Friday, October 7, 2011

Tablets and Smartphones Will Transform How Retailers Interact With Consumers, According to IHL Group's New Mobile Study

2.7 million tablets a year to ship for Retail/Hospitality use by 2015;
IHL Study examines how retailers are recreating the “Apple Store experience"
 
FRANKLIN, Tenn.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Tablets and smartphones are redefining the retail shopping experience and will be a $5 billion market per year by 2015, according to a research study released today by analyst firm IHL Group. According to the study, Mobility: A Gutenberg Moment for Retail, A Threat to POS, the release of the Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle Fire have created price points and form factors for mobile devices that are finally allowing retailers to arm their associates with tools that will transform the in-store experience.
“For years, retailers have been looking for technology to both provide associates with more data on the products they are offering, and recognize and reward customers as they come through that door. Mobile devices are making this possible.”
“The advent of mobile devices is a Gutenberg moment that is revolutionizing many aspects of the shopping experience," said Greg Buzek, president, IHL Group. "A complete transformation of the customer experience will occur at clothing and department stores over the next three years. Store personnel will be able to greet shoppers with their device, access purchase history, help customers accessorize, and even walk around as a personal shopper and check out the consumer — all from the same device.”
Another area where consumers will see more tablets is in table-service restaurants. Customers will be able to place their own orders on devices at the table as well as access games and other entertainment, and servers can use these devices as well instead of fixed POS terminals. This will lead to more efficient turnover; restaurants that have deployed mobile devices have seen a 25 percent increase in the number of times they can turn the table, thus serving more customers every shift.
Key findings from IHL's new study include:
  • By 2015, over 2.7 million tablets a year will be shipped for use in North American retail and hospitality, an increase of 450 percent. Specialty retailers will deploy nearly half of all tablets shipped to retail.
  • While many would suggest that lower-priced consumer devices will displace sales of rugged handhelds, this will not be the case; instead, this market will rise close to 30 percent over the next four years through more competitive offerings.
  • Non‐rugged handhelds (mobile phones) will experience heavy growth over the next two years as well, with restaurants deploying nearly half of all such devices shipped to retail. These devices will experience heavy churn rates in the 2012–2015 timeframe, so the installed base will not grow as much as might otherwise be expected.
  • Handhelds will have a dramatic impact on traditional POS shipments over time, reducing the growth of POS shipments by 11 percent in 2015 and in some segments as much as 20 percent from previously forecasted volumes. By 2015, annual shipments of mobile devices will be four times that of traditional POS terminals.
“The desire for the ‘Apple Store experience’ among retailers is being driven at the CEO level on down, and its momentum is undeniable,” Buzek said. “For years, retailers have been looking for technology to both provide associates with more data on the products they are offering, and recognize and reward customers as they come through that door. Mobile devices are making this possible.”
IHL's new study includes forecasts for rugged handhelds, consumer smartphones and tablet computers to be used at the store level from now until 2015 in North America. It is available immediately at www.ihlservices.com.
About IHL Group
IHL Group is a global research and advisory firm headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., that provides market analysis and business consulting services for retailers and information technology companies that focus on the retail industry. For more information, visit www.ihlservices.com, call 615-591-2955 or e-mail ihl@ihlservices.com.

Source: http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20111006005233/en/retail/stores/mobile

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Men go online to cultivate style, but do they shop?


Some men still prefer to try on clothes before buying

Author: By Emanuella Grinberg CNN
Posted On Sep 16 2011 07:04:01 PM EDT


(CNN) - 
Mike Berezowsky spends up to 60 minutes a day perusing style blogs, catching up on trends and cultivating his own look.
He's no fashion insider, just a 36-year-old married father and government employee from Edmonton, Canada, who favors what he calls the "college professor" look: tweed jacket, corduroy pants, wing-tipped shoes.

"I'm not going to jump on every trend -- hello camo and driving moccasins, I'm looking at you -- but the sites and their writers often inspire me to try different things and help me develop my own personal style," he said.

He describes his interest in dressing well as "above average," which pretty much makes him the target customer of several full-priced retail websites launching this fall geared exclusively toward men.
Sure, there are already plenty of sites where men can buy the latest Ben Sherman shirt, or find out how to wear a pocket square. The goal is to combine the shopping experience with editorial content in one website, where men can read up on the latest styles and find the look that best suits them. Then, they can shop that look without leaving the site through a selection curated by the sites' editors.

