Sales communications of tomorw

The UCO of the week: Lidl Micromarket
The UCO of the week: Lidl Micromarket 2560 1593 Altavia

Lidl recently launched a new communications campaign known as the Lidl Micromarket in Sweden, the idea being to encourage its most loyal customers to host a 100% Lidl meal for friends at home.

 

Open a small Lidl store at home and you, too, could become a ‘Lidler’! This is the unique opportunity that the German brand has decided to offer its most loyal customers in Sweden. The Lidl Micromarket is based on the concept of offering regular customers the opportunity to become ambassadors for the brand by hosting a 100% Lidl meal at home with friends who are not yet convinced by the brand’s promise to be “high on quality, low on price”. And fear not, for the brand has everything you need for this cosy meal with friends covered, from fresh food for a 3-course meal for up to 6 people to Lidl-branded clothing, baseball caps and store signs and even a Spotify playlist!

 

This is a fine example of Lidl’s strategy for making itself stand out from the competition in a country where the brand is battling for position behind long-standing players ICA AB and Co-op Food, banking on creativity rather than conceding to massive marketing expenses.

 

The Lidl Micromarket initiative portrays Lidl Sweden not only as a useful service provider, offering fresh food on a modest budget, but also as a pleasant store that can really help you to enjoy life with your loved ones.

 

 

Discover Lidl’s quality and low prices

The Lidl Micromarket drive-to-store campaign aims to enable more Swedes to discover the quality and low prices that Lidl offers. The initiative has all the ingredients of an influential marketing campaign, including a community of ambassadors that are being called on to evangelise their friends, a series of fun and quirky mini-ads on YouTube, and videos created by these ambassadors that will then be incorporated into the advertising campaign, among other things, all of which have proven to be effective tools that the brand is now using to boost its loyal customer base.

 

 

Using relational value to more effectively boost transaction value

The Lidl Micromarket campaign is a comprehensive and creative initiative that gives Lidlers and their friends the opportunity to enjoy some quality time together sampling good fresh produce – a cosy evening of indulgence that they will remember for a long time to come; a powerful experience that will fuel in some cases and inspire in others a certain attachment to the brand. Physical retail, albeit recreated here in a private home environment, is, of course, the ultimate setting for fostering such connections.

 

Lidl Sweden is therefore focusing on relational value in its attempts to more effectively boost transaction value, and if the gamble pays off, friends who were formerly skeptical will be shopping in-store themselves the next day.

 

 

Thierry Strickler, Retail Market Intelligence Lead at Altavia.

The UCO of the week: Picture Organic Clothing ‘Ride, protect and share’
The UCO of the week: Picture Organic Clothing ‘Ride, protect and share’ 2560 1456 Altavia

Picture is the Auvergne-based eco-friendly outdoor clothing brand that is enjoying well-deserved success with its range of 100% recycled, organic or bio-sourced products.

 

Julien, Jérémy and Vincent, three friends originally from Clermont-Ferrand, decided in 2008 to create an outdoor clothing brand that was 100% committed, eco-designed and part of a sustainable development approach. “The textile industry is responsible for about 8% of global CO2 emissions”, they point out, meaning that they found themselves facing a sizeable challenge.

 

As far as the three entrepreneurs were concerned, it was a matter of stepping off the beaten track by using innovative and lower-impact materials and processes such as organic cotton, polyester recycled from plastic bottles, scraps of technical fabric that could be reconditioned and reincorporated into the linings of certain products, and new technical materials created from plants (bio-sourced materials), among others.

 

Picture is also about fair and ethical production, with respect for workers, supply chain knowledge and the source of the electrical energy used being key aspects of the company’s approach.

 

 

Bold trailblazers that brought together an entire community

Julien, Jeremy and Vincent are three entrepreneurs who are somewhat activist, relatively visionary and above all very bold and who have come up with a new way of navigating the outdoor clothing market. The trailblazing businessmen have established a presence in a highly competitive market since 2008 through a clearly implemented environmental approach that spans their entire product range.

 

Picture was a sort of DNVB (Digital Native Vertical Brand) before its time. Originating online, the brand immediately forged close ties via the web with a community of customers who embraced its values of “Ride, Protect and Share. Everything is connected. We ride the spots that the planet offers us and we share these moments with friends, but we also want future generations to be able to enjoy them as much as we do”, the brand explains.

 

But whilst the brand may have originated online, it went on to develop through an increasing number of its own-brand physical stores (in Annecy, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Les Deux Alpes, Hossegor and Biarritz), shops-in-shops and concessions. Picture now has an international presence spanning 30 countries and comprising 700 points of sale, allowing it to take its offering to its customers, who in turn are happy to be able to feel and try on the various product ranges the brand offers, and therein lies the key to its success.

