I’m Laurence Parkes and I’m Director of Strategy at AKQA Amsterdam. 15 years of leading the advertising strategy on brands like Audi, BMW, Unilever, Reuters. Moved into digital marketing 3 years ago when I realised I could combine a passion (science fiction) with my career.
And today I’m going to talk to you about how tablet PCs are beginning to transform the way retail companies are doing business. This title was intentionally provocative – I think the influence of tablets is still relatively small but there is no doubt in my mind that in the next 2 years their influence will be very obviously felt.
Our agency has lots of experience creating award-winning digital channels and experiences for retail brands. We have Nike, GAP and Target amongst our clients and our office in Amsterdam works for Tommy Hilfiger and MINI (whose obviously have a retail dealership network).
First I’d like to welcome you all to the Splinternet. Many of you may already be aware of this term coined by Forrester back in Jan 2010 to describe the way the internet is splintering into many proprietary platforms with different operating systems, different consumer behaviors, different features. This trend obviously complicates a digital marketer’s life. I believe however (as far as tablets and retail goes) the complication is worth it. And at the end of this presentation I will outline some ways to reduce the complexity while enjoying the benefits. But first let’s briefly track the explosive birth of an entirely new platform.
The iPad has enjoyed meteroic growth as you can see by comparing its first year and a half sales with that of its earlier siblings - the iphone and the ipod. I don’t think it is just the increasing speed of culture and technology. As a parting gift to us, Steve Jobs identified a latent need and single-handedly made netbooks obsolete overnight.
And now the these devices are becoming affordable. This is the M009G Google Android
This is why we are seeing crazy estimates for the growth of the market. By 2015, Gatner estimated that the tablet market would be 60% of the PC market (326 units) and eMarketeer reckoned 1 in 3 Americans would own one. By end of last year Gatner estimated there were 64m shipped globally
So what does this mean for retailers. Firstly the fact that these tablets have become so affordable makes them a viable retail business tool to deliver what you could call “connected retail”. Deloitte believes that…Secondly the fact that tablets will come to dominate in-home net browsing, there will be a phenomenal growth in what some have called “couch commerce”. Already huge going to get even bigger.
Firstly an example of ipad as sales floor assistant providing easy access to product data, customer data and customer reviews, in addition to allowing transactions to be completed away from the register.Following a recent private viewing of the Burberry collection at London Fashion Week, in-store customers were given access to buy the collection immediately through a custom-built Burberry iPad application. Allowed customers to view all in-house created content, like video look-books and films. Now, 25 Burberry stores in 16 countries will offer customers the iPad when they visit the store.
A recent app that we created for our client Virgin Money is this designed to be the entry point for people using the free wifi in a virgin money lounge. It allows us to provide useful and relevant advice to consumers deepening the relationship.
Secondly – CustomizationMercedesAdvantage software allows Mercedes dealers to begin recording key customer information and decisions while they are standing next to – or seated in – the car they are selling. It also gives salespeople access to marketing programs for specific models and increases the speed and efficiency on the return of lease vehicles.
Next up - an example of a tablet Personal Shopper(or sommelier, in this case)South Gate, a restaurant adjacent to New York City's Central Park, was the first restaurant in the city to digitize its wine list with the iPad. Customers can instantly sort 650 winesby price and type, as well as read a paragraph of text about each wine.
Finally, an example of software that can turn iPads into POS cash-till for small businesses. While it’s estimated that 60% of retailers lack the wireless infrastructure to use mobile technology in their stores, I believe that the benefits are strong enough for you to consider creating that infrastructure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ThPSAI6iDdg
Now onto the other area where tablets will have a huge influence in the next couple of years. There are 3 drivers of growth for what has been called Couch Commerce.
Firstly there is evidence that tablets are stickier than more traditional entertainment options. Large proportions of owners are spending more frequent and longer sessions immersed in their tablet than other entertainment.
Secondly, they are using it in a relaxed, lean-back context – on the sofa, in bed, even on the toilet.
