And the future promises to be even more dynamic with digital solutions intended to enhance the shopper experience: facial recognition, Big Data, the Internet of Things, drones, RFID technology, wearable technology, augmented technology, self-drive cars, 3D printing... the list goes on. These solutions could be ‘hype’ words, but they are all either already in use (such as Apple watches, Boeing using 3D printing to produce parts and components), or in the plans of the world’s top companies: Google and Facebook testing virtual reality and L’Oreal working to print human skin for product testing. In the fast-paced, connected world of the modern shopper, core shopper needs will not change but expectations will be higher and they will demand a more contextual shopper experience – what they want, when they want it, where they want it and with transparent price options. We believe that the winners in this new playground will be those who can provide the best shopper experience.
The opportunity to own pre-purchase decisions.
Moving to the future, brands and retailers must try to own the pre-purchase process and decision by developing innovative ways to facilitate missionrelevant product offerings. This means being the gatekeeper(s) for shoppers need to be able to facilitate what they want, when they want it, how they want it and how they would like to receive it. If the brand can get it right, core shopper needs will be satisfied and new shopper behaviours enabled - and loyalty can grow this way. As much through the interaction with the software as the physical brand itself.
Platforms and partners.
In this rapid path of digitalisation, it’s brands that might see some of the biggest fundamental challenges about how they are created, developed and delivered. Not addressing personalisation, co-creation, delivering experience will for sure, plant the offenders in the commodity box. And maybe that’s a conscious choice for some manufacturers, for parts of their portfolios. Today’s environment of interaction with products means that we are quickly moving from the intangible world of brand assets to known, tangible things. This is in part led by the democratisation of knowledge and information. Consumers are able to share and compare and know the performance of products and it shapes how we think about brands. Online grocery shoppers are offered product recommendations or other matched product suggestions. Our machine - learnt behaviours in on-line shopping is led by the key tenets laid down by our previous behaviours for other products and services originally accessed in this space. Of course, brand choices will still be made on emotional not pure rational grounds. But the way in which the memory structures are built up for brands will be different: not only will they be more digitally influenced but also much more in the control of the consumer. Our connections with brands will be as much about how we access them via platforms and their commercial partners as they are about the experience that the brands can provide. It’s this experience in the physical space that retailers and brands need to work together on now.
WO Issue 32 | Shopper Stock Take 2019
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