What 'Bricks' can learn from 'Clicks'

Here in Australia we are hearing quite a bit about how bricks and mortar retailers are suffering due to many Australians choosing to shop online over visiting the shopping centre.  But at the same time, I don’t see much change occurring in some of these retail stores to provide a better customer experience. 

It’s not easy to sell a pair of shoes over the Internet when the customer cannot touch, feel or try on their size. Zappos made such a big business out of it, that online giant, Amazon, put a bid in for the company and now owns it. Online retailers have done such an amazing job at merchandising their products online and giving customers so much confidence in purchasing, that customers don’t even need to see the physical product until it arrives on their door step. I have bought about 10 pairs of shoes online and I haven’t had to return one pair and I have never gone to a store first to try them on before I bought online. I was confident with my purchase and I knew I could always return them for free if there was a problem.

So what can a bricks and mortar store learn from an online retailer? Online retailers have done a great job at pulling from traditional merchandising methods and translating them online. Brick retailers should do the same and translate online into their physical stores. How?

Take an example from my experience shopping in a department store today. As I strolled through the aisles, looking for a small blender, I found one that peaked my interest. The outside of the box had a pretty good picture of the product and all the components inside. However, there were so many extra components I was confused about what it actually did or how easy it would be to use. I looked around the other sides of the box and didn’t get much more of a feel of how it worked. It was also on special so I wondered about the quality and reliability of the product. Two thoughts sprung to mind – video and reviews. A video would easily show me how the product worked and possibly how easy it was to operate and clean. Reviews would help me decide on the quality of the product.

Wouldn’t it be great if I could view a video of the product in the store, as well as see any customer reviews from people who previously purchased it and have experience using it? I’ve seen versions of this in the past in store where there is a video screen with speakers and some merchandising surrounding the product on the shelves. But it is rare and usually only a focal point for one product when it needs to be for many. I can already hear the naysayers harping up about the cost of implementing and maintaining such a system across a hundred stores and thousands more SKUs, along with the resources required to support the hardware and software components, and not to mention possible vandalism of the digital video screens used. This is the kind of thinking that is thwarting the progress of retail in this country.

What about utilising a mobile app or QR codes?  There are more people in this country with a mobile phone than there are with a home Internet connection. Why not setup QR codes next to products so customers can click and view product videos and reviews straight to their mobile? With a dedicated mobile app, you could also start a relationship with your customers and understand more about them and build loyalty with them. I’m not suggesting anything ground breaking here. Companies like Best Buy in the US, already have a feature in their stores, where customers can use their mobile to click the barcode in store and search for product reviews from the Best Buy website. It’s actually helpful to the customer’s decision making process.

To evolve, I think the questions that retailers should be asking themselves, are ‘how’ and ‘when’, not ‘why’ and ‘what!?’. 

What is the best organisational structure for a business wanting to adapt online into their business model?

I am currently quite intrigued by this question. Having worked in online channels within various organisational structures, including pure online, to multichannel and multinational, creating change and getting things done is impacted greatly by the organisation's structure.

Does it even matter? 

Perhaps the question should be about what type of person you have leading the change?

Should the marketing team have their own IT resources separate to internal IT staff. Should the Ecommerce channel team operate as their own department and have a mix of sales, marketing and IT reporting directly into the team lead? Should an Ecommerce channel be a heavily sales driven channel, or does it thrive better with a balanced mix of marketing, sales and engineering?

Is the 'unknown' the reason why some major retailers in Australia today are not thriving in this area, because they simply cannot see the potential and do not have an organisational structure to support the change? Only last night I was researching online for a gift I wanted to buy this morning. I do not have a lot of time to browse and walk around, so I wanted to go to the shopping centre with a plan and know exactly the gift to buy. While some websites offered ‘ok’ pieces of information about their products and others did an excellent job, not one site offered me the option to know if that product was in stock in the store that I was going to. Nor did I have the option of selecting the product from the website and letting the retailer know ‘I am coming to you tomorrow, to this store, to pick up this product’. Now that would be great for me as the customer because it saves me time trying to find the product, and great for the store because they could have my order packaged and ready to go and sell me the matching accessories at the checkout.

Australians are typically known as a forward thinking, tech-savvy-loving nation. Why are we so far behind the USA, UK and other nations when it comes to businesses transforming and reinventing themselves in this digital era? Consumers want it, they are all over the web searching and selecting and shipping products from overseas, because many businesses here in Australia, for some reason, are stuck in a mindset, preventing them from evolving with the internet. 