 

 

Thierry Strickler, Retail Market Intelligence Lead at Altavia.

UCO (Unidentified Commercial Object) of the week DIZY: ‘Putting you in the designer’s seat’
UCO (Unidentified Commercial Object) of the week DIZY: ‘Putting you in the designer’s seat’ 1774 693 Altavia

Start-up Dizy – a contraction of the words ‘design’ and ‘DIY’- was born in Roubaix in January 2019. Its aim? To offer sustainable modular furniture and to put customer creativity at the heart of the commercial relationship.

 

“Become a dizyner”

Lamps, coffee tables, shelving, benches, desks… you name it, you design it! That’s basically where the appeal of Dizy, a start-up recently launched by Vianney Sauvage and Augustin Poncelet, lies.

 

The brand actually sees itself as a supplier of parts that can then be assembled based on the customer’s own design and reflecting their own tastes and needs. “Creating your own truly unique lamp or a trinket tray is just so … well, izy!”, the brand claims. This new concept reflects the customer’s restored faith in their creative talents and allows the brand to establish quality relationships with its customers by involving them more in the design process, which ultimately results in greater customer satisfaction. After all, Dizy aims to showcase the individual’s creativity to its full potential, the idea being to choose from a selection of 36 modular parts (lampshades, legs, crossbars, trays, etc.) to bring their piece to life. From bowl-lamps to lamp-desks and even benches-come-clothes rails, no two UDOs (unidentified design objects) are the same, giving you complete control over your own decor. “The furniture is assembled and dismantled without the need for any tools, rather like a building block game”, explains Thierry Strickler, Retail Market Intelligence Lead at Altavia, “and as well as the really fun aspect of the online configurator, the experience can bring back some truly precious childhood memories for some people”. 

 

 

 

 

Nothing gets thrown away – everything gets repurposed

As well as giving customers the opportunity to create their own furniture, Dizy is keen to ensure that the items created are built to last. “It’s much easier to become attached to something that you have taken the time to design and create with your own bare hands”, Mr Strickler explains. “It’s a great way to ensure that the pieces created will have a lasting place in the home, thus avoiding this idea of planned obsolescence”. The modular nature of the parts used, which can be assembled in a different way to alter the function of the object, also helps to lengthen its lifespan. In fact, 95% of the parts that Dizy uses can be reused to make other pieces of furniture (by converting a coffee table into a bookcase, for example).

 

 

 

 

Recyclable and ‘Made in Local’

Dizy is also a committed company that is very much in tune with the growing ecological awareness on the part of its customers, and with this in mind the start-up takes an environmentally-friendly approach to product design, choosing sustainable and recyclable materials for both its products and its packaging. What’s more, 100% of its parts are manufactured in Europe, with wooden components (sourced from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources) produced in Portugal and any components made of metal (a resistant material that can be recycled infinitely) designed in France. “Dizy offers an alternative in a what is otherwise a highly standardised furniture market that is yet to make much of a visible commitment to the environmental cause”, Thierry explains. “Camif is, in fact, one of the few players to have really made any sort of commitment in this respect”.

 

Dizy is all about assembling pieces and designing furniture; a new way to shop, and to create pieces you’ll truly cherish.

 

On craft & creativity: hand in hand towards more impactful campaigns
On craft & creativity: hand in hand towards more impactful campaigns 1600 892 Altavia

 

Big ideas don’t come easily. And even when you’ve stumbled on that one idea, it’s only when you apply the right amount of highly skilled craft that you make your idea pop. Pelle Craen, Creative Director at Altavia ACT*, shines his light on how craft lies at the heart of impactful creative work.

It all starts with an idea

The client has explained a business problem, the creative team has been briefed and they start ideating like mad men. The wheels start turning and it takes a serious amount of pondering, wandering, wondering, imagining until you feel you’re finally onto something. The one idea that you’re convinced will solve the client’s problem – or at least think you’re convinced.

 

 

But you’re just getting started

Got a big idea? That’s great. Now how are you going to make it concrete and understandable, so it impacts the consumer in the blink of an eye? How are you going to make sure that its design, its wording, its messaging… is on point? That’s where craft comes into play: the mastery of the specific arts needed for the project, from art direction and graphic design to copywriting and even technology.

 

 

It’s a matter of craft

The better the craft, the better the mastery, the higher the level of the finished product, and the bigger the chance your original idea will actually stand out from the crowd. Great craft allows you to dig for details and get every single thing about the work one hundred percent right, so that it impacts consumers more thoroughly and resonates longer with them.

