Nurun Marketing and Merchandising Retail Trend Report September 2012

TH E
FUTURE
RETAIL of

Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report
September 2012

Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Manage the ambiguous future
with strategic foresight
Daily blog posts. Monthly magazines. Quarterly trend reports. Must-read books.
Anyone who works at the intersection of technology and people is swimming in Steps of strategic foresight
information. This data smog can make deciphering the implications of the latest
tech and social developments difficult. One solution is strategic foresight, which 1 Trend scan
can help you make sense of emerging trends and clearly evaluate your options for
the future. It’s a tool to manage risk when facing ambiguity in the marketplace.
2 Identify trend drivers

Strategic foresight doesn’t predict the future, but it does help prepare you for it 3 Evaluate critical uncertainties
by envisioning a number of different, yet possible, future states in the market
4 Future scenarios
landscape 10+ years from now. These future states are often described as a set
of scenarios, and they emerge from an analysis of current trends. So, as a simple 5 Strategic implications
example, the increasing popularity of pop-up retail spaces, combined with the
high adoption of mobile devices, could develop into a future filled with transient 6 Action plan
storefronts. This scenario would be made possible due to the minimal wired
7 Monitor trends
infrastructure required for information and payment.

The rapid uptake of technology means that our social lives, cultural experiences,
policies, regulations, ecological landscape, and business models are increasingly
intertwined. Through its very design, strategic foresight is built to accommodate
complexity by considering trends from a multi-dimensional perspective.

2


Why Retail Foresight?
The Nurun Toronto team has launched a strategic foresight initiative to articulate
the future of business-to-consumer (“B2C”) retail and commerce, and explore Steps of strategic foresight
implications for Canadian and U.S. retailers. The scenarios we generate will give
our retail clients the toolkit necessary to start imagining (and preparing for) the 1 Trend scan
possible futures in the marketplace.
Marketing and Merchandising
The first of seven steps in the strategic foresight process involves trend scanning. Business Models
The trends we capture will be published as a series of trend reports that focus on
five domains of importance to both online and omni-channel retailers. Value Exchange

Analytics
This is the first of five trend reports, and it looks at retail through the lens of
marketing and merchandising. Next will be a report on business models, followed Emerging Technology Platforms
by value exchange, analytics and emerging technology platforms. The culmination
of trend scanning and subsequent phases will inform future scenarios in our final
strategic foresight report. For more information, you can follow the project on
Nurun’s blog, Digital for Real Life or subscribe to our email list,
futureofretail@nurun.com 3 Evaluate critical uncertainties

4 Future scenarios

5 Strategic implications

Preparing for the Future of Retail:
A Strategic Foresight Report

6 Action plan

7 Monitor trends

3


Introduction
Over the last five years, new forms of technology have radically altered, “You have to be really agile
augmented and disrupted how Canadian and U.S. retailers approach many and flexible in how you deliver
fundamental aspects of their business. New devices such as tablets and
information to people and
smartphones, along with an explosion of social media channels, have meant that
retailers are able to market and merchandise their products in a number of novel
give them choices. There
ways. Technology is both a blessing and curse, however, as it has introduced was a time years ago when
new competitive pressures. It has also significantly altered buying behaviour, retailers and packaged goods
forcing retailers to react and adapt to a smarter and more informed consumer. companies dictated what
Retailers continue to struggle with the fact that consumers are taking advantage
consumers could have. Now
of new technologies to locate, research and compare products, thanks to a it’s the other way around.”
trend toward Social Product Discovery, Consideration and Evaluation. In – Joanna Track
order to better attract and entertain their customers, retailers have started to Founder & CEO of eLUXE
take inspiration from film and print magazines in a trend of Product Placement
Morphs into Content + Commerce.

