Shoppable videos

Target’s collaboration with Missoni, debuting in stores next month, also marks the retailer’s first use of “shoppable videos.” A range of brands have been testing this technology, which enables consumers to click on items within a video; then they’re either redirected to an e-commerce page or able to add the item to a shopping cart without leaving the video. Some videos are visually arresting (Gucci and high-end men’s retailer Oki-Ni), some use music video-style storytelling (Canadian sportswear brand Roots) and others use basic stylist tips.

These videos engage shoppers in a way that static shots can’t and let viewers quickly transition into a transaction, perfect for today’s instant-gratification temperament. Expect more shoppable videos as seasonal shopping gets under way later this year.

Patty Orsini for JWT Intelligence

Interactive engagement

When the going gets tough – INNOVATE

That's my view of retail and I think over the coming years we are due to see a lot more of it on Aussie shores. As the retail sector suffers and the country sits on the brink of a recession it's no secret that the coming months are set to become a challenging period. We’ve seen it in the Northern Hemisphere but if we are smart we can at least learn from their experiences.
What’s interesting is that the one thing nearly all retailers forget with diminishing revenue and cut budgets, is innovation. And that innovation and creativity is what will set them apart.

As Australian Retail Outlook deftly notes, “the money is there for the taking. It is up to retailers to create a compelling reason for them to part with it… Apple, JB Hi-Fi, Zara and Super Retail Group are all examples of retailers who are unzipping consumers’ wallets in supposedly bleak times.”

ALDO and Topshop are both great examples of retailers putting back a sense of fun, a sense of joy into shopping. Because quite frankly, it should be fun, I think we've just forgotten how to sell that.

This week Topshop teamed up with gaming app SCVNGR to provide an interactive store experience for students in the UK and US. By doing so Topshop bring cute challenges students can play to unlock exclusive rewards. For example, 20% off, a shopping spree, competitions and giveaways. Students are asked to simply download the app, do the challenges set to earn points and collect badges to receive rewards and prizes.

ALDO also revealed a new campaign called 'Shoes For Life'. An online competition where users are encouraged to play 3 games. Once completed (assuming you win each round which, quite frankly who cares if it's rigged that way or not) you receive a discount voucher to redeem against your next ALDO purchase, plus the chance to go into the draw to win shoes for life (well, 2 pairs per year for 25 years). A simple fun engagement piece that gives consumers a reason to shop there over Wittner or NineWest for example.

Selfridges - The shop of everything

What can the shop that has everything offer to customers this season but The Museum of Everything.

Selfridges Oxford Street kicks off a two-month exhibition created by The Museum of Everything in its Ultralounge in the store’s basement tomorrow. To mark the occasion it has cleared all of its Oxford Street windows of stock, replacing this with enlarged images and cutouts taken from the show. This is the first time that the deparment store has chosen not to show any product in its Oxford Street windows and was the subject of considerable debate, according to a spokeswoman.

The Museum of Everything will run in Selfridges until the end of October and shoppers wishing to buy something from the exhibition will be able to purchase limited edition prints amd t-shirts taken from the show in the store’s Wonder Room.







John Ryan For Retail Week

Ocado’s virtual shopping wall opens for business

The integrated window display at London’s One New Change shopping centre was erected overnight and allows shoppers to purchase groceries on their mobile phones, then have them delivered to their door.

The move gives Ocado its first physical presence on the high street.

The shopping wall mirrors an experiment by Tesco earlier this year in South Korea. Tesco circulated footage of how a shopping wall would work in a subway, prompting consumer excitement.

The Ocado virtual store, at Unit 23 in One New Change, will be accessible 24 hours a day and customers just have to download the Ocado app and start scanning barcodes.

Mobile devices are now used in 15% of Ocado checkouts.

Ocado co-founder Jason Gissing said: “The virtual shop window is a bold move for Ocado and something we are very excited about.

“We hope this trial is a hit, and based on its success, we’ll be looking at options around continuing this ‘virtual window shopping’ approach in other locations UK-wide.”

Jennifer Creevy for Retail Week

Nike Sportswear: Ice Cream Truck

We All Scream for Exclusive Shoe Releases

Nike does its part to break up the mid-summer heat by holding exclusive releases--from an ice cream truck. The Nike Sportswear "Always On" ice cream truck will be attending eight basketball events in New York City providing those in attendance with exclusive shoe releases, tees, stickers, shoelaces and actual ice cream. The blue truck is carrying items ranging from Nike Air Force 1 NYC Editions and Air Force 1 Hyperfuse to Spider-man ice cream and push pops. All ice cream is free to players and audience members.

