PSFK: Recent Episodes
Looking across the retail landscape, the concept of “anywhere commerce” has arisen from a set of consumer expectations that prioritize convenience, ease, seamless connectivity and relevance wherever they choose to shop. This is especially important given the expanding range of customer touchpoints that now encompass physical storefronts, company websites, mobile apps, social media and gaming platforms.
To meet shoppers with the elevated level of service and experience they now expect, companies are prioritizing AI, machine learning and data. Together these technologies enable companies to scale 1:1 support 24 hours a day and deliver new levels of personalization. When combined with the capabilities of human associates, these solutions can power greater efficiencies and enhance overall CX.
Throughout the end-to-end shopper journey, the role of AI has graduated from the basic chatbot to now personify a top sales, marketing and support agent. Advancements in empathetic AI, conversational commerce and natural language processing have all allowed for more humanistic AI experiences. Further, businesses are taking a more considered approach while training AI models and algorithms, centering inclusivity, and prioritizing a wider view of needs to deliver an overall improved experience for all of their customers.
In this report, PSFK researchers have identified six strategies that unpack the AI opportunity across customer service processes. Supported by best-in-class examples from the marketplace, learn how leading brands and retailers are delivering greater value to their customers, developing stronger relationships and ultimately driving loyalty. #ai-2 #customer-service #macys
Digital personal service platform Alpha is reinventing the way luxury brands and their shoppers interact.
By combining artificial intelligence and voice control technology with fun, engaging and customizable avatars, Animatico creates seamless interactions for store and brand customers and visitors.
Iconic denim retailer Levi Strauss & Co. is leveraging bot technology across its operations as it pilots shifting labor resources to higher-value initiatives.
Gen Z, the first truly digitally native generation, are used to moving seamlessly between the online and offline worlds, freely expressing themselves across platforms and in real-life interactions. Generation Z, the generation of consumers born between 1995 and 2014, has come of age during an unprecedented period of technological evolution, demographic shifts, and changing cultural norms, many of which they are leading.
According to PSFK's Gen Z's Consumer Survey 2022, 57% of the Gen Z audience surveyed seeks out like minded community online who share their passions. This freedom allows them to view the world through a unique lens, making creativity and open-mindedness second nature and rendering old constructs and binary norms irrelevant.
Quite simply, this is how they grew up… as a generation that is able to adapt to new tech and is simultaneously creator and consumer. Their values can be highlighted with buzz words like authenticity, transparency, empowerment, customization and personalization. An overwhelming 71% of Gen Z we surveyed indicate their preference for brands and retailers that not only optimize profit, but are also focused on community.
In our previous report about this generation, we focused on how brands and retailers needed to adapt to engage and serve this audience. However, the new experiences being built now not only cater to Gen Z, but they are being built by Gen Z in their own vision. This report studies:
- DAOs as digital coops with distributed responsibilities and egalitarian ambitions
- NFTs that offer new forms of community ownership
- Blockchain tech which is predicated on a publicly available general ledger offers new levels of transparency
- AI tools that allow for personalization at scale
- New ways of working that embrace more flexible, and ‘human’ approaches to work have broken out of the strictures of the 9-to-5
Ultimately within this report, PSFK provides brands and retailers with a framework that helps them to make sense of this new landscape, with guide posts around brand experience transformation and ways in which they should continue to evolve in order to engage with this new generation of consumers. #gen-z
The 76-year old guitar brand is hoping to foster a sense of community around music creation, and help educate the 16-million-strong audience of new musicians who just picked up a guitar for the first time over the pandemic.
In support of the adidas for Prada Re-Nylon collection, the brands are launching an ambitious, first-of-its-kind community NFT collaboration that brings together consumers from fashion, design, and crypto.
The Friends With Benefits crypto social club has evolved from a small group chat into a burgeoning media and creative platform, with around 2,000 community members. Investors like a16z even think the DAO could be the next Homebrew Computer Club.