Retailers also need to make sure they reach customers wherever they are,
seamlessly integrating and supporting the shopping experience across multiple
channels. This might mean creating digital catalogues for the iPad so customers Defining Our Terms
can browse and purchase products directly from their tablet, or allowing
Given our expertise in the realm
customers to order laundry detergent through a smartphone app that can scan
of digital retail, we defined retail
items on a wall poster thanks to The Integrated Expansion of the Omni-Channel
marketing to include:
Storefront trend.
·· Product findability and discoverability
U.S and Canadian retailers are also trying to reconcile the promises of The New ·· Recommendation and comparison tools
Geography of Merchandising trend with the reality that e-commerce is not yet ·· Social commerce
borderless. Duties, shipping fees and supplier markup have meant significantly ·· Issues relating to consumer privacy
higher prices for Canadians who wish to buy products from U.S. retailers, be it Our examination of merchandising
in-store or online. trends focused on:
·· Pricing
New e-commerce developments, while providing many benefits for both
·· Localization of assortment
consumers and retailers, can come at a personal cost, as the I’ll Trade My
·· Product presentation
Privacy for a $5 Coupon trend demonstrates. Retailers are reacting in very
different ways to the shifts in how consumer data is being collected and utilized. ⊲

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Some aspects of retail remain constant, however. Emerging technologies are
being used by retailers to deliver century-old marketing and merchandising
strategies like coupons, while bulk discounts and private labeling have
newfound relevance, as demonstrated by the Sophisticated Frugality trend.

Canadian and U.S. retailers will need to contend with these trends if they
wish to remain successful in the coming decade. This report offers a thought-
provoking look at each of the six key trends mentioned above, along with a
series of provocative questions that relate to each trend.

A complete strategic foresight report that incorporates these six marketing and
merchandising trends, along with key retail trends relating to business models,
value exchange, analytics and emerging technology platforms, will be released
in early 2013. ■

Nurun Toronto found six key trends relating to marketing and merchandising:

1
Social Product Discovery, Consideration and Evaluation
2
Product Placement Morphs into Content + Commerce
3 The Integrated Expansion of the Omni-Channel Storefront
4 The New Geography of Merchandising

5 I’ll Trade My Privacy for a $5 Coupon

6 Sophisticated Frugality

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1

Social Product Discovery,
Consideration and Evaluation
Want to find the perfect gift for a friend’s birthday? Rather than taking your “Collective consumers have great
best guess as you wander around a local mall, you can now utilize your friend’s power. Communities now form
Facebook data to generate a more relevant list of suggestions. That’s the premise
around dissatisfaction and they
of a mobile app called Karma, which helps people discover, consider and evaluate
products and services for purchase. Through Facebook integration, Karma is able
instantly scale and become really
to send out birthday reminders for close friends and provide personalized gift influential and powerful. And they
ideas. Karma, along with other social discovery and recommendation sites such often appear out of the vapor.”
as LYST, Glimpse, and Curisma, speak to a consumer desire for social approval – Joe Jackman
and belonging. CEO of Joe Jackman Brand Inc.

At the same time, a number of visual discovery tools have emerged to make the
process of online browsing more efficient and visually pleasing. Many of these
tools borrow inspiration from Pinterest, an image sharing website that allows
users to pin their favourite images onto unique digital boards.

Fancy, for example, is an online store that combines elements of blogs and “The big challenge is to strip away
magazines with a wish list function, while Polyvore encourages users to act like
the marketing hype and spin and
magazine editors and curate collections of their favourite fashion finds. Sites like
find the commercial utility in
Lockerz, meanwhile, allow customers to act as brand ambassadors, a function
traditionally performed by celebrity endorsements. word-of-mouth referrals. A friend
recommending to a friend is still
A March 2012, Bizrate Insights Online Consumer Pulse report found that 32 one of the most powerful sales
percent of online consumers have purchased a product after seeing it on a
drivers. But getting beyond the
social image sharing site such as Pinterest, Juxtapost, Discoveredd, Fancy or
Polyvore. (Silver, Tan, & Mitchell, 2012). These sites tap into the long-standing
technobabble can be tough.”
popularity of in-store window-shopping, but eliminate the need for consumers to – Dr. Paul Marsden
visit multiple websites in order to recreate the same experience online. Editor of Social Commerce Today

For Canadian and U.S. retailers, this trend presents an opportunity to move
beyond the use of on-site dynamic product recommendation and merchandising
tools, such as Certona, RichRelevance, and PredictiveIntent. Some retailers are
starting to offer personalized assortments and storefronts, including Amazon’s
“My Store, (Amazon.com, Inc., 2012). While these tools are frequently used
”
to boost online conversion, they can alienate privacy-conscious customers
when used improperly, as discovered by omni-channel retailer Urban Outfitters
(Singer, 2012). In the same way, retailers are working to find the right approach to
retargeting and remarketing, two techniques that involve displaying online ads for
products from websites consumers have recently visited (Hof, 2012). ⊲

