Touch-less payment technology has been the Holy Grail of improved checkouts for a number of years according to Richard McLaughlin, the Senior Vice President of global products at MasterCard. He explains, “We’ve been talking about the smartphone being a loyalty and couponing communication device for probably 10 years. It’s now ready to be a reality.” With over 43% of the population now carrying smartphones, retailers are moving quickly to capitalize on digital spending (June 2011).

As easy as tapping a phone to a scanner, mobile payment makes for a seamless checkout, allowing merchants to move more quickly on to the next shopper. A purchase on a mobile wallet takes only six seconds, two-thirds faster than credit cards, according to Bank of Montreal and MasterCard who launched their touch-less PayPass sticker this past year.

Starbucks was one of the first brands to roll out their mobile payment program across Canada after launching it in the US about a year prior. Using the My Starbucks App, coffee lovers simply scan their screen to pay via a mobile barcode. Adam Brotman, Senior Vice President of Digital Ventures for Starbucks notes the ripple effect of such easy spending: “You might be willing to pick up a CD or something else at the counter because it’s so easy.”

Grocery giant, Metro Inc. made an announcement in December that they would be rolling out Visa payWave terminals in 600 stores across Canada. “Visa payWave makes the shopping experience quicker and easier, while paving the way for upcoming innovations like mobile payments,” added Mike Bradley, Head of Products for Visa Canada.

Image source one80.ca

Grocery chains are seeing an increase in male shoppers walking down their aisles. “Our store managers are telling us we’re seeing more men than ever before,” says Rob Koss, Vice-President of Marketing at Longo’s. According to a study by NPD Group, Canadian men were the primary grocery shoppers in 25 percent of households in 2010, up from 20 percent in 2006.

Men are making more meals so that they can be a bigger part of family time; “We’re seeing more men doing grocery shopping and more young dads cooking with their kids as a way to bond with them at home., says Supermarket Consultant Phil Lempert.

Brands and retailers should be aware that men who enter the grocery store also bring with them a different shopping style. “We talk to a lot of these single millennial guys about shopping, and the biggest headline is they’re not as structured, not as hurried, much more experimental, more adventurous.” says Barry Calpino, Vice President of Breakthrough Innovation at Kraft Foods. When male shoppers are married they show signs of being more frugal and structured about their trips. According to a recent Men’s Health magazine survey, some 86% of men said they did their homework before heading into a store.

Once in the store, men take the same attitude they do when lost on a road trip. Refusing to stop and ask for directions, men want to accomplish their shopping with total independence. Should he run into any snags on his way, he doesn’t hesitate to ask for backup, with roughly 50% of men saying they call home while out shopping. Sometimes that is to ask, ‘The store is out of your brand of yogurt…what brand should I get instead,’ or ‘Honey, do you need anything else?’ But John Wilkins, Vice President of Strategic Client Development at Atlanta-based Miller Zell points out the question is often to ask where something is located. “That speaks volumes because it suggests that that they have more confidence in someone who is not even in the store and does not work for the store than they do in the retail staff and signage.”

Some men would rather turn to their smartphone than a store clerk to get help if they need it. According to research by New York-based InsightExpress, men between 25 and 34 confirm or justify pricing, get a review on a product, grab a coupon or look up a recipe on their phone. Mobile is shaping to be a very important part of the shopping experience.

1. You’re only as good as your team.
Who is Scooter Braun?
Scooter is everything to Justin. Scooter not only discovered Justin after seeing a YouTube video he quickly realized that the only way Justin could become a star was by surrounding him with great people. Scooter connected Justin with a superstar, a vocal coach, a stylist, a dance crew and a social media director. All of the people around Justin helped to make him this successful.

The takeaway from this: surround yourself with people that are smarter than you. If you’re an A employee, hire an A+ player. Innovation and growth in your company will only happen when you begin to change and challenge the things you do every day. For this to happen you not only need motivation you need a challenge. Justin’s was selling out Madison Square Gardens.

2. Work smarter, work harder.
Whether you’re a brand or an artist to gain success you need to go out and work for it. This was one of the biggest preconceptions that we all had going into the screening of this movie. We believed that Justin’s star rose quickly: from YouTube to contact in mere weeks. Wrong.

Justin attended 143 different venues, going to radio stations, high schools, charity events, water parks and shopping malls. Then after all that he went on tour and did an additional 84 stops, living in a bus. He became a superstar because he and his team were relentless workers who believed in a common goal.

