Bryan Pearson's Blog, page 4

Kroger, Ralph Lauren And The ‘Location Of Things’: Can AI Humanize The Employee Experience?

If there’s one thing artificial intelligence should teach retailers, it’s that their employees should know at least as much about their shoppers as the cameras tracking them.

Photocredit: The Kroger Co

That could be the case soon enough. More retailers are using cameras, beacons and other technologies to track how shoppers move through their stores, primarily to understand the shopper journey and to optimize the physical retail environment. This also could present new opportunities to pivot employees into experience engineers. If retailers aren’t already getting candid with their personnel about using the insights from these shopper-tracking technologies in real time, it’s high time they do.

Central to doing this effectively means getting the training right. Consumers frequently view the immediate and sensitive nature of AI-collected data with concern, which underscores the need for all team members — from digital natives to the newly aware — to understand how to responsibly and effectively use it. Training must be customized, much like the shopper experience is expected to be personalized.

One other drum-tight reason for customized AI training: It reduces turn over, which is essential for AI-enabled experiences. More than two-thirds of workers leave a new position within half a year, according to a recent report in Forbes. Of them, 23% said they might have stayed if managers had communicated better, while 21% blamed poor training.

Commandeering The AI Aisles

For now, tracking tech is designed largely to gather data that will help brands produce more contextually relevant advertising and offers. They entice shoppers back into the stores, where tracking networks guide them to other products they might want to buy.

This is where the employee is supposed to step in. The data collected from in-store tracking should empower workers to commandeer the customer experience in the moment, by improving knowledge not just of the products a store sells, but also of the customers’ preferences.

There’s even a term for the technology — the “location of things” — and it’s expected to be worth $71.6 billion by 2025.

The concept is not exactly new. Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus recognized the importance of meshing in-store tracking with associate training way back in 2012 when it tested a mobile app that alerted employees when a customer arrived in the store. The app also informed customers when their favorite associate was on the floor.

Among retailers looking into tracking tech today are Ralph Lauren, which plans to use beacons to note when shoppers enter and leave a store, as well as how they navigate it. And Walgreens is replacing its inventory systems with mobile computers and tablets by Zebra Technologies that enable employees to check planograms as well as look up product information and set up deliveries.

Kroger, meanwhile, is testing smart shelves by Microsoft that will include video analytics to help employees do their jobs better. The digital signs flash to show staff members items to be collected for Kroger’s curbside deliveries, and image-recognition cameras monitor when stock is running low. Sensors in the store’s cooler cases can alert employees if temperatures rise, preventing spoilage.

3 Musts For Employee AI Training

The challenge to putting these technologies to good employee use is ensuring they come off as helpful, not invasive. One approach is to train the staff to target shoppers already enrolled in a retailer’s rewards program. But they must know how to make the benefits of that data-sharing clear.

Here are three training guidelines, from the experts.

Consumerize the training. More organizations are approaching employee orientation as a “consumerized” process, from onboarding to learning the AI systems. This requires each step of training to be personalized. One method for doing so is by using AI-powered chatbots that are available around the clock. As explained in a recent story in Forbes: “For HR leaders peering five or 10 years down the road, the promised land is a comprehensive, personalized, artificially intelligent employee portal.”
Give them virtual assistants. Rather than replace employees, robots and AI could better the employee experience. In addition to training, AI-enabled chatbots can serve as digital colleagues that assist employees when interacting with customers, as described in Total Retail. “At a supermarket … if a customer asks about options for seasoning meat, a clerk might not have a recommendation offhand, but he or she could find an answer with assistance from a virtual assistant.” The same virtual assistants can store and process knowledge gleaned from employees for future customer identification and interactions.
Don’t forget the human touch. Retail technology can be pretty meaningless if not perceived in the context of humanity. Listening, understanding, caring — these qualities separate invasive in-store experiences from the helpful ones. A recent survey by the consulting firm the Retail Doctor reveals that 79% of 400 surveyed retail executives think in-store virtual reality and AI will improve sales, yet only 14% of shoppers said these technologies influence their purchase decisions. Employees should be regularly reminded to look, listen and empathize with their shoppers.

In the end, what bridges the gap between technology and purchase behavior is customer understanding. When employees can use the insights from AI and tracking devices to serve shoppers at the precise moment they need it, they make connections. And connections make the shopper and employee feel better.

That’s what leads to loyalty, and it’s something more cameras should be able to capture.

This article originally appeared in Forbes. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more on retail, loyalty and the customer experience.

CVS, Walgreens Find Toothsome Opportunities In Dental Health: Shoppers Should Be Grinning

A crooked smile can be very attractive to some; just ask CVS Health.

Photocredit: GETTY

The drugstore chain, along with its rival Walgreens, is upping its investment in oral care services, and in particular cosmetic dental care. CVS is piloting six service kiosks by SmileDirectClub, maker of invisible teeth-straightening kits, while Walgreens is opening offices operated by Aspen Dental in two Florida stores.

Bracing For Billion-Dollar Smiles

The overall global market for dental services and products is expected to escalate to $55.6 billion in 2023, from $41.1 billion in 2017. Leading the growth are retail dental essentials, such as specialized toothpastes, whitening agents and other cosmetic products.

Among recent projections:

The global cosmetic dentistry market was valued at $15.3 billion in 2018, and is expected to increase to $18.4 billion by 2025.

The global teeth whitening market is expected to reach $7.4 billion by 2024, from $5.5 billion in 2014.

The size of the global orthodontics supply market is projected to hit $6.6 billion in 2023, from $4.3 billion in 2018.

In a consumer-product world increasingly influenced by Instagram, these numbers are worth chewing on.

Dental Health Good For Trial And Wealth

Merchants beyond drug store chains are nibbling. Macy’s and Bed Bath & Beyond also sell SmileDirectClub kits, for example.

All of which presents opportunities for important vendors. Procter & Gamble’s oral care brands — Crest and Oral-B — generated 8% of total company revenue, or roughly $5 billion, in the last three fiscal years.  Volume sales rose in the single digits in 2018, P&G stated in its annual report.

And at Colgate, oral care represented 48% of its nearly $15.5 billion in revenue in fiscal 2017, the most recent year reported. That’s up from 47% in 2016 and 2015. However, Colgate’s North American market share in toothpastes and brushes declined in 2017 from 2016, it stated in its annual report, so it’s likely seeking opportunities to grow.

By offering dental care services, CVS and Walgreens attract shoppers who are more apt to be looking for new innovations in dental health. These stores could serve as excellent trial locations for new products. Even competing products.