 

 

Finding meaning and added value

Of course, it works both ways, as not even the best craft can save an uninspired idea. The idea should come from a true insight and must be developed with a clear purpose in mind. Great craft then allows to build further upon the idea, creating even more added value. It’s what you could call the golden triangle: finding the perfect balance between idea and craft to achieve maximum impact.

 

 

Craft requires dedication

Twisting, turning and sweating until you get the craft of every idea right: it needs to be embedded in the DNA of your creative team – and the entire agency. Everyone has to be on board, be equally dedicated and ambitious to keep improving their craft and keep challenging each other. It takes dedication to keep pushing forward until you come up with something fresh, greatly crafted.

 

[wproto_heading text=”About the author” tag=”h2″ header_line=”false”]

Pelle Craen

 

As a teenager Pelle discovered he had a thing for words. In his twenties he started playing with them and it actually landed him a job as a junior copywriter. As the junior became a senior, things got serious, and by his thirties he was doing freelance work for agencies and brands aplenty.

 

 

With a proven track record in both strategy and copywriting, Pelle took the creative lead at Altavia ACT* in 2017, on a mission to make impactful campaigns for clients such as Proximus, Goodyear, Nespresso, BNP Paribas Fortis, Shell, Rémy Cointreau, Tom&Co, Makro and AG Real Estate.

 

 

He’s known as someone who digs for purpose, and sinks his teeth deep into every mission. In his spare time he likes to pretend he can sing. He loves his wife and dog more than he loves advertising. And his favorite word is hottentottententententoonstelling. Don’t ask, it’s a Flemish thing.

 

GDPR: Fidzup, an exemplary case
GDPR: Fidzup, an exemplary case 1665 897 Altavia

 

 

On 19 July last year, the President of the French Data Protection Authority – CNIL – issued Fidzup, which specialises in generating in-store traffic, with a formal notice for failure to adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Following several months’ work, the start-up launched a consent management platform that was perfectly in line with the Commission’s requirements. The sanction was lifted and Fidzup became a pioneer. Here we meet Olivier Magnan-Saurin, co-founder of the start-up.

It all began in September 2017…

The CNIL actually performed an audit of Fidzup in the autumn of 2017 and informed us that the consent we were obtaining with regards to the gathering of data was not “explicit and informed”. This triggered a series of exchanges of information and documents, before Fidzup was given an official formal notice on 19 July, around two months after the GDPR came into force.

 

 

What aspects did the CNIL request that you change?

It wanted us to review the consent that we were obtaining from end-users to access their location data.

In actual fact, Fidzup only gathers location data – the smartphone’s advertising ID or Wi-Fi login details, GPS location data, etc. Such data is of a non-personal nature since it includes no names or surnames, no addresses, no phone numbers and no email addresses. The CNIL, however, does consider this to be personal data on the grounds that it can be cross-referenced against external databases to reveal that the individual’s identity.

 

 

What action did you take?

The CNIL didn’t make any specific requests and, as we understood it, it was down to us to produce the text and the window that would be displayed to end-users in order to obtain their consent.

 

After our initial proposal was rejected by the CNIL we decided to work on a multi-partner window that would allow us to obtain consent not only for Fidzup but also for other players. We decided to offer a comprehensive list that would really be of help to publishers. We contacted the IAB, an organisation made up of online advertising companies. With their help, and on condition that we respected the framework in which consent was being sought, we obtained access to a list of members. As a result, we offer publishers the opportunity to obtain consent for over 500 partners through a single window.

 

We officially informed the CNIL that the work that we had undertaken seemed to meet the requests they had made in early October, with the platform now fully complying with the requirements of the GDPR. The formal notice was lifted on 29 November.

 

 

This consent platform has helped establish Fidzup as a pioneer…

Exactly. This multi-partner window has been perfected right down to the last detail. Fidzup it is now able to gather data with compliant consent, as well as supporting those publishers that so wish in ensuring their own compliance by offering access to its own solution for obtaining consent that will reflect the relevant regulatory changes. Of course, we are also committed to working solely with publishers who are GDPR compliant.

 

We are currently the only player in the drive-to-store market to have obtained both formal authorisation from the CNIL to do what we do and a sufficient volume of data to effectively support our clients in their campaigns thanks to a database compiled in accordance with the GDPR.

 

 

Colour management in Japan: progress for the sake of survival
Colour management in Japan: progress for the sake of survival 1717 1093 Altavia

The standardisation of the graphic chain is inevitable. Whilst some countries, such as Japan, have their own interpretations and adopt traditional methods, some players are working towards improving and standardising colour management practices. This is certainly true of Yukiko Inoue, who became General Manager of Altavia Japan in 2016.