Along with apparel and ice cream, Nike will be handing out "golden tickets for prizes" and encourage individuals to enter in their Twitter contest. At each stop the truck makes, Nike (@nikesportswear) will tweet a "fill in the blank" question and contestants can answer @21_Mercer (referring to the brand's flagship Soho Store) via the #alwayson hashtag. Three winners will be picked on the spot, and on August 20th, those winners will be entered into a raffle to win the grand prize of a bespoke appointment at the Soho flagship.

Creativity
The Sportswear ice cream truck's trip began on June 24th and will come to an end on August 20th when the winners will be announced. See more details on the Nike Sportswear site.

Selling the Sales

Sales. An integral part in every retailers calendar, so why so often do they become an excuse for some stores to leave their windows baron and their merchandise shabby?

The word SALE plastered across a window no longer has the same impact as it once did, largely because at least half a dozen retailers will be on sale at any one time in the year. So that sense of urgency, that excitement of an 'event' has less impact. That coupled with the rise of online shopping where Australians have become wise to the fact they can buy for less over the internet has again diluted the impact of our traditional sale.

However, markdowns are a fact of retail life and getting ‘clean’ in preparation for new stock is as much part of the calendar as anything else. The way retailers approach the matter of clearance, however, varies widely, and for some – think Harrods – it is a highly marketable event just like any other promotion. And it's only once a year so still has that prestige status.

So what's the best way to present a mark-down sale? How can we bring innovation to our windows and visual merchandising? Here are just a few examples of how some stores skin that cat:

Desigual
Desigual, parades a mass of Sale red T-shirts as overhead banners.

Also using giant T-shirts in the windows bearing an “I heart 50% off” slogan – in keeping with the brand’s contemporary feel.

A high-impact LED screen, bearing the -50% promotion as well as showcasing markdowns adds energy to the fascia, again making it more noticeable than those of neighbouring stores.




Radley UK
Radley are a UK bag retailer. An extension of this means that when it comes to Sale time it’s an idea to put giant Sale shopping bags in the window – coloured red, naturally.

This is an incredibly simple and low-cost way of getting the message out there and, when coupled with a relatively discreet decal on the window stating ‘Up to 60% off’, it was little surprise it gets noticed.




Replay
Italian denim brand Replay can normally be relied on to come up with something interesting at Sale time and this window scheme confirms that it understands how to create a stir.

Long, unfurled till rolls are suspended from wooden spools with the word SALE printed in red between the numbers of imaginary items that have been purchased.

This is one of the more original ways of telling shoppers that there are bargains at that store, although whether shoppers will find this sufficiently compelling to step inside or whether it proves to be merely an interesting arty distraction is a moot point.




Uniqlo
What can only be called a Sale tower of power describes what has been done by Uniqlo to grab the gaze of passing shoppers. The massively high windows either side of the entrance are divided into a series of dark rooms with nothing in them other than a male mannequin, a female mannequin and a sale banner, the latter composed in a very traditional manner.




Suit Supply
This is a modest sale treatment, but is virtually unmissable. Suit Supply has taken a fairly low profile clothing category and turned in into a mass-market fashion event. The somewhat retro 1950s signage that it has placed at the bottom of its window keeps faith with its quirky visual merchandising approach.

Nike 6.0 Pops up

Pop-up stores tend to be fairly ephemeral affairs, quite frequently here today and gone tomorrow and this one, from Nike, in Mondello, Sicily, is no exception with a lifespan of just two months.

Designed in-house with the collaboration of Over The Rainbow, an Italian consultancy, and built by New Store Europe, this does, however, have a level of detail that marks it out as somewhat different from the normal rough and ready pop-up world.

Covering an area of about 1,076 sq ft, the store’s structure is composed of overlapping multilayer panels and a concealed hooking system for hangers and shelves.



The store is intended to highlight Nike 6.0, a new brand of clothing from the sportswear brand and, as well as the non-standard approach to construction, it also carries several video walls and hand-painted graphics.



The effect is of a deconstructed surf shack where the wooden planks are almost on the point of falling to the floor, but have somehow been frozen in time.

There is not actually a huge amount of stock in this relatively modest space, a wall of sneakers and some forward-hung T-shirts, but the effect is to focus attention on what is actually there.



The really good bit about this, however, is that it is in Mondello, the chi-chi beach resort where Palermo’s affluent head for a day out by the seaside.



If an excuse were needed to go and check out some unusual retail design while enjoying a few good meals and some decent scenery, then this must be it. You’ll have to be quick though as it is scheduled to be dismantled by August 3.

John Ryan Retail Week