Take at-home aligner treatments such as those offered by SmileDirectClub and which became popular after the launch of Invisalign in 1997. The number of competitors is rising after 40 of Invisalign’s patents expired in October 2018. In addition to SmileDirectClub, new competitors include Orthly and Candid Co., which in addition to its online business operates 10 locations.

Given the growth of competitors in the space, and P&G and Colgate’s desire to freshen and grow their market share, we shouldn’t be surprised to see line extensions designed to capitalize on these trends in the near future.

Behind The Veneer: An Industry Brush-Up?

There is, after all, overlap in the dental services now provided by chains such as Walgreens and products on the shelf. Most of us leave the dentist with a new sample toothbrush, a mini-tube of toothpaste and some fresh floss. What else might we need based on our visit? If the dentist (or tooth aligning service) is in a drug store, the retailer can offer its customers products that complement those professional services or, in some cases, serve as more affordable alternatives.

Take cosmetic treatments like whitening. If the retailer can carry an over-the-counter whitening option that is less expensive than those sold by the dentist, shoppers have more choices, and the merchant generates additional revenue. This could lead to intriguing new products for all shoppers. Among the on-shelf innovations that in-store orthodontia and cosmetic dentistry could inspire:

Whiten as you straighten. In addition to over-the-counter options, Colgate and other makers of tooth-whitening technologies could partner with aligner companies to include their teeth-whitening agents (albeit later in the straightening process when teeth no longer overlap). The uses of dental trays are plentiful. Heck, a French company has created a wearable toothbrush, described as a mouthguard with bristles, that can brush teeth in 10 seconds.
Straightening-pro ruby reds. Lip gloss and lipsticks, especially those applied to puffed-up lips, could leave embarrassing smears on tooth straightening molds; not a great Instagram look. Cosmetic-makers, which include P&G, can test technologies that would prevent their cosmetics from discoloring the dental trays. (And if they already don’t smudge, market them accordingly.)
Strengthen as you straighten. In addition to whitening agents, toothpaste manufacturers and the makers of invisible tooth aligners could partner to include fluoride treatments in the kits. These alignment-friendly treatments, which are often prescription based, also can be offered by dentists operating in stores such as Walgreens.
Aligner-friendly rinses. Aligner trays should be regularly cleaned, and companies such as Invisalign sell cleaning systems. However, there’s room for lower-priced alternatives, including improved mouthwashes that are “invisible aligner safe.” Such rinses should be clear, however, to avoid staining the trays.

Lastly, maybe — maybe — a big brand will come up with a special floss or toothbrush designed expressly to clean those hard-to-reach places in crooked teeth. At the end of the day, or the dentist’s visit, what matters most is that the customer is smiling, even if imperfectly.

This article originally appeared in Forbes. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more on retail, loyalty and the customer experience.

Just In Time For Valentine’s Day: 10 Lovable Retail Stories From Starbucks, Alibaba And More

Products that improve our lives, small experiences that elevate our emotions, people we may know for years — these are all commonalities of retail we tend to take for granted. It’s easy, and typical, to get caught up in the everyday challenges and shortcomings of the industry, but every day a retailer is accomplishing something pretty amazing.

Photo credit: Tiffany & Co.

Following are 10 extraordinary stories in retail worth falling in love with — five from long-standing legacy brands, and from young eye-catchers.

5 Old Loves That Still Shine

Starbucks’ loyalty flows. Thanks to a fiscal first-quarter boost, enough people are enrolled in the My Starbucks Rewards program to nearly populate Guatemala. The chain reported a 14% increase in reward memberships — 1 million, for a total of 16.3 million. It’s the program’s biggest gain in three years. In addition, Starbucks is testing a digital-only payment program that won’t require membership. With more than half of the nearly 4 billion loyalty memberships in the U.S. inactive, according to loyalty researcher COLLOQUY, My Starbucks proves loyalty can be done, and done well.
Tiffany & Co.’s diamond trail etches compassion. The storied jewelry chain in January launched an initiative to be more transparent about the origins of its diamonds. Through its Diamond Source Initiative, Tiffany traces and registers each diamond it carries of 0.18 carats or more, and applies a serial number that is etched by laser (invisible to the naked eye) to provide geographic sourcing information. “Blood diamonds” — those that are sold to support violence in Africa, are still being trafficked. Being shunned by a big name like Tiffany should help cut supply.
Stop & Shop rolls over for its customers. The east coast grocery chain Stop & Shop is delivering a small version of its stores to shoppers through a little vehicle called Robomart. The self-driving car blends new with old (one retail observer describes it as a meeting between Star Wars and the Good Humor truck), rolling up to the shopper’s home with a selection of store items including produce. It’s like a door-to-door salesman guided by click and pick technology. Most important, Robomart addresses our tendencies to make last-minute, unplanned purchases.
Aldi’s looking for fun in all the right places. The German supermarket chain Aldi proved its resilience when rival Lidl hit U.S. shores, expanding its organics selection, updating stores and improving its selections. And Aldi is proving it’s fun and creative as well as innovative. For Valentine’s Day, it’s promoting chocolate-flavored wine, although the product is apparently available all year long. Aldi also is launching a limited-edition line of cheeses, under its Happy Farms label, themed to the ‘80s. Total Eclipse of the Havarti, anyone?
Five Below rewarded for respecting its youngers. Led by former Walmart.com CEO Joel Anderson, the specialty chain that caters to pre-teens posted a 25% gain in holiday sales. Further, Five Below projects 2018 same-store sales growth (sales at stores open at least a year) of 3.3% to 3.7%, despite aggressive store expansion — largely in shopping malls. It’s a high-opportunity reminder of the power of young consumers and the riches that come to those brands (including Starbucks) that recognize and respect youthful preferences.

