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It happened a couple months ago. It was one of my typical very early mornings watching CNBC. When I heard that Amazon was buying Whole Foods, yes, I let out the stereotypical huge gasp.
On August 24th, the Federal Trade Commission approved this nearly $14B deal.
Jim Cramer also gasps when he breaks the news that Amazon is buying Whole Foods.
Once I got over my initial early morning caffeine-stoked shock, I came to the same understanding as the rest of the world. OK, this is finally, finally, finally it. Now do we all get it? It really is mobile 1st and digital always from here on out.
But Wait.
Technicolor memories of my retail career then started to ramp up. Growing up in the Mid-West, shopping was everything. There were tons of amazing department stores based in Chicago. Consumer products became my career of choice. Then, all the department stores started to disappear. These were massive stores. They were institutions. One by one, they faded away.
The non-stop disappearance of these amazing department stores started to happen long before Amazon came around. To illustrate the point, all we have to do is look at the biggies that were once the fabric of Chicago’s famous retailing.
Check out the timeline below for the disappearance of some of Mid-West’s biggest retailers:
As you can see this started happening waaaaay before Amazon came around. I loved these stores, but I could see the writing on the wall, even back then. Maybe I am lucky. I always felt I knew digital was the forecast of consumer products. Maybe me and my retail career have been primed all along for this tectonic shift.
“I loved these stores, but I could see the writing on the wall. Sure, we are where we are now because of the Amazon might. However, I argue this a bit differently. I say we are where we are now because the consumer decided it so. “
People vote clearly and loudly with their purchases choices. See the yellow line below in the graph? Look to the far right and you will see the Amazon growth acceleration, especially since September 2015. In all, Amazon’s market share grew 5x since 2013.
If you are in marketing, you know this already- Ultimately, the consumer is always the boss. So, while Amazon is the latest key player, they are not the total reason. It is, as always, all about the consumer.
It’s always been this way and it will always be this way.
Jimi Hendrix was on the right track in many ways when he asked “Are You Experienced?”
So what exactly is H2H? No, it is not the latest Asian flu. Neither is it water—that is H2O. And its definitely not the latest networking app!
H2H is “Human to Human”
H2H is About Brands & Delivering on Their Digital Promise
Your digital promise is the full delivery of your brand’s experience to your consumer. Sure, its easy to produce slick graphics and fabulous copy on a webpage and in social media. But brands have to really ask themselves if they are also providing the human experience vis-a-vie their digital presentation.
At first this seems a bit crazy and if nothing else completely contradictory. Isn’t the whole point of digital is that it’s exactly just that-digital? Not exactly. What customers are demanding is the full range of a robust experience that a brand has to offer. What seems to be new here really isn’t. But with digital in the mix, the rules of execution have been forever altered. Marketers know that consumers do not want to simply buy something, they want to fully experience it. This means that brands now have to understand how to seamlessly deliver online and offline–with great humanness.
The rules of brand delivery and execution are forever changed.
Missing the H2H portion of the brand delivery equates to treating your customer like a piece of digital meat!
This is nothing new because as far back as 1998, Joseph Pine and James Gilmore published “Welcome to the Experience Economy” and the phrase was then forever coined. They plotted The Progression of Economic Value graph.
Even then in 1998, customers were demanding experiential immersion with a brand. With digital marketing, they are demanding it even more. Its sort of a paradox. The more brands deliver remotely, the more customers expect to be treated like a human.
Farfetch, the digital platform featuring hundreds of impossible to find boutiques and merchandise, recently announced their “Store of the Future”. Check out this short video from Bloomberg.
Farfetch is setting the standard for digital delivery and human experience.
Farfetch founder, Jose Neves says:
“The next stage in the evolution of the fashion industry is the connected store, which uses technology to enhance the luxury retail experience to become even more customer centric,” he said. “Farfetch is at the crossroads of luxury and technology and is well placed to understand its needs and deliver a tailored solution.”
