Category shopping

Find Out Who Your Potential Customers Are Before It’s Too Late

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, Gen Y, Product, retail, shopping, target marketing, technology Tagged with advertising, Gen Y, product, retail, shopping, target marketing, technology April 22nd, 2013 @ 8:00 am

Changes in society impact the products that we buy, how we shop, and who influences purchase decisions. In the end, these changes impact how products need to be made and advertised.

Rapid advancements in technology are increasing the speed at which society changes. The rate of change that we saw from one generation to the next could now possibly happen every few years.

Therefore, it is becoming more it important for brands to continually monitor whether or not their products and services are meeting the needs of consumers. Furthermore, it is vital that they make changes whenever necessary.

Women and Children First

No the ship is not sinking. At least we hope not. However, sometimes it might seem that way.

That said, if you have an established brand that is losing market share, it might not be a bad idea to check out who is purchasing and using your products and services (and your competitor’s products and services too.)

In his book, “What Women Want: The Science of Female Shopping,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill highlights how the changing role of women in society has influenced who is purchasing and using products and services.

As he points out, in some cases it might not necessarily be a shift in who is using the product or service. It might, if fact, be the case that the female head of the household may still be purchasing and using the product, but given further time constraints, the way the product is being used has changed. Therefore, the product or its advertising might need to be altered to better meet the current needs of consumers.

The role of children in the family has also changed in recent years. This is partly a result of the increased prevalence of technology and the higher comfort level that youth have with these new technological advancements.

In the book, “Gen Buy: How Tweens, Teens, and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail,” (affiliate link) Kit Yarrow, Ph.D., and Jayne O’Donnell, point out that, “Gen Yers typically provide in-house tech support for their parents, which reinforced their stature as equals—or even superiors, at least in the IT department.”

They go on to point out that, “Previous generations had to pretend or humor their kids (“Let’s frame your Picasso!”), but in the case of this generation, their intuitive ease with technology and their ability to adapt to technological shifts is a genuine asset to any family.”

“Seeing as we all know better than to tick off the techies, the glow of this expertise has contributed to the confidence of this generation,” the authors of the book continue. “It also means that kids have more of a vote and more power in family decision making. That includes far more than technology and extends to things like vacation destinations, cars, and Dad’s outfits too.”

This doesn’t mean that we can totally ignore adult male consumers. It may be the case that your products and services are still being purchased and used by the male head of household. However, you won’t know this until you do the research.

Also, you don’t want to only cater to youth. Baby Boomers can’t be ignored. As I pointed out in a recent blog post, there are a lot of them, and they have a lot of money and time to spend it.

Don’t Alienate Your Best Customers

In an effort to increase market share, you might decide to increase sales by targeting other demographic groups. This could be a good choice if you find that those consumers are already starting to use your products and services.

However, you do run the risk of actually losing more customers if you start appealing to other demographic groups. Unilever learned this lesson the hard way, albeit unintentionally, when middle school boys started using its Axe Body Spray in large numbers. This caused the brand’s target market, men aged 18 to 24, to lose interest because Axe Body Spray started to get the reputation as a “kid product.”

Therefore, before you choose to alter the product or the advertising to meet the needs of a different demographic group, you need to understand that it might result in decreased sales among the original target market. In some cases, this trade off might be an acceptable risk. Other times, not so much.

Final Thoughts

Gender roles have changed in recent years, as have the way family decisions are made. This could be influencing how consumers are using your products and services.

Rapid advancements in technology are increasing the speed of these changes. In fact, some technological advancements could have a huge impact on the who, where, when, why and how consumers buy and use your products and services.

As noted, if your brand is losing market share, you will want to see if other demographic groups have become potential customers.

The choice then is to decide whether to alter your products and services, as well as the way that you advertise those products and services to consumers.

However, the choice is not always as easy as you think, because you might end up decreasing sales if you alienate your existing customer base.

As with all business decisions, there might be unintended consequences to the choices that you make. Your best bet is to make an informed decision based on research and testing.

On the other hand, if you choose to completely ignore the changes that are happening around you, you might end up searching for your life boats.

Photo credit: Digital Sextant on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Marketing analyst and strategist, freelance writer, content curator, applied sociologist, and a proud UW-Madison alumnus. My goal is to help businesses achieve their marketing objectives and business goals while gaining additional experience in the exciting world of digital marketing. I'm currently looking for my next career challenge. Please feel free to contact me anytime at: chadjthiele@gmail.com.

A Look at the Aging of America From a Retail Perspective

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, case study, market research, mobile, Package, Packaging, retail, shopping, target marketing, technology, trends Tagged with advertising, app, case study, market research, mobile, package, packaging, retail, shopping, target marketing, technology, trends January 31st, 2013 @ 3:00 pm

Andy Rooney once said, “It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”

This could be partially due to the fact that either through design or disregard, the products and services that brands offer tend to cater to younger consumers.

However, as times goes on, older consumers are going to be harder and harder to ignore.

As the baby boomers reach retirement age, the number of older consumers continues to grow. (It is worth noting that there will be more older consumers in the near future because there were higher birth rates from 1946 to 1964 and because older consumers who reach the age of 65 are projected to live longer lives in the future.)