5  New Loves Stealing Our Hearts

Billie do be a hero, for women. Many of women’s personal care products, such as razors, tend to cost more than the men’s products that do the same thing. This is referred to as the “pink tax,” and it costs women more than $1,300 in additional spending, on average, a year. The direct-to-consumer women’s shave and body brand Billie, now entering its second year, could help eliminate that practice through fair pricing. A recent, $25 million investment led by Goldman Sachs should help ensure that effort.
TerraCycle puts sustainability in the Loop. Though not a retailer, TerraCycle’s latest endeavor is backed by retail brands, including The Body Shop and Coca-Cola. The company, which processes hard-to-recycle waste, has launched Loop, a shopping service that offers hundreds of products in reusable and refillable packaging. Even single-use items — diapers, pens and razor blades — can be recycled. Other brand partners, all of which have designed packaging for Loop, include Procter & Gamble, Mars Petcare and Unilever. The system will pilot in the spring.
State gives lessons in caring. For every bag it sells, this maker of backpacks and other carriers gives one backpack filled with school supplies to a child in need. State emerged from a camping trip. Its husband-and-wife founders noticed, while at a nonprofit summer camp they founded for children in underfunded neighborhoods, that many of the kids carried their items in ripped trash bags. Now State hand-delivers free bags to kids, so the child understands the value of giving, and also the brand that’s making it possible.
Alibaba’s open sesame for the visually impaired. Taobao, the online marketplace operated by the Chinese digital commerce giant Alibaba, is adding a feature to enhance online shopping for the blind and visually impaired. The technology, called Optical Character Recognition, not only reads text written on its web pages, it can also interpret text that appears over images, a capability many screen-reading software systems lack. Alibaba’s “Barrier-Free Lab” has been working on accessibility projects since 2011.
Brandless rolls over, releases the booties. Created to give price-sensitive consumers lower-priced (and conscientious) alternatives to many household essentials, Brandless is expanding its direct-to-consumer selection to one of the most essential, and costly, of categories: baby. Make that babies, as in the human kind and furry kind. These products, like all the others sold by Brandless, are free of 400 questionable ingredients so parents can sleep well at night.

With stories like these, the most visionary leaders in the retail sector should be able to sleep well at night as well, despite the industry’s many challenges. Sure, retail faces unprecedented change; it always will. But it doesn’t have to be for the worst. Retail’s many leaders will continue to contribute chapters worth falling in love with to its history book.

This article originally appeared in Forbes. Follow me on Facebookand Twitterfor more on retail, loyalty and the customer experience.

Retailers Are Redesigning For Experience, But What About Safety?

At many shopping malls, visitors interact with face-recognition kiosks, climb rock walls and indulge in soothing massages. But on one Sunday in January, hundreds of shoppers in Utah wanted nothing more than to find closets and bathrooms.

 

Photo Credit: Getty

That was the response to a gang-related shooting at Fashion Place Mall in Murray, Utah, which caused panicked visitors to take shelter in back rooms and elsewhere. Others fled the building.

Natural disasters, violence, even flash mobs — these events are becoming a pressing reality of shopping, even as merchants step up efforts to attract and enthrall customers. Retailers invested an estimated $3.4 billion in artificial intelligence alone in 2018 to enhance the shopper experience, but how are they safeguarding their stores, and shoppers, from potential harm that is becoming more common?

Turns out, many have been quietly doing that, without compromising the shopper experience. The National Retail Federation operates a microsite dedicated to emergency preparedness for crowd management, disaster recovery and active shooter situations. The global consulting firm Safe Shopping Centers, in Sweden, is dedicated to evaluating and certifying the risks and security of retail destinations.

Also, Home Depot and Lowe’s operate emergency command centers dedicated to tracking catastrophes and organizing relief efforts. Home Depot’s center includes trucks loaded with supplies from gas cans to batteries.

Retail Security Taking A Front Seat

Threats to physical retail environments have become prevalent enough to secure a session at SPECS Show 2019, a convention for retail planning, design, construction and maintenance, to take place in March. Titled “Building and Preparing for Threats and Disasters,” the session will include officials from Home Depot, the apparel chain Buckle and FEMA.

It makes practical sense. Large-format stores and shopping malls have open-access layouts, steady hours of operation and often draw predictably large crowds through sales events and hosted public activities. All of these factors put large groups of people in a vulnerable position in the case of a natural disaster or other emergency.

Among the events retail organizations are precautioning against:

Mass shootings. There were 340 mass shootings in the United States in 2018, according to the non-profit organization Gun Violence Archives. The number that took place in shopping centers is not broken out, but Wikipedia lists 27.

Natural disasters. While home improvement chains tend to benefit from natural disasters, retailers are not immune to the effects of hurricanes, fires and tornados. Hurricane Harvey caused an estimated $1 billion in damage to stores in Texas and Louisiana, and Hurricane Irma resulted in nearly $2.8 billion to retailers in Florida, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Bahamas.

Flash mobs. Coordinated via social networks, these quickly executed crowds can cause panic and injury, in addition to theft and damage. Chicago’s Water Tower Mall recently banned unaccompanied minors on Friday and Saturday nights to avoid disruptive behavior, including flash mobs. The decision followed a series of incidents involving young people, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

Cyber danger. Though typically associated with online retailers, cyberattacks that threaten physical harm can create panic in shopping centers. In the Russian city of Magnitogorsk recently, cyber criminals sent coordinated, anonymous bomb-threat emails to shopping malls, schools and hospitals. The event  occurred three weeks after a natural gas leak caused an explosion at a nearby apartment block, killing 39. No bombs were found.

Safety In Store: 5 Guidelines

There’s no window dressing for the potentially hazardous events that could befall shoppers, but they should expect safety. It’s just a matter of time before they recognize when it’s in place.

Following are five retail safety guidelines for shoppers and merchants, from the National Retail Federation, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence and Loss Prevention Media.

Appoint a team. A crisis management team is essential to ensuring every shopping center staff member knows his or her role as well as the roles of others, so they can react confidently in a crisis. Individual stores within shopping centers should have teams as well, and all should coordinate their efforts (more on that below).
Train, regularly. Shoppers are most safe when all staff, including tenants and suppliers, are trained not only to identify suspicious activities, but also to lead an evacuation and to use emergency medical equipment and safety systems. Response and evacuation drills should in fact be routine. Some emergencies, such as flash mobs, may require specific alert procedures to verbally or visually diffuse a potential disruption.
Learn safety words. Like all those SWAT teams and soldiers in the movies, regular shopping center workers could learn safety communication systems, including hand signals and actions, that enable them to size up the nature of a threat and act appropriately. Mall operators should further establish that security personnel will coordinate communications with state and local public-safety agencies, federal agencies, such as the FBI, mass transit and delivery companies.
Pick go-to partners. Mall and store operators should reach out to neighboring properties, such as schools, businesses, gyms and religious facilities, to ensure these locations would accommodate and provide shelter for fleeing shopping center visitors, as well as friends and family members who gather to reunite with victims.
Keep it clean. If shoppers can’t find the bathrooms because of signs, center-aisle displays and other clutter, then they shouldn’t be expected to see the emergency exits in a panicked situation. All areas — from the stores to the food courts — should be well lit and clear of blockage, for easy evacuation.