In their new retail store concept, Farfetch customers will experience the full immersion of humanity wrapped in a digital brand delivery. Farfetch has executed an admirable business benchmark for H2H.
Is your brand ready for H2H? Are you experienced?
So, how did it go? Now that we’re getting through January, for sure you have already done your 2016 Holiday Sales review. So, how did it go? If you are not happy, hard to believe, but we now only have about 8 calendar months to implement change. Can we do all that needs to be done in time, this time?
The key question for most brands and stores has become incredibly apparent-
Where did my customer shop?
Did I have a brand presence there?
Was my customer’s experience consistent?
In Other Words
ARE YOU UNIFIED???
Unified Commerce. It’s not just Omni-Channel.
What does UNIFIED mean exactly? It means that presence or performance is no longer about where one can buy a product or find their retailer. As marketers, we call each of these a channel. Do you know what your customer calls it? NOTHING. Sorry to be so blunt. That’s right, they refer to it as nothing. Why? Because our customers really don’t care what a channel is. They only care about where they are and if they can easily purchase something. We also need less emphasis and planning around “channel optimization”, “tracking” the target consumer, or “omni-channel” anymore, too. Technically these efforts will remain, but it is really all about the right marketing mind set and goals. Its time to truly begin to understand and implement brand transaction strategies from the consumers’ viewpoint.
Unified Commerce. It’s Technology and It’s Your Consumers’ Brand Experience.
It is about a product or a brand transaction being seamlessly and instantly present across every platform.
Why Omni-Channel is Not The Same as UNIFIED
Here is a perfect true life example of my experience with an exclusive department store- This retailer is definitely Omni-Channel but definitely not Unified. When I fly into this city, I always look forward to shopping at this amazing destination. When I purchase something that won’t fit my carry-on, I have to ship it back. The brick and mortar purchase process will not allow it to be shipped to my PO Box. So, the sales associate has to physically release the order at the exact right time so that it meets me at my house upon return from my trip and not sit on my front porch while I am away. Then, I have to worry about my purchase sitting at the retailer for sometimes a week or more, depending on how long I am away. But, when I order online from this store, they will ship my package anywhere- including my PO Box.
Most surprising to me was when I needed some extra help buying some incredible just-had-to-have runway earrings and I wanted a couple different pair to collect all at once.
I called the store long distance and during this experience, I was able to order these pricey earrings from the sales associate literally via texting but, get this- they were not available for order via their website.
Very confusing.
So, time has come where the point of sale is no longer just about technology capability, channels or physical location of the purchase.
Unified commerce means that no matter where or when a consumer decides to buy, they can seamlessly, readily and easily transact their purchase AND to them, the transaction feels, looks and acts the same. The consumer experiences little differences in their transaction options and brand interaction. Also anyone in the organization that may be assisting in the transaction has the same information access and in real time.
Time flies. Our consumer continues to expect more unity in their experience. Can you be totally ready by the next holiday season? Can you get Unified?
Christine C. Oddo is the author of The Christine Report blog and founder of Madison Luxe Group; a beauty and luxury retail sales, product development, brand curation and digital strategy agency.
Inquiries to christine@madisonluxegroup.com
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Dew Perfector Treatment Tonic by Circ Cell Skincare Reviewed by Sleekhair Panel On Stage at Stylecon 2016
Sleekhair Executives: Joan Ngo COO & Christina Krasch, Marketing Coordinator, Speak at Stylecon 2016
The Expert Product Review Panel Reporting on Dew Perfector at Stylecon 2016.
More info www.circcell.com
Christine C. Oddo is the author of The Christine Report blog and founder of Madison Luxe Group; a beauty and luxury retail sales, product development, brand curation and digital strategy agency.
Inquiries to christine@madisonluxegroup.com
Christine C. Oddo is the author of The Christine Report blog and founder of Madison Luxe Group; a beauty and luxury retail sales, product development, brand curation and digital strategy agency.
Inquiries to christine@madisonluxegroup.com
