Henri lloyd Market Report by RachaelMcGowan

Market Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Henri Lloyd

4. Retail Trends and the future

Heritage

27. Story Telling Through Retail

Current Customer

28. Seamless Customer Experiences

Brand Awareness

29. Technology Based Retail Experiences

Retail Stores and Online Platforms

30. Personalised Retail

10. Competitors

11. Competitor Analysis

32. The Rise of Pop-Up Stores

11. Brand Market Gap

34. Info-graphics

31. Education Retail

36. The Future of Retail

2. The Young Consumer

38. Conclusion

13. Who is the Young Consumer

5. Sports

14. The Millennial Shopper

16. Young Consumer Trends

18. Conclusion

3. Digital and Physical Retail

42. Sailing Participation

44. Health Benefits of Sailing

45. Sportswear in Retail

46. Conclusion

20. The Importance of Digital Retail 22. The Importance of Physical Retail

6. Conclusion

24. Digital and Physical Integration

Conclusion 48.

25. Conclusion

7. Bibliography 51. Bibliography

55. List of Illustrations

1. Henri Lloyd 3.

Heritage

Current Customer

Brand Awareness

Retail Stores and Online Platforms

10. Competitors 11. Competitor Analysis 11. Brand Market Gap

Heritage Market leaders in technical sailing and lifestyle apparel Henri Lloyd has paved the way for all modern foul weather clothing, setting the standards throughout the generations for performance, comfort and style. Founded in Manchester, England by Mr. Henri Strzelecki and managed by his son’s Martin and Paul since the 1980’s, the British specialist-clothing brand has pioneered the development of modern foul weather clothing technology and design. Starting from the very early days with Mr. Henri the company introduced a number of design firsts which are now accepted as industry standards including; the first ever Bri-Nylon® garment with hand taped seams, the first integral safety harness. Among innovations were the first non-corrosive zippers made of nylon, the introduction of Velcro closures in waterproof garments, the hand taping of seams as an alternative to varnishing and the incorporation if Gore Tex waterproofing. The use of Gore Tex alone went through over 22,000 hours of round the world testing at sea before it was first sold to customers in Henri Lloyd high performance breathable four weather gear in 1994. Henri Lloyd is one of three brands from across the world to pioneer Gore Tex in sailing clothing. Henri Lloyd’s association with the world’s sailing elite includes working with the early pioneers of solo circumnavigation and exploration Sir Francis Chichester, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Sir Alec Rose, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and over the past twenty years with Sir Ben Ainslie, quadruple Olympic Gold Medallist. 3

In 2004 Henri Lloyd embarked on a three-year partnership with BMW Oracle racing supplying cutting edge fabrics and innovative design solutions. In 2005 they partnered with the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race as their technical clothing supplier. In 2009 Henri Lloyd became the “official supplier of clothing and footwear technology” of the Brawn GP formula 1 team as part of a commercial partnership. During the first years as an up and coming lifestyle brand, Henri Lloyd collaborated with the renowned Italian designer Olmes Carretti; the aim was to combine Henri Lloyd’s heritage and British attitude with Italian design flair. The new collection blended innovative materials with natural fabrics, traditional skills and an extraordinary use of colour. In the mid 1990’s Britain was at the centre of the next fashion revolution when Henri Lloyd launched Black Label, a sophisticated collection featuring Italian inspired sportswear with technically innovative fabrics. In 2010 they launched Blue-Eco, the worlds first infinite loop recycled sailing apparel. In 2011 they launched shockwave, the worlds only fully integrated and modular system for protective foul weather clothing. Today, Henri Lloyd products contain a unique blend of heritage, modernity and technical excellence whilst always staying true to the sea. Inspired by heritage and developed with innovation, a brand alive with possibility.

“ I study people, I respect people, I love people. I’m always busy, I’m always creative. I’m eager and hungry for knowledge. - Henri LLoyd

“

Current Henri Lloyd Market In terms of Henri Lloyd’s current customer within the UK, the brand has split them up into catergories and described below. This focuses on a generalisation of the ‘ideal’ Henri Lloyd male customer. 26 – late 30’s year old: - The competitive male urbanite

Late 30’s – 55 year old: - The comfortable mid life male

The competitive male urbanite is a sporty and active professional who has or is buying a house and settling down with a partner. He has an above average salary, is prepared to spend money to look good and is aware of fashion trends. Sport (or hobby) takes up a lot of his spare time and acts as escapism from his daily routine, work is a big priority in his life and he is often busy. The competitive male urbanite is part of a dynamic social circle and is both culturally and socially aware. He tends to be brand loyal and trusts brands with a heritage as authenticity and quality is important to him.

The comfortable mid life male is likely to have children who are a little older and these days he has more time to himself. Although he is active he‘s more likely to have a gym or club membership than be involved in sport competitively. The comfortable mid life man is financially secure with a large disposable income; he is practical, pragmatic, well informed and intelligent. Customer service is important and plays a key role in his purchasing decisions; he tends to gravitate towards specialist brands that offer the best of a certain product.

The competitive male urbanite has many influences that affect his purchases from the retail environment and customer service to what his peers are saying and doing, advertising, magazines, websites and blogs. He drives a nice car such as a BMW, VW or Audi and holidays are important to him opting for a long haul vacation at least once every 2 years while city breaks and activity holidays (ski, snowboard, surfing) are both frequent.

BRAND AWARENESS In order to understand the brand and the awareness that they hold I conducted a survey asking 50 men, with a range in occupancies, age and also gender, to be able to see what it is they know about the brand, how they communicate with them and how they’d describe the brand.

AGED: AGED:

41-50

51+ 6%

AGED:

16-22 48%

AGED:

31-40

The first question asked was age, which was split into 5 categories as you can see below. The large majority was with the age bracket of 16 to 22 with 48% of responses followed by 30% of responses falling into the 23 to 30 options. This indicates the awareness that they have amongst the Millennial Consumer that is higher than the 21% of consumers aged between 3151+. Following this was I asked if they’d heard of Henri Lloyd before, 76% of people asked had which again is good indicating their awareness across the board.

AGED:

23-33 30%

Figure 1.1: McGowan, R. via Survey Monkey, (2015). Henri Lloyd Consumer Survey: What is your age?

THROUGH

SOCIAL MEDIA 15%

THROUGH SEEING IT IN

STORES 59%

THROUGH

FRIENDS

11%

THROUGH

FAMILY 15%

THROUGH AN INTEREST IN

SAILING

Figure 1.2: McGowan, R. via Survey Monkey, (2015). Henri Lloyd Consumer Survey: How did you hear about Henri Lloyd

To understand how exactly they had heard about Henri Lloyd I asked whether it was through stores, an interest in sailing, family and friends or social media platforms. 59% of responses said that they had heard it through seeing it within stores whilst no responses said that they had heard about the brand through an interest in sailing. This leads me to believe that the vast majority has an interest in the leisure side of the brand. In addition to this 15% had heard about the brand through Social media that again is interesting to see how the younger consumer use social media to build their knowledge of brands through shared posts, news feed and recommendations. I also wanted to look at how many of these consumers had been within the stores or the concession and only 24% of those asked said Yes whilst 76% of them hadn’t ever been within a store. I want to try and understand how I can get these consumers within the store and inside of the retail experience.