As a concept, the metaverse has generated equal amounts of hype and excitement among a growing community of tech evangelists, pioneering brands and enterprising creators all looking to stake a claim in the early gold rush of its creation and development. The metaverse along with Web3 and crypto/blockchain offers the promise and possibility of decentralization, interoperability, collective ownership, and trust being embedded into the foundations of this emerging digital landscape. At the same time, it opens the door to new modes of personal expression, accessibility, and economic opportunity for the community of users but only if these progressive values are embedded into the architecture and infrastructure that will power these virtual worlds.
This will require a much different approach than those taken when creating previous iterations of the internet, social platforms, and technologies. Metaverse leaders and builders will need to reflect the diversity of the global audience they hope to attract, ensuring that the overall experience is inclusive, equitable, safe, and welcoming for everyone. A range of efforts is underway to establish codes of conduct that protect against fraudulent activity and harassment, develop tools and assets that empower any user to show up in these virtual worlds as their most authentic self, and cultivate emerging talent with incubators and funds. At the same time, a host of new marketplaces and revenue-generating models is expanding people’s ability to earn incomes and thrive as they participate in the burgeoning digital economy. For their part, brands and businesses very much have a role to play as partners, facilitators and champions of these initiatives to help drive awareness and uptake.
In this report, 'Foundational Initiatives for the Metaverse', we look at the ways diversity, equity, and inclusion are being architected into virtual worlds from their inception and the critical ways that companies can get involved. Through the lens of eight trends, you'll discover key building blocks of the metaverse economy with a focus on creating tools and services for a diverse community of consumers and creators. Highlights from PSFK's US Metaverse and Brands Survey, March '22 As consumers enter the metaverse there’s an expectation that it reflects and represents the diversity of its audience, particularly with respect to forms of personal identity and expression.
Many users want the makers of virtual worlds to support DEI measures. Over 55% of US adult virtual world users said that it was important that the virtual worlds they use support diversity, inclusivity, and equity.
As the metaverse and its supporting technology are being conceived of and built, it’s critically important that the creators, designers and developers behind them reflect a diverse spectrum of the population in terms of gender, ethnicity, etc.
Virtual world and digital fashion makers still need to improve the options for users to represent themselves. Only 55% of US adult virtual world users agree or strongly agree that virtual worlds allow them to create an avatar in their likeness. This finding is similar for both male and female respondents.
Moving forward, brands can act as connectors and catalysts to ensure that the broadest audiences are represented and given access.
Visiting virtual worlds comes with risks in terms of harassment, especially for women. 50% of adult virtual world users feel that compromised, unsafe or violated in a virtual world experience some of the time or even more often. This figure rose to 65% for female users.
Consumers want the metaverse to offer a decentralized, collective experience that enables bottom-up development and new economic and creative opportunities.
Many users want to have the opportunity to trade and make money in virtual worlds. Over half of US adult virtual world users want to make money by selling or renting digital objects in virtual worlds.
The PSFK quantitative survey was conducted March 11-12, 2022. The audience were US adult users of virtual worlds aged between 18 and 65 years old. The survey was a ‘basic census’ balanced in terms of age and gender. The 376 respondents had household income between $0-$200k. For a copy of complete survey findings, contact: membership@psfk.com #metaverse #web3
An innovative, code-free feature from the Manifold.xyz platform lets anyone seamlessly mint and operate their own custom-created NFTs.
ReNFT gives NFT owners a new way to monetize their digital assets, turning passive investments into active vehicles.
Meta is setting some personal boundaries in its Horizon virtual worlds to keep user avatars safe.
Video game company Atari is building a cryptocurrency casino in the virtual world Decentraland as part of a district called “Vegas City.”
South Korea is investing $187M in a metaverse project as part of what the country calls a “Digital New Deal.”
State Farm, the NBA’s official insurer, is turning their mascot “Jake From State Farm” into a digital character in the NBA 2K22 video game.
The metaverse represents an emerging and exciting channel to connect younger, digitally-savvy consumers to brands, their products and values - but brands need to approach with a mix of creativity and common sense.
Most participants, or consumers, today are primarily focused on playing and creating. Brands have a role as long as they are contributing to the overall experience in a meaningful way.
