Brand image : Hublot store bets on new technologies
Innovation is the nexus of retail marketing, especially when it comes to the differentiation of points of sales (POS). Innovation often comes first from the top, i.e. from premium brands which have the money to invest in new technologies. Today we’d like to present you an innovation we spotted in the Hublot store of Place Vendôme, in Paris. Hublot is a watch brand that belongs to the LVMH group and is currently headed by Jean-Clauve Biver,...
This store window is interactional … but not digital
The Converse store in Berlin has a very nice and creative idea to make sure people and prospective customers are attracted in the store. Let’s have a look at what they did. The problem with most store windows is that they are very static. This is especially true for clothes. Windows look “dead”. Digital technologies enabled to bring some life and made windows more attractive for customers. Yet, going digital has a price that not all...
Vuitton creates once again attractive store windows
Louis Vuitton is an example for all retailers in terms of store windows design. You may remember what we called the most beautiful store windows in the world, displaying golden dinosaurs on the Champs-Elysees. The LVMH teams work not only on designing amazing widows, but also on having an homogeneous implementation worldwide and on changing windows often (see another example here). Never before have retailers put so much emphasis on store design. The quest for differentiation...
1/3 of hospitality firms could die. So what ?
A press conference was recently organized by the union of independents to denounce the expected negative effects of the black boxes in the so-called Horeca (HOtels – REstaurant – Coffee shops) sector (in other words the sector of hospitality). As a short reminder, these black boxes are devices to be implemented in the cash register of stores to eradicate the possibility to make black money. Jean-François DONDELET, the president of the union of independents (SDI), said...
Retailing: fighting browsing shoppers is wrong. Here’s what you should do.
Browser consumers are not new. Academic papers dating back to the 80’s are mentioning this behavior and called for researching it. posing what retailers consider being a great threat to their business. Today however they actually pose also the question of the survival of the brick-and-mortar retail sector vs. online retailing; browser consumers are visiting stores and then buying online, an option which didn’t obviously exist 30 years ago. Retailers feel threatened by what may appear...
SIAL 2014 : and the winner of the innovation award is …
You don’t need to present a new drink or a new food product to win the first prize of innovation at SIAL. The innovation is also about everything what revolves about consumers and new ways to consumer food. We already dealt with the nomadic market trend in an earlier article and this year’s innovation prize fits perfectly into this trend. This award rewards an individual who has understood what marketers call the “customers’ pains” and that...
Marketing strategy : Hello Bank launches a pop-up store in Brussels
Pop-up stores belongs to the marketing toolbox as a promotion instrument. Fact is that they have been usually used by brands in the fashion sector to promote a collection, raise awareness in conjunction with another event (for instance the Fashion week), or to touch customers in some particular areas. Pop-up stores are much less used by players from other sectors and that’s why the initiative of Hello Bank (a brand of BNP Paribas) is so interesting....
New pop-up stores project : weekly update #2
As we announced last week we are finalizing an online initiative to store and maintain accurate and up-to-date information about the best pop-up stores worldwide. This initiative is a kind of POC (Proof Of Concept) to test our ideas to build a larger website on all new ideas, innovations and creative development in the retail world. We chose the retail world on purpose because it’s moving fast and represent approximately 50% of the companies. We also...
Pop-up stores: what do they reveal about the future of retail
I’ve received several interview requests during the summer to discuss the future of retail. In today’s article I want to share with you my thoughts about pop-up stores, a (relatively) new forms of retail that reflects changes in our world and changes in the way the consumers behave. 1999 : the start of the pop-up stores It seems that the first pop-up store opened in 1999 in Los Angeles. The word pop-up meant at that time...
Differentiation: A bookstore paints a dictionary’s page on its facade
Getting future customers’ attention is difficult. Consumers are subject to thousands of auditory, visual and olfactory cues every day. Retailers must be very creative to differentiate themselves. A book store in Brussels has found an interesting way to be different, yet still coherent with its positioning. Exterior and interior identities aligned with the store’s marketing strategy The Ptyx bookstore collaborated with Edena and Art-Mural to paint 68sqm of façade with 7 portraits and ca. 2400 letters...
La Minute Retail : the future of retail and the impact of digital technologies
When you manage a blog about marketing you necessarily have to cover many different areas of interest. Retail is one of them. And what do you do to get new ideas, insights and keep up with the latest news in your field? You read others’ blogs. Laminuteretail belongs to my shortlist of blogs to follow. It was launched a little but more than a year ago by Anthony Leroy, a young and passionate marketing enthusiast living...
Augmented Reality used at BMW flagship store. Guess for what …
BMW has opened a while ago a flagship store in Brussels which welcomes some top-notch models as well as temporary exhibitions. Currently it hosts an exhibition dedicated to the i8 electric car on the first floor. On the second floor some more “regular” models are exhibited along with a range of interaction devices. Among them a very interesting (and quite entertaining) augmented reality device. Get into the engine The augmented reality device is located just between the M3...
Will Boco revamp the food-served-over-the-counter sector?