Figure 1.3: McGowan, R. via Survey Monkey, (2015). Henri Lloyd Consumer Survey: How would you describe Henri Lloyd? HENRI LLOYD’S STYLE IS

The below survey asks how the respondents would describe Henri Lloyd using buzzwords within Henri Lloyds vocabulary, 5 people opted to skip this question due to not knowing who the brand was. The top leading answers within this were Classic (45%), Practical (36%) and Athletic (25%), which represent the core aesthetics of the brand. Surprisingly only 4% said that they would describe the brand as innovative however this could be due to the lack of investigation they have behind the brand. They perhaps aren’t involved within sailing so are unaware of the technology and innovation behind the garments.

CLASSIC 45%

HENRI LLOYD’S STYLE IS

ATHLETIC

25%

HENRI LLOYD’S STYLE IS

DISTINCTIVE

10%

HENRI LLOYD ARE

VISIONARY PIONEERS 7%

HENRI LLOYD’S STYLE IS

INNOVATIVE 4%

HENRI LLOYD ‘S STYLE IS:

PRACTICAL 36%

AGED 15-33

AGED 39-55+

Following this I asked how they would describe the target market of Henri Lloyd using three categories to separate them, two of which are used by Henri Lloyd to describe their consumer. The vast majority described the Henri Lloyd target market as “The comfortable Mid Life Consumer” Aged: 39-55+ which is quite strange considering that when asked about the awareness of the brand and the consumers ages they predominantly fell with the idea of the “Millennial Consumer” or the “The Competitive Male Urbanite” as Henri Lloyd described them. This asks the question of, if they are aware of the brand at this age, why would they not consider themselves as the consumer for Henri Lloyd? This thing brings up the idea of how Henri Lloyd can target this demographic.

THE COMFORTABLE MID LIFE CONSUMER

THE MILLENNIAL CONSUMER 19%

52%

AGED 26-38

Figure 1.4: McGowan, R. via Survey Monkey, (2015). Henri Lloyd Consumer Survey: Who would you describe as the target market for Henri Lloyd?

THE COMPETITIVE URBANITE 35%

Retail stores and online platforms Henri Lloyd currently have 7 directly operates stores which are split between city and coastal stores. The City stores predominantly focuses on the lifestyle collections, the main one being Manchester as it isn’t near the coast or sailing. This store allows them to have fun with the brand and stock items such as the Black Label Collection that perhaps they couldn’t stock within concessions or the coastal stores. The Manchester store is also the store that Henri Lloyd considers as the ‘flagship’ store with it being in the city where the brand was founded. They then have the coastal stores which stock both the sailing apparel and the lifestyle brand as well which are the majority of the stores down by the coast of England. In addition to this they currently have 14 House of Fraser concessions across the UK that stock the lifestyle collections.

The Henri Lloyd website is a good access in to Henri Lloyd world as it has graphic and vivid images as well as an easy navigation. They also have within this, an online journal that explores inspirations and innovations within the brand and celebrate their work. This is a pivotal part of their website as it adds a personalized approach to the brand online, it allows consumers to relate to them and really delve into the processes behind the brand. Like most brands Henri Lloyd also have all of the major social media platforms such as, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where they regularly post imagery to engage the audience and appeal to them widely. In addition to this however they have their Vimeo account that allows the brand to upload graphic footage about the heritage, any events that have taken place and also brand knowledge that teaches and educates their consumer on the brand. It allows Henri Lloyd to showcase the core of their brand through this in a much more lifelike approach. Recently Henri Lloyd have appointed a social media marketing role allowing them to have a stronger focus on this aspect than they have before. It will allow consumers to have another level of interaction with the brand as well as allowing the brand to have a bigger role within this field and interact with their consumers on a daily basis.

33.5K likes

1.6K

6.7K

followers

Followers

31.8K

177

Page Views

subscribers

Competitors Henri Lloyd isn’t the only heritage brand within the UK and they have high competition within this market. Henri Lloyd stated that their competitors as heritage brands such as Ralph Lauren, GANT, Tommy Hilfiger and Lacoste. Ralph Lauren

Lacoste

Ralph Lauren has a similar market positioning to Henri Lloyd with a lot of their concession stores being opposite or next to Henri Lloyd concessions stores in House of Fraser. Ralph Lauren is considered competitors for both the UK and International markets. Ralph Lauren sells Men’s, Women’s and Children’s Apparel as well as accessories, Fragrance and home furnishings worldwide. The company began in 1967 when Ralph Lauren founded it. Similar to Henri Lloyd, Ralph Lauren is a heritage sportswear brand with a premium clientele. They have a mass following being established internationally however their core lies in America (Ralphlauren.com: 2015).

Lacoste was launched in 1933 and is a French clothing company that sells high-end clothing, footwear, perfume, leather foods, watches, eye wear and most famously, polo shirts. The company can be recognized by their green Crocodile logo, Réné Lacsote, the company’s founder was nicknamed ‘the crocodile’ by fans because of his tenacity on the tennis court. Lacoste, similar to Henri Lloyd, are known due their sporting heritage particular within Tennis. They then launched their fashion/lifestyle brand that allowed them to appeal to a wider customer within the business.

They are a premiere global player in design, distribution and marketing. They have a lot of investment in their wholesale market where they sell a lot of their products to department stores that allows them to still maintain control of the business. Through this the company can target a larger range of customer through the relationships that they have built with stores globally. Currently the Ralph Lauren brand is worth 7.1 billion USD according to their Forbes profile.

In the UK their retail strategy is within wholesale but mainly directly operated stores however internationally they can be found in globally known department stores. Lacoste offer unique products within their field offering quality. They represent themselves in over 120 countries, again offering that same global status as Henri Lloyd, Tommy Hilfiger, GANT and Ralph Lauren.

GANT

Tommy Hilfiger

GANT is a luxury-clothing brand of American Heritage launched in New Haven in 1949. GANTS products are available from retailers and at signature GANT stores through the world offering Menswear, Womenswear, Childrenswear as well as a product range of home, time, fragrance, footwear, underwear and eyewear licenses which are incorporated under the GANT brand. Similar to Henri Lloyd and Ralph Lauren, GANT offers a sportswear aesthetic which is reflective of athletic sports incorporating the heritage of the brand. (GANT: 2015)

Tommy Hilfiger is American fashion apparel, design, fragrance, Retail Company offering consumers high end products including men’s, women’s, Childrenswear, sportswear, denim and a range of licenses products such as accessories, jewelry, watches, fragrances and home furnishings. Tommy Hilfiger was founded in 1985 and became popular in the U.S. after its launch continuing to gain popularity throughout the 1990s. The brand can be found globally in department stores and specialty stores as well as their expanding network of freestanding retail stores worldwide. Tommy Hilfiger have a brand presence in more than 90 countries and more than 1000 retail stores in North America, Europe, Central and South America and Asia (Tommy Hilfiger: 2015).