 

What was your background prior to joining Altavia Japan?

My career began in Japan, where I worked in design development for the American and European markets at Hello Kitty. This gave me the opportunity to discover the world of graphic art and familiarise myself with the way in which the Japanese people work. I then went on to spend 15 years in France, where I got to know more about European design and layout methods.

 

 

And it turns out that the Japanese and European methods are really quite different…

Absolutely! Just a few years ago, before I met Hervé Lyaudet, who was Workflow and Colour Manager at Altavia Paris, I didn’t think there was anything to rival the Japanese way of working. After all, they are renowned for their reliability and discipline. But I wasn’t yet familiar with the secrets of colour management!

 

The method they tend to use in Japan, namely the press-proof method (whereby the proof is made directly on the production machine, the offset press) is hardly ever used in Europe any more. The advantage of the press-proof as often used in Japan is that the printing process doesn’t have to be particularly well fine-tuned since it is the data that is modified to achieve the correct outcome. Imagine asking a musician to play a piece of music on an instrument that’s out of tune and him deciding to change the notes on the score to make it sound right rather than simply tuning up his instrument! That’s a good representation of the problems we encounter.

 

In Europe, we prefer to adjust the presses in accordance with ISO recommendations rather than modify the data, essentially tuning our instruments rather than changing the score. We also have a clear advantage in the form of the FOGRA, of which the Altavia group is a member.

 

 

How would you illustrate the difference between the methods, for example?

In Europe, printers are adjusted in accordance with an ISO standard and process (PSO), the aim being to standardise printing machines against the same target. This makes it possible to simulate what the combination of offset presses will produce by means of digital proofing, among other things. This being the case, it is possible to achieve a good-quality print using the same file, regardless of the target country. The end result is a lot more unpredictable in Japan, despite the existence of the Japan Color certification system. It is virtually impossible to correctly print an image that has come from Europe without it requiring a great deal of manual intervention, which presents major problems in terms of cost and production time. We in Europe have ultimately switched from a subjective colour control system (the human eye) to an objective system (colour measurement device) – something that is very rarely used in Japan.

 

 

What weaknesses do you see in the Japanese method?

Firstly, the quality that it produces is questionable. Images for international clients are shot and approved in the home country and the aim is, of course, to reproduce the selected colour, but owing to the methods used in Japan (which involve little or no colour management) this requires a great deal of time (effectively altering the score rather than the instrument). Furthermore, images are always viewed under very low-quality, non-ISO lighting, which distorts perception. For us as Europeans, these methods are not considered viable. What’s more, they have a significant environmental impact, not to mention the fact that they are time-consuming and expensive.

 

 

To what do you attribute this lag?

The Japanese are very hard workers and love to learn, but the language barrier is a real hindrance, which explains why Japan finds it difficult to import new technologies. The strength of the Altavia group lies in the fact that it shares its expertise and boasts valuable experts such as Hervé Lyaudet within its teams.

 

The printing sector has made the transition from ‘expertise’ alone to advanced technical standards, which requires certain skills when it comes to colourimetry and colour management, as well as familiarity with ISO standards.

 

 

And your meeting with Hervé was, in fact, what led to the creation of a colour reproduction service.

Hervé started working in Japan a little over a year ago. He installed the whole digital proofing system, trained the operators and set up the studio, but there is still a long way to go and work to be done if our team is to become independent and, in turn, highly skilled in what it does.

 

 

Do you feel optimistic?

I do! Particularly as this all reflects a profound change in Japanese society. We are witnessing the emergence of a new kind of sensitivity with regards to things like ecology and personal development in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympic Games, to be held here in 2020. Changing people’s relationships with work, for example, is a major issue in current Japanese politics, as demonstrated by the Hatarakikata Kaikaku reform. A lot of Japanese citizens are starting to realise that it is in their interest to change, and that’s ultimately true of colour management, too: an increasing number of players realise how important it is that they evolve and adopt current methods if they want to survive in the long term.

 

Altavia Japan has successfully obtained a number of certifications with a view to promoting its expertise.

These include PDFx-ready Creator, which guarantees the quality of the exchange files that we create (PDFx), and PDFx-ready Expert, which attests to our knowledge of the PDFx exchange file format. Altavia Japan has also been a FOGRA Partner PSO (ISO 12647), attesting to our familiarity with ISO standards and offset printing, since the start of the year. Being a FOGRA Partner allows us to provide on-site support to companies looking to obtain their PSO (Process Standard Offset) certification, which is currently held by only two companies in Japan – Heidelberg and Altavia Japan.