BOCO is one food-served-over-the-counter concept that is currently attracting a lot of attention in Paris. Launched by the Ferniot brothers (Simon is a business guy who has sold his latest food complement company; Vincent is a well-known journalist and TV guy), BOCO was first started in a corner street of Avenue de l’Opera in Paris. I met with Simon Ferniot on a Saturday to discuss the genesis of their business idea, their future plan, and the...
“Les Causses”, an example of successful retail concept
Sometimes I feel fortunate. I do a wonderful job, have a lot of wonderful clients, advise a lot of very different businesses. And on top of that I meet inspiring entrepreneurs when going on market research tours. The story of Alexis Roux de Bezieux During our last tour in Paris I met with Alexis Roux de Bezieux who launched “Les Causses” a tiny upscale proximity store selling food and drinks. Alexis was kind enough to give...
How design can help increase your revenues
The Paris Chamber of Commerce organized this year a contest dedicated to the best design initiatives in retail environments. As we explained in an earlier post we started taking appointments and visiting as many stores as possible that applied (even if they didn’t win a prize). We started our tour with one of the winners, a dry cleaner called “H20”. We met with Bruno Benizri, the founder of the company who, in the meantime, opened another...
Delhaize seems to be happy about the results of The Cube barcodes scanning campaign
When Delhaize launched The Cube earlier this year we were warning that it wouldn’t be as successful as expected. However in a recent press release Delhaize said it was a success and that online sales increased 22.6%. So in the end, who tells the truth? As we explained in our post Delhaize got its inspiration from Tesco in South-Korea, the online sales of which had increased 130%. As you can note there is already a...
When the consumer interacts actively with the store window
To follow up on our latest post on future store windows, we publish today this example we found in Portugal in an ICT store. Located at the bottom of an office building in Lisbon, this store proposes a window with an integrated touch screen. It’s more than a tablet; it’s actually a technology that has been used extensively in the industry and in automation for years. This technology is now made available, thanks to increased customer...
Has Delhaize already given up?
We reported a few weeks ago about the innovation launched by Delhaize in Brussels to allow consumers to shop “virtually”. The “Cube”, as it is called, had been installed in the Central Station in Brussels and we were were skeptical about its chances of success because it was a mere copy of an innovation launched in South Korea where the context and the literacy of the consumer with mobile phones are totally different. What we found...
The most beautiful ways to display products. Part 6: Patrick Roger
Patrick Roger is a chocolate maker who has become pretty famous in France. He won the France Best Craftsman (“Meilleur Ouvrier de France”) contest in chocolate making. Unlike most winners Patrick Roger opened several shops with a vision. What I mean with vision is that the Patrick Roger’s shops have an underlying concept and visual identity which is stronger than that of other brands. Take for instance Marcolini, which I visited a few days before. It’s...
Delhaize launches virtual shopping innovation in Brussels
Tesco started it in South Korea in 2010; Delhaize is doing it now in Brussels. Four boards depicting 300 products were set up last week in Brussels Central Station, allowing travelers to order products with their smartphone. Each product picture is accompanied with a barcode and Delhaize mobile app allows the shopper to scan and get the products prepared for delivery at his/her favorite Delhaize supermarket. Home Plus (Tesco) was the first to test this new...
Repetto’s store in Paris: always a pleasure to visit
Do you know Repetto, the world’s famous ballet shoes? This old-yet-modern brand has always something to surprise me. This time, passing by their store of Rue de La Paix, I was amazed once again by the creativity they showed in their showcase. I let you admire this work of craftsmanship which depicts very well the origins of a brand which has been adopted beyond the boundaries of the ballet world. You just have to see the...
The coffee capsules war will not happen
Sara Lee launched last year its Nespresso-compatible capsules. In Paris only 100000 samples were given for free. In August Sara Lee announced that they had reached the 100m$ revenues with this product. Still, the question remains for me whether this can be considered a success. Last year we already challenged this assumption on our blog and we are confirming our analysis today. What if this result was only the consequence of a temporary switching from Nespresso...
Paul bakeries: when service and brand image do not match
Paul … an oasis of gastronomy in a culinary desert. Everything is made to remind you the long forgone past of tasteful products: sales point are covered with oak-like veneer, decorated with pieces of furniture that could fit in your grandmother’s interior. Even the door of the garbage room is painted in an artificially aged green lavish veneer. All those clichés work pretty well I must confess. Paul is like a Starbucks. If you want to...
Sara Lee vs. Nespresso : missed target
When I attended the “stratégie clients” show in Paris two weeks ago, I heard Julien Morel, the COO of Nespresso, explain how Nespresso was able to keep its market share in spite of new players like Maison du Café (Sara Lee) and Casino. While in France I went to a supermarket to test the Sara Lee capsules by myself and I’ve got an explanation. Sara Lee’s coffee is simply not as good as Nespresso’s. From a...
Experiential sensory marketing at IKEA
One of the amazing researches presented this year at EMAC was authored by Bertil Hulten (University of Linneaus, Sweden). This research, entitled « The Influence of Smell and Vision upon Touch » was carried out at IKEA in Sweden and aimed at studying the behaviour of consumers (especially their purchase patterns) when their senses were triggered. Bertil started explaining the difficulties he faced when trying to convince IKEA to accept the idea of this experiment. The Swedish...
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