While brands do intentionally target different consumers when they advertise their products or services, there are also some decisions that brands are making that may unintentionally exclude older consumers from making a purchase.

If You Can Read This You’re Too Young

In his book, “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping—Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill explains how retail will be transformed in the near future as a result of the aging of the population of the United States. In fact, he devotes a whole chapter to this topic.

According to Underhill, by 2025, we are going to need a whole new world when it comes to retail.

“What’s wrong with this world? For starters, all the words are too damn small,” says Underhill. “See this sentence? How could you? Too damn small. How about the morning paper? Forget it. Too damn small. The directions on your jar of organic herbal laxative? Too. Damn. Small. And you’re not even going to try squinting. (It causes wrinkles.) If you can’t read it, by gum, you just won’t buy it. And if you don’t buy organic herbal laxative, nobody will. And if nobody buys it… well, you see where this is going.”

“Human eyes begin to falter at about age forty, and even healthy ones are usually impaired by their sixties,” Underhill continues. “With age, three main ocular events take place: The lens becomes more rigid and the muscles holding it weaken, meaning you can’t focus on small type; the cornea yellows, which changes how you perceive color; and less light reaches your retina, meaning the world looks a little dimmer than it once did. The issue of visual acuity, already a major one in the marketplace, will become even more critical—not just in some far-off future, but from this moment on.”

Is he making too big of a deal about the eyesight of older consumers? You can decide that for yourself, but first you might want to read some of the examples that Underhill provides as evidence.

“One of our fast-food clients realized that diners over fifty-five were their fastest-growing demographic, despite the fact that the menu boards used type that was almost impossible for older people to see well,” reports Underhill. “The company redesigned the menus using large photos of the food, and even though it meant listing fewer items, sales rose.”

Underhill also points out that, “The main market today for drugstores is older people, and that dependence will only increase. Certainly, of all the words we are required to read in the course of our lives, few are more important than the labels, directions and warnings on drugs, both prescription and over the counter. For instance, we have found that 91 percent of all skin care customers buy only after they’ve read the front label of the box, bottle or jar. Forty-two percent of buyers also read the back of the package. Clearly, reading is crucial to selling skin care and other health and beauty items.”

It is also interesting to note that the type on products that are frequently used by senior citizens (e.g., aspirin, a host of other common analgesics, cold capsules and vitamins) is often smaller than the type on products that are targeted to teenagers.

Can the Problem Be Fixed?

This sounds like an easy enough problem to fix. Just make the type bigger and the problem is solved, right? Not so fast.

You see, part of the problem is that many consumers rely on information in order to make purchase decisions. Therefore, brands need to provide a sufficient amount of information on their packages.

However, on a small box or bottle, there is a limited amount of real estate. Therefore, the choice is to either make the package bigger, provide less information or make the type smaller. It appears that many brands are choosing the third option—to the dismay of older consumers.

In the book, Underhill offers some possible suggestions that might help fix the problem, including package redesigns, better signage in retail stores, increased use of graphics on the labels, and tech solutions including sending additional information to our mobile devices.

In the end, he suggests the correct solution might be a combination of these and other possible fixes.

Final Thoughts

As Paco Underhill points out in his book, the aging of the population of consumers in the United States is going to provide numerous challenges to brands and retailers in the very near future. (These challenges include issues that I haven’t mentioned in this post.)

However, as with any challenge that is presented to the business world, they also provide an opportunity for businesses to profit by stepping up and finding ways to meet the needs of this important demographic.

As Paco Underhill sums it up, “Older shoppers are more important than ever, if only because there are more of them, and they have a lot of money to spend and time to spend it. Their presence will transform how products are sold in the twenty-first century.”

With this in mind, the question is: Is your business ready?

Photo credits: nicubunu.photo and bartsz on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

A Lesson Worth Remembering: Correlation Doesn’t Imply Causation

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, business, market research, retail, shopping, technology Tagged with app, business, market research, retail, shopping, technology January 21st, 2013 @ 8:00 am

Most marketers were taught that correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation in their introduction to statistics courses. However, I think that this is a lesson that we all forget from time to time.

I must confess, I have ignored this lesson in the past.

In a blog post that I wrote about shopkick in July of 2011, I cited an article that was posted on xconomy.com in order to explain how shopkick benefits retailers.

One of the arguments that was made in the post could have been challenged by pointing out that correlation doesn’t imply causation. (However, as I will explain, even with its faults, I believe that the argument that was made does have merit.)

The Example—an Excerpt From My Blog Post

With the current economic downturn, anything that can bring consumers into their stores is a blessing for most retailers.

According to the article, “Shopkick Uses the Sound of Rewards to Bring Smartphone Owners into Bricks-and-Mortar Stores,” on xconomy.com, shopkick’s CEO, Cyriac Roeding, says that retail stores will do almost anything to get people into their stores because conversion rates at bricks-and-mortar stores are very high.

