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Mar
21
The Omnichannel Consumer – What’s Your Strategy?
Filed Under Interbike, Online Marketing | Leave a Comment
Here’s a shocker: the face of retail is changing. Our colleagues in our parent company Nielsen’s research division use terms like “omni-channel” and “cross-platform” in describing the myriad methods that consumers are now using to research products, make purchase decisions and, ultimately, to buy. Today’s smartphone has taken things a step further by bringing the web into the store along with the customer. I’m sure all retailers, at this point, have experienced the customer browsing and scanning products in their store – if they haven’t done so themselves when they shop.
In the early days of the internet we experienced a brief panic from the explosion of new online retailers like Pets.com, Amazon.com and Bike.com (remember them?), all threatening to revolutionize the way we shop and make traditional brick-and-mortar stores obsolete. Heck, did the term brick-and-mortar even exist before the new ecommerce threatened to eliminate it?
The initial threat to traditional retailers subsided a bit as a result of the dot-com bust, but online retail has continued to grow as a percentage of total retail sales. In 2011, online sales grew 16.1% to about 4.6% of total retail spending, according to the commerce department.
More importantly, we’re seeing that consumers who shop in more than one channel – say online and in-store – spend more over their lifetime. And not by an insignificant amount.
National chain Golfsmith stated last year that customers that bought from them in more than one channel outspent one-channel customers by a factor of four. Golfsmith’s CEO additionally commented that customers who shopped across all their channels had probably 10 times the lifetime value and they were working to cultivate that in every way possible.
Numbers like that are hard to ignore. And the point of it, I believe, is not about price and discounting. It’s about convenience and being where your customer wants to be, and being available to them on their terms. Consider that the younger age groups where we struggle as an industry, consumers in their 20s and 30s do about a quarter of their shopping online. It’s where they expect to find you.
The independent bicycle retailer has remained vibrant and, well, independent, to a large degree, because of the unique service-oriented nature of bicycles. Along with the mechanical requirements of selling and servicing bikes, stores can also add value as sources of knowledge, inspiration and camaraderie. But can stores truly expect customers to continue buying most of their gear in physical stores going forward? Are you adjusting to a future with more ecommerce?
Retailers will need to continue to adapt to remain relevant. Even national mass-merchants like Target are suffering from being showrooms for purchases that are ultimately made online at ecommerce powerhouses like Amazon. Target is working to evolve their online strategy while working with suppliers to devise a solution. Are you?
Companies like SmartEtailing, Trek and, most recently, QBP have announced new programs and platforms for retailers to integrate ecommerce into their operations. Many retailers have already added online shopping components to their sites. Physical retailers can no longer think of ecommerce as the enemy or even as a side venture. It’s time to put down the hammer and reach into our tool boxes for some creative new solutions and be aware of how your customers are behaving to reap the rewards of serving customers where they are shopping – and stay relevant.
Nov
29
Goin’ Mobile
Filed Under Interbike, Online Marketing | Comments Off
This post is an expanded version of a column appearing in the December, 2011, issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. The blog version includes extra information and media that don’t fit in a printed article.
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The most important and impactful innovation to come down the lane, recently, for retailers has been the phenomenal growth of mobile. Smartphones and other connected devices that consumers can carry in their pocket have changed the shopping experience. For those of you keeping score at home, 38% of all Americans now own smartphones, according to current Nielsen stats, while a full 62% of those in the 25-34 age range do.
I’m sure most of you retailers have experienced customers in your store holding a product in one hand and an iPhone in the other. Perhaps you’ve even seen them scan the bar code on a product with the Red Laser app and effortlessly pull up a wealth of online information. While it’s tempting to get riled up over the thought of your customers comparing prices online, I hope you can come to terms with the fact that there are few mysteries in shopping anymore – and that you can influence what they find online.