In addition, social interaction and community building within the metaverse show promise. For the moment, there’s more value in brands acting as connectors rather than active participants - and while the metaverse provides unique and imaginative spaces for brand building and storytelling - most consumers still gravitate towards brand experiences that have familiar parallels from the real world.
While virtual world technology and experience remains nascent, there is intense business interest in possible metaverse opportunities. PSFK researchers have already published a report on the retail opportunities but in this sibling-report, our trends and innovation analysts study the new ways brands can interact with their audiences.
The study presents ways that brands can host metaverse spaces for workshops, entertainment and even wellness. Researchers found that game-based challenges encourage consumers to explore brand worlds through rewards and perks. The report also outlines a strategy for experiential activations that simultaneously take place in the real and virtual worlds, and the paper presents a business case for avatar influencers for 1:1 interactions and community events.
Series Overview
In our report series ‘Exploring The Metaverse Opportunity’ we deep dive into the ways brand strategies are being reimagined to deliver immersive, interactive and value-driven experiences across the metaverse landscape. In this report, 'Brand Strategies for the Metaverse' we look at how marketing teams are leveraging platforms like Decentraland and The Sandbox to elevate the brand-customer relationship through the lens of six strategies. You'll learn how brand personalities like influencers and even mascots are coming to life in virtual worlds to engage visitors and see the ways companies are rewarding and engaging their audiences with activations that connect them to social experiences and playable versions of their IP and assets. Highlights from PSFK's US Metaverse and Brands Survey, March '22 The metaverse represents an emerging but exciting channel to connect younger, digitally-savvy consumers to brands, their products and values.Consumers do appreciate how corporations are trying to get involved with virtual worlds. When PSFK asked US adult virtual world users if their perception would change if a brand they knew was operating in a virtual world, 39% said their perception of a brand would be improved while just 6% said it would worsen.
While the metaverse provides a unique and imaginative space for brand building and storytelling - most consumers still gravitate towards the familiar parallels from the real world.When they experience them in a virtual world, consumers don’t want brands and retailers to be trying anything radically new. In fact, PSFK researchers found that 58% of US adult virtual world users would most enjoy a brand experience that is similar or very similar to the ones they find in the real world.
Most metaverse participants are primarily focused on playing and creating. Brands have a role as long as their contributing to the overall experience in a meaningful way.Brands and retailers need to remember US adults just want to have fun when they log into virtual worlds. When asked by PSFK researchers what they like to do there, the top responses were play (57% of US adult virtual world users), visiting meta-versions of the real world (45%), hanging out with likeminds (38%) or remixing the world they discover (37%). Interaction with companies ranked lower on the list - with 33% interested in testing products and only 20% enjoying shopping.
Social interaction and community building within the metaverse show promise. For the moment, there’s more value in brands acting as connectors rather than active participants.When it comes to meeting other avatars or players in virtual worlds, PSFK researchers found that US adult virtual world users overwhelming preferred people they know (Friends 57%, Family 37%, Co-Workers 17%) but there is some interest in interacting with avatars that can teach or instruct (fitness & wellness coaches 22%, advisers & mentors 20%). Only 16% would prefer to interact with known social media influencers or corporate representatives. The PSFK quantitative survey was conducted March 3-4, 2022. The total audience were US adults aged between 18 and 65 years old. The survey was a ‘basic census’ balanced in terms of age and gender. The 388 respondents had household income between $0-$200k. For a copy of complete survey findings, contact: membership@psfk.com
The luxury fashion house is now the owner of a virtual plot of land in the Sandbox metaverse.
Samsung unpacks a new experience by virtually recreating New York City flagship store in Decentraland’s 3D virtual world.
Nike is adding a digital layer to the physical shopping experience at the brand’s New York City store on Fifth Avenue through a collaboration with Roblox.
The idea of the metaverse has captured the attention of brands, retailers, media companies, marketing agencies, and technology platforms. Pioneering business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs see new opportunities to stake their claim in an as yet-to-be-defined space that promises to revolutionize the internet and what it means to be online and completely change the way people work, play, learn, and shop.