What is it about the attitudes of these businesses that is not pushing our Ecommerce nation forward. Of course, this is not directed towards all Australian businesses. There are many who see the light. Perhaps it is their US or UK parent company directing the change or perhaps they simply just want to find ways to provide their customers with a better service.

I have some assumptions to these questions but do not have a complete answer ...  yet ... 

Thumbs Up for UFC Using Social

A few weekends ago I was really impressed with a campaign run by the UFC. The organisation usually airs live main event fights on pay per view, while other graded fights are aired on cable and past old fights usually air on free to air TV. They recently introduced another option, which was to watch the preliminary fights on Facebook for free. All you had to do was ‘Like’ the UFC’s Facebook fanpage and at 11am EST they would stream the fight via their Facebook fanpage. Best part of this all - it worked! You could actually logon to their Fanpage at that exact time and the fight was streamed to you for free. How fantastic! I’m sure their fan base quadrupled in size. This opened up the preliminary fights to fans who don’t usually have access to cable and at the same time increased their fans on facebook and generated excitement for their fight schedule. 
Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day UFC: Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights (8pc)

Personalised URL's for referring a friend

I recently opened an email from BrandsExclusive and wanted to share a product that was on sale with a friend. When I did a little search for a ‘share with a friend’ feature I was given the option of a personalised URL i.e. http://www.brandsexclusive.com.au/i/amanda__suefong/. The personalised URL made it easy for me to post on Twitter, Facebook and of course in an email. I really like this option for referring a friend, it’s not unlike a typical affiliate link really, and it makes ‘sharing’ the news completely portable and track-able. Having tried implementing 'refer a friend' programs in the past, this method is far less complicated for the provider as they do not have to keep track of which emails where sent from whom etc. 

Consumers rejoice – it’s the dawn of a new era! Yours.

I just finished reading an Editorial: Ludicrous Myer statement ignores online retail facts by Grant Arnott @powerretail and while it’s infuriating to hear that big retailers such as Myer, Harvey Norman and DJ’s still don’t get the online channel, I think it’s the best thing ever, for consumers.

Whether these retailers really are just trying to lobby the government to impose GST on consumer online purchases from overseas or whether they really think building websites in China is the answer … in the mean time, transactions are happening, consumers are searching and new business is booming. J.C. Penney's online sales increased 12 percent from a year ago with strong traffic even on Thanksgiving Day. Total company November sales increased 7.2 percent to $1.85 billion.

Consumers have a choice and they are choosing with their wallets, they are choosing with their time and they choosing with what they feel is value for their hard earned money. No longer is the consumer at the perils of the haphazard customer service, department store retailers have traditionally given us. (I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve walked into a Myer store and seriously walked around for 20mins trying to find someone to hand my money over to … I know, I know, I’m a glutton for punishment).

Consumers are Googling, Facebooking and Tweeting and searching for products and services that fulfil their desires, wherever in the world that product can be sourced from. Per Grant’s editorial, in a survey of online shoppers conducted by The Leading Edge and recently presented with PayPal, “The main factor influencing shopping online on overseas websites was ‘Access to Goods and Services Not Available in Australia’ (32%)”. It’s an exciting time for consumers; the internet truly has made the world our oyster.

These retailers obviously do not see we are at a crux of a new way of doing business. How much money do overseas retailers have to make in running multi-channel business models before Australian majors understand the change in consumer behaviour. How many more graphs and statistics do research companies have to show them until they believe. What year will they eventually get ‘it’? ... I will make a prediction … they will get it in the year ‘too late’!

Go ahead create your websites in China and give your customers a 10% discount because there is no GST. Give it a good go, but you better come ready and you better back it up with good customer experience. I have one question though, why, if you are loosing business to overseas websites, would you see the solution to be to attack the very people you want to come back to your business? It makes no sense to persecute consumers with imposing GST on them. No matter what rules or extra charges you impose, someone out there will always find a way around it and they will share it with the world. Business is changing, shopping is global now, the internet gives consumers choice, you can not take that away from them. Instead give them a reason to come back to you, give them an experience they will be so delighted with, they will rave about you and tell their 250 friends on Facebook.

The answer is really so simple; Myer’s, DJ’s, Harvey Norman …. just ask your customer what they want. They have been buying from you for years, they liked your offering at one stage but you obviously stopped listening to them. Your customers will be more than happy to tell you. The information you get from them is your gold.