Roeding says that about 20 percent of shoppers end up buying something when they visit bricks-and-mortar clothing stores. The conversion rate at bricks-and-mortar grocery stores is even higher; he says that about 95 percent of shoppers who visit bricks-and-mortar grocery stores make a purchase. In comparison, he says that the conversion rates for most e-commerce sites range from between 0.5 percent to 3 percent.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that retailers would welcome any technology that can help get consumers away from their computers and into their stores. That’s where shopkick can help.

The Point: There is a Correlation, But…

Roeding’s stats are extremely convincing. However, let’s look at the facts again.

He states that about 20 percent of shoppers end up buying something when they visit bricks-and-mortar clothing stores, and 95 percent of shoppers who visit bricks-and-mortar grocery stores make a purchase. Furthermore, these numbers are much higher than the conversion rates for most e-commerce sites.

The correlation between going to a bricks-and-mortar store and making a purchase is undeniable. Therefore, all we have to do is get people to visit bricks-and-mortar stores more often and we will continue to get conversion rates similar to those that Roeding cited, right? Not necessarily.

You see, it is most likely the case that people often visit bricks-and-mortar stores when they are ready to make an actual purchase—this is particularly true of grocery stores. (How many people do you know who go window shopping at a grocery store?)

Therefore, the purchase is more than likely driven by some other cause (i.e., the need for an item, extra disposable income, a gift card, etc.) And, the fact that they go to the bricks-and-mortar store and make a purchase are both often a result of these outside factors.

Therefore, I’d speculate that the conversion rates among people who go to bricks-and-mortar stores as a direct result of the shopkick app are going to be somewhat lower than the current conversion rates cited above.

Supporting Evidence From the Local Mall

In his book, “Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping by the Author of Why We Buy,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill points out that mall owners have tried to increase the time that people spend in malls by offering diversions that have nothing to do with shopping (e.g., food courts, movie theatres, bars and nightclubs, amusement parks, arcades, etc.)

As Underhill points out, “It’s been proven that the more time someone spends in a mall, the more stores they visit and the more things they buy. Again, there’s an inescapable logic to that formula. Every mall owner in the world knows all this. It’s just that they respond differently to it. Some like the idea of putting in a big, glitzy, raucous entertainment sector. It’s the expensive way to go, but it’s easy, too—you just install it and turn on the lights.”

“But the connection between such amusements and increased spending isn’t ironclad,” Underhill continues a little later on in the book. “People may now come to the mall without intending to buy a single thing. In a recent study, slightly more than half of what people did in malls was unrelated to actual shopping—eating, movies, games, hanging out, socializing, and so on. Those who said the primary reason they came to the mall was “to have fun” spent less money than those who said they came to visit a department store—to shop. The survey also found that the overall perceived entertainment value of a mall is unrelated to the amount of time people devote to shopping or the number of items they buy. So shoppers can be exceedingly fond of their mall and still not spend much money or time in stores. It’s a risk.”

The Counterpoint

I used this example to make a point that correlation doesn’t imply causation.

In this case, just because you get more people to visit your bricks-and-mortar stores because they are using the shopkick app doesn’t necessarily mean that the increased traffic is going to result in the same conversion rates that are now being recorded.

On the other hand, you probably will have some increases in sales.

If people are visiting bricks-and-mortar stores for reasons other than shopping (in this case to use the shopkick app) and have a pleasurable experience when they do, they will become comfortable with the store and will more than likely feel an affinity to it. Therefore, the next time they do need an item that the store sells, there is a good chance that they will think of that store and will shop there instead of visiting a competitor’s store. (In fact, they might choose to visit the store to make the purchase, because it will give them another chance to use the shopkick app.)

Furthermore, while the conversion rates among consumers who visit bricks-and-mortar stores to use the shopkick app might not be as high as they are among consumers who go to bricks-and-mortar stores to shop, there still is a chance that the visit will result in an impulse buy of some sort. In comparison, what is the chance that a person will make an impulse buy if they don’t go into a bricks-and-mortar store at all? Zippo, nada, zilch. (That is, unless they visit the store online. However, as already mentioned, online conversion rates aren’t very high.)

Final Thoughts

I think that, every once in a while, we all forget that correlation doesn’t imply causation.

In reality, I think it is easier to overlook this fact when we want the causal relationship to be true.

However, the facts remain the facts.

While ignoring the fact that correlation doesn’t imply causation isn’t a cardinal sin, it could end up having a negative effect on your business’s bottom line if you make important business decisions based on relationships that don’t necessarily exist.

Photo credit: Kurt Magoon on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Seven Things on My Radar for 2013

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, business, JWT, market research, mobile, public relations, retail, shopping, social media, target marketing, technology, trends Tagged with advertising, business, JWT, market research, mobile, public relations, retail, shopping, social media, target marketing, technology, trends January 4th, 2013 @ 8:00 am

Question: 2013 will be the year of what?

That is the question that many people are currently asking themselves.

In November, iMedia Communications published a blog post that featured 16 business leaders making predictions as to what they think 2013 will be best known for.