GANT have a strong social media presence offering unique content and ‘sneak peaks’, which are specific to their customer. GANT are also stocked in a lot of department stores again allowing them to reach a larger range of clientele and appeal to an international audience. GANT are stocked in 54 countries that include the UK, USA and additional European markets.

Tommy Hilfiger have a large brand vocabulary and advertising which is proven to be very popular amongst their consumer. They offer original content on all platforms interlinking interests, influences and heritage in every aspect of their brand in order to create a coherent voice and brand image. Tommy Hilfiger was acquired by PVH Corp. in 2010 and now has more than 17,000 associates worldwide. Global retail sales of the Tommy Hilfiger brand were 6.4 billion USD (2014) (Tommy Hilfiger: 2015).

GANT’s main business concept focuses on building profitability and brand equity through efficient brand management and a low risk wholesale retail marketing concept. GANT aims to further it’s growth in major cities by launching directly operated stores. They also intensify their global marketing by promoting their growth and brand recognition by enhancing their various franchises and licenses.

Competitor Analysis Each of Henri Lloyd’s competitors has a similar approach in terms of distribution of the brand. All of the brands have both directly operated stores and also concession stores with a retail strategy catered to each of these. This is similar to Henri Lloyd and how they present their selves. Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger have a larger net worth allowing them to promote their brand on a larger scale than what Henri Lloyd would be able to however that doesn’t mean that they can do their promotion better. They compete on a larger scale meaning that their audience expects more from them also allowing the promotion that they do to be limitless.

With Henri Lloyd however they have to be considerate of each aspect and their audience, because those who are buying the brand may not necessarily want something that is over the top when it comes to promotion. Henri Lloyd take a much more subtle marketing approach by getting involved within the local environments and communities surrounding their stores creating a more personal relationship with their customer. Parallel to this you have Ralph Lauren who promotes every aspect of their brand within the public eye allowing consumers to follow each aspect of the brand.

Brand Market Gap To secure the future Henri Lloyd customer the brand needs to look at how they can target this customer. They already excel within the innovation and technology of the brand creating unique pieces with in depth research that lies behind them however perhaps this isn’t showcased as well as it could be.

In addition to this creating a coherent voice from digital to physical that again will allow Henri Lloyd to create a coherent voice between each aspect of their brand. It will also connect the story of Henri Lloyd online vs. Henri Lloyd offline. This will be developed through out the report as it is explored through retail trends, the young consumer and the importance of digital and brick and mortar stores.

When asked how consumers would describe Henri Lloyd the main answers were classic, practical and athletic where as when research is conducted into the brand and their aesthetic it would be described and innovative and as visionary pioneers. To connect the customers to these ideals they must communicate this with their consumer by educating them with the research and modes behind the brand.

2. The YounG CONSUMER

13. Who is the Young Consumer?

14. The Millennial Shopper

16. Young Consumer Trends

18. Conclusion

Who is the young consumer? The younger consumer, also known as “Gen Y consumers” and “Millennials”, has a profound impact on the future of retail, providing the next opportunity for revenue growth. Technology has fundamentally changed the way in which we shop – the Internet has given us more choice and more information about prices and product than ever before. Smart phones have now become a daily necessity in the lives of the Gen Y allowing consumers to gather any information they need wherever they are allowing them to evolve into a super connected savvy consumer accord to retail strategist, Richard Millard (2014). Technology has fuelled the way that young people connect to retail and retailers altering the spaces in which they serve.

the customer used just the one channel. An investigation into online and store shopping by eBay and Deloitte found that two thirds of all shoppers now consult a number of retail sources before they make a purchase of more than £100 (Smyth: 2014). This allows for those brands that celebrate innovation within their clothing to stand out, brands like Henri Lloyd who invest a lot of time and experimentation into the development of their design and their technology. Tanya Lawler, Vice President of eBay in the UK stated “Customers are in the driving seat and are pushing retailers for ever higher standards of service and greater convenience. Customers fully expect your store and online channels to be joined up and can have little patience if they aren’t. For example, they want collect in store or return via the store even if they bought online” (Lawler: 2014).

Retail Week stated that two thirds of 18-24 year old’s put ‘better online experience’ in their top priorities for improving customer experience. The Millennials value the personalization of the online experience more high highly and are therefore more likely to interact with the brand via multiple outlets such as social media and email. However, this being said, how does the young consumer communicate with the physical retail space? Richard Millard believes that the younger generations tend to rank the in-store experience as less important with only 48% of 18-24 year olds start their shopping journey in-store compared to 60% of the older generation.

Ian Geddes, Partner at Deloitte, said “Compared to other consumers, these so-called ‘supper shoppers’ account for a larger share of spending, use a wider range of resources to research purchases and they do this using a greater variety of channels. Our study suggests that retailers can target this valuable group through a broad presence over a range of channels.” (Geddes: 2014). This indicates that it’s about joining together all channels to create a coherence and same level of customer experience and care through each aspect of the brand, whether that is online or through the psychical store. However what needs to be addressed is how this can be done in a way that integrates the new consumer along with the current existing customer whilst remaining true to the brand and the story that goes along with them.

With this however comes a small class of “super shoppers” who increasingly use tablets and smartphones to make purchases and behind nearly three quarters of the money spent in shops in the UK. Research found that young professionals make the biggest contribution of spending and it was these influential shoppers who were more likely to research products online before visiting a store than the average customer accord to Jerrard Smyth, researcher for Digital Marketing (2014). The use of online forums and website was used prior to purchases in store meaning that the value of the purchase can be up to 50% more than if 13

The Millennial Shopper Millennials – born between 1980 and 2000 – are both the 20th century’s last generation and its first truly digital one. The old century/new technology consumer gives pause to marketers attempting to understand and connect with this key demographic. Accenture, a management consultancy focusing on digital strategies, technology and operations, conducted a global market research named “Who are the Millennial shoppers? And what do they really want?” written by Christopher Donnelly and Renato Scaff which focused on the shopping behaviours of 6,000 consumers of which 1,707 were Millennials, by looking at 60 retailers worldwide in order to determine whether they were providing the customer experience that this generation demands.

Whilst Millennials may have a larger disposable income, they don’t part with their money easily and they want to know that the when they do it’s on something worthwhile that was created in the right way. Innovation with fabrics and design matters to the Millennials and by finding a brand that offers this allows them to build a deeper connection and build a relationship with them that they will always fall back on. Millennials are a savvy online customer but that isn’t to say that they don’t go to brick-and-mortar stores. Many members of the digital generation actually prefer visiting stores to shopping online because they want to be able to touch it and pick it up. They want to be able to invest in something that is going to pay off without the disappointment of the item being badly produced or put together.

