Inside

The human touchin a world ofscreen culture

As retailers and the retail property world move everything online, howdo we maintain a balance between THE HUMAN TOUCH and SCREENCULTURE?

We know that consumers embrace companies that contribute positively tosociety, stand for something or just have some personality. In fact, show usa customer who wouldn’t like to feel part of something bigger or at least forshopping to be enjoyable, rather than simply transactional.

Any retail experience that can show itself in a new light, open, honest, fun,trustworthy, reactive is welcomed with open arms. Welcome to the HUMANTOUCH.

But we are seeing a shift further towards SCREEN CULTURE: ubiquitous,mobile technology, cheap and always on; interactive and intuitive (via touchscreens and tablets); an interface to everything and anything that lies beyondthe screen (via the mobile web and, increasingly, ‘the cloud’).

In this issue we will look at how screen culture can help create and maintainthe human touch - just one way to ensure retail success.

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Where does the trend come from ?*

Where do we start in describing the HUMAN TOUCH in retailing?The list below might just be as obvious as it is difficult to put intopractice:

1. EMPATHY: understanding not just what your customers want, but howyou make them feel.

2. GENEROSITY: moving beyond the purely commercial to give somethingback to your customers.

3. HUMILITY: letting others talk about what you do.

4. HONESTY: not trying to hide your flaws or sugar coat things.

5. HUMOUR: because business doesn’t have to be serious all the time.

6. MATURITY: pushing the boundaries a little.

7. FLEXIBILITY: responding to people and their needs, throwing out rigid,static processes.

And all of these characteristics can be enhanced through SCREEN CULTURE:

It is predicted that by 2015 – only three years away – the number of internet -connected devices will be the equivalent of TWO for every person on theplanet. IP traffic will reach 11GB per person and global internet traffic willreach one zettabyte. (That’s 10 to the power of 21 bytes!) We are living in aworld of screen culture.

Smart retailers will work hard to ensure that they use this traffic to theiradvantage ...

Four opportunities are listed hereinafter.

The trend briefing

*Source: trendwatching.com a London-based, independent trend firm, scans the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights

and related hands-on business ideas. Its free monthly Trend Briefings get sent to more than 160,000 business professionals in 180+ countries.”

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In 2012 consumers don’t expect retailers tobe flawless, in fact they even embrace com-panies that are (painfully-but-aptly named)FLAWSOME.What do we mean by FLAWSOME? Compa-nies that are open and honest about their short-comings, that show some empathy, generosity,humility, flexibility, maturity, humour and, darewe say it, some character and humanity.So, time to ask yourself: are you going to tryand keep up the façade of corporate perfec-tion (which no one believes anyway), or takea risk, open up, and trust that consumers willfind you FLAWSOME.

Opportunity 1: Admit you are human and canmake mistakes

Opportunity 2: Work on the human side ofsocial media to your advantage

*Source: trendwatching.com a London-based, independent trend firm, scans the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights

and related hands-on business ideas. Its free monthly Trend Briefings get sent to more than 160,000 business professionals in 180+ countries.”

every 2 months: 1 consumer trend briefing • 4 retail real estate player’s viewpoints • online follow-up

Selected links1. US based fast food retailer Domino’slaunched a month-long promotional cam-paign in New York. Hiring out a huge bill-board space in Times Square, the brandlive-streamed customer feedback (good andbad) given via Twitter. This uncensored approach to feedback isdaring, but all shopping centres and retailersmight do this in time2.Unilever-owned ice cream brand Ben &Jerry’s issued a statement on its website stat-ing its support for and admiration of the Oc-cupy Wall Street protests. The demonstrationswere concerned with social and economic in-equality and corporate values. Retailers and shopping centre owners takenote – you don’t have to remain neutral topolitical issues!