It's an approach that aims to build on the popularity of men's lifestyle blogs, such as "Put This On," "Selectism" and "Gilt MANual," to name a few. The sites have flourished in the past five years amid a resurgence of interest among men in "looking good," Esquire editor-in-chief David Granger said.
"It's an exciting time in men's fashion," he said. "There's been this real return to expressing individuality through clothes and it doesn't have to be through suits and ties. It's the whole gamut of different pieces that men have access to. There's just been an explosion in interesting clothing."

It's a look inspired by Steve McQueen, Robert Redford or Paul Newman, with the most discerning consumers willing to pay a premium for quality goods invariably referred to as "classic" or "timeless."
"Across the board, we are seeing a movement of men who care about their clothing's origins; where they are made and the quality of every detail," said Katherine McMillan, part of the husband-wife team behind "Pierrepont Hicks," designer of American-made men's accessories. "The word 'heritage' is becoming taboo, but it is about American heritage, this momentum."

Like most modern movements, the Internet has brought the world of trade information and style insiders to audiences outside New York and Los Angeles, said Michael Williams, editor and creator of "A Continuous Lean."
"There's this fostering of guys being interested in menswear and chasing all this menswear and it's created this big growth market online."
But will men shop online for full-priced items they could find in stores? Two websites -- Gilt Groupe's Park and Bond and CLAD -- are banking on the notion that men want more retail destinations made just for them, but they don't want to shop in stores.
It's a model that has proven successful with women, but shopping habits among men are a bit more nuanced.

"It's a touchy subject," said Tim Yap, editor of the Tobe Report. "I don't want to say men don't like to shop [in stores], but I think a lot of the time, my impression with myself and my friends, is we typically know what we want before we go out and shop. I would've researched the product before I go out."
But some existing online stores are already showing signs of promise.
MR PORTER, male counterpart to the popular UK-based women's luxury goods site, Net-a-Porter, debuted in February, and already boasts 9 million page views a month and an average order of $700. It offers style tips, such as 30 essential items for fall, profiles of actors and motorcycle designers, and a Stylepedia that includes terms like "inseam" and "sprezzatura."
"MR PORTER really shows fashion in a more realistic way," said David McGuire, a 39-year-old sales manager from Ann Arbor, Michigan. "A lot of the ads you see in fashion magazines are flawed in multiple ways. The men in those ads are what I refer to as 'skinny boys' -- I'm 6'3, 200 pounds -- they don't represent me, physically or professionally."
Sites like MR PORTER inspire him to take chances wearing a green and purple bow tie to work or stripes and plaid together. Occasionally, there's some backlash, he said.
"I've gotten a few snickers from the co-workers, but they are way out numbered by the amount of compliments I receive," said McGuire. "I think the biggest requirement for being fashionable is to also be confident in your appearance."
Buying clothes online is another matter, he said.
"While my suits are off-the-rack, they still require a good bit of tailoring," he said in an e-mail. "You just can't get the type of service and personalized attention purchasing those things online. Finding a tailor is like finding an attorney: sure, there are plenty around, but when it's your *ass* that's on the line, you want the absolute best."
Berezowsky let his subscription to GQ lapse about two years ago, when he realized he was getting more of what he wanted from men's lifestyle blogs.
"The writers of blogs like Put This On and Die, Workwear, in particular, go to great length to explain things like how to select quality clothing, why Goodyear welting on shoes is worth paying a premium for, what to tell your tailor, and the difference between a cheap tie and an expensive one," Berezowsky said in an e-mail.
"Sometimes it's subtle, but people treat you differently when you dress well. It's helped me in my job and I notice it at stores and restaurants."
Style blogs often rely on editorial content from influential people in fashion, advertising, even the restaurant industry to introduce a new generation of taste-makers and products that might not be available in department stores between the coasts, said Tim Yap, editor of the Tobe Report.
Each blog has its own attitude, from Put This On, which describes itself as "a Web series about dressing like a grown-up," to Street Etiquette, which approaches style from an urban perspective. Some are home-grown operations that have grown into their own brands, like A Continuous Lean, while others belong to specific designers or retailers.
The blogs are also forums where men trade ideas and opinions, said Cory Ohlendorf, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Valet Magazine.