Perhaps because of the immersive and lean-back experience as well as the habits that itunes has encouraged, users are very relaxed about purchasing. In fact it almost seems like their supercharged media consumption carries on into supercharged retail consumption. See this with ebooks as well - 3.3 times more books are bought by those who buy a kindle – Wall street journal
Many retailers are already taking advantage of this shift in behaviour. The forward-thinking retailers have created app specifically for tablets.
Taking a look at the very best of these shows us there are 4 principles that can help build on that stickiness
First up is the ASOS magazine which lets you explore fashion in a magazine format but then purchase any of the clothes that appear in the articles. It’s beautifully produced using great photography and video.
Laithwaites wine cellar lets you explore the wines of the world, fill your basket and order directly from the app.
Gilt also understands the power of exploration to encourage sales. They place all live sales on the left to prompt people to get involved.
A retailer that understands the importance of entertainment is Debenhams. What they lack in classy design they make up for in variety of content.
Gap took entertainment a stage further with a TV series called the Glamour Girls that appear exclusively on the Glamour ipad app. All the clothes in the series could be purchased directly from the app.
An example of a shopping malls using inspiration to encourage people into their space. This is from Westfield - the high-end shopping Malls in London.
It’s important to note that while fashion seems to be ahead of the curve, other segments are wising up to the potential. Tescos (like Whole foods) has created a recipe app to inspire shoppers before and after their weekly shop.
A brand that understands the value of constantly refreshed stock is Amazon. It has created Windowshop which is an infinitely scrolling, up-to-date window of personalised recommendations.
Zappos is a brand that has understood the importance of tablets for some time. Ian Klassen (Mobile Program Manager)understands the importnace of exploration in tablets experiences “People know us for our shoes, but we’re seeing more people discovering clothing items on the apps.” They experience shows that tablets can inspire shopping in that Lean-back scenario –the ipad app provides a big sales lift on Sunday evenings between 6:00pm and 9:00pm.And they have just launched a magazine with frequently refreshed buyable content. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uIA9zC2lczY
Lastly I want to talk about the app we created for Gap which combined all of these principles. A living, breathing shoppable stream of everything 1969 Denim that will take consumers on an ever-changing journey through product.Find exclusive videos and fashion expert adviceMix & match & create denim looksEverything you discover is tagged and ready to shop with a single tapHugely successful with around 45% of users who viewed a product clicked through to checkout. http://work.akqa.com/gap/stylestreampage/video.html
It’s also the Gap experience which leads me onto the final section for today. I think we’ll increasingly see the sort of experiences designed for tablets influencing the designs of regular websites. As thePSFK blog noticed the Gap site moves and streams as it would were you interacting with a touchscreen - You can select one piece of content to focus on, which then displays all related content beneath it.This merging of tablet and website aesthetics is where I think the next step for brands on tablets.
We created a Nike iPad site to deliver the same info as Nike.com but optimised for a tablet – with large images and a sense of exploration through content.
There will still be a role for ipad apps for brand-building utilities but for the basic retail site where the key purpose is to buy and sell we have created an optimised site.
This is something we are applying to the websites we are currently building for a number of clients. The design is inspired by the like of the blogging service tumblr
Or the fashion blogger Polyvore. These sites (with their highly visual concentration on explorablecontent) feel designed for tablets.
What we are a currently building for a number of clients are sites that adapt to the device that they are being viewed on. This way one site can be optimised for any tablet, any smartphone or even any TV. We do this by enabling the site to detect not the device but the features of the device . We then build progressive enhancement into the site so the more features the device and browser has, the more features appear in the site. We also use HTML5 to deliver the engaging (visual, video & audio) content that is required for tablet browsing. We encourage the exploration through infinite and parallax scrolling (different images scrolling at different speeds) to create a sense of depth. And personalisation (both active and passive) makes the journey unique for each visitor. Lastly we include simple but omnipresent sharing so that any of the engaging content or stock can be shared. IN this way you can get all the benefits of tablet browsing without the complication of the Splinternet.
“ Interactive marketers have thrived in the golden age of the Web, where people access Web sites using standard, similarly formatted PCs and browsers. No more. The Internet is splintering across proprietary platforms.”Forrester, The Splinternet, January 2010
I’m Laurence Parkes and I’m Director of Strategy at AKQA Amsterdam
