Retail News|May 2020|www.retailnews.ie|25
Covid-19 Pandemic points of difference, and better at reinforcing them. This is the same story that many suppliers have heard for several years, but its importance has escalated dramatically over recent weeks. The value of a strong story and a strong marketing element to bring this to life, in businesses of all sizes, appears set to grow. For many reasons, we’re hoping this will encourage more retailers to develop more unique specialisms rather than taking out points of difference to focus on the same core range. 4. Local, community and seasonal will grow in importance We’re expecting higher community involvement and awareness from consumers to be a legacy of the current The Shops App by Aisle 411 is an interactive shopping app that flags where to find crisis. Those businesses best items in-store and can display product locations on store planograms. able to capture and reflect this, whether retailers, cafés it’s also about the impact of complicating or food and drink suppliers, will be system could offer a fairly rapid payback categories on increasing shopper dwell the ones that resonate best with local for retailers. A more advanced version time in-store. shoppers. from Ombori, where customers check This is a challenge and puts Ireland is already a best-in-class in via QR code and can see at all times global market when it comes to pressure on many suppliers to justify how many customers are in-store, is showcasing local-ness. So it’s about their position on-shelf more than ever. currently being trialled in Sweden. raising the bar further and pushing that If you’re a supplier who isn’t a market Another aspect to consider is the community involvement deeper than leader in your category, then you’ll time spent in-store. With restricted ever before. Stores such as Amsterdam’s need to be clearer than ever about your capacity, time spent in store is very much money. So if retailers can shorten the time customers spend in-store without impacting transaction size, they’ll likely want to do it. There are many ways through which this can be achieved. Simpler layouts and better interior comms will play a role, but tech can help here as well. One example of this is the Shops App by Aisle 411, an interactive shopping app that flags where to find items in-store: www.aisle411.com/shops. The Shops app can display product locations on store planograms, something it currently does across Walgreens stores. This ability to prelocate products in-store could be a valuable way of relieving congestion in-store, and even more so if this functionality can be combined with an availability measure. 3. Expect more curated ranges Simply put, the additional cost of carrying extra lines on shelf will grow. This isn’t just about the complexity of handling the product through the supply chain and getting it onto the shelf, but
Local, seasonal and community will grow in importance.
