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INNOVATION Continual W over half of the countries their disposal to reach shoppers in new HILE GLOBAL CONSUMER Retailers have several strategies at confidence is on the rise in ways, based on customer need. innovation surveyed, many shoppers still remain Convenience. Make the shopping focused on value for their money, notes experience faster and products easier for the ‘Continuous Innovation: Key to Retail the customer to find. Then take a step further and leverage consumer data to Success’ report published in January by is the key international research company Nielsen. predict purchase patterns and replenish items before they run out. At the same time, e-commerce has Choice. Vary product line-ups to create attracted a growing number of shoppers the feeling of a justified trip. and drawn them away from traditional to winning outlets in malls and shopping precincts. Shopability. Help retailers to sell by Convenience is helping consumers to buy. Creative retail Using cutting-edge innovation, however, can still give bricks-and-mortar businesses are adding new reasons for the Holy Grail in retail retailers the all-important edge over store visits by offering coffee shops, minibank branches or pharmacies to their online cousins, the researchers say. keep shoppers in the store longer and “The urgency for retailers to innovate is nothing new. Getting ahead has always easier and quicker to shop by providing been a struggle in this fiercely competitive buying more. They’re also making it supermarket chain) is one major retailer that the click-and-collect arena. France-based The need to di£erentiate from the field – where similar products and store fast-moving queues with self-scanning has adapted its physical store offerings to Auchan, for example, offers a drive- competition is as great as it has ever density can easily lure shoppers away check-outs that don’t require the services meet customer demand for convenience. through service with spacious collection been in the retail sector, according to a [from one physical store and into another]. of a shop assistant. Notably, Tesco operates four different points, allowing shoppers to collect pre-ordered baskets without leaving their formats to ensure that its customers have Pricing. Value remains the key to The recent recession has made that new international research study. battleground even more intense.” many shopper purchases. Retailers have quick and easy access to its offerings cars. Visible from the road, the service is According to the researchers, today’s numerous tried-and-tested ways to regardless of whether they live in dense ultraconvenient and serves as a powerful consumers have more retail choices promote their low prices to consumers, urban areas or the outskirts of town. advertisement. But these trends aren’t than ever, but are cutting back on among them loyalty programmes, regular “Even Walmart, whose superstore just popping up in Europe. In the US, drug their overall purchases. In the US, for sales, price guarantees and the like. concept made it the largest retailer in the retailer Walgreens offers shoppers a variety example, the frequency of store visits Cross-category subsidisations can also world, is testing two smaller formats, of in-store and roadside pick-up options.” has fallen 15% over the last six years, reduce overall shopper costs. In addition, although it continues to expand its Also, while e-commerce has often while basket size has climbed by only recent research shows that many global traditional supermarket format in the been portrayed as a threat to bricks- Innovation is a 9%. “Similar trends are being seen shoppers would spend more on in-house United States.” and-mortar stores, some of the most private label goods if given the choice. around the world. For stores to beat the successful innovators in traditional retail powerful retail tool competition, they need to encourage Outside the store. Many retailers Click-and-collect have leveraged the online world to meet consumers to increase the number of have stretched their brand in innovative As a format, brick-and-mortar retail outlets the needs of their 24/7 shoppers who are trips, grow the size of their basket – ways by including value-add services continue to be popular with consumers, unwilling, or unable, to be constrained by or both,” Nielsen says. like car washes or valets, or supporting although online is changing how shoppers store opening and closing times. community and charity efforts. interact with these stores. The report “Today’s consumers live, work and “Innovations in these categories all says one of the key ways that physical shop in a digitally integrated world. The make the shopping experience easier, stores are responding is to offer a physical Internet holds the promise of changing faster or better for consumers, thereby store/online store hybrid model known the landscape entirely, so retailers must encouraging them to make additional trips as ‘click-and-collect’. Under this system, at least keep up – and ideally get ahead,” and buy more,” the report says. consumers browse the store online, the researchers note. make their selection and pay. They then “Innovation persuades shoppers Convenience is king nominate a collection time and venue and to do something different; to buy, to But of all these elements, convenience literally drop in for a few minutes to make try, to move, to change. For a brief PHOTOS: GETTY/GALLO IMAGES believes that “convenience may just it improves convenience dramatically for existing ones’ loyalty. But newness is regarded as the most important by a pick up. time, it captures consumer attention, the Nielsen research team, which bringing in new customers or improving “This innovation is quite powerful, as shoppers who find it inconvenient to wait wears off quickly and ‘copy cats’ can be the most creative and energetic easily reproduce many retailers’ ideas. at home during broad delivery windows,” example of retail innovation”. “Channel and format are the stand-out So, in order to stay ahead, stores must the researchers noted. examples of innovation in the retail space,” continually develop new ways to capture “European retailers such as Carrefour and Auchan are particularly advanced in consumers’ interest.” the report says. “Tesco (a UK-based 52 strategicmarketingafrica First quarter 2014 First quarter 2014 strategicmarketingafrica 53