Global Design Resources provides the world’s leading consumer facing companies with the thought leadership they need to remain ahead in retail and hospitality. The following highlights the current trend, Convenient Consumption:
Convenient Consumption
In today’s increasingly fast-paced world, time is a precious commodity. As such, the convenience market is one with increasing relevance, as retailers continue to find new ways to catch consumers on the move, offering targeted and time-saving solutions. By understanding the consumer mindset and the growing value placed on ease and speed, intuitive solutions will position forward-thinking retailers ahead of the game.
We will all pay for something that we feel will make our lives easier and more enjoyable. It’s not that we are lazy, but time has almost become a currency in its own right. Selling the consumer’s time back to them is a winning proposition.
However, getting the customer’s attention can be a tough challenge. We move so quickly that just telling people you can save them time may be wasting their time. And today’s savvy
consumers can spot a good offer worth stopping for and know when to keep walking.
The UK convenience market is worth £29.1 billion and is set to increase by 36% over the next five years, according to IGD and William Reed Business Media 2009. In the US, meanwhile, profitability of convenience stores increased by 54% in 2008, reversing a two-year decline, and sales in this sector are expected to grow at around 5% between 2009 and 2013, according to industry research firm RNCOS.
Convenience is all in the eye of the customer. What is convenient for me may not necessarily be convenient for you. However, many retailers and brands have identified opportunities to provide convenience and are getting it right.
Best practice
In Norway, Sunkost has done well in the health foods and health products market, with its bright, clean-looking stores, branding and merchandising. Product information is placed at eye-level and is conveyed through digital signage systems around the store. Staff are well informed and purchases can be made using interactive terminals. The on-site food preparation area draws attention to the freshly made food, while producing enticing smells that attract customers into the store.
In the hospitality and travel sectors, Jumeirah Hotels in the US, the Middle East and the UK recognised that airport security restrictions were creating problems for customers travelling light and in response created the online shop-ahead Pre-Arrival service. This allows customers to request products through the brand’s website from retail outlets within Jumeirah hotels – providing everything from toothpaste, sunscreen and baby wipes to a selection of holiday reading. Items are simply left in the guest’s room and added to the room bill.
The US, of course, has come up with many concepts to make life a little easier. Text ordering is becoming commonplace, so your food or coffee from Papa John’s, Subway and Starbucks can be ready when you pass, or on your doorstop when you get home. This involves setting up an online account and specifying favourite meals, which are each allocated a number. They can be ordered easily, by sending the meal number to the brand’s dedicated SMS number as a text message.
Understanding consumer mindset
Many factors can help to create a successful convenience offer, but one of the most important is customer knowledge. What are the customer’s day-to-day habits? What are their needs? Where do they go? Why do they travel? Why are they near the store? Knowing the answers to questions like these will help identify areas of opportunity and ensure the retailer’s offer is positioned correctly in the marketplace.
When it comes to shopping behaviour, what customers say they do and what they actually do are sometimes two very different things, which is why ethnographic studies of customers can be so valuable.
Getting it right
Key performance indicators and sales statistics, which are often left in the boardroom, should be shown and explained to the designer. Product categories should be defined in such a way as to maximise efficiency and sales. The key categories we use are:
Hero category
– this is generally the core category and what the customer knows the store for.
Key categories
– usually two or three that contribute a significant amount of total sales.
Growth category
– a breakthrough category, or one that is perhaps under-performing in its current location.
Transient category
– ones the customer has to walk through, which provide good opportunities for improvement.
Nodes of interest
– areas of the store that will divert customers from their usual course and draw them into unexplored areas.
Good planning is key to getting customers in and making their convenience shopping as easy as possible. The retailer has only a second to grab the attention of a passer-by, so as well as using the shopfront to maximum effect, it is important to clearly communicate the name of the business and what it is selling. Communications should be angled towards the direction of approach or upwards, since Western consumers tend to walk around looking 30° down from their eye level and getting them to look up is a huge challenge.
Winning solutions
Technology allows us to maximise our time and be far more efficient – from iPhone Apps and text ordering to paying by fingerprint or swipe card. But technology will only work if it is integrated rather than an add-on. The iPhone has proved that if you remove the conventional method of use and make technology more intuitive, people will willingly interact with it. Touch-sensitive shopfronts now allow customers to browse product information, download mobile phone content and make purchases without entering the store.
Giving customers something for free – either via a points-collecting card or directly – helps to build loyalty. Free wi-fi is always a winner, as are charging points for mobile phones and laptops. Free taste testers are another possibility – or content that can be downloaded to mobile phones.
To get a free download, read the full article and to see examples of how these combination's have proven successful, click here.
We hope you have enjoyed reading these trends for 2010 and are hopefully putting some of them in to action.
Keep a look out for our future blogs that focus on new concepts from around the world, thoughts and talking points within the design industry.
Many thanks
Steve