3. Social activation transforms listeners into lovers.
There are numerous times in the movie where you see Justin tweeting and interacting on social media with no guidance. Before watching the movie I thought that there would be more control over the daily things he did online. But instead, Justin is much more authentic and real than many other brands on Twitter. He gets sick, he says mean things and he is going to make mistakes and he’ll say sorry more than once over his career.

Every CEO and every business owner needs to be more social – truly, authentically social. If you were the head of company wouldn’t you want to know what people actually thought of your brand? Wouldn’t you want to engage with them where they are? A connection on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Path, Foursquare or YouTube is worth something to the person you’re connecting with. It means that you’re listening and engaging with them on their terms.

4. Stay hungry. Stay open.
Justin listened. As we get older and gain more experience we struggle at times to remember how we got there. Sometimes it’s important for us to act more like 16-year-olds and be open to change. Our experience is valuable, but it tends to be coupled with doubt. This is when we hear ourselves say “we’ve tried that before,” or “they’ll never go for that.” Be open. Know that the world is changing so radically that new ideas and innovative problem solving are the best ways to be successful. At the risk of being too punny: Never Say Never.

5. Be human.
Justin makes extra effort to connect with people whether it’s on social networks, at concerts or during his off time. Him and his team give out free tickets to fans before every concert and make an effort to connect with fans one to one as much as possible. He respects the fact that millions of people care for him; therefore he returns the favor and thanks them for their loyalty.

One of the most interesting takeaways from the movie is the notion that he was successful because each fan had a personal connection with him. They believed that they discovered him first – before the record companies and before the marketing machine. He belonged to them. This is the difference between push and pull. This is what forms emotional connections with brands that go beyond reason.

Concluding, I want to end with a quote from Guy Kawasaki who was the first innovation director at Apple. “As a brand ask yourself; do we own the segment that were going after as well as Justin Bieber owns the segment of 9-16 year old girls?”

As the second largest users of loyalty worldwide, Canada has 92% of the population belonging to at least one loyalty program. Over the past 15 years Canadian initiatives have evolved from simple travel rewards to more everyday benefits and Canada is now considered a mature market for loyalty.

Michelle Ubell of Maritz Loyalty delivered proof that it truly influences the types of behaviour that marketers are looking for: 62% of those surveyed indicated that they were more likely to do business with companies that offered rewards and a full 47% would drive past a retailer to go to another with a loyalty program they participated in.

Interestingly, affluent Canadians are more likely to be members of loyalty programs, with an average of 12.3 different memberships per respondent and Quebec strongly under-indexed at 4.4 programs per person. We still lag behind the US average of 15 or more memberships per person.

At the Shopper Marketing conference this week, research was shown that said shoppers would still visit the same stores but less often if they did not have a loyalty program while 44% expressed total indifference to loyalty programs and would shop just as often.

Despite strong membership numbers, there are still reasons why some Canadians don’t join rewards programs, including little perceived value, complicated collection and redemption processes and privacy concerns.

Reward

Smart retailers are working to increase the acceptance of their programs by offering private shopping events and additional discounts through preferred status adoption. Others have offered rewards far beyond dollar values to their most valued customers including front-of-the-line ticket purchase options and special members-only events.

Bryan Pearson, President and CEO of LoyaltyOne, a more-than-frequent flier, shared that one airline helped him avoid an hours-long wait in an airport by calling him and offering the opportunity to move up his travel plans to catch an earlier flight. Now, that’s a perk with real value.

Recognition

The panel agreed that traditional loyalty programs must evolve from “do this, get that” to include rewards for intangible, but extremely valuable, behaviours like making recommendations or signing up friends.

Seeing this need, Philter recently presented to a Canadian retailer where we suggested several ways to encourage all their customers to engage with their brand more than ever and a scoring mechanism to reward those who are most active. For example, a regional test of their digital couponing has allowed them to learn who their biggest influencers are and they are now poised reward those people.

Counting on the direct correlation between advocacy and loyalty, chains like Starbucks are offering innovative ways to reward their customers for engaging with them in the social media space. Starbucks Frappuccino Community invites fans to share their ideas for new flavours of the coffee drinks and then rewards them with exclusive content around topical events such as New York Fashion Week, with exclusive celebrity interviews and back-stage sneak peaks.

Relevance

In order to benefit from the huge pile of data we already have, as marketers, we now need to use that information to create even more dynamic campaigns and to further improve the customer experience in both direct and indirect ways.