These precautions do not have to rob retail destinations of good experiences. Indeed artificial intelligence technologies, such as facial recognition, can help reduce the risk of threats while even enhancing the shopping experience.

Which is to say that retailers and retail tech developers should strive to get both — safety and entertainment — for the price of one. Because no matter how much is invested in interactive kiosks and rock walls, shopper well-being represents retail’s highest-returning investment.

This article originally appeared in Forbes. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more on retail, loyalty and the customer experience.

The Soup Has A Familiar Face: How Artificial Intelligence Is Really Changing The Store

If you think that freezer door just gave you a second look, you might be right.

Photo: Associated Press

In their efforts to eliminate marketing misfires in the aisles, more retailers are investing in ways to physically connect with their customers within their stores. From cooler doors that recognize a face to dressing room mirrors that can dim the lights, retailers are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) for one key purpose: to accurately anticipate customer behavior at scale.

This was a theme recently of the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York. Specifically, retailers are using AI, facial recognition and other advanced technologies for their physical tracking capabilities, to make better sense of the factors that influence shopper purchase decisions in real time. Shoppers benefit when retailers use these insights to redesign their stores and shopper experiences.

Amazon Go represents the beginning of this movement, using tracking technology to register what its shoppers pick up or put back on the shelf. Similarly, retailers are testing facial recognition to better understand how shoppers interact with merchandise, technology and displays.

The net result is that AI is mainstreaming, and producing points of data whose depth of detail enables unprecedented levels of shopper comprehension. The test is whether the technology will produce shopper loyalty.

3.4 Billion Votes Of Confidence

All this in-depth physical tracking is being blended with traditional shopper research, like purchase data, and therefore entering the store innovation plans of more retailers.

The retail industry is estimated to have invested $3.4 billion in artificial intelligence in 2018, outpacing all other industries, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).

Those retail investments are simply following the compounding availability of data, produced from smartphones, GPS and other computerized sources, which have dramatically elevated what AI can do.

For example, while traditional sales database systems track individual product purchases, AI parlays sets of purchase data into patterns and trends with the speed and accuracy unattainable by humans. Machine learning systems can correlate the data to identify specific habits, such as whether a shopper avoids red meat but buys organic chicken on a weekly basis.

Now expand that to scale: A national supermarket chain could use geographic data sets to predict how much organic chicken its shoppers will want across its network of stores, and manage its inventory accordingly. More importantly, rather than just promote chicken to these shoppers, the merchant can promote complementary items — rice, organic carrots, herbs or a baster.

Walgreens, Kroger And Guess Get Smart With Data

But how does this change the store, and the shopping experience? This is what shoppers can expect.

1. Advertising that opens doors. At Walgreens, AI may give new meaning to the concept of brisk sales. The drug store chain is testing a network of “smart” displays that embeds cameras, sensors and digital screens in its cooler doors, all to help marketers tailor ads for different types of shoppers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The cooler doors work like billboards, displaying ads targeted for approaching consumers based on estimated age, gender and the weather, among other variables. A teenage boy, for example, could see different ads than his mother. Using face-detection software, the technology can distinguish which items a shopper looks at and handles, helping advertisers determine if their promotions work.

Nestlé, MillerCoors and Conagra Brands are among roughly 15 companies looking to test the platform, made by Cooler Screens in Chicago. Meanwhile, Walgreens plans to expand the pilot to five stores in San Francisco, as well as to Manhattan and Seattle, by the end of January.

2. Suggestions that reflect your tastes. At Ralph Lauren’s flagship store in Manhattan, smart mirrors recognize the items shoppers enter the fitting room with and show them on the screen, then share other available sizes and colors as well as complementary items. They also adjust lighting to the shopper’s preference and can alert a salesperson to come to the fitting room. These mirrors spare the shopper repeat trips to the floor (for that different size) while helping the store make smarter merchandising decisions.

Similarly, the clothing chain Guess plans to pilot a store with Alibaba in China that’s outfitted with smart mirrors, smart racks and AI-enabled fitting rooms. The collaborative data gathered via mirrors and racks could enable Guess to monitor traffic patterns and product interest, to make more spot-on recommendations to shoppers, which in turn improves efficiency.

“Every item is enabled with Bluetooth low-energy chips, RFID and motion sensors, which enable all of our inventory to be tracked and analyzed,” Edward Park, senior vice president at Guess North America, told gatherers at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York recently.

3. More meaningful shelf life. The supermarket chain Kroger is partnering with Microsoft to make shopping hyper-personal, down to the product level. The team is testing stores capable of visually flagging items on shoppers’ lists at the shelf, so they can find what they need, take advantage of a personal offer and breeze through the store faster.

The system, in 92 Kroger locations, promises to customize the in-store grocery experience by matching the items shoppers enter on their app-enabled Kroger shopping lists to those on the store’s digitized shelves. When the shopper (identified through the app) approaches one of the items, a pre-selected personalized icon flashes.

The digital displays also can update prices dynamically and show tailored advertising — Microsoft’s artificial intelligence can predict a shopper’s age and gender, to more accurately customize ads to specific customers. The shelves also help store employees more quickly fulfill curbside pickup orders.

Nothing Artificial About The Price

Combined, these three smart endeavors add up to one highly important fourth benefit: smarter pricing.

When retailers can more narrowly determine which promotions work, they can adjust the timing and placement and target shoppers accordingly. Customers who tend to consider but opt against a splurge item, such as ice cream or organic chicken, may be surprised with a specially offered, reduced price.

All of which would result in more efficiencies, or lower operating costs, for retailers. Ideally, those savings would be rolled right back into more technology and services to make the shopping trip more enjoyable and, importantly, entice shoppers to return.

Put another way, the more accurate measure of customer loyalty will continue to derive from understanding the factors behind their purchases. Artificial intelligence is the door to that reality.

This article originally appeared in  Forbes . Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more on retail, loyalty and the customer experience.

Clean Beauty Can Be A Dirty Business: Beautycounter, Sephora And P&G Are Changing That

Here’s one term you can spell without the word beauty: Ethylenediaminetetraacetic.

Image credit: Getty

This agent, found in some beauty products, is on “The Never List” of potentially harmful ingredients the cosmetics brand Beautycounter prohibits from all of its goods. Other components include formaldehyde and phthalates.

It’s just a list, but by making questionable additives clear, Beautycounter captures the confusion — and controversy — of a burgeoning industry.