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Meanwhile, retailers such as Krush (Walker, 2012) and Modcloth (Amed &
Company, 2012) are collecting customer product preferences and post-purchase
feedback. This data is then used to create new products and better respond to
shifts in supply and demand for existing items. Clothing company Betabrand
has gone so far as to encourage customers to submit new clothing ideas for
community consideration (Kavilanz, 2011). These user-submitted ideas are then
turned into new Betabrand products if sufficient consumer interest exists
(Kavilanz, 2011).

Looking ahead, retailers should stop viewing their online catalogues as
walled-gardens and look for ways to attract new customers by showcasing a
curated selection of products across a variety of niche social discovery sites.
Otherwise, visual discovery tools might augment their e-commerce capabilities,
leading to increased retail competition. Retailers also need to treat customer
feedback as a source of future product innovation and incorporate this feedback
into their merchandising analytics so they can be more nimble in adjusting their
catalogue assortments. ■

8 Forward Thinking
Are you ready to distribute your products not only through your own e-commerce
site, but also Pinterest and Fancy? Are you prepared to let your customers make
suggestions for new products? Would you be willing to put “talking” price tags on
your in-store merchandise so that customers could instantly connect to an external
social recommendation tool through their smartphones?

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2

Product Placement Morphs
into Content + Commerce
The print magazine industry has struggled to stay relevant over the last decade as “You’ll continue to see more
consumers turn to blogs such as Fashionista, Gizmodo, and Apartment Therapy retailers getting into content
as their preferred source of information about new products. At the same,
and more publishers getting
retailers are starting to realize that engaging lifestyle content integrated within
an e-commerce environment can be a very compelling method of speaking to
into e-commerce. The path
consumers. The mixture of content and commerce also provides new opportunities to purchase is going into a big
for creative merchandising approaches, visual narratives and brand curation. blender and the lines between
the two will disappear.”
This helps to explain why the humble email newsletter remains a viable way
to market new products, used by companies as varied as the Gilt Groupe and – Joanna Track
Founder & CEO of eLUXE
Sephora. Some retailers, including Zappos, publish a monthly magazine of original
content to promote their products and reinforce their overall brand image.

Meanwhile, online luxury retailers including eLUXE, MR PORTER, and IWC
provide specific fashion and lifestyle advice alongside their products. This advice
resembles the how-to style guides found in legacy print publications such as Vogue
or Esquire, but their e-commerce platforms allow for a more seamless and rapid
process of discovery and purchase. This type of approach represents the latest
evolution of the advertorial.

More sophisticated versions of this trend involve shoppable online videos. By
embedding their clothing line within a music video, SSENSE was able to put a
fresh spin on the traditional fashion catalogue (FKi, Azalea, Diplo, 2012). This video
served to demonstrate products in a relevant lifestyle context and entertained
younger consumers who may be tired of traditional marketing approaches.

In the same way, short films created and produced by companies such as
BMW and Chanel showcases sophisticated narratives with brand and product
integration. A recent example is Karl Lagerfeld’s multi-part branded film The Tale of
a Fairy (2012).

In many cases, Canadian and U.S. retailers can take advantage of existing content
(blog posts, online video) to generate newsletters or produce magazine-like
experiences on their websites. A successful blend of content and commerce might
require retailers to think like a publisher and develop an editorial calendar so that
fresh, engaging content can be created and published on a regular schedule. ■

8 Forward Thinking
Is your company ready to hire editorial staff in order to create a retail
catalogue that leads with editorial and offers embedded e-commerce options,
indistinguishable from a content-rich online magazine? Is your brand robust
enough to create captivating stories?

