andadigital-blog

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Here’s to the end of a great superbike season. Roll on the next one!

This year’s adventure supporting the World Superbike Championship has reached the end of the season with the final race in Qatar this week.

And it’s been quite a ride! Smartsign’s sponsorship has allowed us to mix pleasure with business. We’ve helped enhance the experience for VIP attendees with digital signage that has kept guests informed and entertained, and in the process invited some of our own customers and top reseller partners to share the excitement.

Working with Yamaha’s Crescent marketing agency the &Alchemy Digital team conceived and set up 55” Samsung Tizen screens to showcase Yamaha products. The screens were perfect, both for the Yamaha’s display area and to present Yamaha’s latest commercials for their motorbikes, scooters, boats and engines in a contemporary way.

For many of us, as well as our guests, it’s been a glamorous initiation into the thrilling world of top-flight 150 mph international superbike racing. We’ve enjoyed VIP trackside entertainment in Australia, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and UK, whist providing some technical support and installing some digital signage along the way.

 We look forward to further involvement next year, and hope we can take along even more of our special partners and customers. For those who are interested, just let us know.

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&Alchemy Digital is proud to announce its uk partnership with mappedin, a perfect complement to our partnership with Smartsign

&Alchemy Digital is delighted to announce its UK partnership with Mappedin, a world leading GPS and wayfinding company that offers seamless navigation around indoor spaces and is opening up our physical surroundings to new digital possibilities.

Mappedin digitizes indoor layouts and uses an interactive mapping platform that makes local navigation easy, keeps venue maps right up to date and delivers real time news and information to enhance visitor experiences across fixed and mobile channels.

Already used by global REITs and shopping mall giants like US based Simon Inc., Mappedin has just completed a deal with Apple to hasten indoor mapping across the world.

This partnership will accelerate the digital transformation of our physical spaces to provide visitors with more customized, frictionless, and informed experiences, and retail providers with opportunities to improve services and introduce operational efficiencies.

With more retailers already investing into Apple’s ecosystem, Mappedin’s deal to support Apple Maps, introduces opportunities that go beyond the functionality of wayfinding. Retailers will be able to integrate detailed customer tracking with sales data for superior customer analytics and will facilitate back-room efficiencies in retail design and stock management. It will enable AI enhanced proximity messaging that ties in to user preference data for more relevant and personalized information. And perhaps best of all, it opens up AR opportunities for gamification that will keep us non-shoppers entertained whilst our retail-therapist partners go bargain hunting.

We welcome this partnership because it directly supports our mission to transform experiences in the physical world through digital signage. If you’d like to learn more about Mappedin either visit mappedin.com or contact us for an introduction to its possibilities at info@andalchemy digital.com

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How to use digital signage to ’Survive & Thrive in Retail’

We were delighted to speak about our expertise in digital management at a recent breakfast seminar hosted by the Sandyford Business District in Dublin: ‘How to Survive and Thrive in Retail’.

Apart from the obvious lesson not to reacquaint your relationship with Guinness the night before giving a breakfast seminar, a key takeout from the early morning talks was the importance of basing retail activity on customer-focused planning - a prerequisite to our own planning process.

David Fitzsimons, CEO of Retail Excellence Ireland @RetailExireland, spoke about designing store layout, and the importance of an open and inviting atmosphere to create an enhanced customer shopping experience. Our partner Patricia Kearns of Focus Marketing @focusmkting, emphasized the need to think about the audience’s use of platforms and what they will want to listen to and see, when embarking on social media activities.

From our side, we introduced the importance of the customer’s journey in planning a digital signage presence. Retailers should consider how their customers’ external digital journey blends into the physical world and how the shopper passes through their store, to help determine how digital signage can fundamentally enhance the customer’s experience and tactically, where to place screens and what messages to display.

To find out more about customer journey based DS planning, or for a copy of our presentation, email info@andalchemydigital.com

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Smartsign in Stockholm: Combining viking hospitality and hard work

Packed with warm winter jackets and ready to embrace Viking hospitality, we flew in to Borlange, Sweden last week for two days of sales meetings and training with leading CMS provider, Smartsign.