"The Web has really turned the topic of fashion and style into more of a conversation instead of a lecture," said Ohlendorf, whose site attracts around 430,000 monthly unique visitors. "We might give you information on how you might want a suit tailored but then users come into the piece and give their own point of view."
When readers began asking for a wider spectrum of colors, styles and price points for specific brands, Valet decided it was time to start a section focused on the buying experience, Ohlendorf said.
Valet's personal shopper section aggregates items from independent retailers and department stores and sites like MR PORTER into a search engine. Readers can also find out about upcoming sales, coupon codes and menswear shops across the country and register for alerts.
"There was always a certain amount of guys who wanted quality, but that type of consumer is getting younger and growing in numbers because the information is now available online to anyone looking for it."

Until recently, shopping for men has fallen into three categories: female-focused department stores, like Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom's, where men have to wade through perfume counters to get to the suits; vertical retailers, like J. Crew or Ralph Lauren, which create products for men, women and children; and the independent men's specialty shop, such as Atlanta's Sid Mashburn, which emphasizes in-store customer service and institutional knowledge, but many of which have been slow to enter e-commerce.
"It comes at a time when there's so much product at the retail level, so for the average guy who may not like to shop, a curated site that offers a well-edited selection of goods, that's a really welcome solution," said Yap of the Tobe Report. "It also taps into the old-school notion of what real customer service is, that you know who the customer is and you service them in a more private atmosphere."
CLAD and Park and Bond each boast technology that claims to help users find the right size for them based on their measurements and sizes in certain brands. If it proves successful, it may conquer the final barrier to getting guys to shop online.

CLAD is a joint venture of JC Penney and Esquire magazine -- a seemingly incongruous partnership. JC Penney may seem like an unlikely player to enter the high-end men's luxury market, which is where Esquire comes in, CLAD President Will Swillie said.

"Esquire has been talking to the American male for 80 years," Swillie said. "Who better to align ourselves with than someone who already has a relationship and a credible voice with our core customer."
Who is that customer? "The Esquire man," he said, the American male who's between 24 to 54 and wants to dress well, but not like a runway model.

The magazine was also flirting with e-commerce through its use of QR codes to point readers to products in its pages, Swillie said.

Even if men don't mind shopping in stores, the level of customer service isn't what it used to be, said Kevin Ryan, CEO of Gilt Groupe, purveyor of luxury goods that made its name in flash sales.
"We don't offer content for content's sake. It's about how to pick out a shirt if you're buying a black tie," Ryan said. "I do think that's disappearing from traditional retail. When we ask people if they have salespeople they really trust, 1 out of 20 will say yes. If they could find the perfect salesperson in stores they wouldn't need to go online to find that service."

Berezowsky is slowly coming around to online shopping for clothes, starting with ties and duck boots.
"I still like to try on clothes before buying," he said. "I'm still hesitant. That said, I know someone who has had a great experience buying custom shirts online, so I may try that. "


Source: WMFZ

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Facebook Shopping Is Growing But Still Small


Facebook shopping is growing, but it still represents less than one percent of online retail.
That comes from a new report by personalized shopping vendor RichRelevance. The company mined on data from more than 200 million shopping sessions in August, which resulted in over four million orders that totaled more than $500 million.
The good news from Rich Relevance is:
  • Facebook showed the most dramatic growth as a retail traffic driver, jumping 92 percent from August 2010 through August 2011.
  • Shoppers from Facebook spend more per order once they arrive at retail shopping sites than customers who found those sites via Google.
The bad news is:
  • While their impact is growing, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter still account for less than one percent of traffic to retail sites.
  • Shoppers who arrive at retail shopping sites via Facebook only make purchases 1.2 percent of the time.
When it comes to driving traffic to retail shopping sites, the search engine is still king, and Google is still king of the search engines. Organic search engine traffic represented 18 percent of total traffic, with Google accounting for 81 percent of that total, dwarfing Yahoo (9.7 percent), Bing/MSN.com (7.5 percent), and AOL (1.7 percent).

Source: Allfacebook.com