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3

The Integrated Expansion of
the Omni-Channel Storefront
Mobile technology makes it possible to offer time-strapped consumers the “Historically, Canadian retail
convenience of purchasing products from almost anywhere. In response, a investment in technology
number of unique sales channels have emerged, including QR code enabled
has involved a relatively long
virtual storefronts. Canadian online retailer Well.ca used the public walls of a
transit corridor to display photos of dozens of products that consumers could
cycle. The trouble today is
purchase by pointing at specific items with a smartphone app. eBay has also that the technology in the
created a 24/7 shoppable storefront window display in New York that utilizes consumer’s hands is better
QR codes (Kats, 2011). [than the retailer’s] and
The audio search technology provided by Shazam, meanwhile, allows marketers
it’s refreshing faster.”
to “magically” send TV audiences to special mobile microsites based on audio – Joe Jackman
recognition tools (Hockenson, 2012). And locative technologies such as geo- CEO of Joe Jackman Brand Inc.

fencing allow retailers to define a specific geographic area surrounding their
store within which customers receive push notifications for promotions via apps
or text messages (Burby, 2012).

Retailers are also trying to anticipate consumers’ purchasing needs from within
social media and tablets. CoffeeTable is an iPad app that compiles multiple retail
catalogues and adds an e-commerce option. This allows customers to not only
browse, but also purchase products at their convenience.

As these and other options emerge, retailers are being careful to integrate new
channels with existing approaches in order to provide a seamless customer
experience. Since customers shop by brand, not channel, retailers can no
longer segment brick-and-mortar and online operations if they wish to avoid
redundancies and conflicts of interest. Merging channels makes it possible to
offer a more unified brand message, a more seamless shopping experience and
a more consistent approach to assortment, pricing and promotions.

Best Buy Canada, for example, is opening two new pilot stores in the Fall of
2012 with only 5,000 square feet of retail (instead of the average 32,000 square
feet) (Wexler, 2012). Every aisle will include a tablet that allows customers to
view and order from Best Buy’s complete inventory for a given product category
(Wexler 2012). UK retailer Marks and Spencer has also been aggressively
pursuing an omni-channel shopping strategy with a unique store format that
recently debuted in Cheshire, England (Wood, 2012). The new location connects
the in-store and online shopping experience through free Wi-Fi, iPad-equipped
sales assistants that can access additional inventory and giant touchscreen
kiosks that allow customers to browse and order online items (Wood, 2012). ⊲

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This shift in approach has been described as “omni-channel retail” and will require “Are bricks and mortar dead?
merging disparate channels that include websites, mobile devices, gaming No. But people want choice.”
consoles and physical stores (Rigby, 2011). For example, embedded RFID tags are
– Joanna Track
being used in some New Balance stores to trigger additional product information
Founder & CEO of eLUXE
through a video display when customers place the sneaker on a hotspot
(Swedberg, 2012). The move toward omni-channel retail also includes aligning in-
store and online operations through “buy online pickup in-store”; “buy online return
in-store” and “buy in-store ship to home options. Canadian retailers have been
”
slower to adapt to such innovations as compared with their U.S. counterparts.

Increased retail integration requires an ability to provide equivalent levels of
customer experience in-store and online. For example, online retailers are trying
to ensure that customers have access to 360-degree product views and online
video reviews to compensate for the lack of tactility (Charlton, 2010). At the same
time, retailers are trying to develop integrated CRM perspectives that generate
a 360-degree view of their customers, including cross-channel order histories.
However, most retailers are still encountering difficulties integrating customer data
across all channels, as they lack a sophisticated master data management system
(IBM, n.d.). Without investing in appropriate infrastructure, customer information
tends to get “trapped” within complex information systems that include business
performance metrics, in-store and online transaction data, promotional data and
social media listening and trend data.

The challenge for Canadian and U.S. retailers is to provide a seamless retail
experience through consistent brand experiences amidst increasing complexity
and customer expectations, regardless of the touch point. Omni-channel retail
requires a significant investment in infrastructure and training, which can be a
major barrier to entry. This approach to retail also necessitates a willingness to
bridge e-commerce operations with physical retailing through the use of cross-
functional teams with both digital and in-store expertise. This will allow retailers
to eliminate the current silo-based approach that developed before and after the
dot-com crash of March 2000 (Rigby, 2011). ■

8 Forward Thinking
Have you considered adding an extended aisle or virtual backroom functionality
to your retail operation so that in-store and online customers enjoy a wider
range of products? Is your brand voice connected and consistent across all
channels? Can your customers purchase an item directly from your bus shelter
ad by simply taking a photo of it?