Millennials have earned a reputation for viewing the world through a uniquely digital lens however results found some remarkable similarities between them and their predecessors: the Baby Boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) and Generation X (born from 1965 to 1979), (Donnelly: 2014). On average 89% said having access to real-time product availability information would influence their shopping choices whilst 36% of those surveyed from all three generations said they will go online to buy from a retailers website if they want a product when the store is closed (Donnelly: 2014). This indicates the connection that the consumers have with the brands and the importance of the relationship with their customer and the openness that they should have when it comes to telling the customer about the product it self.

Many Millennials hone their shopping skills on the Internet checking product ratings and reviews, or feedback on retailers; this allows them to confirm that both product and vendor provide the best value and service. They expect the same level of service online and offline and this covers prices and promotions. When it comes to shopping 68% of all Millennials demand an integrated, seamless experience regardless of the channel. That means being able to transition effortlessly from smart phone to personal computer to physical store in their quest for the best products and services (Scaff: 2014). 14

Many Millennials seek a personalized view when it comes to shopping, they want to feel like the brand listens to what they want and knows who they are. They don’t want to be bombarded with something that lacks anything less than loyalty. Millennials still like brickand-mortar stores, they can be an exceptionally loyal customer with 69% saying that when it comes to their favourite retail store, a “closed” sign doesn’t change their mind with 28% saying that they’ll return to the store the next morning (Scaff: 2014).

To reflect customer demand retailers need to customize their offering across channels in the ways Millennials want, which typically boils down to providing better, faster and more memorable service. Retailers also need to integrate their operational elements so that they can have a single “conversation” with customers, not one that change from digital to brick-and-mortar stores (Donnelly: 2014). According to Advertising Age, Millennials between the ages of 17 and 34 are expected to spend more than £200 billion annually starting in 2017 and £10 trillion in their lifetimes. These young, powerful, digital natives number 1.7 billion—60 percent of them in Asia accord to consumer research agency Nelson.

In order to reach the Millennial on social media a brand must become a routine part of their conversation when it comes to product information. The goal should be to create positive buzz, simply having a presence on social media isn’t enough – the aspiration should be to become the topic of conversation for all the right reasons.

Millennials say they are willing to pay more for products from companies that do business in ways that are genuinely sustainable (Klein: 2014). They are digital natives, but they still see the value of brick-and-mortar stores, where they can try products in person. How we engage the Millennials however is the question, the evolving world of digital captivates them on a daily basis so the retail strategy needs to be continuously changed in order to adapt them. At the forefront of our minds we have to make sure however that we don’t exclude the existing customer in order to get the Millennials attention. We must make sure that any new strategies incorporate what is already working for our current customer whilst integrating new modes of personalization that the Millennials need from their retail experience.

Accenture believe that retailing driven by the Millennials and future digital generations will change more in the next five years than it has in the last 50. That’s because consumer uptake of new communication technologies has continued to compress over the past 125 years. In order to continuously engage the Millennials, retailers must become seamless in all aspects of their brands whilst remaining true to who they are (Accenture: 2014). Being seamless means that they must deliver a consistently personalized, on-brand experience for each individual customer, at every touch point.

Young consumer Trends With the Millennial consumer comes a series of trends that have evolved as they have, compiled together they create five key trends which focus on marketing towards the Gen Y consumer. Below is a compiled list from Forbes, Neilsen and PM Live.

Tech Immersion

Emotional benefits

We often describe Millennials as the digital native group of consumers raised with technology. Since this group is so accustomed to having technology support every aspect of their lives, it is obvious that brands must leverage technology to have a fighting chance. Easier said than done. Millennials know how to sniff out the “bells and whistles” and “cheap tricks” when brands attempt to incorporate technology. The automotive industry is not immune to this.

Emotional Benefits: We often talk about the Millennial desire to “do good” for the world. As Millennials are natural multi-taskers, we often observe this behaviour in correlation with purchasing decision. More often than not, Millennials choose brands whose values align with their own. This is why we see “idea” brands that stand for a cause consistently winning with this group. They want to create a personalisation with their retailers and brand, to connect with them as best as they can, to feel that they’re heard.

Happiness and health: Until recently, talk of happiness, health and the millennial mindset has been a matter of anecdote and conjecture. But a new online study titled “Adult Millennials and Health” conducted by Allidura Consumer, GSW and Harris Poll in May and June of this year, puts data behind the hypotheses. When analysing responses from more than 3,500 millennial teens and adults, as well as genXers and baby boomers, we found that almost all millennials (97%) place a premium on happiness and a similar, overwhelming majority (95%) say that health is paramount. Linking health and happiness at the very tip of the value pyramid has profound implications for brand marketing and communications.

Happiness & Health

Reimagination of social marketing

Finding balance

Facebook more or less has dominated Social Marketing since its origination, but other brands have begun finding ways to engage younger demographics better than Zuckerberg’s social behemoth. In fact, three in ten Facebookers say they have “un-liked” a brand within the last 30 days and 38 percent of 16-24 year olds have done the same. This ratio is worse than Twitter and even Google+. The social media giant is still the go-to platform for millennials. However, a greater emphasis will be placed on content and brands will seek out new and more engaging places for their content to live. The faster brands are able to respond in real-time to consumers, the faster they will convert them into loyal brand partners.

The economic downturn has caused many consumers to re-evaluate what is actually important on a more personal level. Four out of five consumers, across all generations, indicate they are becoming more aware of personal relationships instead of personal possessions. Many consumers are looking for new relevance in every area of their lives by searching for a deeper sense of purpose and connection, with almost two-thirds over 45 stating they want to build a sense of community in their lives.

Millennials demand to be active participants in the consumer journey. Driven by advancements in digital and mobile technology, Millennials are demanding to be a part of the process. The type of participation Millennials want to engage in breaks into three types:

Millennials want to co-create the products and services that you sell.

Millennials want to co-create the customer journey or the customer experience.

Millennials want to co-create the marketing which goes beyond social media.

Emerging opportunities 20%

Core opportunities 75%

Figure 2.1: millennialmarketing.com, (2013). Pyramid millennial marketing

The base of the pyramid (75%) includes all core opportunities and proven successful campaigns. These are the things your brand is doing today. The middle of the pyramid (20%) is designated for emerging opportunities. These are important for acquiring new customers and further engaging core customers—things your brand looks to do in the near future. Finally, the top of the pyramid (5%) is reserved for your brand’s “blue ocean” ideas. These are ideas that some might deem “unpredictable” or “erratic”.

These top of the pyramid ideas are game changers if executed properly. The problem with “blue ocean” ideas is that can it seem like a gamble. With this schema of ROI, the top of the pyramid cannot be measured by a traditional ROI approach. Brands need to understand that rolling the dice on that five percent investment in a “blue ocean” opportunity is what will keep you relevant with today’s consumers.