As a consumer, I’m an information hound. I want to know anything and everything about a product before I drop my hard earned bike industry dollars on something. Price is important, but as a recent Nielsen survey of digitally connected consumers found, “good value for the money” (61%) beat out “low price” (58%) as the top reason for their choosing a particular place to shop. While you can’t discount (excuse the pun) the role of deals and other financial incentives as a driver of new business, it’s not the only thing consumers are interested in.
(What influences your decision to shop at a particular retailer? – Click to enlarge)
For IBDs this is good news since the experience at your store is about so much more than just price and you have the ability to affect the value proposition with service, education, and your passion for cycling. Just make sure that you communicate this value to your customers where they expect to find it: online. Look at your own – or better yet, your kids’ – shopping habits for examples of where you need to be with your message.
There are new ways to influence your local customers with “hyperlocal” advertising: Google recently announced that the distance between a person and an advertiser’s business location is now a factor in mobile search ads ranking. Think about it. That’s a really powerful new tool for your business to be able to direct your customers to your store.
At Interbike, we understand the power of face-to-face interaction, but the continuing growth and influence of online and mobile can’t be ignored. Social media and peer reviews online have influenced consumer behavior for years, but mobile puts that influence onto your showroom floor. You’re not done influencing your customer before he leaves his house anymore, and mobile can become an ally if you take steps to make it work for you.
Here’s a great recent infographic, also from our colleagues in the Nielsen family, on the mobile digital consumer to illustrate the current reach and influence of mobile.
(Click to enlarge)
I’d love hear how retailers are using these tools to grow their businesses.
Nov
18
Google Streetview Heads Indoors
Filed Under Attendee News, Online Marketing | 3 Comments
Not sure how I missed this news from around Halloween. Maybe I was too focused on dialing in my son’’s Ninja Turtle costume to his hyper attentive 6-year-old standards (“Dad! Michaelangelo is the orange turtle. That’s red!”). So what did I miss? Well, it looks like the controversial Google Streetview feature of Google Maps has now headed indoors.
Now, just as you can navigate up and down streets and pan around to see store fronts and unsuspecting pedestrians and sunbathers, you can wander through the insides of stores. You get the whole 360 degree, up-down and all around treatment. I just happened to be Googling one of my favorite local shops yesterday when some photos popped up in the Google Places area of the results. Upon clicking them, I noticed that I could wander through Pacific Coast Cycles’ crowded, but neat, showroom.
I spoke with PCC’s owner Chuck about this, and he said a Google person came by and took pictures not too long ago. I actually remember a few years back being in the store when a Google staffer came by to collect info about his business for Google Places. Here’s Google’s FAQ about the program.
I did a few quick searches for other shops that might have interior views with no luck. I’d love to feature some shops in this way – have any of your local shops had their insides filmed by Google? Any of you shops out there been invited to participate? Let me know. And keep your showrooms neat!
Update: Palo Alto Bicycles has been shot for Street View interiors.
Nov
17
Nielsen: Discounts Drive Brand Love on Social Media
Filed Under Attendee News, Online Marketing | 1 Comment
From our colleagues in the NM Incite division of Nielsen, who work with companies to measure and optimize their online brands (officially: “helps businesses harness the full potential of social media intelligence to drive superior business performance across their organizations.”), comes this report about the most important driver of brand loyalty in the social media world.
There’s been much discussion in the marketing world recently about what motivates consumers to “friend” or “like” brands on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Typically used as a way to stay in touch with, share and communicate with friends, what are we looking for in return for friending a brand? We don’t usually opt-in to receive advertising and branding messages in other media – unless there is an incentive. Think free weekend at the resort in return for sitting in on a presentation about purchasing a time share at the property.
And while it’s all good that we – as brand managers – have been able to use SM to personalize our companies and interact with fans and customers in a more direct, human way, this study shows that, at the end of the day, discounts and deals are still a powerful driver. Other reasons, such as “showing support for the brand” and “be among the first to get news and information” are still significant, but are overshadowed by the almighty discount. Just look at the success of deal/coupon sites like Groupon and Living Social. In the bike and outdoor specific industry, we’ve seen the emergence of companies like The Clymb.