In the post, Mark Cuban, an American business magnate and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, predicted that 2013 will be the year of entrepreneurship. Ian Wolfman, CMO at MEplusYou, predicted that 2013 will be the year of purpose (i.e., brands will do more meaningful things in the world and more advertising dollars will be spent for social good in an effort to earn the trust of consumers.) Furthermore, Alfredo Gangotena, CMO at MasterCard, focused on the changing economic conditions around the world, including new opportunities for business growth in Africa in 2013.

Other experts predicted that we will finally get mobile right in 2013, video will explode, we will be able to achieve better targeting for in-marketing consumers, and that there will be more consolidation and easier technology, among other things.

If that list wasn’t enough to inspire your imagination, I’d suggest checking out the “100 Things to Watch in 2013” list published by JWT Intelligence. This yearly list has some amazing predictions for 2013.

Some of the Things That I Will Be Watching in 2013

I don’t have access to the same information that the business leaders that I mentioned earlier in this post have. Therefore, I am not going to make a prediction as to what I think 2013 will be best known for.

While I can’t say what 2013 will be best known for, I can provide a list of some of the things that I plan to study and monitor in the next 12 months. That list includes:

1) Rapid Advancements in Technology

We all know how fast technology has changed the world that we live in, in just the past decade. Think about what the world will be like next year, then think about the remarkable changes in technology that we will witness in the next 10, 20, or 30 years. In order to stay ahead of the curve, I think that it is important for businesses to pay attention to what futurists like Raymond Kurzweil predict the world will be like, and make sure that they have the products and services that will meet consumers’ demands when the time comes.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Google recently hired Kurzweil to be the Director of Engineering. Sure, the real reason for the hire is because Kurzweil has decades of machine learning experience, but there are other reasons for having a brilliant futurist on staff (i.e., making sure the competition doesn’t have the same level of access to all the knowledge that he has in that head of his.)

There are other reasons to be thinking about the future of technology from a business standpoint. For further insight, look at number 11, 20, 27, 43, 52, 65, and 70 on the JWT Intelligence “100 Things to Watch in 2013” list.

2) Mobile (User Experience and Marketing)

According to comScore, “123.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (53 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in November 2012, up 6 percent since August.” (This doesn’t include the increase that we will most likely see after the numbers are in after the holiday gift-giving season. Also, keep in mind, this number doesn’t include tablet computer usage.)

Therefore, it is not surprising that many experts predict that mobile will play an increasing role in consumers’ purchase decisions in the future. Therefore, it would be extremely ignorant to ignore this important technology.

From a business standpoint, it will not only be important to monitor how consumers are using their mobile devices in their day-to-day lives, but it will also be important that consumers can easily find the brand’s products or services wherever they are looking, including when they are using their smartphones or tablet computers. And, when they do find the brand’s products or services online, it will be equally important that the information that they find is user friendly and optimized for the mobile device that they are using.

3) Mobile Payments

Mobile devices will not only change the way that consumers find and do research on products or services, they will also play an increasing role in how consumers actually purchase these products and services. In fact, according to a post on the Intuit GoPayment Blog, a recent Jupiter Research study estimated that, by 2017, one out of every 25 retail transactions worldwide will be completed with a mobile device.

Therefore, it is important that businesses start getting comfortable with this technology now, while the technology is still new and they have the luxury of time to experiment and make adjustments, as necessary. If businesses wait until a majority of their customers become comfortable with the technology, they might end up losing sales to competitors that have taken the time to experiment and perfect the transaction process.

4) Mobile-Influenced Merchandising

As an increasing number of people use mobile devices to gather information as they shop in brick-and-mortar stores, it is inevitably going to change the way that consumers interact with products in the real world. Retailers are going to want to do everything that they can to prevent what some experts call “showrooming.” Finding ways to get consumers to buy from the current store that they are in is going to become a top priority. Among other things, this might lead to more price-match guarantees to increase sales. There is also a possibility that consumers’ shopping behaviors will be altered in ways that we haven’t even thought of as a result of consumers having a mobile device in their hand while they shop. It is for this reason that I will be watching merchandising trends in 2013.

5) Privacy Issues

Changes in all sorts of technology, from Facebook to facial recognition technology, will have consumers worrying whether or not their personally identifiable information (PII) is getting into the wrong hands. In this environment, even the perception of a privacy issue can have a huge impact on whether or not consumers trust the brand, which can ultimately have an effect on the bottom line.

6) The Evolution of Marketing and Public Relations

It is important that businesses monitor changes in the marketing and public relations world. Each new technology that is introduced brings with it new challenges. Therefore, it is important to understand what is working for other companies and adapt that into your marketing plan, if possible. It is also important to try new things, test, and make changes when necessary. However, as Mark Schaefer points out in a recent blog post, one of the best ways to cope with the changes that marketers are facing today is to view technological change through the lens of marketing fundamentals. That way you can more easily weed out the stuff that most likely won’t work. In other words, a solid understanding of the fundamentals of marketing and public relations will still be the foundation for success.

7) Emerging Markets

Alfredo Gangotena’s comment in the post that I mentioned earlier really got me thinking about the possibilities that are available in emerging markets. Therefore, I plan to add this to my to-do list of topics to study in 2013.