Conclusion

For a brand like Henri Lloyd that already have such a strong history and story behind them, it is important for them to reiterate it with their consumer and make them aware of it through multiple touch points. They must connect to the brand fully on every channel so that any consumer, old or new, can connect to the heritage and understand the background therefore influencing them to purchase.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important for Henri Lloyd to engage the younger consumer, the millennial shopper, as they are the future of their brand. In order to generate awareness they must apply certain marketing and retail tools within all realms of their brand to create coherence through out. As Cisco mentioned, technology has become a pivotal role within the Young Gen consumer evolving the way that they shop and purchase products. It also changed the way that we communicate with brands allowing us to delve into the history behind products and brands and compare one brand with another instantly.

As stated in the Scaff report, many millennials prefer to physically visit a store to understand an item, to physically touch it and pick it up, even try it on. But this doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily indicate a purchase, many millennials then go home to purchase products. This therefore opens the question of how a brand like Henri Lloyd can get customers into a brick and mortar store, intrigue and excite the younger consumer without necessarily pushing purchases within the store.

This meant that personalization of retail experiences evolved with many Millennial consumers opting for something that is tailored to them and what they like. This is utilized through social media and online retail but can ultimately be transferred into the brick and mortar store. This is something to be explored within the next sections to fully formulate an understanding of the retail trends and expectations behind the future of retail.

Henri Lloyd needs to be able to target the needs of the millennial consumer to create brand awareness and brand loyalty amongst them whilst offering them something from an experience that they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t currently find from their competitors. 18

3. Digital and Physical Retail The 20. Importance of Digital Retail The 22. Importance of Physical Retail

24. Digital and Physical Integration

Conclusion 25.

The importance of digital retail The use of digital engagement and entertainment instore will help increase dwell time and satisfaction of the shopping experience. By implementing digital signage to retail stores, retailers can deliver targeted messages to customers in real-time, with the option of integrating iBeacon technology, Queue Management and Video Wall Syncronization to drive in-store traffic and leverage sales (Wakelin: 2014).

Retail has undergone some of the most significant changes in the sector’s history, with increasing numbers of consumers shopping extensively across the value spectrum. Although consumer sentiment has returned to positive territory for the first time since 2008, changes in buying behaviour are evident, with the average fashion retail consumer now regularly using up to five channels to do their shopping. And, since multichannel and digital growth will only continue to thrive in importance, retailers will need to continue to look at ways of investing in their digital strategies in order to stay ahead of the competition.

“Today’s fashion store environment has to work increasingly hard to meet consumer expectations and many executives interviews for (The Fashion Retail) report believe that investment and innovation needs to focus on providing the best possible customer experience” – Fashion Retail 2014 Report

To be able to engage customer’s in-store, retailers must invest in effective digital retail experiences that aim to provide the best possible customer experience. The shopping experience needs to “amaze and amuse them,” says a department store director.

The digital consumer has forever changed the contours of the retail industry. Traditional retailers and manufacturers have no choice but to embrace the e-commerce and the digital revolution. In order to remain profitable and thrive, retailers must adopt an integrated business approach with a solid digital strategy.

The Fashion Retail report highlights ways in which retailers can innovate to improve their store experience. Areas of focus include visual merchandising and store windows, but a key marketing tool is digital signage. 80% of brands experienced up to 33% in additional sales through the use of digital signage according to the Nielson Consumer survey, “Millennials are seeking the fountain of youth”. 20

STRATEGIC FORCES DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF RETAIL In order to understand the struggle between traditional and digital strategies in the retail industry, we need to understand the key forces driving the digital transformation, and how retailers are reacting to and adapting to these forces.

PROVIDING A TRUE OMNI-CHANNEL EXPERIENCE TO CONSUMERS While it’s unlikely most customers have heard of or understood terms such as ‘Omni-channel,’ they do expect a seamless experience across various retail formats and touch points. Increasingly, customers are opting for a wider variety of channel combinations, and enabling new channels can be challenging for many retailers when it comes to brand communication, supply chain, logistics and customer service. An integrated digital strategy becomes critical to address these challenges.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FOR RETAILERS Integration of digital strategies can be executed in stages as long as there is a larger vision and a broad strategic framework for the overall digital strategy. This broader digital strategy has to be driven by the entire retail organization. It needs to be part of the transformation. Factors to consider include:

FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY

ENABLING THE DIGITAL CULTURAL SHIFT

The digital world is highly dynamic and constantly evolving. The strategy needs to have a long-term vision that can be adapted as the needs of the organization change and new technologies emerge or become more mainstream.

Digital transformation is much more than opening an online store or launching a mobile app. Traditional hierarchies and departments that used to exist in stores all need to change and become integrated through the digital.

ADOPTING AN INCLUSIVE DIGITAL STRATEGY

OBTAINING AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEW AGE “DIGITAL” CUSTOMER

Retailers need to integrate the digital strategy with manufacturers, vendors and other partners by showcasing value and business benefits.

More and more, shoppers are becoming multi-channel, and their needs are evolving very rapidly. Understanding their needs and the whole digital engagement process is critical for retailers. Retailers that operate in multiple geographies need to understand there will be significant variations in consumer needs and behaviour. For instance, some regions offer cash on delivery for online sales.

The importance of Physical retail

The retail experience is an incredible part of the consideration process, it is just where they do transactions that will shift.

Brick-and-mortar stores remain a vital element of multichannel shopping, though it is one that must evolve to fit with consumers’ radically reformed shopping habits. According to research firm Conlumino, the value of sales influenced by stores, as well as made through stores, will be more than £42bn by 2017.

A concept store that leverages technology effectively can close the loop between digital and physical, overcoming the problem of attributing online marketing to offline sales. As we are able to have single view of the customer from digital to retail, this will change the nature of the physical retail experience. Stores will become more like galleries (Shearman: 2014)

As well as being a hub for direct sales and click-andcollect, brick-and-mortar stores are becoming most important for inspiration, influencing purchasing decisions and buying behavior across other channels.

James Brown, Head of European Retail Research at JLL, examines the changing space and location requirements by retailers for stores and distribution as predictions say that 20% of total stock is likely to become surplus to requirements.

“An immersive in-store experience is acknowledged by retailers as increasingly important in the face of online and, particularly, mobile retailing” according to the Fashion Retail 2014 Report ‘The future of fashion retail in a digital age’.

Within London, international retailer demand for the right space in the right location has fuelled record rents in the city centre, and the capital continues to benefit from its sought-after position as a prime global destination for those retailers looking for a platform to expand further into Europe. In fact, rents in more than a third (39%) of the top 200 UK retail locations (including London) are at, or exceed pre-crash levels in 2008. Some areas, described as ‘pockets of gold’ – such as Oxford, Bath, Brighton, Colchester, Winchester and Edinburgh – have strong fundamentals and constrained supply and are seeing focused demand from retail and food and beverage operators looking to make the most of these conditions (Brown: 2014).

