Escape from New York Pizza

Thx -wb

87% online shoppers abandon their basket

Research conducted by Amaze, in conjunction with the University of Glasgow revealed that almost nine out of ten shoppers abandon their shopping basket while 75% of customers claimed they would return at a later date to complete the purchase, effectively using the basket as a wish list.

The research looks into the psychology of online shoppers and provide insights into why customers continue to abandon their shopping basket despite improvements in ecommerce site usability and introduction of behavioural targeting technology. It was found that the pleasure of browsing without the pain of buying is a real phenomenon that online retailers have to take into consideration when developing the e-commerce side of websites.

The report identifies the personalities of three types of online shopper - vague, cost conscious and window shoppers.

42% of shoppers were labelled as 'vague' because they seek more information from other people before completing the purchase and stated that they 'wanted to think about it' or 'consult with someone first'. Cost conscious shoppers accounted for 42% of customers and often cited 'high postage' costs or 'found the item cheaper elsewhere' as reasons why they didn't complete the sale.

The research found 16% of people surveyed could be labelled as window shoppers with no intention to purchase and claims that these customers should be discounted from online retailers' abandonment rates.

Insound music store commissions new artwork for past artists

Online indie rock superstore Insound has announced a new design project- an extension of last year’s Insound 20- which saw one artist design t-shirts and hoodies for 20 contemporary bands.

This year’s version is called the “Insound 10 Classic“- which pairs designer Mike Perry with 10 seminal punk, new-wave and indie rock artists (shown above) from 1977 to 1997. The new designs are featured on limited-edition t-shirts, posters and bags. The purpose of this project was to inject a fresh visual life into influential bands of the past- who have not had any new merchandise created for them in years- creating a narrative spanning different genres and decades.

London / NYC Boutique Swap

A lovely lovely idea - from today to September 13th a slice of London will descend on New York’s Lower East Side, followed in October by a reciprocal visit to the Newburgh Quarter featuring Big Apple’s best.
This 'exchange programme' involves 30 independent boutiques reflecting signature trends in the form of fashion, accessories and lifestyle elements set within exciting ‘popup’ shops.
All designers taking part in the project will be completely new to each city, bringing an element of welcome surprise emphasizing each other’s desirable design diversity.
The Newburgh Quarter and Lower East Side have, for several decades, been renowned for their individual styles – edgy, vibrant, fun and punchy, also in their own way, iconically metropolitan.
More detail see:
http://www.wishyouwerehereswap.com/

Japan Goes Post-Luxury

With sales of luxury goods declining in Japan, an article in the Financial Times argues that we might be witnessing an evolution, or at least permanent change, in consumer behavior there. In the article, Michiyo Nakamoto says that Japan became a mass-luxury market in the 80s and 90s where owning a Louis Vuitton bag or Hermes scarf was a middle-class rite of passage - but mow consumers have grown confident in mixing and matching luxury items with cheaper ones:

“This is not a blip. This is a long-term shift in the market,” said Brian Salsberg, the author of a McKinsey report on the Japanese luxury goods market, the world’s second largest… While luxury sales throughout the world are being hit by the recession, Mr Salsberg said that the implications of the latest slump for Japan were likely to be more serious and long-lasting.

… The growing confidence of shoppers in mixing and matching cheap and expensive products, coupled with competition from a growing array of luxury services such as spas and expensive restaurants, have robbed the brands of their hold on such spending.

Mr Salsberg said the brand makers, which created “a luxury bubble” with “a ridiculous number of store build-outs”, bore some blame for their predicament. He warned that they risked repeating the mistake in China.

China was the “growth story” for luxury but if makers flooded the market with stores as in Japan and people were able to buy such goods on every street corner, “the industry is going to destroy itself” there, he said.

http://www.psfk.com/2009/08/japan-goes-post-luxury.html

thx -wb

Top 10 Retail Trend List

Michael Baker (global retail and property analyst and consultant) sees these as the top 10 retail trends for the second half of '09. More info on http://www.theage.com.au/small-business/trends/top-10-global-retail-trends-20090805-e9a2.html?page=-1

1. Mobile marketing.
2. Mobile commerce.
3. Green products and performance stats.
4. Popup shops.
5. Corporate responsibility.
6. Customisation.
7. Advancing technology ahead of the point-of-sale.
8. Social media.
9. Using vacant shop windows as advertising signs.
10. Discounting and giveaways.