Conclusion

These are just some of the things that I will be watching in 2013.

It is important to note that a change in technology could have a huge impact on all the other things mentioned on my list.

So now that you have my list, my question to you is: what is on your radar in 2013?

Photo credit: Official U.S. Navy Imagery on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

They Only Cost a Tweet! #tweetshop

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, case study, mobile, Product, public relations, retail, shopping, social media, technology, Twitter, word of mouth advertising, word-of-mouth marketing Tagged with advertising, case study, mobile, product, public relations, retail, shopping, social media, technology, Twitter, word of mouth advertising, word-of-mouth marketing October 2nd, 2012 @ 8:00 am

The Kellogg Company Introduces Special K Crisps to the UK

In his book, “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping—Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill points out that, “Close to 90 percent of all new grocery products fail, but it isn’t because people didn’t like them—it’s because people never tried them. In my opinion, a new product introduction that doesn’t include a well-funded, fully supported (with marketing) effort to give shoppers samples is not a serious attempt.”

Therefore, it’s not surprising that when introducing its new Special K Cracker Crisps to the UK at the end of last month, the Kellogg Company created a unique marketing campaign that not only gave customers a chance to try the product, but they also incorporated social media into the effort in a way that guaranteed that customers would spread the word about how awesome Special K Cracker Crisps are to their friends online.

Kellogg’s Tweet Shop

The idea was simple: They created a trendy pop-up shop in London’s Soho district that invited customers to get packages of Special K Cracker Crisps in exchange for a tweet that included the hashtag #tweetshop.

As an Ad Age article points out, this is not the first time that a brand has offered free products in exchange for a post on a social networking site. However, the article points out that it might be the first example of real-life interaction using a pay-with-a-tweet-concept.

In the Ad Age article, Dan Glover, creative director of Mischief PR, the agency behind the campaign, is quoted as saying, “We believe that physical and social are one and the same. When we had the idea it felt very simple, and we did a lot of checking to be sure it was a world first. We jumped on that and made it happen – it was eight weeks from idea to execution.”

Not only was this a creative way to get customers to sample a new product, but it also created a lot of buzz in the media, as well.

And, the pay-with-a-tweet concept ensured that people would be spreading the word online.

As Sarah Case, brand manager for Special K, explains, “The value of positive endorsements on social-media sites is beyond compare, so we’re excited to be the first company to literally use social currency instead of financial currency to launch this new product in our bespoke Special K shop.”

Word of Mouth—What Customers Were Tweeting

On Friday, September 28^th, I searched for the hashtag #tweetshop. (This, by the way, was the last day that pop-up store was in operation.)

As would be expected, many of the tweets included photos that were posted on other social networking sites.

Some of the tweets included the hashtag #spons.

According to theEword, a search marketing agency located in Manchester, England, “Within the Kellogg’s pop up store, people are given a menu of Tweets to try out, all including #tweetshop #spons. While #tweetshop allows Kellogg’s to monitor the success of its social media campaign, the #spons hashtag ensures that it adheres to regulations put in place by the Advertising Standards Agency, which requires sponsored tweets to be clearly indicated.”

Here are some of examples of the tweets. (Thanks to the Twitter Blackbird Pie WordPress plugin, you can actually click on the links in the tweets to see the photos that customers tweeted.)

We love to tweet to eat #specialK #tweetshop http://t.co/qmobi1A5

September 27, 2012 8:33 am via Instagram ReplyRetweetFavorite

@emilyrorrison

Emily Jane Rorrison

So cool! I'm at the first tweet shop in the world! #tweetshop #london

September 27, 2012 8:59 am via Twitter for Windows Phone ReplyRetweetFavorite

@pamche

Pamela Chehade

Kellogg's #TweetShop #popupshop on Meard Street. Actually pretty good crisps. (@ the tweet shop) [pic]: http://t.co/TjF7GYMJ

September 28, 2012 5:51 am via foursquare ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Thesegoto11

Steven Ray

@larisaidwhat thanks for the breakfast idea. Really works! :) Amazing idea #tweetshop #spons http://t.co/DjDweyJN

September 28, 2012 5:52 am via Twitter for Android ReplyRetweetFavorite

@IlmaRamcevic

Ilma Ramcevic

I've just had new Special K crisps and they're delicious! #tweetshop #spons

September 28, 2012 6:12 am via Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite

@AndyJoeyTaylor

Andrew Joseph Taylor

Just having cracker crisps in the special K tweet shop! It is rather good! #tweetshop

September 28, 2012 7:27 am via Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Heph

Simon Hepher

Yum! More free food. Thanks Special K #tweetshop http://t.co/gUQbLi1r

September 28, 2012 8:09 am via Instagram ReplyRetweetFavorite

@paulj85

Paul James

Increasing Brand Engagement

The official UK Press Office for the Kellogg Company (@KelloggsUK) also asked Twitterers who were not at the Tweet Shop to tweet using the hashtag #tweetshop for a chance to win some free Special K Cracker Crisps.

By engaging the audience in this way, the Kellogg Company helped increase the awareness of the new product and hopefully got some additional people to purchase them.