Some imagine virtual reality goggles as the key entry point into immersive worlds that seamlessly combine elements of gaming, social media, entertainment, and retail, where users are embodied as avatars of their own design. Others believe society already exists in some version of the metaverse by virtue of the ubiquity of always-on mobile devices and the ability to tap into digital content and experiences from anywhere at any moment. These opposing points of view begin to converge with the widespread adoption and use of augmented reality and hands-free computing protocols like gesture and voice.
Whichever vision of the future you ascribe to, it's clear that the lines that delineate on and offline behaviors and physical and digital worlds have nearly eroded, as people slide further into fluid, hybrid lifestyles with many ceasing to make distinctions between the two.
Alongside the excitement and wild speculation associated with the metaverse itself, there has been an almost equally meteoric rise around topics like web3, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), cryptocurrency, and DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), which are often hard to separate from the broader conversation. These ideas will most certainly play a key role in shaping how people experience the metaverse moving forward.
As always, PSFK seeks to help frame how our audience understands and thinks about an emerging space like the metaverse by looking at the experimentation taking place, listening to expert POV, and tracking consumer sentiment to identify key insights and highlight emerging trends. In part one of our three-part series ‘Exploring The Metaverse Opportunity’ we deep dive into the ways pioneering companies are reimagining the retail, shopping, and product experience. Through the lens of seven trend-led strategies, our researchers look at immersive commerce on platforms like Decentraland and Sandbox, IRL stores with embedded experiential layers, and the ways digital goods elevate the brand-customer relationship and beyond.
This report is the first of a three-part series. - Retail Strategies for the Metaverse - Marketing and Brand Experience Strategies for the Metaverse - Infrastructure and Tools Powering Commerce in the Metaverse Highlights from PSFK's US Metaverse Retail Experience Survey Gaming is the gateway to the metaverse for most consumers, but many are open to other experiences, particularly social media.To date, most US consumers' experience with virtual worlds has been through video games. 4x as many adult Americans have experienced virtual world spaces through games rather than through a purpose-built metaverse experience.
Shopping inside metaverse stores is growing in interest among consumers.Commerce isn't a significant reason to attract users to the metaverse. When compared to a list of reasons that people visit virtual worlds, only 26% like to go shopping and only 15% want to run a business or do work. When visiting a business in a virtual world, only 40% go there to shop - and more would prefer to get special offers (51% of US adult virtual world users).
Leading-edge consumers are keen to learn more about products and make purchases when shopping in virtual retail experiences.Product trial and education present a significant opportunity to retailers and brands in the metaverse. 50% of US adult users who interact with businesses in a virtual world want to learn about services or try on products.
As avatars become the dominant way for consumers to represent themselves and interact within metaverse environments, digital goods present a significant sales opportunity.33% of all users like spending time in the metaverse updating the way their avatar looks (although this figure is less for 'body-less' VR users (29%) vs non-VR users (37%)).
PSFK US Metaverse Retail Experience SurveyThe PSFK quantitative survey was conducted February 24-25, 2022. The audience were US adult users of virtual worlds aged between 18 and 65 years old. The survey was a ‘basic census’ balanced in terms of age and gender. The 451 respondents had household income between $0-$200k. #metaverse #web3
Driven by ongoing disruptions in the global supply chain, brands and retailers are bringing manufacturing and design processes closer to the consumer - both physically and digitally. To better meet consumer needs, companies are utilizing new types of data to inform front-end R&D as well as operational decision making. They’re leveraging creative AI applications to streamline product concepting and design phases and using 3D printing techniques to build a more efficient on-demand manufacturing model, effectively moving away from mass to bespoke. What’s more, production lines are being reconfigured into smaller footprints, allowing factories to be located closer to the communities they serve. Taken together, these innovations help identify unmet needs in the marketplace, enable enhanced customization at scale, and bring products closer to their end consumers. These new manufacturing techniques save transaction costs, give companies more oversight on production, and power more ethical and sustainable supply chains.