Gap Pop-Up Stores

The Gap has launched a pop-up store on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles to showcase its new premium denim collection.
The pop-up store, called the 1969 Jeans Shop, will carry the company's new 1969 Premium Jeans denim line, named to reference the year Gap was founded.
Company executives said they hope the jeans collection will help Gap break into the designer denim market, which has somewhat successfully curbed the effects of the recession.
1969 Jeans Shop will be open until Sept. 27.

New Microsoft stores with 'Guru Bars'

Microsoft will open new retail stores specifically designed to compete with Apple stores later this year in the US.

The stores will sell laptops in addition to Microsoft and third-party software, Zunes, and Xbox 360 games and consoles.

The first will be in shopping centres in Mission Viejo, California and Scottsdale, Arizona. The Shops at Mission Viejo is already home to an Apple store. The other location, Scottsdale Fashion Square, does not have a competing Apple shop.

News of the store strategy was leaked on Gizmodo who obtained a detailed Powerpoint presentation showing a fit out bearing a striking resemblance to the Apple Store look."Essentially, Microsoft is taking the best elements from the Apple Store, Sony Style and other "flagship" stores," Gizmodo said.

The Microsoft stores will feature a "Guru Bar" where customers can ask for technical advice. Apple Stores feature a service area known as the Genius Bar.

Apple, however, is not the only source of inspiration. The leaked Powerpoint document also says that the Microsoft stores will be available to host birthday parties - a service with which McDonalds has a long association.

For slides from the leaked ppt showing design concepts for the new stores see http://gizmodo.com/5322328/leak-inside-the-microsoft-store-with-wall+sized-screens-and-the-answers-bar/gallery/?skyline=true&s=x

Retail research paper

http://www.hubmagazine.com/archives/the_hub/2009/jul_aug/the_hub31_hoyt.pdf

Use Your Local

The UK's Royal Mail makes some 40 million unsuccessful first-time delivery attempts per year, causing no end of hassle for the consumers waiting to receive those packages. At the same time, Britain is losing about 52 of its pubs per week to recession-induced closures. Taken together, those two statistics underlie the creation of UseYourLocal, a new service backed by British brewer Scottish & Newcastle that facilitates package delivery to the local pub.

UseYourLocal aims to give consumers more reasons to visit their local pub, effectively helping to put the UK's 90,000 pubs and clubs back at the heart of the community. Participating pubs get their own website—including an easy way to email news and special offers to local customers—along with the ability to receive customers' package deliveries and a point-of-sale kit to help them register. Customers who sign up for the free service can then stay abreast of happenings in their favourite pubs as well as see who else has joined and send parcels to people at other registered outlets, with tracking along the way and email notification once their package has arrived. Perhaps best of all, of course, is that rather than waiting in line at the local postal sorting office to claim their undelivered packages, they can rediscover the charms of the local pub instead.

The company's website explains: "At UseYourLocal we truly believe that local pubs and clubs can be a real force for good in our local villages, towns and cities and hope that this is just the first in a series of great ideas aimed at finding creative solutions to help breathe life back into local communities."

More than 500 pubs across Britain have already signed up with UseYourLocal. www.useyourlocal.com

The Uniform Project

Until recently, most fashionistas wouldn’t be caught dead in the same frock every day for a whole year. But that’s exactly what style-setter Sheena Matheiken is doing with the Uniform Project, her effort to showcase a sustainable wardrobe model and raise money for charity.
Every day, Matheiken dons 1 of her 7 identical little black dresses, but she switches up the look with accessories like hats, tights and shoes. Daily images are posted on her website.
She takes donations — and gives $1 per outfit of her own money — for the Akanksha Foundation, which helps educate underprivileged children in India.
http://www.theuniformproject.com/