Who wants to win3 new flavours of Special K Cracker Crisps? Please tweet #tweetshop with a message why you should win! http://t.co/5BC0AxsL

September 28, 2012 3:36 am via webReply RetweetFavorite

@KelloggsUK

Kellogg's UK

Conclusion

As Paco Underhill pointed out in his book, getting people to try a new product is of the utmost importance.

Getting consumers to sample a product and creating a buzz at the same time is a big win.

That’s exactly what the Kellogg Company did when they introduced their Special K Cracker Crisps to the UK in September.

By using a trendy pop-up store in London’s Soho district, the Kellogg Company found a way to get the product into consumers’ hands and, at the same time, get them excited about it.

From the consumers’ perspective, they got some tasty snacks—and it only cost them a tweet.

Chad Thiele

Facial Recognition Technology and Privacy: Is a Deal Really Worth It?

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, apps, Facebook, Foursquare, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology, Yelp, YouTube Tagged with advertising, app, apps, Facebook, Foursquare, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology, Yelp, YouTube September 22nd, 2012 @ 8:00 am

When you mention facial recognition technology, many people cringe and think of an invasion of privacy that will lead to the government tracking their every move and taking away their civil liberties.

On the other hand, when facial recognition technology is mentioned to other people, they get excited about all the possible cool things that can be done, from improved security systems to marketing opportunities.

Where you stand on this issue is probably going to determine how you feel about a new high-tech loyalty program that is being tested by redpepper, an advertising agency with offices in Atlanta and Nashville.

But, before we get into that further, I want to refresh your memory about another use of facial recognition technology that I talked about in a post last month.

In the post, I mentioned digital signage that is using facial recognition technology that helps identify basic demographics (gender, approximate age, body type, etc.) of the consumers who are looking at the digital sign and then uses that information to deliver relevant ads to them.

Personally, I think that this use of facial recognition technology is harmless because it is only identifying the characteristics of the person, not who the person is. In other words, the consumer’s face is not being matched to a large database to identify their exact identity.

It’s a good thing that I didn’t argue that such a database doesn’t even exist, because only a few days later, I learned that there is a database that I didn’t even think about—Facebook.

Here’s where redpepper enters the story.

Facedeals

As an article on the Los Angeles Times website reports, “A new app is being tested in Nashville, Tenn., that can check in people on Facebook and send them offers using facial-recognition cameras.”

“Called Facedeals, the new service uses cameras installed at businesses’ front doors to read people’s faces as they enter,” the article continues. “If the people who come in are users of the app, they will be checked in, and based on their “like” history, they would receive a customized offer.”

Keep in mind, the idea of getting a deal based on checking in is not new. Businesses around the country are doing the same thing using Foursquare and other location-based social networking sites. In fact, last year I wrote a blog post about Concentrics Restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia. With the help of PlacePunch, Concentrics Restaurants was doing a really great job of offering deals to loyal customers who checked in on Foursquare, Facebook, Gowalla or Yelp.

It appears that the main difference is that Facedeals uses facial recognition technology to check a consumer in every time they enter an establishment that participates in the program. In addition, Facedeals also customizes the deal offered based on the participants “likes” on Facebook.

You can find additional information about Facedeals on the redpepper website.

Privacy Issues

If you search YouTube, you will find that there are people who are letting their opinions be known, both for and against Facedeals.

As you would expect, the normal privacy issues are being brought to the forefront.

Personally, I’m not against using facial recognition technology in this manner. The main reason for my stance is that it is opt in.

However, other people could argue that Facedeals could still track you based on your Facebook profile information even if you don’t opt in and just not tell you. But, let’s face it, the government might already be doing this.

The only problem that I have with Facedeals is that by automatically checking you in on Facebook, all the people who you are connected to on Facebook would know where you are every time you enter a participating establishment. (Without the facial recognition component, you get to choose when to check in and where to share the information.) This could be fixed by having a setting that allows the user to decide not share the check-ins on their Facebook page.

Conclusion

In the future, more technologies are going to be introduced that will push the envelope and challenge both our imagination and how we define our expectations of privacy.

Everyone is aware that facial recognition technologies exist.

However, some people are going to fight to limit its use.

Businesses that plan to use facial recognition technology need to be aware that they serve customers who embrace this type of technology and those who are vehemently against it. Therefore, they need to decide whether or not using a service similar to Facedeals is worth the effort.

Ultimately, though, it is the consumer who gets to decide. If enough people who are against this type of technology voice their opinion to the business owner, the business owner will be forced to listen. On the other hand, if a majority of customers embrace the technology, then its use will become a more common occurrence in businesses all over the world.

Therefore, it is going to be interesting to see how the people of Nashville welcome Facedeals.

My question to you is: If you were given the opportunity to participate in this type of service, would you choose to opt in?

Photo credit: david drexler on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

From Mobile Phones to Minority Report: The Future of Advertising Begins Now

2 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, apps, mobile, retail, shopping, technology Tagged with advertising, app, apps, mobile, retail, shopping, technology August 12th, 2012 @ 8:00 am

Technology is changing the way that consumers shop. It is also changing the way that brands and retailers advertise the products and services that they have for sale.