The first day involved advanced training on Smartsign’s platform for Peter (CTO), Mike (Director UAE) and Sean (Founder and director UK). Our instruction introduced us to some of the deeper and latest extensions to the platform’s capabilities - capabilities that are very user focused and will be very well received by customers across our markets.

Days 2 and 3 were hosted in the beautiful city of Stockholm. Long hours of work followed by evenings of great hospitality allowed us to better understand the Smartsign operation and get to know more of the team over here. Their combination of intelligent and practical technology and focused support has proven a winning formula across more than 30 countries. They’re already number one in the Nordics. And we return from our trip ready to repeat that success in the UK and across the UAE.

So, imbued with some great ideas, promises of even greater technical support and excited by the prospect of global growth ahead, we head back like fired-up Vikings for another great week ahead!

To find out more about Smartsign’s capabilities and potential, send a request for more information to info@ndalchemydigital.com.

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Lydia’s Log

Hello! I am our own mystery shopper. And I’m going to unfold my shopping experiences to you, with a particularly critical eye on digital retail service.

I am 40 something, average to high earner, healthy, of average size and I’d say and average shopper, sometimes watching the pennies, other times giving in to temptations thrown at me in store that override the power to walk out empty handed.

My job is in digital retail and I, along with my colleagues are attempting to disrupt this industry, the suppliers, players and stores themselves. But why? We are not here to change the way people shop, that can’t be changed, we cannot be changed. It is far simpler than that.

I am the customer, everybody in the western world between 16 and 90, able bodied and of reasonable-great health is the customer. So what matters most to them? That they are happy, healthy and financially comfortable if you could sum it up in three.

The majority of females fitting in or around my specs would agree that shopping is a nice thing to do, it makes us feel good, retail therapy, a window of opportunity to focus on no.1. But it can also become a bad experience very quickly. I won’t touch too heavily on this negativity, but there are characteristics of a bad experience that retail stores need to address. This is bad for business.

How do I shop?

Do I go into the high street or mall with intention to buy one or two particular things? Yes. Do I 99% of the time buy more than intended? Yes.

I can speak for the majority of shoppers by saying we are always tempted to buy more when we are in store than online, because of the exposure to sights and smells that make us feel good, topped with friendly staff complementing you on how good you look in that dress. It makes us feel better about ourselves (women maybe more than men ;-)). It’s a very good thing for bricks and mortar that our psychology leads us down this path.

So look out for my logs, if you’re interested in the customer’s perspective on digital delivery.

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Lydia’s Log

I want to talk about my high street. I was in a dangerous mood for my wallet today, it’s Friday, I’ve been paid and I’m going away for the weekend. I’ve checked there is NOTHING in my wardrobe to wear, so I set out for a very quick shop for a long sleeved comfy top, around £25 maximum.

I went into Jack Wills, I like the shop, the brand makes me feel young than I am, the building is old and cottagey, and some perfect fodder for a weekend in Devon. So a navy puffer tank it was. Nice staff, a pleasant experience. At the tills, I knew they would ask me for my email address because I bought there at Christmas. It is policy that you cannot purchase from this store if you do not leave your email address, moving to digital receipts, a good idea. I recalled my experience at Christmas. It was busy in this cramped low ceilinged building. Long queues at the tills partly because they are wrapping crazy, one girl for each till dedicated to just that! The lady at the adjacent till was only wishing to purchase a pair of socks, when asked for her email address, she very nicely said she didn’t want to, and can she just pay for the socks. After some red faced banter back and forth, the young check out girl had to call in the manager who continued to try to convince the lady it is a good thing, digital receipts are the way forward but she refused (a matter of principal now). It was getting embarrassing, no one was enjoying this experience, just let her pay for the socks damn it! And let her go! Terrible management style, but more importantly, terrible strategy. OK, yes we all would like digital receipts, paper is out, but this is the wrong way to go about it.