Although not everyone chooses to engage in the programs, all shoppers still benefit from the data with store-level improvements and product arrays being directly influenced by the opinions and behaviours of those who are willing to share them.

In turn, we need to speak to customers with properly targeted, personal messages and chose their preferred channels but we must also carefully guard that information in a way to maximally respect customers’ privacy.

Cooking up success in the Loyalty marketing means that we, as marketers, need to:

1. Ensure that we help you recognize your best customers
2. That all communications are relevant and in their preferred space
3. That we use the data collected the right way

A report from Deloitte has confirmed what many app developers already knew: most mobile apps by brands are a big flop. Rebecca Flavin, CEO of EffectiveUI says “Mobile applications are the sure fire way to extend a brand. It’s time for organizations to understand how to fully leverage the mobile channel and optimize a user-centered approach to drive adoption, as well as reinforce and drive brand loyalty…organizations must invest more in the user experience of their mobile apps, rather than rely solely on the brand [name]“. 91% of the worlds top brands boast upwards of 10 apps but of those 80% have been downloaded less than 1,000 times. The more successful apps, those reaching download numbers closer to half a million shared a commonality of leveraging smartphones unique features such as camera and GPS to enhance their product or service.

In a recent review of branded apps, internet news source Mashable.com and the American Express OPEN forum shared a few of their favorite top downloaded branded gems.

ColorSmart by BEHR

Paint producer BEHR’s app offers photomatch which allows users to use any photo from their smartphone and match a color. Once selected BEHR offers color pallet options in various “moods” to suit individual tastes.

Chase Bank

Chase customers can use the Quick Deposit feature in the banking app by snapping a photo of the front and back of the check to deposits it in their account. Also offering Person-to-Person QuickPay, which allows users to issue payment to one and other.

W Hotels Worldwide

No need to pick up the phone an dial zero,  hotel guests can order room service through W’s. It also let’s users tune into exclusive music mixes compiled by Global Music Director for W, Michelangelo L’Acqua.

Zipcar

The Zipcar app is possibly the most feature rich of them all. Users can search for and reserve available Zipcars using built in GPS, extend their reservations while on the road and best of all, control the car by honking the horn to find it in a parking lot or unlock the doors if you forget your key inside!

Domino’s

Giving customers “1.8 billion pizza combinations in the palm of your hand” wasn’t enough; Dominos app also gives a live pizza tracker for customers to follow the step-by-step progress of their orders. Yum!

When considering DIY (as 84% of men are interested in doing), he must first be able to budget for the supplies. But men report that they “prefer to postpone purchases, than to buy on credit” meaning the money has to be in the bank at the same time as the motivation to see a project get off the ground. But how much are we spending? According to Statistics Canada, Canadians spend an average of $2,910 renovating their homes – with the highest amount being spent by Ontarians – close to $3,500. This higher average spending is also due to the fact that Ontario residents are more likely than other Canadians to hire a contractor to complete their work.  Turning to the Internet, men enjoy researching their project by visiting home improvement sites and blogs on a weekly to monthly basis.

Overcoming finance and a knowledge gap, the Canadian man is faced with a new roadblock upon entering the store – the shelf. It’s a vast selection of materials that can be  difficult for him to navigate. The possibilities are endless and he is again confronted by not knowing what the right choice is. When looking for a product in a store 50 percent will abandon their mission before asking for help, which means that men prefer to buy nothing than to buy incorrectly.

Simply, he is overwhelmed. Brands and retailers need to be the helping hand through education and knowledge to give him the confidence he needs to be a weekend warrior. This means looking at category signage as a way to help educate. Training staff to ask the right questions and provide the right level of service in aisle. And providing at-shelf communication that speaks to his pride, his anxiety and his wallet.

Men take pride in a job well done, if he does not believe he can do it well, he simply doesn’t attempt it. This is why many Canadian men would rather go to the office on a Saturday than fix the deck!

Mars | Philter

Source:
Print Measurement Bureau Autumn 2011
A 2010 study done by a leading Canadian Retailer

Shaken, Stirred or Canadian? For many Canadian men the choice is simple. Often having discovered a brand early in life and then sticking with what he knows, the Canadian man strongly believes that “Canadian beer is the best beer in the world”. These steadfast loyalists are a hard group to win over. As 41% of men claim they “seldom experiment with other beverages or brands”, this means their weekly LCBO trips are not to browse, but to buy the exact same drink they purchased the week before. How do we get them to buy something new when they believe what they already have is the very best?
Many beer companies portray men’s lifestyle in their advertising, such as the (in)famous Budweiser “Wassup” of ’99 that cause phone-answering havoc amongst men for well over two years. However, the sales figures compared with the incredible number of Wassups heard was not equal. Budweiser turned things around and increased sales by not portraying the lifestyle but re-positioning the beer as a reflection of a man’s identity with “The Perfect Pour” of 2002.

