Already googled the chicken that laid your egg?

12/03/2010

‘The return of the judicious consumer’ was high on the agenda at this morning’s NLA event “The changing face of retail”.

Simon Threadkell, from retail and brand consultancy Fitch, and Nick Morris, from brand trend advisors Canvas8, discussed the revolution in shopping cultures.

Consumers are increasingly seeking authenticity in brands; using retail locations for immediacy, for experience and to validate a trusted relationship, while using online for price comparison, reviews and recommendations.

Morrison’s egg tracker is an interesting online initiative to reassure consumers with information about the food’s origin and its journey to you plate; tagging each egg with its own information cloud. We would love to see this service come alive in a store environment, showing provenance and individual stories around the product.

Smartphones, AKA the Third Screen, are now carried by the thousands into retail spaces to google, compare and review products, cutting out the retailer’s influence over the information experience.

Brands are waking up to the threa,t as well as the opportunity this presents. Nike has created the NikeID iPhone app, turning the shopper’s own phone into an inspiration machine.

Fitch’s Simon Threadkell was wary of introducing dominant technical devices, like touch screens, to stores, preferring instead the ‘digital thinking – analogue delivery’ approach. He likes Recipease, Jamie Oliver’s new store concept for delicatessen and kitchenware that ‘almost works like a walk-in, 3D blog’. Advice, ideas and inspiration in a human manner.

On a more technical note, Tokyo’s N Building is sporting a QR code face, a phone-readable surface that reveals live tweets released by its visitors. While still a touch geeky, it gives a distinct taste of things to come, fuelled by mash-ups of location based services, augmented reality and powerful smart phones in the hands of  savvy consumers.

We believe that retailers need to embrace these new media and social channels by weaving them into the store experience to validate the brand, stimulate and inspire that judicious consumer and to tell more engaging stories about brands and products.