#NRF17 is still the Big Show of Retail!
Yes, we went gaga about Tally the Robot (Next time call it Sam!). Yes, we went wow with Gap/Google box of Virtual Reality. And Rise Up is a wonderful, and way overdue, initiative to train entry level people to work in retail.
And yet, nothing much was new this year.
The good news is the gloom and doom mood is out. The retailers are ready to get down to the hard work of making things happen.
The great news is the following trends no one is talking about.
1. The rise of marketing-data-savvy-women
Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN, took over as Chair of the National Retail Federation (NRF). As Chair, she made official the revolution of the marketing-data-savvy women. In so many ways, Mindy Grossman embodies the evolving face of retail.
The New Boss has three facets. Marketing means knowing the customer. No lips service to persona traits, rather a deep dive into what customers want. Data means being good with details. The talented do know how to balance creativity and analytics. And Savvy means good with people. Women thrive in this emerging environment.
A great example is Jennie Back, CEO and Co-Founder of Orchard Mile.
P.S. If you are looking to sponsor a dynamic group of super smart women, contact Kelly Stickel at #Women2Watch.
2. The shift to the IoT Universe is real
I loved the presentation of Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel. Brian talked about innovations, other companies, and almost no Intel spill. If you wondered how the Internet of Things (IoT) Universe is going to look like, than Intel got it right. The IoT Universe is an ecosystem of point products, cloud networks, and advanced analytics.
This ecosystem makes it easier to find the product to market fit. If you’re a startup, you’ll do great developing your innovative point solution. If you’re a retailer, you cannot go wrong by investing in broadband. And if you’re a Big Kahuna, you should follow Intel and develop your ecosystem.
P.S. Kudos to Microsoft and their attitude to their partners. The evolution of Microsoft cracks the debate on the role of Government or Market (i.e. Apple) in treating your partners nicely
3. The fight between Task Management and Brand Ambassadors
One of best events in NRF is the random conversations that surprise you. One of the articulate CIOs around is Robert Fort, once of Guitar Center, and now SVP and CIO at BCBG Max Azria Group. Our topic of conversation was the value of the associates.
The opinions here are mine.
Task Management rocks! Reflexis Systems leads in the mobile application for employees. Trax Imaging deploys machine learning on static images of the shelves. These solutions are two sides of the coin for store compliance.
The ROI is clear. Virtual merchandising is better designed. Fulfillment is better managed. And we can better avoid Out of Stock.
Sounds great! And it is. And yet… The better we manage tasks, the less we encourage customer service.
Your employees are your secret weapon to empowering the brand!
P.S. We don’t have a good solution to measure the quality of service in the physical store, yet…
4. The drive to digital fitting rooms is not what you think
Rebecca Minkoff store in Green Street is a must visit. And yet the store is so much more than the media hype and street fashion runways. The siblings Rebecca and Uri created a store revolving around technology and their customers.
The Digital Fitting Rooms from Oak Labs are beautiful. Yes, we can adjust the lighting. Yes, we check for different sizes. Yes, this is fun!
More important, the smart mirror is a self service ordering and point-of-sale kiosk.
And even more important, the digital fitting room is designed to capture your email. The key concept is the lifetime value of the customer.
P.S. A late night visit to Zara in Soho was eye opening. Young people filled the discount store from corner to corner. Shirts were tossed up everywhere including the floor. With no associates in sight all I saw were “guards”. And the line to the digital fitting rooms was about 100 people long. Talk about counter intuitive retail.
5. The death of Beacons (but Location Marketing is alive and well)
I’m a contrarian when it comes to Beacons.
The reason is people behaviors. Beacons started with the idea of real time push notifications. This is a retailer’s wet dream. Trouble is that it does not fit reality.
Beacons depend on applications (see next). For accuracy, Beacons also need a mesh of antennas in the store. This means tech support, labor costs, and just headaches.
In that sense, WiFi is just as bad. But WiFi is an outcome of deploying a broadband infrastructure.
If the goal is to provide product information, than WiFi does the job.
To access people’s accounts, Beacons include encryption. But the rise of digital wallets is the rise of NFC tech. Moreover, for us to “feel” the act of buying, we need the close encounters of our phone with the touch pad.
Why, tell me, do we need a third infrastructure?
In NRF, I chatted with one of the original product managers of beacons in Apple. As this super smart person said, “beacons was the best technology at the time to do what we wanted to do”. Such is life.
P.S. Location marketing is alive, and is fast taking over our lives…
6. The end of App Business Model (but Mobil is thriving)
On average, people are active with 7 applications. Unless they are die hard fans, they are unlikely to download your application.
There is a case for supermarket loyalty applications. Most of grocery shopping is repetitive, and thus susceptible for disruption. Apparel not so much (and that’s why Gap AR/VR is a smart move). The result is the rise of third party applications such as Swirl and Jet, and of course, Google and Amazon.
On the application side, the retailers are losing the direct touch war. This does not mean to let go of mobile. On the contrary, mobile tablets and POS for employees are critical. Responsive web design is a must.
P.S. There is great danger in our loss of privacy. Startups such as Amperity put together vast tidbits of data into a 360 picture of the customer.
This trend is to be applauded, and feared.
7. Amazon, so what? (The Store has a Future!)
Amazon is here to stay. And yes, it is shaking retail. So what?
Instead of kibitzing over the Monster of Seattle, retailers are searching inwards for answers. It is about time.
Carrie Ask, EVP in Levi’s, talked about their 50 distribution points. She meant the 50 ways the brand sells jeans, from their own stores, to brand is a department store, to pop up kiosks.
My only caveat is we need to think of stores as sales centers.
Distribution makes much sense in context with sales operations. And yet, there is thinking about the stores as the primary brand promoters. I think this is the key to understanding the future of the store.
And yes, I do not like the term the Store of the Future. This implies the store has to be full of gadgets. That’s not the point. Hence, I use the term the Future of the Store.
P.S., The best trend of all for 2017 is — Retailers are getting smarter. Seriously!
That’s good, for everyone.
Thanks to NRF for sponsoring the Retail Orphan Initiative (ROI). And Big Thanks to Greg and Team for their important work.