Within this same report, in association with retail week, Editor-in-Cheif Chris Brook-Carter said “What’s clear from the view of all retailers interviewed for this report is that the brick-and-mortar store in the fashion world is more than alive and well; it remains and will remain and integral and essential part of shoppers’ multichannel experience.” Consumer’s research into a product before purchasing however it’s the in store experience that locks in the sale. Consumers want to try the product first, feel the quality of the product. They also want to understand the brand better through this, connect to the staff, the story of the product and the atmosphere of the brand prior to making purchases. By stripping away the physical retail you strip away the core of a brand.

Click and collect has implications on storage requirements as well, both for goods to be collected and to be returned. It is estimated that up to 25% of existing UK retail sales will go online by 2020 and JLL believes that over time, up to 150 million square ft. of space across the UK (20% of total stock) is likely to be surplus to modern retailing needs in its current form. This means that there is a percentage of existing physical retail space which is currently obsolete across the UK in certain locations.

While e-commerce is rapidly growing, particularly on mobile – eMarketer forecasts worldwide business-toconsumer e-commerce sales will increase by 20.1% - not all commerce will shift online. The clicks-versus-bricks debate is wearing thin as more retailers embrace an Omnichannel retail approach. With eBay and Amazon having both experimented with physical retail concepts, and Google also reportedly planning a museum-style concept store in New York, even the most successful digital brands recognise the importance of physical retail.

While it might not mean that there is too much space in total, it is certainly the case that existing space is not optimised; in terms of how it is used or where it is located. That said, stores are not going anywhere and they will continue to play an important role in terms of marketing and showcasing the brand, developing and maintaining customer loyalty, delivering great service and perhaps most importantly, selling products. Not all retailers are looking to downsize; they are considering solutions that are ‘ﬁt for purpose’ in this new increasingly virtual world (Brown: 2014).

People still love to shop as a social occasion, family day out or even holiday, but there is a crucial distinction between the act of shopping and where a purchase is made, says David Womack, executive creative director at R/GA. He explains that retail serves a number of complex functions beyond moving merchandise. 22

OFFLINE TO ONLINE

49%

65%

59%

Of Adults

Of Retailers

Of Customers

bought clothes online in 2014

would like to be a pickup destination for orders placed on brand websites

say they would purchase more from brands that provide in-store pickup for orders

Statistics take from CMO Exclusive â&#x20AC;&#x153;15 Mind-Blowing Stats About Retailâ&#x20AC;? 2014.

Digital and physical Retail integration Marketers are struggling to implement an effective Omni-channel approach with their customers. It’s not just the increasing number of digital touch points between brands and customers making it difficult for marketers to keep a single view of the customer, but it’s also a challenge to align customer’s digital interactions with their physical presence in stores.

In retail stores beacons can turn a mobile app into a virtual personal shopping assistant that welcomes the customer at the front door and offer help with recommendations, detailed and up to date information on products in the nearby, couponing and discounts targeted to their preferences and buying profile, up to dynamic pricing and even payments without queuing, as PayPal has recently announced.

An emerging technology, called proximity beacons, can help marketers get a full view of the customers by connecting the digital and physical worlds. Beacons are small and cheap devices that can be powered for years by a single coin cell battery. They can interact wirelessly (using a wireless technology such as Bluetooth® Smart, which is sometimes called Buetooth Low Energy) with mobile devices by showing notification messages and making apps aware of their proximity to the mobile user. The buzz around beacons comes from recent news by Apple that announced the iBeacon products and introduced support in iOS7, and Google following up by adding Bluetooth Smart support with Android 4.3, although a few companies like Estimote or Kontakt had already started to make and sell their Bluetooth beacons. The combination of beacons, smartphones and mobile apps is potentially very powerful for marketers. After all, 95% of commerce still occurs in the store* and 79% of shoppers who own a smartphone use their phones while in a physical store. (Adobe: 2014)

Some big retailers have started to experiment with beacons. Walking into Macy’s stores in New York or San Francisco customers automatically get notifications on their iPhones from a shopping app which can make specialized offers depending on where they are in the store. Apple has also installed iBeacons in all its own retail stores in the US to drive marketing campaigns through the Apple Store app. Think of the opportunity to push contextual information to customers while they’re shopping and to connect proximity data to a single client profile as if they were shopping online. This let brands offer a unique customer experience by pushing highly targeted and valuable contents to a visitor, influencing behaviours and decisions, increasing conversion and reducing the risk of showrooming. And this is just the beginning as the possibilities offered by beacon-enhanced retail locations are endless and they will influence brands to rethink and redesign customer journeys. But not just for big retailers: a beacon costs between £30-75 and it’s all it takes to get analytics from shopping preferences, make product recommendations and offer discounts to customers even in a small shop. And in a few years they will become significantly cheaper as their popularity grows (Valle: 2014).

The most promising opportunnity that beacons offer to marketers is to bridge the gap between digital and physical channels, which is the main challenge to establishing an Omnichannel marketing strategy. By tying digital information to physical places, marketers can finally obtain a single view of the customer between online and offline, and offer an excellent buying experience along the entire customer journey and across all possible interaction means (digital and physical). 24

Conclusion Henri Lloyd currently has both digital and physical retail. They communicate their brand story and ethos within both platforms however it isn’t integrated. They currently don’t showcase their online and offline platforms as a whole entity that creates a level of disconnect with their consumers. An amazing part of their ‘digital’ realm is the way that they showcase the brand. It allows consumers to understand aspects of clothing and reasons behind designs and components on products. This is a highly interest concept as it allows consumers to understand the brand and educate themselves on the product that they are buying into. As stated a lot of retailers will be venturing online putting more money into their digital retail strategy but for a brand like Henri Lloyd who focuses on the tradition of products and innovation behind the brand, the physical store is the best way to showcase this. Whilst consumers need both the physical and digital, they still want to create an Omni-Channel approach that is seamless and progresses as the brand does. The fashion retail report states that 80% of brands experiences 33% in additional sales through the use of digital signage whether that’s through visual merchandising or store windows. It’s a way for interaction to take place and a way for vivid and graphic imagery to be portrayed in a way that you couldn’t through print. This is something to be considered in the physical Henri Lloyd stores that will finalize the level of engagement in order to secure the future consumer of Henri Lloyd.