 

 

Sales communication: new technologies serving print production
Sales communication: new technologies serving print production 1683 1115 Altavia

 

 

Interview with Francesco Lascala, Managing Director of Publishing, Altavia Italia.

 

 

What innovations in printing have brought about the greatest changes with regard to your work in recent years?

The most interesting changes that we have seen in recent years relate to major technological innovations where large print runs are concerned. I’m talking about all those broad technological innovations that allow you to print more copies at a greater speed and with more options in terms of to foliation, without compromising on the most important characteristics for the leaflets that we print in terms of quality and service; if anything, it improves them.

 

 

What trend or what type of printed product could really improve the mix between traditional printing and digital media over the course of the next ten years?

I think that the trend for printed media in general may prove more popular over the coming years because the time has come where the ‘offline’ commercial offering has everything it needs to offer a high level of customisation, a mix, and to provide advice to consumers with the promise of an ad hoc service. Digitalisation allows us to offer a tailormade paper product that can be moulded to reflect various consumption patterns. Nowadays, players in the mass distribution sector (and indeed all other retailers) have the option of grouping their customers and understanding their needs in real time by observing their buying trends.

 

 

Francesco Lascala, Managing Director of Publishing, Altavia Italia.

 

 

What service or added value is today’s customer looking for in addition to the printed product itself? What are we working on to strengthen our reputation as consultants?

Customers are always asking more of us… We are a services and communications platform, so we enjoy and indeed have a duty to meet their expectations. Customers are increasingly looking to ‘match’ a consolidated paper goods offering with the opportunities that the digital sphere presents in other communication contexts. What they want from us are new opportunities to improve this mix that we are in a position to offer within the framework of a highly organised and controlled operation.

 

 

What job within the printing sector has had the greatest impact on you over recent months?

Production jobs always require an intense routine, but every time we prepare for a job that deviates a little from what we’re used to we get very excited about it. A great example would be one particular project that Altavia Italia oversaw from start to finish involving the Carrefour Market magazine Vivi di Gusto, distributed at sales outlets on a monthly basis, for which we were involved in the whole process, from publishing and layout to printing. Even these past couple of months, we have been back working on new innovations in terms of graphics and content that will be even more targeted towards the brand’s customers.

 

 

Looking at things from the end-user or consumer’s perspective, can you tell us about your favourite shopping experiences?

I don’t do the food shopping at home because I don’t have a lot of time, but I do like to be able to stroll around shopping areas. I like traditional high street stores and I like some of the new outlet and open-air concepts where you can spend a few hours on a weekend. I go to these places now and then, but I’m often paying more attention to our printed products on display! I really liked CityLife, which offers a real ‘experience’ that’s not just your average commercial ‘box’. Everything there is so beautifully presented and the walkways are just so interesting and exciting.

 

 

Les innovations du mois UntieNots, mangoo ID et Teeps

Innovations of the month: UntieNots, mangoo ID and Teeps
Innovations of the month: UntieNots, mangoo ID and Teeps 1678 1119 Altavia

 

In September, Altavia Coach presents three innovative solutions for the retail sector: UntieNots, mangoo ID and Teeps. Three promising start-ups which have already proved their worth in the eyes of a number of prestigious clients.

UntieNots : 100% personalised digital offers to replace mass promotions

UntieNots

By leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, this start-up founded by Cédric Chéreau and Zyed Jamoussi is disrupting loyalty programmes and promotions in the retail sector. The solution can send millions of web pages, including personalised promotional offers, to its client retailers’ individual customers. An algorithm is used to identify the affinities between brand products and customers, and calculate an expected spend on each of these brands or categories. Professional deals are offered, inviting individuals to spend a certain amount during the month to unlock a reward. Shoppers playing the Loyalty Challenge receive load-to-card coupons and play “gamified loyalty challenges” to earn personalised reductions on their favourite products.

 

Who is the core audience? Supermarkets, and first and foremost the food sector. Several trials were conducted in 2017 with Auchan France and the omnichannel version of UntieNots was rolled out across the company in March 2018. Tomorrow’s clients Specialist distribution: Séphora, Leroy Merlin, La Fnac, etc.

 

Cross-border expansion

UnieNots is also carrying out consulting projects (data, personalisation) with retailers in countries like Argentina, China, Brazil and Canada, and deploying the solution internationally is very much a short-term goal.The next challenge will be to invest in US, by opening up a first office over there.

 

Mangoo ID : extending the shopping experience with e-receipts

mangoo id

 

Founded in June 2016 by Charlie Chelli, this Parisian start-up provides marketing solutions based on computerised till receipts.