The business of clean beauty, part of the broader commercial wellness movement, is projected to generate nearly $22 billion globally in 2024, from $11 billion in 2016, according to Statista. Like all industries, it’s built on profit. Yet unlike all industries, it is not well regulated. And from there springs a credibility issue.

Consumers, particularly those experienced in the wellness category, will not tolerate a fake — and they’ve got enough social media outlets to bring one down. So Beautycounter, as well as Sephora, L’Oréal and others, are tasked with having to prove themselves.

The best way to do that may be by helping consumers make better decisions, rather than dictating what is right for them. A brand can do well selling small amounts of hard-to-find products to an expanding customer base. The tall order is maintaining exclusivity of product, and authenticity, in an industry that is flourishing.

Verifying 70,000 Products

Contributing to the clean beauty credibility challenge is that it’s not a category of its own. It contributes to a growing, $1.1 trillion global market for wellness-based beauty, personal care and anti-aging goods and services, according to the Global Wellness Institute.

An industry of that size is no longer a niche. And while size alone does not diminish the legitimacy of individual players, the prevalence of product makes it difficult for each brand promise to stand apart. And there’s also the risk of being associated with brands that do not live up to their promises.

More practically, products that are available everywhere are no longer special. Consider that nearly 70,000 products are listed on the “Skin Deep” database of cosmetics operated by the Environmental Working Group, a 25-year-old organization that tracks and rates chemical safety in cosmetics. Of the 70,000, EWG has verified just 1,250 do not carry chemicals of concern (what it deems hazardous or ingredients that have not been thoroughly tested).

Another key challenge of the clean beauty movement is the Food and Drug Administration is not empowered to regulate the beauty industry (beyond color additives). It’s up to individual companies to ensure their products are safe. As a result, clean beauty is heavily promoted by social media influencers and celebrities, not scientists, doctors and government agencies.

Sephora, L’Oréal, P&G: What Have You Got To Prove?

So how does a clean brand, large or small, stand apart and profit? The best approach is likely to start modestly, avoiding mainstream marketing until sales volumes reliably indicate where and how to approach shoppers. Online sales, for example, will inform where physical stores will most likely succeed.

Beautycounter sets a good example with The Never List. It’s a simple promise that shoppers can understand and to which the brand holds itself accountable. (Similarly, the clean beauty merchant Credo provides a Dirty List.)

Here is how mainstream beauty brands and retailers are proving their clean credibility.

Procter & Gamble goes environmental. The maker of Pampers and Ivory decided the best way to clean up its Herbal Essence shampoo was to partner with the group rating its ingredients. So rather than rely on their own safety research, scientists at P&G worked with the Environmental Working Group to overhaul the line. The result: The first EWG-verified products from a large company, Herbal Essences Bio:Renew sulfate-free shampoos. By aligning with EWG, not merely getting its verification, P&G assures customers it will change its practices to make clean products.

Lush, CVS preserve. After studies suggested a link between parabens and cancer, the cosmetics merchant Lush chose to play it safe and replace the preservatives with other ingredients. Lush did this even when a link was not found, conveying to its shoppers that it would rather invest in an unnecessary reformulation than risk their health. CVS Health as well is removing parabens and other chemical ingredients from nearly 600 private-label products, in keeping with its efforts to transform from a drug store chain to a wellness company.

Sephora seals it. In June, the help-yourself beauty chain Sephora introduced a clean seal, which designates products to be free of a range of ingredients yet to be proven completely safe, such as parabens, certain sulfates, formaldehydes and Further, its Clean at Sephora web page lists all safe-designated products by category, streamlining the process for shoppers while providing the confidence they are in a toxin-free zone.

L’Oréal backs up care with science. Along the lines of overall wellness, the international beauty giant L’Oréal is releasing tech-enabled beauty devices, through its La Roche-Posay brand, that track UV exposure and pH levels in the skin. Its My Skin Track UV and pH wearable devices will store skin data on mobile apps, enabling the users to manage exposures. Recognizing that knowledge is power, L’Oréal is giving its customers control of their decisions, while proving itself as an ally in their health — a good foundation of believability for its own paraben-clean products.

Above all, brands should not forget the most essential ingredient to authenticity, which is truth. If merchants are to successfully embrace clean beauty, they’ve got to provide credibility the oxygen to survive.

This article originally appeared in  Forbes . Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more on retail, loyalty and the customer experience.

 

Home Depot Is Rehabbing The Shopper Experience. Can Other Retailers DIY The Same?

If there’s one retailer that can install a window of opportunity for all merchants by improving its own shopper expectations, it might be Home Depot.

Photo courtesy of Home Depot

The chain is in the midst of an ambitious strategy to unify online and offline operations — a plan that may have been a key contributor to the 9% increase in overall home-improvement product sales during the holiday season. And Home Depot’s plan, if it is indeed fortifying industry sales gains, could alter shopper expectations across the board.

This is because Home Depot’s integration strategy is designed to hone in on what shoppers want most: synthesized access, product availability and pinpoint delivery — not an easy task when many of the items purchased require a forklift to unload. But Home Depot’s five-year plan to create a “one-store” experience for shoppers, fittingly called One Home Depot, appears to be delivering on its promise in the early stages. Home Depot recently increased its fiscal 2018 sales projection to 7.2%, from 7%.

The coming year will be the true test of the program. Home Depot was fortunate to begin implementing its “one” plan when low unemployment gave homeowners the financial confidence to invest in renovations. In 2019, it could have to prove how well the model works despite economic conditions. The ways in which shoppers respond could represent an opportunity for all retailers.

Home Of One Big Idea

Home Depot’s effort to create an all-in-one presence necessitates the need, faced by all retailers, to provide a seamlessly interactive online and offline experience.

Among the components of its plan:

Enhanced search and navigation: Home Depot invested in more efficient online search functions, more direct communications with its delivery team and other upgrades to improve its digital transaction results. Combined, these efforts enable Home Depot to narrow package arrival times to two- to four-hour windows, an option especially important to its time-is-money professional customers. In some cases, the company has said, it will have a forklift waiting on site to unload.

Streamlined delivery: By restructuring its supply chain and distribution, Home Depot can now reach nearly 95% of the U.S population with parcel shipping in two days or less. The goal is to reach 90% of the population with same-day or next-day delivery. Again, this is essential for its professional customers who spend more than DIY shoppers. Also, in some instances, the customer may want to shop online and then pick up their items in the store for speed and convenience and to control timing. Home Depot also rolled out car and van delivery to more than 40% of the U.S. population.