In a post that I wrote earlier this month, I pointed out how mobile phones are becoming a bigger factor as more consumers reach for their smartphones to research and purchase products.

Retailers have taken note and are providing opportunities for tech savvy customers to find additional information about products and services, find available discounts, and make their shopping experience more enjoyable.

For example, IBM Research is testing augmented reality technology in its IBM mobile app.

According to an article on trendhunter.com, “The app acts like a personal shopper, using augmented reality technology to provide shoppers with more personalized product information as they’re browsing through store shelves.”

However, many shoppers won’t want to take the time to pull their mobile phones out when they shop.

This is where digital signage can help.

The First Step to Minority Report Advertising

If you watched the 2002 movie “Minority Report” that starred Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell, you probably remember the scene in the movie where Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is walking down a hallway in a subway station and the advertising is being targeted specifically to him as a result of retinal scanners identifying which people are in the area.

To some people, the idea of this type of ad targeting is creepy. To others, it’s exciting.

In this post, I’m going to ignore the privacy concerns and other issues related to this type of targeting, because we’re not quite there, yet.

What is currently being experimented with is facial recognition technology that helps identify basic demographics (gender, approximate age, body type, etc.) of the consumers who are looking at a digital sign. With this data, the digital signs are able to deliver ads that are relevant to the consumer. For example, a digital sign in the men’s department of a clothing store might deliver an ad for Levi’s jeans to men, while women might get ads for the dresses on the other side of the store or maybe even ads with a gift-giving theme.

Just think about it, many stores are already using video displays to advertise the products that they sell. Why not leverage them to deliver more relevant content that can increase sales. And, as an added bonus, retailers can also track basic ad performance and make changes to the content displayed. For more information, check out the Immersive Labs website. They are one of the companies that is taking the lead in this type of technology.

Final Thoughts

Mobile phones are going to play a huge factor in connecting retailers and brands to their customers and potential customers.

However, for consumers who don’t feel the need to reach for their mobile phones while shopping, other technologies are out there to help get their attention when they are in a store’s “brick-and-mortar” location or any other place in the terrestrial world.

By using digital signage similar to what was featured in the movie “Minority Report,” retailers and brands can deliver relevant ads to consumers that can help increase sales of the products and services that they are selling.

The future of advertising begins now. And, to me, that’s exciting.

Photo credit: eyeliam on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Smartphones Are Changing the Way We Shop

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, apps, Foursquare, Inbound marketing, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology Tagged with app, apps, Foursquare, Inbound marketing, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology August 1st, 2012 @ 1:00 pm

One of the biggest challenges that retailers face once they get consumers into their stores is finding ways to get customers to see the products that they have for sale.

For this reason, many store owners go to great lengths to make sure that the design and layout of their store is optimized for the way that consumers shop and that the merchandise is properly displayed.

However, even with the use of endcaps and optimized sightlines, the fact that humans need to look ahead when they walk through a store makes it difficult for some products to get noticed.

In his book, “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping—Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill mentioned a study that he did to see how much of what is on display at supermarkets is actually seen by customers–the so-called capture rate.

According to Underhill, “About one fifth of all shoppers actually see the average product on a supermarket shelf.”

Smartphones Can Help Consumers Find Products

Mobile phones have given consumers the ability to research and purchase products from their mobile phones.

Smart retailers have taken note and are making an effort to make sure that their store is front and center when these consumers use their mobile phones to search for product information.

But, the power of mobile phones doesn’t need to end there.

Many retailers are partnering with apps like shopkick not only to get consumers into their stores, but also to interact with specific products.

I wouldn’t be surprised if in the near future some major retailer partners with a tech startup to use the sound technology similar to what shopkick uses for walk-in rewards to notify consumers about product specials or discounts as they walk down the grocery store aisle. This would help solve some of the issues that I talked about earlier. (However, I would hope that this technology would be opt-in and used very sparingly, as it could get annoying really fast.)

Other technologies that retailers could use to let consumers know about specific products or services include geofencing, near field communications (NFC), RFID, QR codes, augmented reality, and location-based apps similar to Foursquare.

Furthermore, as Ivy Chang pointed out in a blog post last year, retailers can bring their stores to the consumer by using technology to create remote store-fronts at subway stations (or any other location for that matter) that allow people to scan QR codes with their smartphones and have the products delivered right to their homes.

Final Thoughts

Technology is constantly changing the way that we live our lives.

Smartphones are one example of this, as they are giving retailers additional ways to connect their customers to the products and services that they have for sale.

While store design and merchandising are always going to be important factors in increasing sales, smartphones are going to play an increasing role in helping make consumers aware of discounts or specials and connecting them with additional product information that will help them make purchase decisions.

With this in mind, retailers and the brands that make the products and services that they sell need to be forward thinking and find ways to use smartphones to connect with customers before the competition does.