 

The starting point behind the project? When a customer purchases a product in an online store, they systematically provide their email addresses. This means that pure players have a major advantage over physical stores.

 

So, to give physical stores the same opportunity, mangoo ID has come up with a solution integrated into the till software that sends customers computerised receipts by email.

 

For retailers, issuing e-receipts means that they get an average of 20% more customer email addresses, without having to implement a loyalty programme. And what’s more, these emails generate excellent opening rates – between 60% and 80%. And finally, computerised receipts sent by email become fully-fledged communications tools: mangoo ID can incorporate all sorts of opportunities for interaction into them, based on the retailer’s needs. In the email, mangoo ID can also ask customers what they thought of their in-store shopping experience; a very good way to improve store management, or identify – for example – those retail outlets whose teams perform well! Conversely, negative customer feedback helps identify those stores where corrective action needs to be implemented. Each customer can also rate the product they have purchased. This can significantly increase conversion rates on the website.

 

For individual customers, e-receipts are an environmentally-friendly initiative, as well as being a means to make returns, exchanges, guarantees and expense claims easier.

 

The next challenges for mangoo ID?

Win over very large players, with up to 500 stores. And try and win over three other vertical segments: luxury goods, furniture-household appliances and the restaurant sector.

 

Teeps : the Advocacy Company

teeps

 

Create and manage Ambassador programmes for brands. That’s the challenge that Teeps has set itself, a start-up created by Sonia Zarowsky and Fabrice Berger-Duquene.

 

Ambassadors can perform several types of operation:

 

  • personal product recommendations. For example, a very good customer of Décathlon or someone who is passionate about diving might recommend a personalised selection of equipment to a particular beginner who doesn’t know what sort of thing to go for. It might be an online recommendation, but could also be offline, in which case the Ambassador and the customer would arrange to meet up at a sales outlet.
  • Ambassadors are also asked to produce content (photos, videos, tutorials, etc.). Off on a diving trip to the Maldives? The Ambassador will take selfies under the water, will recommend their diving mask through his or her own social media, adding a link to the product sheet… Here, the aim will be to recruit new customers in the Ambassador’s circle, in the knowledge that he or she isn’t necessarily an influencer, with 10,000 followers. What is important here is to rebuild a relationship of trust, an authentic connection between the brand and the customer, using the Ambassador as the driver.
  • One of the objectives might also be to answer any questions that customers have on given subjects or to coach someone who could become an Ambassador.

 

The Ambassadors can exchange their points, which they collect in a kitty, for physical rewards (gifts), experiences (taking part in events) or vouchers.

 

In addition to its technological expertise, Teeps can manage these Ambassadors with the help of a dedicated team, and create communities structured around topics about which people are passionate.

 

The start-up’s current clients include Aramisauto, Kyriad Hotels, Bréal (part of the Beaumanoir group), Cosmétique Active and Sanoflore. And it will soon be adding La Redoute, Cosmétique Active – a L’Oréal subsidiary in Spain and Germany. Teeps is appropriate for all sectors!

 

Le magasin physique en 2018

The six main markers driving physical stores in 2018
The six main markers driving physical stores in 2018 1678 1119 Altavia

“A great deal of thought goes into the way in which Aesop stores are respectfully integrated into their respective neighbourhoods”

 

The brick-and-mortar retail concept has been redesigned. There were those who thought that e-commerce would wipe out everything in its way, confining physical stores to the history books. But that definitely won’t be the case! Consumers – particularly the younger generations of them – have a real need for in-store experiences. Well-established retailers, working closely alongside start-ups, have already shown that they were willing to do something and could redesign the physical retail outlet. We take a look at what this all means with Thierry Strickler, Retail Market Intelligence Lead at Altavia.

Six key factors are driving physical stores nowadays.

 

1- Soul power

 This is where stores have architecture that stands out – unique locations which elicit genuine emotion from their customers.

 

When we talk about soul power, some of the retailers we think about include:

 

– The Galeries Lafayette, and its flagship store’s temple to fashion and Parisian chic, crowned with a magnificent dome, which has been classified as a building of historical importance since 1975. A symbol of artisan expertise of old, a unique space, known all over the world;

 

– American grocery store chain Trader Joe’s, which was set up in the 1960s and has retained its hippie ethos – its customers can enjoy a memorable offbeat ambience as they shop.

