate The Shopping Journey

The Highest & the Highest Level Achieved

Higher & Not Always Satisfied

None

Demographics, Historical, Situational & Behavioral

Demographics, Historical & Situational

Totally

Brand Ambassadors

High Developed

High Integrated

Being part of the brand High Developed & In continuos Improvement

Inside the brand world

Convenience

Low

Customer Expectations

NFC

Innovators

Early & Late Adopters

Assortment Retailtainment, Internal & Retailtainment, Customer Integration Planning, Content Product External Traffic App, Product Information, Forecasting, Online & Offline Interaction & Information, Online Management Knowledge: Heatmaps & Payments Online & Offline Sales Multichannel Loss Across All & Offline Loyalty via Mobile Stock Allocation, Integration and InAssociates Sales and Prevention & Channels Integration and InHHRR Planning Programs store Facilities Empowerment Inventory Interactive store Facilities & KPI'S Content

WIFI

The Customer Nirvana

The Buyer Trip

Brand Experience & Level of Engagement

Essentials Demographics Higher & Not Satisfied

None

Fashion Informers

Sales Associates None

Employees

Advanced

Integration between Online & Offline Customer Insights

Advanced

Essentials

Product Identification

Transactions

Services

None/Essentials

Sales Analysis, Orders Management & Loss Prevention

Social Media Online Facilities & Mobile Adapted

RFID

EAN

POS System

Laggards

Innovation Phase

The Shopping Journey Early & Late Majority

Retail Technology

The Convenience Store

Bricks & Mortar Role

ď ś The Omnichannel Loop

Bibliography -

Blythe, J. (2001). Essentials of marketing. New York: Pearson Education.

Mooij, M. (2004). Consumer behavior and culture. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Mulhem, F. and Sandgreen, J. (2004). The Power of Point-of-Purchase Advertising: Marketing at Retail. Robert Liljenwall, pp.15-27.

Muñiz González, R. (2001). Marketing en el siglo XXI. España: Centro de Estudios Financieros.

Porter, M. (1985). Competitive advantage. New York: Free Press.

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