At the same time, companies face increased competition for consumer loyalty, which has led them to consider how they can offer consumers a more personalized product experience. As a result, brands are embracing more agile processes across product development and production. Digital tools like AI, AR, and 3D printing can bring consumers into the production process as collaborators, which in turn creates new opportunities to gather insights, feedback and data in real-time, closing the loop between needs and finished products. By giving consumers greater control and confidence over their purchase decisions, companies can not only drive repeat sales but reduce operational and environmental costs associated with unsold merchandise and returns.
To support companies as they consider new processes and initiatives to meet emerging consumer needs, the PSFK research team has identified the 5 key strategies shaping future product design and manufacturing. Developed through the lens of technological advancements, digital behaviors, and sustainable business models, these trends highlight the innovative ways organizations are reimagining not only product design, but the final consumer experience as well. Proprietary Insights With This Report There is an expectation among consumers for the retailers and brands they shop with to demonstrate responsible and sustainable practices.Consumers are demanding that manufacturers take environmental measures such as sustainably sourcing components and ingredients or employing a production process that reduces waste. In fact, 3 in every 5 US shoppers say they are influenced to buy products from companies with responsible manufacturing.
Consumers are willing to share data in exchange for a customized product or experience, but many still need to be convinced of the benefit.While many people find what they're looking for when shopping, there's a significant portion who need help finding products that are physically right for them. Over 45% of US shoppers say they seldom or never typically find the perfect size, shape or fit.
In addition, while shoppers are interested in bespoke products made on-demand, there's a limit to the amount of personal information they are willing to share today. 57% of US shoppers say they would only share a little or moderate amount of data to brands and retailers in order to be offered products that are the right size & shape. 14% of shoppers say they don't want to share any data at all.
To improve overall CX and meet demand changes in real time, companies are adopting strategies that shorten supply chains and tailor production to reflect customer needs on a localized level.While many US shoppers are happy to have their goods made anywhere in North America (31%) (or even the world (15%)), a high proportion are looking for locally made products. 48% of US shoppers would prefer to buy from companies that make their products within 100 miles of where they live.
Also, as eCommerce grows, the environmental impact of deliveries increases too. 43% of US shoppers are concerned or very concerned about the environmental impact made by the shipping and deliveries of their online shopping. Only 7% say they are not concerned at all. #manufacturing
Applications of classic vending and self-serve solutions are being updated with digital technology and connectivity to help brands and retailers create automated customer experiences that enhance convenience, boost personalization and drive operational efficiencies. By outfitting displays, kiosks, and even entire stores with a mixture of AI, computer vision, mobile interactivity and robotics features, retailers are empowering consumers to take greater control of their shopping experience. At the same time, these solutions provide ready access to product information, recommended selections and frictionless that prioritize ease and safety. From a brand and retailer perspective, automated systems, smart vending machines, and robotic solutions are providing opportunities to not only excite consumers and connect with them in new ways, but meet consumers where they are, whether that’s in-store, within their local neighborhoods or even their own doorsteps.
Across the marketplace, innovative retailers are leveraging autonomous technology coupled with AI and machine learning to streamline their operations while increasing fulfillment speeds and simultaneously reduce costs.. Robotization and unmanned stores have become spectacles in themselves, giving consumers new reasons to visit . Paradoxically, reassigning time-consuming tasks to a robot is enabling store associates to deliver more customer-facing value.
In this research paper, the PSFK iQ research team explores the self-service tools, technologies, and applications brands and retailers are launching in order to integrate convenience and drive sales around a wide variety of products and services. Learn about the pre-, during, and post-purchase solutions that offer consumers an entirely contactless journey. From featured trends and highlighted examples, discover an approach to service that utilizes technology, robotics, and automation in order to drive maximum personalization and convenience. Proprietary Insights With This Report Shoppers think stores need to do a better job delivering unique, convenient and quality experiences.When asked if they found store experiences fresh and innovative, 71% of US shoppers said moderately, a little or not at all.