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4

The New Geography
of Merchandising
The erasure of borders that e-commerce makes possible means that retailers can
theoretically sell their products to anyone, anywhere in the world. The reality is
more complicated however, and geography continues to assert its influence on
merchandising strategies in both obvious and subtle ways.

Despite their proximity to the United States, many Canadians have been
disappointed to discover that online retailers such as West Elm are unable to
sell and ship specific products to Canada (Williams-Sonoma Inc., 2012). This is
especially confusing since both companies have physical stores located in Canada.

Along with a more limited product selection, Canadians face higher prices for the
same merchandise as compared with the U.S., which can range anywhere from 10
to 50 percent (Beltrame, 2012). This price gap has become more noticeable over
the last decade thanks to an influx of U.S. retail chains arriving in Canada. Within a
week of opening their first store in Canada in August, 2011, J. Crew had to adjust
their shipping fees and lower their online prices through the elimination of duty
fees after The Globe and Mail reported significant price disparities between the
U.S. and Canadian versions of the website (Strauss, 2011).

Technology has made the price gap between the U.S. and Canada nearly
transparent, and helps to explain the rise of cross-border shopping through both
online orders and physical trips to U.S. destinations (Strauss & Grant, 2012). Black
Friday, for example, has now become a more popular Google search term than
Boxing Day in Canada (Oliveira, 2011).

Within their own borders, national retailers in Canada and the U.S. are carefully
considering geography in order to localize their in-store product assortment and
reflect the needs of regional customers. By offering products based on seasonal
weather patterns and region-specific cultural preferences, retailers are better able
to serve their local markets and manage their overall inventory (Schouten, 2010;
Deale, 2012). The same cannot be said for e-commerce retailers, although this is
slowly changing. Columbia Sportswear has recently begun initiatives to localize
site messaging, product assortment, pricing and promotions (Florletta, 2012). ■

8 Forward Thinking
As a Canadian retailer, how are you preparing to compete with the wide online
product assortment and streamlined cross-border shipping policies of large
American retailers, such as Nordstrom and Bloomingdales? Have you considered
fortifying your online presence with robust e-commerce operations? How might
you compete on uniquely branded customer experiences instead of price?

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5

I’ll Trade My Privacy
for a $5 Coupon
Many consumers have developed complicated math in order to maximize their “People are smarter than we
return on loyalty programs such as Best Buy’s Reward Zone, Shoppers Optimum, give them credit for. They
Safeway’s Club Card and AIR MILES (LoyaltyOne Inc.). The savings and rewards
will give up their personal
these programs offer aren’t technically free however, as they cost consumers some
of their privacy.
information, but only if they
get something in return.”
Canadian and U.S. retailers, meanwhile, are also finding it necessary to develop
– Dr. Paul Marsden
complicated math to cope with the era of “big data. An increasing number of
” Editor of Social Commerce Today
retailers are focusing on data collection and analysis in order to more effectively
personalize their marketing appeals and strengthen customer loyalty in the process.
Target, for example, is now able to offer relevant coupons to women in the early
stages of their pregnancy based on their purchasing habits (Duhigg, 2012).

While many customers appreciate this type of personalization, they may also feel
that the information security practices of these companies are murky. In most
cases, privacy is no longer a default option, but something that must be configured
by consumers.

Despite some negative associations regarding corporate approaches to privacy,
consumers remain quite willing to gamble with their personal information if they
believe there is a clear benefit in doing so. For example, a November 2011 survey
found that nearly two-thirds of consumers do not trust online companies such as
Facebook or Google with their personal information (eMarketer, 2012).

Despite this skepticism, the value that consumers receive from these same
companies is high enough to overlook or ignore issues of trust. The popularity and
growth in Facebook usage may be due in part to a human desire for community
belonging. Social media also allows people to satisfy their personal curiosity about
the lives of friends and family.

As the importance of lifestyle marketing continues to grow, Canadian and U.S.
retailers will need to rethink critical aspects of data collection and privacy policies
in order to generate relevant and targeted marketing campaigns. One approach to
privacy is to better reward customers for the data they provide or offer a higher
degree of transparency about how their consumer data will be used. ■

8 Forward Thinking
Want to gain access to the private habits of influential customers? Be prepared
to openly barter for this information.