In-store work: Home Depot has updated store signage in nearly 700 locations to make it easier to find items, and it is investing in pickup lockers for click-and-collect online orders. But key to in-store success is product availability. To this end, Home Depot has implemented replenishment strategies that include an application enabling workers to quickly see if a sought-after product is in overhead storage (previously, they would have to look for it manually). So far, Home Depot has reduced the number of out-of-stocks among top-selling items, per store, by 24%.

28% Site Improvement

Items that are in stock are more likely to sell, and they evidently did according to Home Depot’s fiscal third-quarter results.

Sales in the period, ended October, rose 5.1% to $26.3 billion (by comparison, Lowe’s third-quarter sales rose 3.8%). Online sales rose 28%, driven by revenue from buy online, pickup-in-store transactions. And purchases of more than $1,000 — many of which are made by professional customers — rose 9.1% in the quarter, to represent nearly 20% of U.S. sales.

As a result, Home Depot’s earnings advanced 36.4% in the quarter, to $2.51 per diluted share from $1.84 the year before.

For the year, which will end Jan. 31, Home Depot projects 7.2% sales growth and earnings per share of $9.75.

Building Out Shopper Expectations

Maintaining this outlook requires that Home Depot consistently satisfies, even impresses, its shoppers through its improvements. As it builds out its One Home Depot strategy over the coming years, this is how Home Depot will reframe what shoppers will come to expect from all retailers.

Out-of-stocks will be a brand deal breaker. Home Depot is not creating a new standard by ensuring its products are in stock; it’s simply recognizing that shoppers no longer have to wait for goods that are not available. The expansion into the home improvement category, from Amazon to dollar stores, translates to more readily accessible purchase options for all.
Shoppers will expect their questions answered immediately and with authority. Mobile apps will not only enable store workers to swiftly determine if products are in stock; they will enable shoppers to have direct communications with knowledgeable representatives. However, the key word here is knowledge — regular training and trust must be in place.
Stores still matter. Many purchase decisions are still made in stores, so products must engage at the shelf. An aisle of lumber can include visuals that solve common structural challenges or inspire add-on projects. Also, shoppers picking up online orders may realize they need something else once there, so the front of the store should include merchandise that not only tempts, but anticipates needs.

Lastly, whatever changes a retailer adopts for its shoppers, it should make them synonymous with its brand. Like a kitchen island or walk-in shower, these options may be available elsewhere, but it’s their regular use that makes them personal. Shoppers need a compelling reason to return.

This article originally appeared in Forbes. Follow me on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and my  blog  for more on retail, loyalty and the customer experience.

Is 2019 The Year Of Paid Loyalty? Lululemon, CVS and Loblaw Are Game To Find Out

It might come in the form of stretch pants, presidential surprises or advice from a pharmacist, but more retailers are wagering that their best shoppers will pay for the privilege of loyalty.

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Just ask Lululemon, CVS and Loblaw. These retailers are testing paid loyalty program memberships, both as a way to compete with the likes of Amazon Prime as well as to give their members an air of distinction.

When the average American holds memberships in nearly a dozen reward programs (based on 3.8 billion U.S. memberships, according to the COLLOQUY Loyalty Census) charging for the privilege of rewards may be the most effective option for exclusivity. Loyalty memberships have become so commonplace that the perks members once cherished as special – birthday gifts, free upgrades and the like — are increasingly seen as entitlements.

The result: More retailers will likely begin experimenting with fee-based loyalty program memberships in 2019.

Lululemon Stretches Rewards, CVS Prescribes Attention

What makes the Lululemon, CVS and Loblaw programs noteworthy is that they aim to make shoppers feel special expressly because they are willing to pay for that distinction. In short, they’re servicing an emotional need.

In return, these members have access to benefits that have tangible and emotional value. Among the tests:

At CVS Health, a few extra bucks can buy a privileged customer phone-time with a pharmacist. In November CVS introduced CarePass, a Boston-area pilot program in which customers pay $5 a month, or $48 a year, for special offers and direct pharmacist access. Specifically, members get free delivery within one to two days on most prescriptions and purchases, 20% discounts on certain CVS Health-branded products and $10 in monthly promotional rewards.

The perk that sets this program apart: It gives members round-the-clock access to the CVS pharmacist helpline, through which they can speak with a pharmacist about their medications and other healthcare resources.

Lululemon’s pants used to reveal skin; now they reveal status. The seller of yoga and workout gear is testing a pricier membership loyalty program — at $128 a year it’s more than Amazon Prime. In return members of the program, which piloted in Ontario, Canada, get a free pair of pants or shorts, free expedited shipping and access to workout classes and special events.

Response has been encouraging. Lululemon plans to expand the program to other test markets and it may even raise the membership fee. “We actually feel we can increase the price to the value of the program and the additional services it offers,” Calvin McDonald, Lululemon CEO, recently told analysts. “Most of the first half of 2019 is going to be tinkering with the program.”

Loblaw Cos., the Canadian grocery chain, is giving members of its fee-based program presidential surprises. PC Insider — an extension of Loblaw’s free PC Optimum program — charges $99 a year (or $9.99 monthly). For that members get free online grocery pickup and delivery, an extra 20% back on certain purchases, a home-delivered box of Loblaw’s President’s Choice items; and an annual $99 credit for PC travel bookings.

These last two perks — because they extend beyond the predictable task of shopping — distinguish PC Insider from typical reward programs. The initiative, launched as a test in 2017, proved successful enough that in December Loblaw expanded availability to all PC Optimum members.

Will They Pay Off? 3 Measures

Regardless of the fees collected in each of these programs, their success hinges on the perceived value of the advantages. The shine of exclusivity, even in the forms of grocery-funded travel and 1 a.m. prescription advice, can diminish once shoppers grow accustomed.

After all, fee-based reward programs are not new. What is new is the digital and e-commerce environment in which they are executed. For example, the former Chapters book retailer in Canada (now Indigo) years ago launched a fee-based program, iRewards, entitling members to discounts on book purchases. The goal was to create a “best customer” program structured to make economic sense to those who bought the most books and would thereby benefit financially from the program.

Today, retailers can be more targeted and specific because their operating environments are digital and they have a plethora of data to mine. This allows them to create offers incorporating elements of personalization, accessibility and service not possible before. So membership appeal may be broader, but retailers shouldn’t be surprised if the fee still does not attract the majority of consumers. What matters is attracting those Pareto “80/20-rule customers” who represent the majority of sales and profit.

Here are three ways retailers can keep interest, and fees, alive.