While shoppers appreciate ‘familiar’ technology as part of the retail experience, they’re not ready to relinquish complete control.When asked about in-store technologies they think would improve the shopping experience, US shoppers prize most highly familiar technologies such as self-checkouts (47%), lockers (31%) and interactive kiosks (28%). Less than 25% of shoppers say today that robots and other robotic systems would add to the experience.
Automated solutions are freeing up time-limited staff to deliver value-driven interactions with shoppers on a personal, human level.When asked if they prefer to engage with store associates or store technology, 40% of US shoppers prefer store associates and only 16% prefer only dealing with technology. 32% of shoppers don’t mind either.
Retailers and brand manufacturers have embraced automated solutions to overcome issues like staffing shortages and supply chain disruptions.
“People’s needs and expectations from brands are changing at a rapid pace. As marketers and innovators, it’s crucial that we respond to these demands. We must become more consumer centric and operator empathetic than ever before, and PepsiCo Foodservice is leading the way. Our team is leveraging cutting edge technology and testing new digital innovations that address labor shortages, on-premise safety, sustainability and more.” Scott Finlow, Global Chief Marketing Officer, PepsiCo Foodservice Innovations in vending and unstaffed retail environments are creating new opportunities to connect with customers in new locations and in non-traditional ways.While over 68% of US shoppers think that most or all stores are easily accessible for them, 31% of shoppers say some to few stores are easily accessible to them - hinting that a segment needs better access to retail experiences like vending.
The Chinese retail giant has landed in Europe, with two next-gen robotic stores launched in the Netherlands under a new brand name, Ochama.
The on-demand, automated store hailing platform has the potential to revolutionize anytime, anywhere convenience.
A new gesture-based kiosk from PepsiCo, powered by Ultraleap technology, gives consumers a more hygienic touchless experience.
With consumers increasingly spending their time on social media, streaming platforms, and other digital channels both creating and intaking content, retailers as a result are garnering less consumer attention on their eCommerce sites. Brands have the challenge and opportunity to evolve their eCommerce strategy to meet consumers where their target consumers are, adapt their messaging to speak to their desired customer, and develop content that fits within these digital environments and creates a seamless experience. While already popular in other parts of the world, emerging opportunities like livestreamed shopping and super apps that provide a personalized experience are gaining mainstream adoption to engage today's digital shoppers and potential customers. From brand fan communities and personal shopping bots, to a live streamed mobile experience, services that elevate the customer experience will define the next era of ecommerce businesses and the shopping journey.
In order to meet the unique challenges of selling online in a rapidly shifting consumer landscape, retailers are actively exploring how best to integrate new payment methods securely, provide on-demand customer journey assistance, and foster loyal customers in third party environments beyond the retailer's online store through a unified experience across multichannel commerce. To do so, brands and retailers are increasingly looking to online channels, streaming platforms and mobile app leaders for innovative commerce practices. As a result, brands are cultivating an engaged consumer base and designing their successful omnichannel strategy based on actual consumer feedback and data driven consumer experience insights.
With the growing demand and necessity for digital commerce channels and capabilities, retailers have been quickly transforming their operations and strategies to go beyond the convenience and utility of eCommerce to offer experiences that deliver personalized support, entertainment and a great sense of community. As the online world continues to become more inclusive, retailers are meeting their customers on the virtual platforms and tools of their choice, no longer limiting who, where, when or how a consumer can transact and providing a consistent experience. Meanwhile, service providers are creating more and more omnichannel retail tools to make it easier for consumers to pay, engage, shop and create on digital commerce channels. In this report, learn how to take advantage of anywhere eCommerce, how to cultivate an engaged fan base, and what social platforms and service providers are helping reach consumers on their own terms by enhancing the online experience.
In this report, the PSFK iQ research team explores the tools, technologies, and solutions brands and retailers are using to influence, engage, transact and connect with consumers across an omnichannel ecommerce and social commerce landscape. Through five featured trends and highlighted marketplace examples, this report will help your organization develop a strategy that provides elevated engagement for customers as they engage with your brand in the digital domain. Proprietary Insights With This Report Today shoppers want engagement from brands and retailers in the same places that they are social or where they are consuming entertainment and news. * Only 33% of online US shoppers prefer to click through and buy a product on a brand or retailer’s eCommerce site when that product is discovered on a social media or news site. 25% prefer to buy the product without leaving the social media or content platform, and 13% are still inspired to go buy the product in store.