 

– Australian skincare brand Aesop: each and every store is completely unique, reflecting the brand’s DNA. A great deal of thought goes into the way in which the stores are respectfully integrated into their respective neighbourhoods,

 

– and Starbucks, whose coffee houses are a break from today’s fast food approach to beverages.The brand recently opened a 2700 m² Starbucks in Shanghai employing 400 people. Digital technologies are seamlessly woven into the coffee house – thanks to a partnership with Chinese online shopping website TaoBao. And customers can sample the latest coffees or learn about the secrets of coffee roasting – all via a dedicated app.

 

Customisation – for products, the offering and customer relations

Adidas and its Knit for you programme – a temporary concept showcased at its Berlin pop-up store at the end of 2016 – is a fine example of this second marker. How does it work? Leave the store with a bespoke pullover created in only four hours. Customers get a laser body scan and can experiment by having different patterns projected onto them; They then choose a colour combination.The only limitation is the material – merino wool is the only one they can use. The pullover is ready to be knitted. It’s hand-finished, washed and dried… and then four hours later, it’s ready! Speed is the key factor in this concept: both in terms of the production process and in responsiveness to customer demand.

 

Another example? Nespresso and the channels they use to talk to their customers – no matter what their preferences are (store, web, hotline, etc.). The resulting relationships end up being ultra-customised.

 

3- The community

Some retailers are particularly adept at communicating on the basis of a system of values with which their customers identify. These brands usually create a particular kind of world – such as the Rapha Cycling Club, a US-based Internet pure player that sells top-of-the-range bikes and accessories. It has succeeded in creating locations, associated with clubhouses that can be accessed by paying a small monthly subscription, so people can take part in rides and meet other enthusiasts.

 

Australian retailer Deus Ex Machina creates hybrid locations underpinned by powerful values, such as friendliness, freedom, culture and creativity. At a Deus Ex Machina store, customers can purchase vinyl records, motorbikes and surfing wetsuits, as well as having coffee or getting something to eat, while sharing their enthusiasm with other customers.

 

4- Experience

Provide an atypical, memorable experience that will elicit an emotional response from customers. That’s the challenge that brands like juice bar and coffee shop chain Joe & The Juice have risen to. This café – which only sells fresh fruit juice and coffee – no alcohol! – turns into a nightclub at the end of the day. Here, the role of the sales staff – party people, bar staff, DJs and “ambience creators” all in one – is crucially important. They are the ones who bring in the community and then develop its loyalty.

 

Another example? Sonos. Realising that many customers purchase speakers and sound systems that they have first experienced at friends’ houses, the Californian brand decided to focus on an immersive sales approach. It has installed huts, each featuring different ambiences, in its Soho store in New York, so customers really can enjoy a fully-fledged in-store speaker experience.

 

5- In-store digital technologies

The fifth marker forges closer ties with customers, so brands can interact differently with them. This is a particularly good way for brands to overcome some of the problems associated with small town-centre retail areas – when there are limits to how much stock they can keep. The solution? Enable customers to submit orders via digital terminals. We are right at the focal point – where online and offline converge!

 

European fashion retailer Mango, which has entered into a partnership with Vodafone, has fitting rooms with connected mirrors to improve the customer experience. So if the trousers that you picked up from the store shelves are too large or too small, you can easily contact one of the sales staff from the fitting room and have a pair in the right size brought right over.

 

Decathlon City is also leveraging the full potential of digital technologies, doing away with the shortcomings of the in-store shopping experience (customers can talk to sales staff from the fitting rooms, the self-service checkouts take mobile payments, etc.).

 

6- CSR

More and more brands, increasingly environmentally aware and keen to avoid the bad buzz that the wrong decisions can create, have decided to provide customers in search of a reasonable and reasoned consumer experience with concrete solutions. Space10, developed by IKEA, is a laboratory where people can think about future modes of consumption. This forum for innovation, based in Copenhagen, is in line with the principles of the circular economy and has already launched pilot projects in Japan (IKEA buys back old sofas from its customers so it can recycle them) and London (rental service, for students in particular).

 

For IKEA, the logic behind the idea is sound for two reasons: they get to be a company committed to the environment, as well as coming up with services that meet their customers’ needs.

 

Lego also embodies this sixth and final decisive factor. The brand says it’s invested $150 million in setting up a materials centre for sustainable development. Indeed, every year, 31 billion Lego bricks are manufactured throughout the world! Lego has decided to launch a range of bricks made from sugarcane. The Danish company is clearly on the right track!

 

blockchain

Blockchain in retail
Blockchain in retail 1713 1096 Altavia

Blockchain has been all the rage in the past few years. From cryptocurrencies to data privacy, they have been revolutionising transactions of data and money. But one question remains: will this revolution affect retail? If so, how? Samet Ensar Sari, Managing Partner at Altavia Dekatlon, draws upon on his experience and knowledge of marketing, branding and blockchain to analyse and explain how blockchain will affect the retail sector and what retail companies could do to prepare for the massive change that this technology will bring about.