The perk has to have relevant (and controlled) value. Sometimes, the benefits shoppers are willing to pay for include necessities they simply don’t want to be bothered with, such as product pickup and scheduling. Many shoppers would just as soon have someone else manage it. Same goes for the consultations with CVS Health pharmacists about new prescriptions and other needs. When shoppers can have these consultations on their terms and at the times that work best, it puts them in control.
It has to make them feel smart. The paid benefits don’t have to be labeled, but they should be meaningful enough to awash members in feelings of genuine exclusivity. Those “free” Lululemon pants or shorts are like uniforms that separate the paying members from the others, as is access to member-only workout classes. Yet at the same time these benefits are inclusive — available to anyone who deems membership important enough to pay for. This means “smart” also should indicate financial sense — the advantages should carry intrinsic value greater than the fee.
It has to include an element of surprise. All perks, fee-based or free, have a shelf life, and shoppers will grow bored of some of them in time. However, shopper insights gleaned through purchasing data, opt-in surveys and other feedback can provide tips on new rewards that will keep the program fresh. Loblaw’s curated presidential surprises are a good example, though it may find that occasional refresher packages will be necessary to keep interest alive.

Generations of shoppers have proved they are willing to pay for privilege. Privilege, however, evolves. Once the retailer connects with the customer via this strategy, and together they shape and advance the expected experience, then they both will realize that the cost of entry is secondary.

Class of 2019: The Most Promising Retail Concepts On The Horizon

They may not all succeed, but a new class of merchants deserves an “A” for at least one notable accomplishment: They tore up the old retail guide books and rewrote what the industry should be.

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These feisty young startups emerged in the wake of thousands of store closures in 2018, taking advantage of operational oversights and outdated merchandising concepts. They put underused resources to work, broke down basic human needs into emotional concepts and eliminated many of the more tedious aspects of shopping.

And the products they sell, for the most part, aren’t the least bit new. They, like emerging merchants before them, just fine-tuned what has been fine-tuned. Here’s to retail’s class of 2019.

Allbirds shoes. This sneaker brand has been getting notice for classic yet contemporary-looking styles that eschew labels and glitz in favor of earth-friendly materials and practical designs. Rather than synthetics, these sneakers are made from bountiful wool — but that’s just the start. Other materials include recycled bottles, castor bean oil, tree fibers (Including eucalyptus pulp) and sugar cane. The price points are pretty sweet too, at $95 for most styles.

Aurate jewelry. Jewelry buying can often be intimidating for the buyer, so most merchants focus on the event from the vantage point of problem-solving — sparkly things mean love, heart-shaped things mean commitment, etc. Aurate — which operates four stores as well as online — stands apart by treating all jewelry buyers as educated and responsible shoppers. It lets the designs speak for themselves, while it speaks to sustainability and resourcing. Aurate tracks all the diamonds it sells, for example, and its 14k gold is sourced from conflict-free suppliers.

Away luggage. Away describes its luggage as “thoughtful,” but it’s also mindful of its commercial role. The pieces are lightweight, highly maneuverable and with optional built-in batteries that can be ejected before checking the bag for flight. That’s great for the traveler, but Away also wants to leave an imprint as it travels the world. So it has partnered with Peace Direct, a nonprofit organization building peace in areas of conflict around the world.

Burrow couches. When you live in an apartment in the city, moving furniture up sharp-angled stairways can be so prohibitively arduous that some renters pass on major furniture pieces, such as couches. Casper mattress recognized this issue with its pop-up beds, and Burrow followed in 2017 withits ready-to-assemble couches. No tools are needed to put together these handsomely designed pieces, which come in varying sizes and arrive in easy-to-transport boxes.

Batch lifestyle products. Batch is like a retail lab for up-and-coming designers of home décor and lifestyle items, with the result being an entire room in a box. Online, one can purchase a fully appointed room or even an apartment at a reduced-package price. A kitchen/dining area with table, chairs, tabletop items, cutlery and even cookbooks carries a package price of $4,000, while individually the items would sell for $5,423. At its San Francisco shop, Batch immerses the shopper in carefully appointed living spaces where every item, down to the shoes in the closets, is for sale.

Glossier beauty products. Created by a group of beauty editors, the online-only Glossier sells cosmetics that are formulated in-house and designed for practical, “pared-down” use. The focus is on the product users, not on marketing, so the website, the messaging and the packaging is minimized (why pay for a box and throw-away applicator?). All of this helps keep costs low and accessible to Glossier shoppers.

Helix mattresses. The boxed mattress concept so astutely recognized a consumer need that it is now a successful retail segment, which means the players need to stand apart from each other. Helix does so by customizing its mattresses based on the buyer’s sleeping style and preferences. It starts with an online “sleep quiz” that gauges the number of sleepers per bed, their sizes, how they sleep (back, side, toss-and-turn) and the degree of back pain with which they wake. Helix then suggests mattresses (at varying price points) to meet those needs.

Ministry of Supply apparel. It’s not stretch pants, but Ministry of Supply is aiming for the stretch-pants feel with its dress clothing, engineered to move like we do, even in the office. The maker of men’s and women’s apparel aims for what it calls “performance professional” with clothing that duplicates the capabilities of workout apparel. Its scientifically designed pants, shirts and suits are wrinkle-free, breathable, unrestrictive and (in some cases) even heated. It’s the answer to yoga pants at work, with taste.

Privé Revaux sunglasses. Celebrity-allure is a characteristic of sunglasses, but the founder of Privé Revaux wanted to make the correlation direct. He seeks the input of influential celebrities and David Schottenstein, Dave Osokow, Jamie Foxx, Ashley Benson, and Hailee Steinfeld are all co-founders. Yet the glasses, of which there are more than 100 styles, can be purchased by pretty much everyone, at a flat price of $29.95 a pair.

Yumble meal kits for kids. The meal kit industry struggled in 2018 as it tried to find a big enough market of consumers willing to spend a little more money for pre-prepped food they’d still have to cook themselves. Yumble differs in that it identified a very specific, and painfully relevant, need: feeding fussy kids ages 1 to 12. The best part for busy parents: Meals, such as chicken pops (think healthy nuggets) and Holy Moly Ravioli (served plain), arrive fully cooked.

These startups prove that in retail, raising one’s hand for attention is not enough — you’ve got to stand on the desk and shout out your answers. It’ll get noisy, and some may not be standing as tall by the end of 2019, but each brand in this class of merchants is worth recognizing and even shopping.

This article originally appeared in Forbes . Follow me on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and my  blog  for more on retail, loyalty and the customer experience.

