Retail is becoming more complex as consumers demand seamless shopping experiences across different devices. Retailers must understand customers, how they engage across channels, and create consistent communications. Gamification of loyalty programs through games and intrinsic rewards can better engage customers. Emerging technologies like wearables and augmented reality can enhance the shopping experience by providing product information and reviews directly to customers. Younger consumers are increasingly focused on sustainability and sharing economies and want brands that are transparent and facilitate positive social change.

1. Suzanne Delaney,
Head of Digital
Ogilvy & Mather
The future of retail
Retail is getting complicated. Consumers are becoming
more demanding and less willing to tolerate failure.
They want a seamless shopping experience however
they interact with a retailer. They may check out a store’s
products on their mobile on the bus back from work, then
wish to continue on the same page on their tablet or PC
at home. That requires considerable technical expertise in
managing the customer journey on different devices.
It is essential to know exactly who the people are you wish
to engage with; where do they start, what channels do they
use and where do they finish. Only then can you create a
communications framework that resonates with the right
people, at the right time and in the right places. In a market
like Ireland where ‘Own label brands’ have 48% share of the
food and beverage market brands need to build preference
and loyalty to protect their share of consumer’s limited,
post recession spending.
GAMIFICATION
Shoppers have started losing interest in participating in
loyalty programs or surveys that are time-consuming with
poor rewards. In the future, we will see emerging loyalty
platforms that will aim at engaging consumers with more
intrinsic rewards and more sophisticated game design
approaches.
A good example of gamification in a retail environment
is the recent Topaz Park and Play loyalty game where
consumers get the chance to win prizes and regular treats
while Topaz builds brand loyalty in an easy and fun way at
the point of sale or on social channels. 64% of Play or Park
members pro-actively participate in the programme and
redeem their awards at Topaz stations.
We will probably see more coalition platforms where
many retailers and brands are part of the same program.
Programs will also contain more levels so that gold
members receive recognition and entitlement. We will see
more experiments with research and virtual currency so
that rewards could be exchanged for goods or transferred
to other people.
All in all, brands will choose to join coalition platforms
with more experience in game mechanics and critical
mass of compatible loyalty partners. A few gamified
loyalty platforms will end up dominating each market
through network effect. Brands that are not part of these
new communities will be less appealing and perceived as
“outcasts”.
WEARABLE TECHNOLOGIES
The biggest advantage of brick and mortar stores is that
they can provide a holistic shopping experience. This will
only occur if they embrace the digital world and figure out
the best combination possible to merge physical assets
with digital ones.
Sponsored by
For this reason, Google glasses and smart watches may
become of paramount importance when idealizing the
future of retail. Google glasses (and smartphones of
course) will become personal shopping assistants.
The use of data and analytics will become more relevant
and imperative, as more devices will produce more
data. Opportunities to better understand shoppers along
the path to purchase will abound for those attentive
on making sense of all the fresh information they will
provide. This valuable data will be available in real time
across all channels for the entire organization to use.
AUGMENTED REALITY
For advertisers and retailers, AR represents a new
possibility to create more meaningful and exciting
messages to a targeted audience with less physical
resources or merchandising needed. When shoppers
direct their smartphones over merchandise packaging,
AR is able to provide an endless amount of product
information. The same could happen with billboards and
magazine ads triggering interactive content for further
entertainment.
In the future, a combination of apps and AR will allow
shoppers to make more informed decisions inside stores.
They will be able to set their devices to detect items
that are low in sugar or with specific allergens. Imagine
being able to actually see reviews of other customers or
acquaintances just by pointing at products.
CONSUMER TRENDS
The rise of the sharing economy where we have entered
an age of when sharing everything from cars to homes,
from textbooks to pets has become socially acceptable,
people have become tired of over consumption, there
is anxiety over unpaid credit card bills. Consumers are
replacing guilt with purpose by buying products that are
more durable and sustainable. Most of us want to inject
social values into our purchases. This means being
more discerning and less wasteful. Basically smarter
consumption, which focuses less on accumulation and
ownership and more on community and collaboration.
New trends have seen the rise in brands like AirBnB,
eBay and Etsy.
Brands have to become more transparent and open in
the business efforts and communications, they must
stop talking about themselves, embrace community and
help facilitate building a better world. This will be done
through partnerships, sponsorships, CSR policies and
kindness that in turn will drive content and engagement
through social channels.