 

Current trends in retail

Currently, all aspects of both the communication and retail spheres are evolving together. The retail sector used to be very complex, with many divisions such as HRE, marketing, stores, that were all managed differently. This was before the digital revolution we are currently undergoing. The arrival of giants such as Amazon and Alibaba considerably blurred the lines between offline and online retail. Borders, be these national or digital, have disappeared, giving way to an altogether new type of retail, which has dramatically changed customers’ expectations regarding retailers. And as any retailer knows, a customer-focus is genuinely the key to long-lasting retail success. There is no doubt that marketing and sales channels, and even stores, are changing. The example I like to use pertains to the movie industry but is applicable here. Indeed, Blockbuster took a long time to jump on the bandwagon of online TV, which cost them millions and allowed giants like Netflix to take over market share.

 

The digitalisation of the customer experience means first and foremost a rise in transparency and credibility. Having more information available means customers ask to know more about retailers. They also demand a more innovative and fast-paced industry, where we see a rising number of companies beginning to collaborate with start-ups. Partnering with a variety of sectors also allows retailers to cast off their previously narrow outlook on markets and gain insights from a varied range of actors. Finally, this cannot be sustained unless there is effective communication both internally and externally. While 10 years ago, social media had not yet been conquered by companies, and intranets were purely professional, it is rare today for a retailer not to have a presence on Twitter, if only for customer service.

 

There must be a focus on the developments now appearing in the industry. Disruption is part of markets and by not understanding that, retail companies risk a lot – even their own survival. Ultimately, the passion of retail will win out.

 

Blockchain and retail: friends or foes?  

I think this depends on whether a company chooses to adapt or not, because disruption and adaptation go together.

 

First, we need to understand what blockchain is. As the technology behind Bitcoin, it was created in the hope of circulating information quickly and securely. For money transfers, for example, this eliminates the need to trust a third party while ensuring that a record is created, whose authenticity can be verified by the community. For example, the start-up TenX in Singapore connects a customer’s cryptocurrency wallet to their Visa wallet, allowing consumers to use their Visa to spend their cryptocurrencies. These ground-breaking start-ups will influence consumer behaviour and ultimately create a need for retailers to adapt their behaviours. Accordingly, blockchain will enable retailers to adapt to their customers’ behaviour and grow their customer base.

 

Many are thinking that the blockchain revolution will influence the retail sector at a purely financial level, but I believe this is not the case. In fact, there are many possibilities ahead of us: contracts that can self-execute without any authority could be one of them. Essentially, it will become a global decentralised source of trust – but not everyone is ready to embrace it.

 

The influences of blockchain

We can see today, for example, that the retail industry can be affected by different uses of blockchain.

 

One of those uses is inventory management. The retailer Walmart started to work with blockchain to track every product from purchase information to consumer information. By tracking these data, highly accurate analytics can be obtained, thus giving some retailers a chance to enhance their supply chain system.

 

Another application is tracking operations, coaching, resource control, which is an application already developed by a few European start-ups. This will allow companies to meet the expectations of consumers in terms of transparency while improving the quality of their products and services.

 

The processing of loyalty programs and claims could also be simplified, as demonstrated by the start-up Warrentees, which represents the rights of consumers in the market. Their customers are able to access information and receive immediate service in the event of malfunction through an automated program, ushering in the reign of smart contracts.

 

There is no single way in which blockchain will affect companies. Retail companies must use this approach to create more value for their consumers by implementing and improving the quality of increased numbers of new services. In the future, blockchain will be a determinant of a retailer’s survival: it’s therefore a matter of adopting a short-term vision versus a long-term one.

 

Managing the risks

Of course, first movers will have a chance to make an impact on potential customers, to gain a competitive advantage in the industry, and to disrupt the retail industry through this application, but they would be taking greater risks. Indeed, most companies today are not ready. It is not an easy technology to understand, especially since, once adopted, it will affect every division within the company and its related industry. Of course, there are ways to learn more and to influence the form that the use of blockchain will take. The advent of consensus, immutability and cryptography for retailers will be a challenge. Indeed, retailers’ associations are also being formed to create rules around the uses of this technology. It is essential that companies contribute to this discussion and that their individual needs are met.

I think that there is no doubt that blockchain is the next big revolutionary technology. Market research suggests that blockchain could reach critical mass in terms of adoption by 2020 and consumer approval by 2025. That is why I believe that retailers need to overcome this challenge by turning it into an opportunity, together.

 

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