4. Retail Trends and the future

27. Story Telling Through Retail

28. Seamless Customer Experiences

29. Technology Based Retail Experiences 30. Personalised Retail

31. Education Retail

32. The Rise of Pop-Up Stores

34. Retail Interaction with HL Consumers

36 The Future of Retail

38. Conclusion

Story telling Through retail Consumers are seeking new waves of narrative brandscapes and back-stories so that they can connect to their brand. With the growth of Social Media, consumers are attempting to define their identity and unique appeal when it comes to the brands they are choosing. Story telling is a way for consumers to connect with brands; consumers are learning how to adapt themselves into the new mould. It isn’t only marketers however who are doing this, marketers are also embracing storytelling by breaking up a brands story over multiple media channels so that each medium makes a special and unique addition to the brands ‘whole story’ as a way to engage and inspire consumers. These stories are creating rich and immersive canvases for consumers enabling them to interact in different ways in every aspect of their lives. A report from LSN:Global reported in their Macro trend “Fraction Marketing” (2014) that brands will create narratives that last forever, continued and adapted by brand loyalties via social media platforms. They will cede complete control to their won. According to author Gueber, fans are key to making never ending stories saying ‘You want your story to deliver through its most enthusiastic audience’. 27

Thanks to the Internet, commerce now offers a very different experience than it has ever before. In today’s marketplace, consumers are increasingly comfortable with multi-channel engagement which some refer to as ‘experiential commerce’ or ‘contextual engagement’ (Duncan: 2014) which requires the practice of storytelling. Much of storytelling has an element of emotion and inspiration. It’s not the product itself that’s inspiring; it’s what the customer is planning to do with it. It’s about the story that builds up to the product and the story that continues after in order to inspire the future of the customer. In today’s digital age, it isn’t necessary to spend large amounts of time or money to create impactful, inspiring content, sincerity will always come across. What makes content really valuable is when it’s relevant, useful and authentic. You can involve the consumers through this aspect of story telling by integrating user generate content from social networks and currant content from other online sources that customers will find interesting and inspiring (Conradt: 2014).

SEAMLESS EXPERIENCES

SEAMLESS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE The majority of shoppers are considered multi-channel consumers, making it essential for apparel retailers to continue developing a seamless and consistent experience across mobile, brick and mortar, and online interactions. In response, many are integrating consumer touch points by introducing cross-channel capabilities: common examples include allowing customers to place or pick-up online orders in the store. Many retailers leveraged social to engage users and influence their merchandising decisions this year, but in 2015 companies will go beyond that and use social not just to showcase products, but to actually sell them. The same goes for mobile. Companies won’t just use the small screen to “get in front” of customers (i.e. through geo-fencing and mobile-enabled sites). In 2015, retailers will step up their efforts by incorporating mobile into other parts of the customer journey, including order fulfillment, payments, and loyalty. Over the last several years, brands have used Social media to market their products, talk to customers and even make merchandising decisions. The recent launches of shopping functionalities in the social realm (i.e. Facebook and Twitters “buy” buttons) tell us that social is going to get a lot more shoppable in 2015. If social shopping takes off users will be able to enjoy a more seamless shopping experience. The clunky transition from one channel to the next will be eliminated and purchases will be completed much faster (VendHQ: 2015). Seamless experiences need to be created online and in-store and successfully pulling this off requires both a digital and 28

physical presence. Consumers don’t distinguish between channels therefore they expect the same service, products, offers and pricing online as they do in-store and on mobile. Retailers will continue to build omnnichannel presences to meet this customer demand. With more empowered consumers taking control of how they shop, brands no longer have the power to contain them in one channel — consumers are completing their purchases at a time and place that suits them, and convenience is king. Customers are increasingly and seamlessly moving between channels, and ROPO (Research Online Purchase Offline) and showrooming are really just terms that refer to the fragmentation of the customer’s path to purchase (Saunders: 2014). One of the most intriguing insights has been “Seamless Customer Experiences” which shows that digital in the retail industry is growing up. The trend is that retailers will no longer see digital as a threat to existing retail operations but rather looking at ways to enhance the shopping experience by leveraging digital shopping habits and consumer trends. In essence changing the negative perception of ROPO and showrooming towards a more positive outlook to create seamless physical and digital experiences. A seamless customer experience will be one where customers have synchronised access to information — both online and offline — like in-store inventory, wish lists, customer reviews, related products, and so on.

Technology based retail experiences Merchants will adopt and/or experiment with tech innovations and figure out how they can use them to improve the shopping experience. Initiatives to make the cash register extinct will continue to go strong in 2015. Cloud-based point-of-sale systems have proven that they can outperform old-fashioned registers in all aspects (performance, functionality, looks) and an increasing number of retailers will recognize this and make the switch. In addition to this Data will be more accessible and powerful. Big Data can reveal precisely when specific customer groups are most likely to shop and exactly what they are looking for in terms of product, service, price etc. Retailer can make highly targeted adjustments to staffing, product placement, marketing displays and even prices throughout the day. Big Data analysis can take retailers closer to providing true â&#x20AC;&#x153;one-to-oneâ&#x20AC;? personalization, where the customer has a completely tailored experience that seamlessly travels with them across all touch points, in real time according to Dan Berthiaume, Senior Editor at Chain Store Age, Chain Store Age (2014). The number of consumers adopting mobile wallets will increase in 2015, thanks to solutions offered by Google, Softcard and Apple. Expect less card swiping and more phone scanning. Merchants who want to keep up with mobile payments but are confused as to which method to adopt can look into pynt, a smart terminal that supports multiple payment technologies including NFC, Bluetooth, QR codes, EMV, and magnetic stripe cards. The customer will be able to pay using Apple Pat, Google Wallet, the CurrentC app, or beacon technology.

POS Technology Initiatives to make the cash register extinct will continue to go strong in 2015. Cloud-based point-ofsale systems have proven that they can outperform old-fashioned registers in all aspects (performance, functionality, looks) and an increasing number of retailers will recognize this and make the switch.

Beacons

Several leading apparel retailers have already invested in innovative technologies and improved mobile applications that enable direct communication with customers (e.g., product recommendations, reviews, personalised offers, etc.) via mobile push notifications while they shop. Given that half of consumers indicate the desire to use mobile services while shopping in a store, these capabilities promise to improve customer engagement with the brand and spur incremental purchases. Since customers will be able to navigate the store more easily, companies can potentially rationalise labor hours without hindering sales. As retailers invest in these new technologies, the most successful will be those that experiment with the volume of notifications per visit, message content, and beacon placement to determine the strategies that optimise consumer engagement and drive profitable sales (Howard: 2014).

Beacons will make their way into even more stores in the coming year. The technology, which provides in-store analytics and marketing solutions for brick-and-mortar retailers, has already generated results for several merchants, which is why weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re confident that beacon adoption will continue to grow in 2015.

Personalised Retail With research indicating that 78% of consumers feel that personalized content has led to a deeper relationship with a brand (Wearesquare.com:2013), there is understandably a clamor for companies to adopt a more personal approach. Customers are increasingly demand a more tailored service that more appropriately meets their needs according to online company mycustomer.com in their article ‘Personalisation: How to build a successful strategy’ written by Neil Davey and Jaye Taylor, Marketing Executive at Retail Assist. In the last decade, digital technology has given retailers the ability to forge a personal relationship with customers, enabling an increased understanding of what customers want, how they shop, their stage in life, tastes, habits and so on (Taylor: 2014). Personalisation, when done right, correctly identifies visitors and targets them with content that is more likely to engage them and to spur on a purchase. Delivering relevant product offers and personalised content to customers is how relationships can be established, giving customers what they want and putting them in control. It is apparent that personalisation is already beginning to shape the retail landscape, but there are still some stumbling blocks to overcome. Not least of these is the fact that there does need to be upfront investment in the IT infrastructure.