Already widely used in Asia, livestream selling in the West is slowly emerging as an engaging retail tool. * 56% of US shoppers have used a livestream to shop online, and 31% of those shoppers say they are more likely to buy a product that they discover it on a livestream.
Expecting convenience across all digital checkout points, consumers are finding ways to remove friction from the payment process. * 29% of US consumers are or plan to use shopping assistants (bots) in the future.
Shoppers are engaging in forums and other community spaces to learn more about products. * Research shows if a US shopper was to join their favorite brand’s online community, engagements that they would expect include redeemable coupons (46%), to receive a token or digital asset for participation (32% of shoppers), guaranteed access to products prior to selling out (32%), promotions about the brand’s product (28%).
The conversational commerce platform, backed by industry heavy hitters, is taking a big swing at a new approach to shopping.
The retail innovator’s social commerce platform provides an engaging glimpse into what the future of retail could look like.
The subscription platform lets celebrities, influencers, intellectuals, and more curate monthly book club boxes for their followers.
The physical store as a retail occasion remains, at least pre-metaverse adoption, experientially distinct from the transactional nature of e-commerce. In order to meet a consumer base spending more of their time, and more of their dollars, online across digital channels, retailers are leveraging an increasingly potent suite of in-store technology paired with next-generation operational enhancements to drive loyalty, capture spend, and remind shoppers of the magic of the in-store occasion. By taking strategic cues and best practices from the digital experience to optimize the omnichannel brick-and-mortar experience, including focusing on convenience, personalization, and the in-store occasion's unique potential to inform and educate, retailers are able to meet and even exceed the expectations of their shoppers, while at the same time drive target audience acquisition and growth through a seamless, consistent experience.
An innovative array of omnichannel tools and solutions are helping retailers reinvent the in-store shopping experience. By integrating next-generation technologies like smart displays, augmented reality activations, and more, retailers can provide consumers with greater access to information along the customer journey as well as better understand the way their shoppers are interacting with products and displays. Operational enhancements like mobile dashboards, streamlined order picking, and intelligent inventory management systems allow for greater frontline staff agility and flexibility, while providing retailers with strategies to remove friction from the shopping experience and maximize customer satisfaction.
In this report, the PSFK iQ research team explores the tools, technologies, and solutions brands and retailers are launching in order to integrate an omnichannel approach to convenience and drive sales across brick-and-mortar stores. Learn about the pre-, during, and post-purchase solutions being deployed to provide an optimized and seamless experience across the entire shopping journey. Through five featured trends and highlighted marketplace examples, this report will help your organization develop a retailing approach that utilizes technology, computer vision, and automation in order to provide maximum personalization and convenience for your customer base.
By deploying the retail merchandising software, shoe and apparel company Vans was able to realize huge frontline efficiencies across its visual merchandising routines and floorset guidelines.
Using Nedap ID Cloud, the performance athletic brand aims to unlock a powerful omni-channel strategy by creating a seamless, connected shopping experience for its consumers.
Confirming a rumor from last year, e-commerce and technology giant Amazon is opening its first-ever physical clothing store.
The social network eschews chasing clout online, and focuses instead on “feeling good through doing good” by making a positive impact and empowering its users’ well-being with guided activities.
A new offering from the iconic global sportswear brand aims to leverage the healing power of movement to uplift Nike members by focusing on how they feel, not what they do.
A new cardless stock-rewards program from fractional investing and embedded finance fintech company DriveWealth, together with stock rewards app company Bits of Stock, aims to shape the future of stock ownership, aspirational wealth generation, and brand loyalty for younger generations.