Next, White Company. I love the smell, it’s clean, fresh and very comforting. I would definitely buy more there if it wasn’t just a bit too pricey for me. The clothes feel great, but are a bit boring for that price tag. I note how I should never bring the pram in here, narrow aisles.

As I left, I wished I was passing a coffee shop before Jigsaw, could really have done with one.

So, Jigsaw, love it in there. Beautiful Georgian building, wooden floors, and nice clothes. I ended up staying longer than intended, scouring the well-arranged rails with mixes of gorgeous summer dresses, clothes for work and casuals. So, I was on a casual hunt, but the sights, smells and feels I was experiencing made my brain decide that I needed more, so three items it was. None of them over £100, so I felt OK about the purchase. I went to the tills, and a discussion started about the thin long sleeved top I was buying being perfect under a big coat in winter, who wants to overheat while they are buying? The big doors of the store were wide open, so heat was not a problem in here, perfect purchasing temp.

The girls were very friendly commenting on how they have the same top, made me feel like I wanted to shop for more, so I asked for my size in a blue jacket I spotted that would be perfect for work and with jeans (which of course she pointed out too)! So I was back into a lovely big changing room posing in my skin tight denim jeans and boots...it was perfect enough to justify the £189 price tag! Now, I was thinking loyalty. I have been a great customer, she will ask... and there I was filling out a postcard with my email address. I don’t mind, I consider my packed full Hotmail account for a second, but she does hint that I will receive special offers! Great!

I was heading back to the car, ready to go now. I was thirsty and needed to get home to check emails. However, my car was parked outside Accessorize.

That’s OK because the things in Accessorize are cheap, I thought. So, I just popped in to have a quick look for a big bag to put my new purchases in. I quickly realized there wasn’t one I wanted, but it’s nice in there, lots of stuff to browse and buy, we always need more earrings, scarves etc.. so I did a sweep and bought a discounted oversized scarf, a ring and some hair clips for my daughter. I was extremely tempted by the knick-knacks at the till, and so added a few other little bits to my trawl. I remembered my loyalty card which was amazing because I normally leave it in a draw or bottom of a bag. It took a good few minutes for the lady to process my order on her computer, eventually asking me to insert card and enter pin. Bugger! It was over £25, can’t do contactless. But I was happy with the 20% discount, and for me, certainly not a regular customer and would never rave about buying at Accessorize. Pure geographical positioning got me in.

I mentioned that if I had my 2 year old with me, my experience could have gone bad very quickly. This is something the store does not have control over, but is there scope to consider a solution? One shop on my high street, an expensive designer trader, has a sofa and a TV with cartoons on! Genius! I would go there more often if it wasn’t so pricey. Creche and nanny service is probably a bit too much to ask, but wouldn’t that be something?

I also mentioned one of my pet hates is in winter I start to overheat while browsing and I don’t want to take off my coat because I think I’m going to go in a minute and I need hands free. Now, had there have been a coat hook, or better still, a member of staff took my coat and hung it up for me, then I would surely have stayed longer browsing in my new cool space.

Undoubtedly drinks and food are included in the overall shopping experience in some café or pub. Now, just because you are a clothing store, WH Smiths, there is no one out there saying you can’t provide water, coffee, chocolate, glass of champagne (carried away;-)). A seat, wifi? Too much to ask? How many millions are you spending on furnishings, technology? When a glass of water will do! I don’t want to sit in a café on my own, I just need a quick refresh. Think BA business class.

Loyalty...loyalty... This word was created for the business of retailers to force them into giving something back. Hoorah! It is rare to find a store without some kind of loyalty scheme. I am not going to go into how this must part of the digital strategy, because it is essentially the point I am trying to make in these blogs and will cover in greater detail in my conclusions.

I know who I am and what I want out of shopping. I want to enjoy it, for it to fire up a small amount of endorphins, and at the end of the day to not burn such a big hole in my wallet. I want a store to consider giving something else to me apart from a smile. Entertain my child with CBeebies in the corner, give me a refreshment of some sort, inspire me, convince me of the brand.. what else do you do? Give me loyalty discounts, easily and right now, make paying seamless, and turn down the heating.