I don’t hear Woolworths (including, BIG W, Dick Smiths) complaining about Australians purchasing overseas and wanting to impose GST on consumers. I see them stepping up to the plate and saying ‘Batter up, let’s do this!’. They are taking their online and multichannel offerings seriously and trying to meet their customers’ evolving needs.

I am so excited for entrepreneurs (like me) and small businesses who actually care about their customers and want to give them a great experience. It is our turn to dominate. I can’t wait to see the creative ideas and unique products the new business community will come up with for their customers.

Consumers rejoice – it’s the dawn of a new era!

Facebook Launches 'Deals' and knocks out 2 birds with 1 social stone

Facebook Deals has launched and so have the campaigns run by large companies testing the waters. Take for instance, Gap, they are running a campaign where you can pick up a free pair of jeans to the first 10,000 people who check in via Deals to one of their stores. Then for the rest their fans that miss out, they are giving them a 40% off discount. Anecdotal evidence suggests this campaign did quite well with creating foot-traffic to their stores. They had 50 people lined up outside the SFO store before the store even opened. See More ...  

As location based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla have still not hit the mass market, Facebook Deals combined with Places, will be a big blow to these services making progress. Consumers can now simply skip signing up and using a new location service and jump straight to Facebook, where consumers are used to interacting with each other.

The gaming component on Foursquare and Gowalla is not carried over to the Facebook service but at the end of the day I think that is a non-issue as consumers are really just after the 'free stuff'. Facebook Deals also features a group discount function, where you and can purchase discounted products if you purchase as a group. This is a significant blow to the group buying sites we are seeing sprout up so quickly. Group buying has been around for a while but it is only just picking up now in Australia. With companies being able to offer their customers group discounts on Facebook without having to pay a fee to Facebook, why would companies even bother selling through these group buying sites now?

So Facebook Deals, combined with Facebook Places, knocks out the location based services and the group buying sites. For companies who already have a significant following on Facebook, why would you spread your efforts thin trying to build up a customer base on Foursquare or Gowalla, as well as the group buying sites, when you can concentrate your efforts and maximise your return from Facebook. Group buying sites may be good for acquiring new customers but you need to make sure you get that customer into your relationship management process or they'll be in for their discount, out the door and gone until the next freebie comes around.

Is Google Instant 3D for search results?

I've just been watching the launch video for Google's latest game changing tool Google Instant. Google Instant is touted as being able to provide even faster search results as you type in your topic of interest into the search box. Basically, as you type, results appear below. It is not currently available in Australia, but you can try it out on Google.com (you may need to log into your Google account to access this).




We could look at it something like:

• 1D search - this is the days when we typed a phrase into the search box and hit search for e.g. "latest weather forecast for Sydney Australia" [Search]. 
• 2D search  - this could be likened to typing in that same topic but just as "weather Sydney" and hitting [Enter]. We would then receive enhanced results based on Sydney Australia, as the server picked up the location of our IP address, and assumed we wanted the coming week's forecast so it displayed weather visuals for the next week, along with possible links to related news for that term and location.
• 3D search - in comes Google Instant, whereby you can edit your search on the fly as you type. So you may be looking for the latest movie and type in 'Iron Man 2' but as you type you see that this term results in movie trailer results so you extend your phrase to include 'movie t'. Then you receive all the movie times for your area based on where you are searching from. You possibly did 2 or 3 searches in that one search query.

For the most part, I think the new feature is quite exciting. I believe time will tell whether it is something that the Internet community will adopt or potentially find distracting. I am leaning more towards it being an adopted feature as we do not have to change the physical steps to type in a search, it is merely removing a step i.e. hitting the [Enter] key, to get results. If we want to revert to our existing way of using search we can, and there is the option of turning off Instant.

Historically, if we venture back to how we've used the Internet over the years, speed is definitely one of the greatest desires ... more bandwidth ... faster page loading .... so quicker access to a desired search results seems like a natural next step for search engines. I am not sure anyone has pinpointed exactly how this will impact SEO for the time being, except that it will keep SEO advisors on their toes. It seems that your organic ranking is now more important than ever.

I think my deciding factor will lay with my father - he is the complete opposite of a computer savvy searcher. About 6 months ago, I was showing him, how to find something on the Internet using Google. And while his typing was slow; one key press, looking down at the keyboard then looking up at the screen to check it was the correct key and then back down at the keyboard to press the next key and so on, he instantly took notice of the predictive search results Google was listing for him as he typed. In fact, I think my father's slow typing made it even easier for him to understand the predictive results feature. So my father will be my benchmark for Instant. If he finds it useful and easy to find the best fishing spots in NSW, then I'm sold :-)