Retail is a large industry and it covers a long process from chain of suppliers to the moment of checkout. As shopper behavior keeps changing, the whole category tries to keep up. When considering innovations that are gaining acceptance, what may link them is the intent to make shopping experiences more enjoyable. Nowadays, e-commerce has created the need to counteract any factor that could make a shopping trip unpleasant. The innovations we have chosen were [...]

  We are emotional animals. This implies that we do not want to offend people. If people tell each other what they believe they want to hear, then relying on questionnaires leaves out cherished unconscious preferences. Thus, traditional market research has its limitations. Marketers need to understand the difference between what consumers say as opposed to what they do. In this quest, other sciences come to the rescue. Neuroscience is the study of the human [...]

A recent study carried by the Association of National Advertisers and MediaVest, revealed that an astounding 96% of marketers currently use or are planning to incorporate mobile marketing into their marketing mix, with 85% reporting intent to raise their mobile budgets in the near future. Marketers know that the mobile channel is a vital tool to connect with customers. The only missing part of the puzzle is measuring its success. “Mobile is a huge opportunity [...]

We have written some articles regarding how the use of mobile phones affects the retail industry. As you probably know, most of the activities carried out with mobile devices are local in nature like checking the weather, looking for restaurants in the neighborhood or checking deals in nearby stores. In this article, we will explore even more what geolocation implies in retail. Its Roots Real state knows this: for decades, businesses thrived and died according [...]

How do you like your coffee? Hot or cold? With whole or non-fat milk? Mocha, Caramel or Latte? Which size? By the time you spell your name to tag your mug, you are exhausted. According to Columbia researcher Sheena Iyengar, the average American makes 70 different conscious decisions a day. No wonder decisions can paralyze consumers with an overwhelming feeling of option overload. There are now new tools that aim to relieve choice anxiety by [...]

People hate spending time waiting. It is unexciting to be waiting for a friend at a coffee store sipping a delicious cappuccino, but the waiting becomes tormenting when you happen to be inside a supermarket standing up among strangers and crying children in the middle of a sunny Sunday. And it happens a lot. Long checkout lines in supermarkets have become an issue, something retailers and marketers decided to pay closer attention to. We celebrate [...]

A year ago we started this blog with an article about Big Data that pondered on these two questions: “What use does recording every action a potential shopper does if we can’t extract meaningful and actionable data from it? How do we turn the daily actions of millions of customers into marketing insight?” Throughout 2012 we witnessed how the term began to gain attention among marketers and retailers so we decided to analyze this trend [...]

In this skyrocketing phase of mobile commerce, in which shoppers can shop with their smartphones inside stores, check reviews and product information as well as better deals somewhere else, a retailer’s POS infrastructure is the most important asset to reach consumers within the store and probably the best chance to influence behavior favorably for a purchase. According to Boston Retail Partners, 52% of retailers plan to implement mobile POS in the next two years. The [...]

Usually the store environment is planned to increase sales: the size of shopping carts, the overall floor plan, the way products are displayed, music and bright colors, etc. Most merchants have a perceived schema of how customers walk through the stores: the typical shopper is assumed to travel up and down the aisles, stopping at various categories, considering value and price, picking up the best option and continuing along the same path until they get [...]

Remember the movie Minority Report? Through eye-scanning technology, Tom Cruise receives personalized advertising in public places. The future. Forward-thinking marketers have already adopted this trend online with real-time information, real-time feedback and real-time optimization. But again how can brick-and-mortar retailers attain the same approach? The aim of shopper marketing is to influence purchase decisions when the shopper is near a product in the store. Many of you may be familiar with the following conclusions: – [...]