Its time for retailers to wake up to the evolving nature of etail and learn from their new sales techniques. In this report we’ve identified six etail solutions and then provided a retail take-away, suggesting how this learning is interpreted in store environments.

1. its time to evolve and learn from
new etail sales techniques
Retail
Wake up call
Green Room Futures Series

2. Fact …
Etail is evolving at a
faster rate than retail
Retail mustn’t be left behind, but must learn from
these evolutions and translate them into retail solutions.
This paper proposes that retailers are currently missing a trick… many of the
learnings etailers are already implementing and validating can be flexibly adapted
to benefit bricks and mortar retailers. We look at six etail evolutions and interpret
how these can be, or have been, successfully translated into a retail solution.
But first let’s set the scene and ask three basic questions …
Response...
What
next?
Why is etail
able to evolve
so quickly?1
Why hasn’t
retail been
keeping pace?2
And why is it
necessary for
retail to react?3

3. Etail constantly, iteratively evolves.
This evolution is driven by that
commonplace term ‘big data’.
The knowledge about what
works and what doesn’t is being
constantly captured and fed back
into the system. Results can
be proven and learnings easily
disseminated and implemented.
In addition, new theories can be
challenged by a relatively easy and
inexpensive AB test, comparing
different bundling options, pricing
points, colour schemes etc.
The science
of shopping
has arrived
1
Why is
etail able
to evolve
so quickly?
What
next?

4. Why
hasn’t
retail been
keeping
pace?
Firstly digital thinking is innately
different. Adaptive, not afraid of
the ‘fail-fast’ mentality of start-ups,
and not fearful of change.
This mentality coupled with the
ability to digitally test and learn
at much lower costs, creates
a dynamism not often found
on the high street. This mental
incompatibility can often be seen in
a CIO versus CMO communication
breakdown, a recent blog of ours
looked into this in more detail.
Secondly, a silo’d and
uncollaborative culture has
resided. In this culture, online
and offline retailing have wrongly
been considered to be different
disciplines. The ugly and expensive
reintegration of systems, processes
and databases necessary to enable
the ‘click and collect’ integration
of online and offline is currently
underway in many businesses.
From our own experience we often
talk to the retail team who are
housed in a different part of
the building to the digital team,
each working independently.
In the same evolutionary period, retail shops have not seen
change of the same seismic proportions. We’ve mused on
why this is so and developed two theories:
2
What
next?

5. Google has termed this change in customer
behaviour the ‘Zero Moment of Truth’ [ZMOT].
Their research indicates that “the average shopper
used 10.4 sources of information to make a decision
in 2011, up from 5.3 sources in 2010” (Google/
Shopper Sciences, 2011). They’ve not carried out the
research more recently but if you extrapolate to 2015
and cross reference to your own lives... you get the
idea! Shoppers are informed and expect that detailed
level of product knowledge and information provision
wherever they shop, be that instore or online.
And
why is it
necessary
for retail
to react?
It’s all about
customer
expectations
3
What
next?

6. So, having established the playing field, and identified the need
for change, the rest of this paper is dedicated to helping retail play
catch up. In this report we’ve identified six etail evolutions and
then provided a retail take-away, suggesting how this learning be
interpreted instore. The six learnings are the start of our investigation
into this process and if you would like access to the next six please
email us at info@greenroomdesign.com.
What
next?
Integrating etail
visual merchandising
instore
Eye-tracking
unlocks the power
of directional cues
Benefiting from
social media
amplification
and applause
The power
of the positive
review
Sense of
urgency helps
create desire
Digital receipts –
monitoring and
retaining loyalty
What
next?

7. Integrating
etail visual
merchandising
instore
Etail learning
In the category of fashion, the etail environment is at a disadvantage,
you cannot touch, feel or try on. Faced with this challenge, etail
learned how to VM online by investing in good models, quality shoots,
high resolution imagery, multiple angles and careful accessorising to
maximise the opportunity for cross-sell.
Retail application:
use online assets instore
Once upon a time it would have
been unfeasible to access detailed
product photography libraries,
but as it now exists for the online
catalogue, why are these assets
not being deployed to benefit the
retail environment?
Retailer &Other Stories have
adjusted VM in their store to
include online assets to great
effect. They enhance displays
with ‘polaroid’ style snapshots
of models wearing garments.
Customers can see their potential
purchase modelled beautifully (an
expectation from online shopping),
and accessorised effectively,
not just isolated on a hanger.
Insight: Online fashion shoppers are accustomed
to browsing the detailed information available in the
‘catalogue’ world of online. They are now accustomed
to viewing modelled clothes, not items on hangers.
What
next?

8. Do contact us for more information, we’re very friendly:
T +44 (0) 121 200 2828
info@greenroomdesign.com
greenroomdesign.com
If you would like to read the rest of this report and discover
how the next five actionable insights could help improve your
retail environment, please click on this link.
Click here
for the
full report