The premise and promise of both business and technology, beyond just making a profit, is to positively impact the lives of the average consumer, and the stakeholder populations they serve. As real customer lives become increasingly supported by a variety of interconnected solutions, the smartest brands are deploying powerful tools to help their target audience embrace positive purpose in all aspects of life. This aspirational marketing strategy aims to improve everyday life by providing consumers opportunities to learn, improve, and grow across areas like financial health, personal wellness, and through increased access to career opportunities and education. Within this beneficially-focused behavioral climate, companies and aspirational brands who leverage their scale and access to resources in order to help their customers reach their full potential are finding they can build loyal and engaged communities, while simultaneously establishing stronger consumer connections to core aspects of their business.
A deepening suite of tools, platforms, and programmatic solutions from businesses both big and small are allowing modern consumers to overcome the ever-present barriers behind positive behavioral change, increasing their individual motivation and accountability with built-in incentives and personalized positive reinforcement, as well as offering community support, skill-sharing, and collective feedback. This general shift by aspirational consumers from passive and reactive approaches to personal management, toward one that is supported, proactive, and even at-times automatic, can be seen across all age groups and audiences. Data-fueled, future-focused frameworks are supporting baseline goal-setting in both consumers’ personal and financial health, while curated coaching solutions and community skill-sharing approaches are being paired with personalized education to empower incremental long-term change that takes advantage of the holistic understandings arising around consumer wellness, fitness, and financial planning.
In this report, the PSFK Research team explores the innovative tools and emergent methods being deployed by businesses and brands to engage with an aspirational audience, drive loyalty, and improve lives. To help our members better understand the trajectories at play in this increasingly important and valuable space, PSFK has identified 5 key trends powering the connection between core business propositions and aspirational consumer growth.
Vegan “mushroom” leather is proving to be a sustainability gamechanger for the fashion industry.
The San Francisco-based company’s B2B platform and spot market is building a better food system by digitizing the produce supply chain and helping farmers sell their “ugly” and surplus products.
Retailers benefit both from their own sustainability efforts and those of the merchandise partners they buy from, turning positive social and environmental impact into brand value. As consumer education around climate science and the impact of the products they use grows, shoppers are increasingly favoring retailers with sustainable offerings over those whose products and business models are more harmful to the environment, or who fail to take climate action and set sustainability goals. Brands and retailers are meeting this behavioral shift by embracing sustainable business practices across every element of the product journey, finding that their positive impact can drive efficiencies and secure long-term value and customer loyalty.
Taking a holistic approach to environmentally friendly practices has quickly become the new business standard, as consumers, government regulators, and sustainability experts alike call for more operational transparency and accountability. Many brand manufacturers are rethinking and retooling their supply chain and manufacturing processes to be more efficient in terms of sourcing and production waste, as well as taking a hard look at their overall impact on natural resources. Alongside this, businesses are making the informed decision to review their product development pipeline and consider alternative natural materials and designs that enable easier repair, recycling, or upcycling of core components to keep them in use and out of landfills.
Leading organizations see environmental initiatives as a compelling competitive advantage, a view which is mirrored and reinforced by shopper behaviors, and companies are embracing eco-friendly initiatives as opportunities to create better products, streamline their operations, and deliver value at every stage. The way a company sets its material sourcing strategy and the level of transparency in its product supply chain can influence supplier behaviors such as reducing carbon emissions, using renewable energy and clean energy, or halting exploitation of cheap or even slave labor. This approach requires long term planning, better cross-departmental and partner communication and a shift in systematic thinking to replace the linear way that products have traditionally been conceived, produced, and disposed of.
The emergent circular operational approach views both the product and the customer relationship as a continuous lifecycle with shared responsibility throughout. Practically speaking, this translates into companies using education to help their customers and suppliers adopt better behaviors and take incremental actions to achieve larger collective results, along with finding innovative ways to keep both products and their packaging in circulation longer to reverse the effects of yesteryears’ disposal culture.
From source to sale and beyond, a diverse range of companies across sectors are prioritizing product-based sustainability efforts to unlock new opportunities and drive competitive differentiation through a strengthened relationship with both their customers and the planet. To help our members better understand this increasingly complex and important space, the PSFK research team has identified six key trends behind innovations in sustainable retail, bringing them to life with recent examples from the marketplace.