It’s interesting that in North America, this economic incentive is noticeably more powerful than in the rest of the world.
Do you offer deals or discounts to people who like or follow your brand online?
Here’s the chart from the report:
Feb
3
Retailers: Why aren’t you a Google Favorite Place?
Filed Under Attendee News, Industry News, Interbike, Online Marketing | 6 Comments
As a retailer, you’ve no doubt come across the name Yelp. If you are a retailer that is very active online, then you are very familiar with the consumer reviews website. You’ve possibly even developed a mild love-hate-frustrated-pull-you-hair-out relationship with the site and its contributors*. Heck, even retailers who are not active online without even so much as a token website for their businesses (yes, they still exist) probably have presences on Yelp. In lieu of your own website or activity in any of the online social communities, sites like Yelp become your de facto online brand. To trot out the old reasoning to get active and establish your online brand, the conversation about you is happening – the only question is whether you are a part of that conversation.
That conversation is about to get a bit louder with Google’s recent entry into the Yelp territory. Aside from the obvious impact that Yelp has on the brands that are discussed on their site, Yelp’s business model has proven to be very lucrative. And Google wants a piece of it.
In typical Google fashion, they are adding their own innovative touch to an existing concept with their Google Place Pages and even newer Favorite Places services. Just the search market share that Google commands alone gives pause for concern. Just envision all those searches for bikes and accessories that begin on Google and end up on a Google Maps page with a list of local retailers down the left side – each one with a 1-5 star rating and list of reviews from customers.
With all the talk about the impact that social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have on businesses, you may want to consider that managing and monitoring your online presence on services like Google Maps and Yelp are arguably even more important to a brick-and-mortar retailer.
Recently Google launched Favorite Places, a service that seeks to further highlight popular local businesses and help promote its existing Places service. In the announcement, Google said that they have “identified over 100,000 businesses in the U.S. as “Favorite Places on Google” based on Google users’ interaction with local business listings,” and will be sending out special decals for placement in the storefront windows. This physical element of an online service is nothing new as Yelp provides similar labels to businesses, but Google is taking it to the next level by adding QRCodes to each that allow people to scan them with an appropriate smart phone and instantly access all the information available about that business. You may have noticed QR or similar codes appearing more frequently lately such as this one:
These codes are becoming increasingly popular, although much more slowly than in places like Japan where they appear everywhere as easy ways to get more information via your cell phone or mobile device. I worked for a Japanese company in the past and all of their business cards now have small codes on them that contain contact information. Here’s a link to an QR Code generator if you’d like to play around with them (like I did above).
Curiosity piqued, I tried searching to see if any bike shops are listed as a favorite place. Unfortunately, only one popped up. The lucky (and popular) shop is Coventry Cycle Works in (of course) Portland, Oregon.
Such local consumer review and popularity services are only going to become more popular and prevalent and a bigger influence on your retail customers’ behavior. Add emerging sites like Foursquare and Gowalla to the list of online location-based services and trends to be aware of as a store owner. With the growing capabilities of mobile devices, look for this data to continue to guide shopping and buying decisions – even while they are standing in your store. Just remember to keep using your good old-fashioned customer service and people skills on them. That rule never changes.
If you’re a retailer reading this, have you seen the effect of these services on your business yet? Have you been active in monitoring and responding to that community?
One last thing, the first person to decode my QR Code above wins a pair of Sock Guy Interbike socks. Just right the answer in the comments below and make sure to enter your valid email address in the right spot.
* And by “contributors” we really mean your current and (very vocally) former customers, don’t we? Remember that you and your employees have had the opportunity to interact and influence each of these reviewers on Yelp. Don’t forget that every customer that walks through your door is a potentially a very influential reviewer!