To move the needle on sales and gain intensely brand-loyal Canadians, brewers need to first persuade the man to try something new. Brands such as Smirnoff Black and Coors Light have made headway by creating events that speak to “The Modern Gentleman” by offering golf tours and style advice. In Canada, Absolut Vodka paired very effectively with SHARP Magazine for Men when they co-hosted the magazine’s spring launch with an event in Toronto. Event designer Candice Chan developed the event to “ensure that men get some facetime with the sponsors” by having mixologists on hand to teach men how to make their cocktails at the bar a with one-on-one lessons.

In another instance, a menu-card was created based on the insight that “people have their preferences clear in a bar, especially when it comes to alcohol”. The illustrated card gave options while telling a comical story and resulted in regular patrons demanding drinks and cocktails they had never tried before. The cards were such a hit that more had to be produced as a number of them went missing every night. This experiment proved that men, by nature, are an exploratory group; by engaging that “explorer”, brands can tip the scale in their favor.

The relationship of a man to his drink is a unique bond. Many men often discover a brand early in life and then stick with it. But by creating a brand experience that is an extension of who he wants to be, brands can make a connection for life.

Mars | Philter

Source:

Print Measurement Bureau Autumn 2011

A 2010 study done by a leading Canadian Retailer

The bond between man and machine lasts a lifetime. Over 50% of Canadian men proudly admit that they are “very attached to their automobiles.” And who are these people? They are individuals that span generations from Boomers to Millennials and they come to your brand with a host of different priorities, wants and needs. A key differentiators among them is their willingness to get under the hood with 83 % of men claiming to be keen to take on an automotive tinkering project.

However, in a survey of 1,500 Canadian men, many of them agree that when it comes to  DIY they feel “lost”.  Their lack of know-how disengages them from the process, so they are more likely to turn to an auto professional instead of trying to “figure it out.”

When you break these two camps down you get some interesting sub-groups:

Car jockey

Confident in myself and my vehicle
I clean my vehicle inside and out since it reflects who I am
I work hard and I am proud of my accomplishments, I reward myself.

It’s a tool

Value for my dollar. The car is just for point A to B.
I just want it to work.
Not at all affected by the look of my car. Car washes cost money!

Family man

Family is the priority; our vehicle works well enough for us.
Safety first, cost second.
If my kids are happy in the back seat, everything is good.

Vanity plate

I want maximum attention for my wheels.
All the bells,  and whistles and the kitchen sink for my ride.
Personalization is key: “This is mine, this is me!”

So what does this mean for brands and retailers?

1. Understand the needs of the men (and women, but that’s another post) who shop the automotive aisle and cater your product mix and your messaging to each segment.

2. Know the various uses of the products and services you sell and view them through the eyes of the Family Man, now look at them through the eyes of the Car Jockey.

3. As a brand, you want to connect with your consumers by understanding what motivates them to choose your product and choose to do it themselves. You’re not just competing with the other products on shelf, you’re competing with professional car washes, detailing and auto maintenance.

MARS | PHILTER

Source:
Print Measurement Bureau Autumn 2011
A 2010 study done by a leading Canadian Retailer

Yorkdale mall added more than 145,000 square feet and 40 new stores to their Shopping Centre, set to open in April of 2012. - source Yorkdale.com

Elaine Misonzhnik journalist for RetailTraffic.com offered her perspective in a May 2011 article titled “Return of the Mall”. “As the Great Recession unfolded, regional malls – rather than being pushed to the brink, weathered the storm better than any of their supposed replacements. The very thing that made fortress malls seem so outdated, their size, their enclosed environments, their dependence on anchors – proved to be a powerful asset instead”.

Additionally, the malls’ secret weapon is their positioning as a community hub – a space to entertain and engage shoppers, a benefit that other retail centers have trouble capitalizing on. Lifestyle and Power centers, with their mix- use developments are a difficult space to encourage “hanging out” a seemingly important part in the retail success recipe. “I think that the typical good regional mall is an entertainment destination,” says Rich Moore, a REIT analyst with RBC Capital Markets. “Most [other] centers are there to just get the product to you. The regional mall is really the place where you can stroll the property, see lots of different retailers, look at people, find a place to eat, maybe go to the movies.”