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6

Sophisticated
Frugality
The coupon made its debut in the late 1880s, and the basic idea behind it has “The ability to compare value
changed very little in the intervening 120 years. While saving money will probably instantly via mobile has created
never go out of style, it is surprising that many successful new technologies and
an amplification of comparison.
services are being used to deliver coupons, bulk discounts, auctions and other
timeless pricing tactics.
It has real impact on sales
and the brand relationship.”
At the same time, the dynamic pricing made possible by current CRM systems
– Joe Jackman
means that retailers can offer promotions that reward and enhance loyalty, as CEO of Joe Jackman Brand Inc.
these offers are based on a customer’s purchasing history. Getting customers to
look beyond simple price reductions requires a long-term education strategy, as
demonstrated by the difficulties encountered with JCPenney’s recent Everyday
Low Price Strategy (Mohammed, 2012).

Retailers must continue to experiment with new discount options and the
best way to deliver these deals. SavingStar, for example, is a mobile app that
generates coupons based on a customer’s cluster of loyalty card information.
Discounts are applied automatically at the point of sale via the loyalty card (Van
Grove, 2011). Decide helps consumers predict the best time to purchase major
appliances based on historical discount data, and recently added a Consumer
Reports style recommendation component. Groupon, meanwhile, has made bulk
purchasing a popular option for retailers who want to reach new customers. Its
success has inspired a host of competitors including TeamBuy (Buyers Unite
Inc.), LivingSocial and AllDailyDeals.

Consumers have also become more vocal about product pricing due to the
popularity of social media. The result of this trend are co-buying sites such as
Buyapowa, where the price of a specific product drops based on the number of
confirmed purchasers, and Netotiate, a site that allows consumers to name their
price for a wide range of consumer goods.

Sophisticated frugality refers not only to the use of technology-enabled discounts,
but merchandising strategies that developed in response to the economic
downturn of 2008. This has included a focus on developing more robust lines
of private label products. (Nielsen Wire, 2010). The ability of retailers to develop
private label products that can compete on both quality and value has helped
encourage the recent emergence of luxury private labels. Examples include
Loblaw’s PC Black Label, launched in October 2011 (Scott-Thomas, 2012); Duane
Reade’s DR Delish launched in April 2010 (The Dieline, 2010); and Wal-Mart’s Our
Finest, launched in November 2011 (Kwon, 2011). ⊲

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The growing importance of private labels is reflected in the fact that both IBM
(“Consumer-Centric Analytics: The Foundation for Competitive Advantage, ”
Waldron, 2011) and Accenture (“The Waiting is Over: Why retailers have to get
better at private label now,” 2011) have conducted extensive research into this
increasingly critical aspect of retail merchandising.

Canadian and U.S. retailers considering a discount strategy need to decide
whether they want to pursue a price-based strategy over a brand-driven approach
(or vice-versa). However, dynamic pricing and an inventive mix of private
label products can help retailers split the difference between value and brand
approaches. Brands also have an opportunity to reframe what frugality means by
recognizing that consumers may prefer to be smart with their money, rather than
simply being cheap. ■

8 Forward Thinking
Are you ready to think beyond the coupon? Are you willing to barter with
customers who expect to be able to name their own price for your products?
How might a line of luxury private label products reinforce or augment the key
strengths of your retail brand?

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What’s Next
Our next report will look at retail trends through the lens of emerging
business models, followed by value exchange, analytics, and technology Steps of strategic foresight
platforms. Once these trend reports are complete, we will move to the next
phase of strategic foresight: identifying the driving forces underlying the 1 Trend scan
trends. Those driving forces will inform future scenarios, leading to the last
Marketing and Merchandising
phases in this strategic foresight initiative to articulate the future of B2C retail
and commerce. Business Models

For more information, you can follow the project on Nurun’s blog, Value Exchange
Digital for Real Life. If you have any questions, or want to receive an Analytics
email reminder when our next trend report is published, please contact
Emerging Technology Platforms
futureofretail@nurun.com.