Success?

Yes.

It was the right time to shop, although spontaneous and a little risky, I actually really enjoyed it, and not so good a time that I spent too much.

There are two factors that = happy customer; those a store has power over and those that they don’t. Nowadays, the store designs are amazing, cost plenty and rightly so, it is first impressions that last. I want to focus on what happens after that, after that first purchase and beyond. We are fickle beings and make up our minds in a flash. Life is too short, we are too busy to linger and be uncertain. Let’s put some of these thoughts into context.

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Digital Deserves Strategy

Digital decisions should be based on the full business picture and not taken in isolation.

Think strategically before ordering another piece of digital hardware or software.

It’s classic. We see a new piece of impressive technology and spend more time on how to fit the technology in,  than how  fits strategically.

Before contacting any suppliers, companies should address the strategic contribution that new technology investment will make – or not. And then work out how to match the right technology to match that objective.

All too often, what drives thinking and selection, are budgets, jazzy product functions and feature, size of screen and logistical issues. What is often neglected is whether the end customer’s shopping experience will genuinely be improved and how new technology can integrate with other touchpoints, such as web, mobile, print, for a seamless customer journey and presentation of the brand.

Companies will enhance the success of new digital purchases if they:

Introduce some magic with the logic – imaginatively consider the impact on customers and how to further enhance with smart deployment and creative content

Decouple and connect components for more relevant deployment, for the right reasons. Plan related types of supplier by need, don’t simply pick them on LinkedIn

Think #day2 – consider data and how to use to drive optimization and improve the relevance of the messaging for customers

Define what ‘personalization’ means to your business service – is this per customer or per store or by territory - offer the right profiling to match your retail DNA

Science behind design - single execution or creatively zany campaigns are not ‘cool’ anymore…deeper relevance in the design is cool

&AD believe this approach will help set up digital channels to deliver the right message, at the right time, for the right reason, to the right audience, to instigate the right engagement, and so ensure digital makes a proper strategic contribution to business success.

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The Village Shop

Technology now means retailers today know as much about us as village shopkeepers did in the past. We all live in a digital village.

We know that retailers know a lot about us. And like earlier village inhabitants, we expect the same personable treatment that village shopkeepers have always offered their local customers.

Our record as customers, digital footprints and data trails are visible and often voluntarily rendered. But despite this, many companies are not connecting this data across their digital touchpoints (web, mobile, in-store) to personalize their messages in the informed and personable way that they could.

The ubiquity of technology and its access, has created a democratic expectation of service. What the likes of Apple, Amazon or Nike do, sets a standard for companies across all industries, because we have all experienced it. Specialist knowledge and cost of delivery are no longer barriers. Competitive pressures will ultimately prevail, but we suspect that customers are getting impatient, and companies are missing an opportunity to achieve significant competitive advantage..

So why do so few companies provide a personalized, supportive digital shopping experience?

In our opinion, it’s down to managerial inertia

Connected, personalized digital customer service requires a coordinated digital management approach. It’s outcome will impact Marketing, Sales and IT and therefore cannot sit under any one of these functions. It also requires the authority to affect the way these functions operate. Setting up a new capability internally, would involve changes that can challenge roles and responsibilities. Bringing in outside contractors to set up new operations and then hand over, might be an expedient solution, but still requires acquiescence that is difficult to manage, especially as it means paying for a service that everyone believes can be done internally.  

When talking to companies, there’s always a recognition of the need to improve – to deliver a more personalized digital experience, in store and even at basic web and mobile levels – but also “you’re not telling us anything new” and a lot of obfuscation and reasons why it hasn’t happened along with an imaginative failure to grasp the potential to generate fabulously helpful and connected shopping experiences.

The solution; be more imaginative, braver and assertive. Once the capability is in place, it’s a lot easier organizationally, to administer and update.