Developing the mall’s position as an exciting and entertaining brand is a key value-add to shoppers who come to the mall to browse, explore and discover. Westfield, London England’s largest mall hosts performers every weekend to keep the mall experience one- of- a- kind. This in an area that was hesitant to test North America’s mall concept in their backyard. Even with their launch campaign, they looked at the neighborhood they were sharing as part of the culture of the mall and this is where they found their success.

From store directory to event reminders, mobile apps keep shoppers in the mall loop.

Malls in Dubai, who are all keen to be number 1, have created mall loyalty cards for shoppers and attractions such as an aquarium. In Toronto both the Toronto Eaton Center and Yorkdale Mall have created branded apps to offer their visitors an additional touch point. From helping to finding a parking spot to exploring services such as Yorkdale’s valet parking to planning your route before entering the mall, apps offer a forum to educate patrons while embellishing the experience of the mall.

In the current financial state, Alan Barocas, Executive Vice President of Chicago-based General Growth Properties suggests adopting a market-based development focus to ensure continued prosperity. From concentrating on opening less new centers and to spending more effort on improving existing assets, the prescriptions for success are as various varied as the malls themselves. “In some cases, it might be a total remodel, in some cases it might be an expansion. And in some cases, based on the market, there could also be a reduction,” says Barocas.

Fashion and Fitness combine as Bayview Village Mall in Toronto hosts fitness classes along with athletic brand tenant Lole.

Looking forward, malls face a challenging terrain but if they work to stay ahead they will surely succeed. Creating value for shoppers through concierge life services and entertaining visitors with attractions. “I think over the next few decades the stronger malls are going to continue to grow and the weaker malls are going to lose market share,” Sokolov says. “That’s why we are so focused on renovating properties and making sure they are well-leased and well-marketed”.

MARS | PHILTER

Aerialists perform at Westfield London

Layaway, a timed program that allows shoppers to pay in installments until the full amount is met, can be a competitive advantage in times of economic unrest (and when credit cards are maxed-out). Created in the 1930s to ease the financial strain of shoppers due to the great depression, layaway lost favor in recent times due to shopper’s preference for credit cards. With the recent financial crisis in the US and a resulting increase in cash only spending, the demand for layaway returned and many retailers reacted accordingly. While this has been a predominately US trend, this past holiday season, we saw the return of layaway to many Canadian retailers.

“The new era is, ‘I’m going to be a little more cautious,’” Alan Middleton, a marketing professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, told the Globe. “Up to this point, it was ‘charge it on the card.’ But people are now really beginning to look at their monthly bills as they come in and they’re saying, is there another way?”

Walmart

Walmart brought back layaway since shelving the program at the recession’s onset in 2006. Returning in October of 2011, Walmart offered layaway to shoppers across the US with a focus on electronics and toys. The early introduction of the program allowed Walmart to gage consumer spending for early stages of the holidays, with customers reporting their freedom to shop more thanks to the program. “Layaway took away a lot of the stress, if I had to pay all at one time, I couldn’t have bought this much,” said Arquietta Bold, a 23-year-old teacher’s aide. Walmart Canada isn’t offering layaway as a payment option.

According to a US survey by ConsumerSearch.com, nearly half (or 42%) of those surveyed expect to use layaway this holiday to pay for gifts. The survey also revealed that income was not a factor as an equal percent of people with incomes above and below $40,000 were open to using layaway this season.

Sears Corp.

At the peak of the economic downturn Sears returned to their layaway program across their US stores in time for the 2008 holiday season. Sears’ layaway offering extended to it’s Kmart stores and was also offered on their respective online shops for high ticket items such a jewelry and electronics. Sighting excellent success with this reintroduction, Sears announced the decision to keep layaway on a full-time basis.

The Movement

What caught our attention this year wasn’t the US or Canadian retailers who offered layaway, but instead the movement that was born from it. It started in the Midwest when a generous woman entered a Walmart and asked to review any layaway accounts that had children’s toys on them. She then paid off the balance of some 10 accounts and made her exit. As the story aired on the 11 o’clock news people across the US and Canada were inspired to do the same. Quickly turning into a nightly news story as layaway counters became a hub for charitable giving. The effects of which saw an online reports hitting a million views within a single day. The “layaway angels ” as they are now known turned a program designed by retailers’ operations and finance teams into a news-worthy movement that no marketing spend could every match.