3 Evaluate critical uncertainties

4 Future scenarios

5 Strategic implications

Preparing for the Future of Retail:
A Strategic Foresight Report

6 Action plan

7 Monitor trends

15


Methodology
Nurun’s strategic foresight team performed a horizon scan using the “STEEPV”
framework to locate current and emerging trends and signals in the following areas:
Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, and Cultural Values. This
scan generated over 100 relevant trends.

These signals and trends were then clustered and sorted into six overarching trends.
Each of these overarching trends required the support of three to five strong signals
or examples. Some trends had an excess of signals – in those cases, excess signals
were catalogued for future inclusion or consideration.

Sincere thanks to the merchandising and marketing experts who graciously shared
their insights with us for this report:

Joe Jackman, CEO of Joe Jackman Brand Inc
Joe leads a 60-person multi-discipline team of ‘retail reinventionists’ –
researchers, analysts, management consultants, marketers, creative directors,
writers, designers and activation managers – focused on accelerating value
creation and disrupting the status quo. Joe Jackman Brand is the first company to
combine in-depth analytics and strategy with creative vision, design, marketing,
and the hands-on shaping of all touch points of customer experience.

Dr. Paul Marsden, Editor of Social Commerce Today
Paul is a social psychologist and market researcher specializing in digital and social
media, influencer marketing and reputation management. He works with brands
and organizations to develop effective digital marketing and PR strategies.

Joanna Track, Founder & CEO of eLUXE
Joanna has over 15 years experience in marketing, business strategy, branding
and advertising. In 2004 she started Sweetspot, the ultimate destination for
Canadian women to stay in the know about what’s new and fabulous in their city.
In 2011 she founded eLUXE, Canada’s online shopping destination, offering the
best edit of global contemporary brands through engaging consumable content.

The Nurun foresight team will continue to monitor and collect new developments
in marketing and merchandising to inform subsequent strategic foresight work,
especially scenario development.

16


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https://www.google.ca/

17


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18


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november_1_2011_12_01_pm32?lang=en_us

19


Meet the Nurun Toronto
Strategic Foresight Team
Ryan Bigge
As a Digital Content Strategist at Nurun Toronto, Ryan Bigge combines over 12
years of experience as a freelance journalist with a passion for design thinking and
interactive art. His writing has been published in the New York Times Magazine,
Report on Business, and the Toronto Star. As part of a recent residency at the CFC
Media Lab, Ryan co-created txt2hold.ca and tweet2hold.com, two related interactive
projects that convert digital experiences into tangible, permanent keepsakes.

Jen Chow
As Nurun Toronto’s Design Research lead, Jen utilizes a diverse set of consumer
research techniques to uncover insights and shape new opportunities for various
retail clients. Jen recently co-authored a report on the future of consumer-to-business
payments that focused on the Canadian banking industry as part of her work in
OCAD University’s Master of Design Foresight & Innovation program. Jen’s work
fuses her eclectic background in accounting and finance with her keen interest in
sociocultural trends and technology.

Kira Levine
As Senior Retail Strategist at Nurun Toronto, Kira’s focus is on translating consumer
needs into viable retail solutions, bridging both in-store and online capabilities.
She brings a unique blend of passion for retail with over nine years of experience
in category and product management. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Retail
Management and an International MBA.

Audrey Carr
As Director of Digital Strategy, Audrey guides Nurun Toronto’s cross-functional
teams in identifying, framing and solving customer-centric opportunities across our
omni-channel retail clients, including Sears Canada, Home Depot Canada, Acklands-
Grainger, and the LCBO. She also leads the development and evolution of Nurun
Toronto’s strategic capabilities in design research, design & retail strategy, analytics,
and interaction design.

20


About Nurun
Nurun is the world’s largest independent full-service digital agency, providing
a broad scope of services that are uniquely tuned to the opportunities and
challenges faced by online and omni-channel retailers.

With strong expertise in digital retail strategy, experience design, platform
development, enterprise integration, and platform management, Nurun Toronto
crafts experiences that marry consumer brand engagement and digital utility for
some of Canada’s most recognized retailers, including Sears Canada, The Home
Depot Canada, Holt Renfrew, LCBO, and Walmart Canada.

For Toronto new business inquiries, please contact Emily Bond, Vice President,
General Manager at emily.bond@nurun.com.

21

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