SuperTalk by SuperFuture

The wonderful SuperFuture has launched SuperTalk, a discussion board for global shopping experts. It's a great resource to figure out what's what in NYC, Tokyo and Sydney. www.superfuture.com/supertalk/

iPhone test new payment system

A project codenamed "Square" is the brand new iPhone-based payment processing system that's currently being alpha tested at the also brand new Self Edge NYC. In addition to keeping the process paperless, Square makes check-out clean and easy. The innovation is in a small, plastic card reader that fits in to the headphone jack of an iPhone (or iPod Touch) and transfers the credit card's swipe data to the app (pictured, right). After the employee enters the amount to charge, the customer confirms by scrawling their signature with their finger and then either one enters the customer's email address to send the receipt to. The payment is processed by Square for a small percentage plus a fixed fee; the funds are transferred directly to the store's bank account, cutting both time and complexity on the processing side. The customer's receipt includes a map showing the location of the transaction which is handy for those who record, sort and file such things.

While allowing anyone from a hot dog vendor to a bike messenger to process credit cards on-the-go, consumer to business transactions must be just the beginning.

Banana Repulic launch nice 'footfall driver'

thanks wb.

Luxury Charity Boutique in Paris

A new concept store opened in Paris recently - the likes of which haven’t been seen since Colette's launch 12 years ago.
'Merci' is located Paris’ hip le Marais district. Housed in a former factory, the facade gives no idea of what lies within. It borrows the concept from department stores where people can easily spend a morning or afternoon having coffee in its library of second-hand books, and then move onto its retail floors that stock an eclectic mix of designer pieces (from Stella McCartney to Yves Saint Laurent) alongside vintage and bespoke creations, as well as perfume, discounted Annick Goutal fragrances, home décor, fabrics, buttons, beads, and a flower shop. One’s afternoon can include lunch in the Cantine and a gelato overlooking a beautiful courtyard. The prevailing aesthetic is simple and functional and nothing is terribly pricey.
However, the twist of this concept store is that the profits go to a children’s charity in Madagascar. And the owner and consumers aren’t the only ones contributing: numerous designers donate their product and are acknowledged in a clever way: the word 'Merci' is painted on the wall next to their contributions. Merci is definitely a store for the times, linking fashion with philanthropic ideals - feel good shopping.

New Starbucks concept: 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea

Starbucks have just launched this new concept store in Seattle. It's called 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea and is designed in the spirit of a traditional, local coffeehouse, serving wine and beer, hosting live music and poetry readings and selling espresso from a manual machine rather than the automated type found in most Starbucks stores. Most notably though the Starbucks name is not used.

V Store Copenhagen

A delicious boutique and online store selling my faves Bernhard Willhelm and Henrik Vibskov with delivery through farfetch.com.

Festival boutique in London

Summer music festivals, with their huge and more or less captive audiences, have proven to be fertile ground for business and marketing ideas, from sponsored showers to recyclable tents.
The latest to join the flock is a retailer that offers just about everything a festival-goer might need or want.
Based in London's Spitalfields market, the Marsh Mellow Festival Boutique sells rubber boots, water bottles, hats, tents, sleeping bags and other stylish and useful camping and outdoor gear.
Targeting consumers nationwide, Marsh Mellow also sells many of its products through an online store, as well as tickets to most music festivals.

Research: Social media key driver of online retail

The future of e-commerce is "social commerce" as online shoppers, particularly younger generations, are heavily influenced by social media and Web 2.0 technologies, according to Hill & Knowlton's Future of Commerce report.
The report, which surveyed 600 US adults, found social media is "Word of Mouth 2.0" for younger generations, with youths predominately influenced by social media channels.
Twenty seven per cent of Gen Y said they were influenced by online or community blogs, compared to 19 per cent of Gen X participants and nine per cent of Baby Boomers.
Joshua Reynolds, worldwide technology practice director at Hill & Knowlton (H&K) and co-author of the report, said online retailing was being profoundly impacted by the integration of social media into what historically has been a transactional experience.
When asked of the impart of the economy on their shopping habits, around 46 per cent said they shopped less overall, both online and offline, however 50 per cent said they were shopping online more to look for better bargains.