Photo credit: jeremydeades on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Beyond the Check-In: The Sweet Sound of Location-Based Marketing

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, apps, Foursquare, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, technology Tagged with app, apps, Foursquare, Location-based social networking sites, mobile, retail, shopping, technology February 23rd, 2012 @ 12:00 pm

The number of people who own smartphones in the United States continues to rise. According to comScore, for the three-month period ending in December of 2012, 97.9 million people in the United States owned smartphones, up 12% from the preceding three month period.

Therefore, as I mentioned last week in a guest blog post on the Strategy E-ssentials blog, it is becoming necessary that businesses develop strategies to help consumers find information about their products and services when consumers reach for their mobile devices. Although it is not the only tool in a business’s mobile marketing toolbox, location-based marketing is going to become more important for businesses of all sizes in the very near future.

The Future of Location-Based Marketing

In my post on the Strategy E-ssentials blog, I talked about a few of the cool things that are going on in Location-Based Marketing. This not only includes using location-based social networking sites in a brand’s marketing efforts, but it also includes giving consumers additional information with location-informed ad content and using geofencing to send targeted messages to consumers when they enter or exit a certain predetermined geographic area.

Sound-Triggered Smartphone Ads

If you have read my blog for the last few weeks, you know a little bit about what brands have been doing with Shazam and IntoNow to help facilitate interaction with consumers while they are watching television.

The concept of using sound to trigger advertising messages or deliver additional content to a consumer’s smartphone is not limited to the time when they are near a television, a computer or even a radio.

As I mentioned in a blog post last summer, stores that have partnered with the shopping app, Shopkick, use a device that sends data via sound waves that are above the range of human hearing to a smartphone with the Shopkick app running—thus enabling Shopkick users to activate the reward of the day.

New York digital agency Densebrain is also doing some cool things with their new program called Sonic Notify.

As an AdWeek article posted last December points out, “Repurposing the bus-tracking technology, Densebrain devised small beacons—designed to be hidden from view—that can be attached to shelves, and which emit inaudible, high-frequency sounds that trigger smartphone messages. The audio code can also be overlaid onto an existing audio track. As long as consumers have downloaded an app integrated with the technology, the smartphone will respond to the sound without user activation.”

This technology can be used to alert consumers to special offers when they are in brick and mortar retail stores or restaurants, or it can be used to provide interactive content during television programs. And, it could also be used during live concerts and sporting events.

In fact, it is being used in the Made Fashion Week app that debuted this month during New York Fashion Week. Using the Sonic Notify technology, the app displays information about each look as models walk down the runway.

Final Thoughts

Location-based marketing is becoming more important for businesses of all sizes.

It’s important to note that location-based marketing doesn’t only include check-in apps, but other technologies like location-informed ad content, geofencing and sound-triggered smartphone apps, as well. And, these are just some of the current technologies out there.

I can’t wait to see what they think of next.

Photo credit: CHRISTOPHER MACSURAK on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

An Increasing Number of People Use Smartphones to Research and Buy Products

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, apps, market research, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology, word of mouth advertising Tagged with app, apps, market research, mobile, retail, shopping, social media, technology, word-of-mouth advertising December 9th, 2011 @ 3:00 pm

The number of people who own smartphones in the United States is on the rise.

According to comScore, for the three-month average period ending in October 2011, 90 million people in the United States owned smartphones, up 10 percent from the preceding three month period.

With the holiday gift-giving season upon us, followed by post-Christmas sales, this number should continue to increase in the next few months.

People Are Very Attached to Their Smartphones

Smartphone owners rely on their smartphones for a lot of things.

So much so that when people were asked to choose between their smartphone and the television, more smartphone owners said that they would prefer to eliminate the television and keep the smartphone.

This is according to a study conducted earlier this year by Arbitron and Edison Research, where respondents to their survey were asked, “Suppose you could never watch television again OR you could never use your Apple iPhone/Smartphone again. Which would you be more willing to eliminate from your life?”

Overall, 58% of respondents who owned an iPhone said that they would eliminate the television, 36% said that they would eliminate the iPhone and 6% said that they were unsure. Likewise, 58% of non-iPhone smartphone users said that they would eliminate the television, 41% said that they would eliminate their non-iPhone smartphone and another 2% were unsure.

Smartphones Are Changing the Way That We Shop

A recent comScore study revealed that at the time it was conducted, 38% of smartphone owners had used their smartphone to make a purchase at least once in the course of their device ownership.

Another recent study conducted by IBM Coremetrics found that more people used mobile devices to research and purchase products on Black Friday 2011 than they did the previous year.

This is due in part to the increase in smartphone ownership among consumers, in general.

However, it is also a result of the increase in awareness and use of the ever-increasing number of apps, social media platforms and ways that that consumers can use the Internet to research, get advice about and purchase products and services via their mobile devices.

Final Thoughts

Mobile phones are becoming a more important part of consumers’ lives.

This will become more evident as more people abandon their feature phones and make the switch to smartphones.

Therefore, it is also becoming more important that retail stores develop a strategy to help consumers find information about the products that they offer when consumers reach for their mobile devices.

Because, like it or not, more consumers are using their mobile devices to research and buy products and services. What consumers find when they search for information about the products and services that you offer might persuade them to take their business elsewhere.

Photo credit: renatomitra on Flickr.