“Getting personalisation right requires an all-or-nothing approach,” warns Dave Peters, CEO and founder of Emagine. “The aim of personalisation is to foster a better customer relationship that is rooted in value and relevance for the individual; marketing to one, not many. It’s about understanding a customer’s needs and preferences and connecting with them in a manner that suits them in order to extract maximum customer value and protect the relationship. However, this involves upfront investment in critical enablers such as business intelligence infrastructure, data feeds, analytical resources and a multichannel campaign execution platform. Doing this without a robust strategy in place and without a checklist of goals to measure against would be a wasted investment.” (2014). The true benefits however are further reaching than the internal ones; by taking a well thought out and planned approach you deliver consistency for the customer and, in an environment where shoppers engage with a brand in store, online, mobile, mail they really are shopping the brand not the channel, they want your brand to treat them in a consistent way. Consider the effort and cost of a well thought out marketing campaign to get a VIP shopper back in store, only to have them ignored at point of sale or stood in overly long queue or facing lack of stock.

Education Retail artists and entrepreneurs to rent store space, confirms that for every dollar a company spends on pop-up rent, they can make seven more dollars on income.

Customers don’t care about our products or services; they care about themselves. If we buy into this, then we must also accept that the majority of the information we produce for marketing purposes. Content must be based on fulfilling our customers’ needs and interests, so that they come to build a trusted and emotional connection with our brands.

“There’s an application of pop-ups for just about anyone,” said Tristan Pollock, Co-Founder and COO at Storefront, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “A lot of the stores we’re seeing are centred on emerging or established brands looking to grow their businesses. It allows the brands to educate their consumers through the retail space, sharing their story and background and inspiring consumers through this education” (2014).

Content needs to help us sell more, lower expenses, or create happier customers. Customers know this, and our content marketing strategies are built around achieving these goals. But the more we educate them or entertain them, the more they don’t mind being sold to (Pulizzi: 2013) Aids to help education of a brand through retail are PopUps. Pop-up stores have evolved into effective outlets for brands and retailers of all sizes and categories to generate excitement, drive awareness and even expand their businesses. Some of the most buzzed about retailers today, such as Birch box, Warby Parker and Bonobos, got their start in brick-and-mortar by opening pop-ups (Fiorletta: 2014). As more pop-ups are opened, more brands and retailers are willing to share their overall value and success. In fact, research from Storefront, an online marketplace for brands,

The Rise of Pop- UP Stores

It’s our one chance to get new customers and explain who we are, what we’re all about and what we can offer them.” Shoppers who visit the BaubleBar pop-up shop also often bring friends, she added, which helps amplify the brand to more prospective customers.

For years, pop-up shops have been embraced by merchants that sell seasonal products but retailers of all sizes are now levering these limited-time stores to pique consumer interest, drive brand awareness and test their business in new markets. In addition to this Landlords are also warming up to the pop-up concept, due to traffic surge some neighbourhoods get when new stores open and the chance that they can turn a short-term lease into a long-term opportunity. “The more traffic a pop-up gets, the more people it brings to the space” – Katherine Hill, Director of offline at BaubleBar, “both parties benefit. The company gets the space and the landlord will get prospective clients who may want to rent out the space for their own purposes” (Lee: 2013). Brands that plan, launch and maintain pop-up stores with the right strategies will find that they are valuable tools for experimentation, branding, advertising, storytelling and demand generation. “One of the most captivating features about pop-up retail stores is their ability to pique consumers’ curiosity and satisfy their desire for novelty,” noted a Spire Research report. “The pop-up retail model is such that it can be present in a district for a short period of time, before it disappears and resurfaces weeks or months later. When it resurfaces, the store can be completely re-furnished with an entirely new format and set of merchandise, providing consumers an alluring element of surprise.” Since pop-up stores are temporary, they are a cost-effective way for retailers to test products in specific markets, as well as experiment with new in-store strategies. “A lot of brand marketers and retailers will take the opportunity to look at pop-ups and do research,” said Bryan Duffy, EVP of Sales and Marketing at MKTG INC. “They’ll do things like product testing, consumer insight and launch limited-edition items. In a finite period of time, you can garner qualitative and quantitative measurable results.” (Ross: 2013). Pop-up stores also are an effective way to tell the story of a brand and make it more tangible to consumers — which can be a challenge for pureplay eCommerce retailers. “We see about half of the people who walk in to our pop-up shops have never heard of our brand before,” Hill explained. “ It’s a very strong customer acquisition channel for us.

An example of this is through popular pop up shopping mall, Box Park, who have hosted individual pop up shops to the likes of Nike, Puma, GAP and Urbanears. The success behind this is that it allows consumers and retailers to create something new and exciting. Puma launched their concept TWENTYONE where they had 21 styles of footwear on sale at any one time and every 21 days it changed around, this was based on their container number. It allows retailers to push the boundaries of their retail strategies and showcase their innovation through this already innovative concept without taking the risk of opening an individual pop up or a new concept store. In another example, luxury ready-to-wear and lingerie brand Fleur du Mal saw success with a pop-up shop in New York City. Jennifer Zuccarini, Founder of Fleur du Mal stated in an interview with retail touch point that “A pop-up store can show products in reality. People can touch and feel fabrics, try things on. Seeing items online is never going to be as effective as walking into a room and seeing it all there. We’re a new brand so people are discovering us through the pop-up shop. We have organic shoppers that just walk past the store and think ‘I have to go in there.’ There’s no such thing as organic shopping online. People have to try and find you in some way.” (2014) “It’s just a really innovative time,” said Michael Harvey, COO of e-Commerce Strategy and Implementation at Corra, an e-Commerce agency. “We’re going to see bigger pop-up shops, micro-pop-up shops and pop-up malls. The impermanence allows retailers to keep trying new things.” Pop-up stores are emerging as valuable tools that incorporate both marketing and retail into a temporary, cost-adjustable package. A retailer can choose to play it safe with a quiet, low-overhead store to garner interest, or they can execute a full-blown advertising campaign. The flexibility of the pop-up allows vendors to explore these options in scalable ways.

RETAIL INTERACTION WITH HENRI LLOYD CONSUMERS

I wanted to understand, from a consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective, how they interact with brands, particularly how the Henri Lloyd customer interacted with brands.

Figure 4.1: McGowan, R. via Survey Monkey, (2015). Henri Lloyd Consumer Survey: What do you think makes a retail experience?