8 of 2018’s Best Retail Trends: Learning From Kroger, Walmart, Lidl And Others

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We walked into the retail year with our eyes fixed on the latest shopping app craze and our hearts set on exotic concepts. We walk away with thousands of shuttered stores behind us and an unsated quest for wellness, youth and fun.

Retail in 2018 was in many ways like fashion — a parade of frivolity that’s temporarily exciting, relieved occasionally (thankfully!) by a few practically patterned concepts. Several floundered (meal kits are still looking for a home; virtual reality makes people nauseous), but a few ideas did gain footing, and they will guide what shoppers can expect in 2019. Here are eight trend takeaways from 2018.

1. The youth will always rise – but we shouldn’t ignore their parents. The oldest members of Generation Z, the first digital natives, are now college grads. That means they are already becoming highly influential consumers. Among their traits, they are bargain hunters, favoring thrift shops and dollar stores to malls. Not surprisingly, then, they are savers. Retailers that offer reward programs should appeal to this generation with practical membership perks, such as direct discounts or savings and free shipping.

At the same time, retailers shouldn’t overlook this young generation’s parents, and the parents before them. Baby Boomers and Generation X shoppers are experienced consumers who are willing to try new brands and often have more money for discretionary items.

2. In a lot of retail areas, we still follow the globe — and that’s OK. From eye-tracking product ordering to remote-controlled vending machines, retailers in much of the world are ahead of U.S. merchants in areas such as artificial technology, self-checkout and biometrics. However, it’s not so much because their technology is advanced as it is because their consumers are more open to trying these emerging features. Consider that the world’s first virtual store, in which 3-D avatars were created from scans of shoppers’ bodies, opened in South Korea in 2007.

These efforts get a lot of buzz, but buzz doesn’t pay the bills and some of these expensive technologies could lose their appeal before they pay for themselves. In Asia, where populations are so dense one store can serve as a test market, such trials may make financial sense. In the U.S., merchants might benefit from partnering with these foreign merchants first.

3. Yet U.S. shoppers have much to teach foreign merchants — just ask Lidl. In June 2017, the German discount giant Lidl entered the United States with expansion plans that threatened its German rival Aldi (already in the U.S.) and most other retailers that trafficked in value pricing. But by January 2018, Lidl said it would curb its planned expansion sharply and acknowledged mistakes in its aggressive expansion plan. Among the missteps: It failed to recognize American preferences for items such as prepared foods, and its stores were bigger, more complex and more high-end than shoppers apparently wanted, possibly because it aimed to be the opposite of Aldi.

U.S. merchants, including those that have tried to expand into foreign markets themselves (such as Walmart), could learn from the causes of Lidl’s retreat. With more non-food merchants such as fuel stations and dollar stores entering the grocery category, both in-store and online, grocery retailers need to better understand their customers and address those needs not filled by other players.

4. Walmart is still — and will continue to be — full of surprises. In 2018, Walmart made a bet it could win both fashion-forward consumers and its price-conscious core. It did so with aspirational new private-label brands, a sleeker website and a partnership with Lord & Taylor (following its 2017 purchases of catchy names including Bonobos and ModCloth). It wasn’t Walmart’s first run at winning the higher-end shopper, but this time it succeeded. Walmart’s third-quarter profits and revenue exceeded expectations, and it raised its financial performance outlook for the year.

Walmart knew from experience that even with its size, it had to build slowly to change. It carefully accumulated other brands such as Bonobos to gauge shopper reaction. When it redesigned its website experience, it started with home furnishings — a category that encourages creativity, planning and dreaming. As Lidl learned, it pays to put the shopper ahead of product, service and even revenue.

5. Technology is not fun enough, and shoppers just want to have fun. In their earnestness to wow customers with interactive apps and in-store ordering kiosks, many retailers overlooked that shoppers weren’t having fun. In fact, research revealed people were 1.4 times more likely to have fun at work than shopping.

Turns out that the tools that enable more convenient shopping trips, even bigger baskets, do not always encourage longer stays that promote relaxation, inspiration and entertainment. Shoppers want to feel good about themselves; to discover treasures and see beauty. These are elements of fun.

Merchants including Kroger are striking a balance: Its order-and-pick-up services are complemented by exclusive, in-house restaurants and unexpected merchandise, like apparel, so shoppers can experience more of life’s surprises.

6. Analytics is still a baby. Nurture it. Retail is among the oldest industries, but when it comes to technology, it can learn a lot from “toddler” businesses. EBay proved so much when it adopted an analytics model similar to that of Spotify’s music-streaming. Its app service, called Interests, uses questionnaires to build personalized home pages that feature themes and products selected for each shopper. Similarly, Instagram tinkered with its algorithm so its member posts are ranked by engagement levels, not chronology. The same can be accomplished with online shopping searches.

There are other, older industries from which retailers are learning about data optimization. Delta Air Lines has used heart-rate monitors to track the heartbeats of volunteers at 11 stressful moments along the travel passage. Similarly, the hotel chain AccorHotels is testing heart rates to more accurately predict the destinations its loyalty members are most likely to love

7. Retail continues to take the temperature of cross-industry diversification. Sales may be king, but more retailers have come around to thinking that merchandising “stuff” alone may not be enough to flourish. This is evidenced in CVS Health’s recently introduced virtual MinuteClinic Video Visits, and in Nordstrom’s “Local” store concept, where shoppers gather to visit style consultants. Shoe discounter DSW features nail bars at a test store in Columbus, Ohio, and Office Depot is giving more floor space for business technical support rather than office supplies.

These brands have figured out that fitting into the shopper’s busy life means offering goods and services that resolve life-consuming needs. Understand the community, understand the shopper.

8. Sustainability is not a fad. The hottest renewable resource in retail is becoming food and fabric, if 2018 is an indication. Major retailers are exploring ways to reduce billions of tons of costly food waste in part by changing perceptions about perishability and eliminating the fear associated with “expired” foods. Apparel brands ranging from REI to Burberry, meanwhile, are recycling their used, damaged and returned goods to appeal to cost- and conservation-conscious shoppers.

These merchants are investing in selling items that otherwise could have been discarded and forgotten. And for doing so, they are more likely to be remembered among the shoppers because they are given the choice to keep using their goods. Call it recycled imaging.

 

Re-imaging will be in high style in 2019, as well, from ongoing efforts toward personalization to digitizing the shopping trip. But regardless of how elaborate the retail design, shoppers will find their places in these images, and they will determine the outcome.

This article originally appeared in Forbes. Follow me on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and my  blog  for more on retail, loyalty and the customer experience.