4More links on trendwatching

Selected links1. Porsche launched a special edition 911GT3 R Hybrid model to celebrate reaching1,000,000 fans on the brand’s Facebook page.The car’s surface was covered with more than27,000 signatures from fans and was later puton display in the Porsche museum.It doesn’t take much imagination to seehow shoppers might be encouraged to signa wall in a shopping centre, perhaps.2. Dutch airline KLM organised 140 of itsemployees to take part in a real-life tweet-ing exercise. Taking place in an empty aero-plane hangar in Amsterdam’s SchipholAirport, the employees worked for twelvehours replying to customers’ tweets.We have yet to see a shopping centre takesocial media as seriously as this.We have yet to see a shopping centre takesocial media as seriously as this.3. The quintessential and yet-to-be-bet-tered example: UK based flower deliverycompany Interflora launched a social mediacampaign to brighten up the lives of Twitterusers by sending them flowers. It monitoredTwitter for anyone who might need cheeringup, and sent them a bouquet of flowers.4. Sichuan hotpot chain Hao Di Lao and Chi-nese technology firm Huawei announced apartnership to install telepresence screens inrestaurants. Thanks to the screens, cus-tomers can enjoy their meal with family and

friends, via a video link. Hao Di Lao cus-tomers can also use iPads to order food.This idea could be applied to retailers orshopping centres so easily, perhaps ownersof multiple shopping centres could connectthem all together.

4More links on trendwatching

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Make it pervasive, personal, immersive andinteractive. There are easy-to-apply trends,and then there are broader ‘ways of life’,shifts in consumer culture that all businesspeople should be aware of. And so it is withscreen culture, less of a trend that willoverturn your business tomorrow, but morea medium through which so many trends inthis trend report will manifest themselves.

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Selected videoTimes square tracker – Domino’s Pizza

Selected videoKLM Live tweeting

every 2 months: 1 consumer trend briefing • 4 retail real estate player’s viewpoints • online follow-up

*Source: trendwatching.com a London-based, independent trend firm, scans the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights

and related hands-on business ideas. Its free monthly Trend Briefings get sent to more than 160,000 business professionals in 180+ countries.”

Shoppers will become more and more awarethat personality and profit can be compatible.As consumers see retailers succeeding while re-maining reasonable, helpful and even almost‘human’, they will be increasingly disillusionedwhen encountering the opposite. Your cus-tomers will be less accepting of bland, inflexibleorganisations, excuses or communications. Weare in a position of a buyers’ market, and don’tforget, there is no obligation for shoppers tocome back to you ...

What started in the digital world as a way tolaunch test versions of software will move everfurther into the offline world in 2012, as brandslaunch beta products, concepts or experiences,and invite customers to help develop them.Audiences will of course like anything novel andexciting, especially if it’s exclusive and they cancontribute. But it will take a confident retailer toadmit that it doesn’t know it all, and that it canand wants to learn from (and with) its customers.However releasing beta products or services willnot be an excuse for poor quality or substandardservice. In fact, it will be the opposite: a verypublic commitment to continual improvement.

Opportunity 3: Show your compassionate face

Opportunity 4: Learn from your customers oreven go Beta

Selected links1. US based sunglasses retailer Tom’s Glassespledges that for each pair of sunglasses it sells, thebrand will either donate one pair of glasses to aperson in a developing country, provide sight-sav-ing surgery or medical eye treatment.

For a shopping centre this approach could haveenormous potential to create local press andmedia coverage.2. After the March 2011 tsunami in Japan, Coca-Cola and the Japanese Red Cross partnered tocreate a vending machine that accepted dona-tions. Customers could give either JPY 10 (USD0.12) or JPY 100 (USD 1.2) via dedicated buttonson the machine. After receiving the donations, themachine expressed a loud exclamation of thanks.

4More links on trendwatching

Selected links1. BMW announced a program asking con-sumers to test out its all-electric vehicle, the Ac-tiveE car. After application and acceptance tothe program, 700 drivers (called the Electronauts)will test the vehicles over a two-year period, leas-ing the cars from BMW for USD 499 per month.Users will be required to provide insights anddata to BMW, and attend feedback groups.This project was similar to a sophisticated publicconsultation programme. 2. Taking the experimental shopping themeeven further: A Startup Store is a retail space andshopping exhibition which changes its stock in-ventory every four to six weeks. Undertaking acomplete reinvention with the stock change, theinterior, merchandise, theme and store name arealso refreshed. When the store first launched, thetheme was 'beta' and brands featured includedArtspace, Birchbox, Baublebar, Joor, and Quirky– all New York-based start-up companies offer-ing consumer products.3. This is particularly interesting for retailers andshopping centre owners who want to developfootfall or manage their stock lines: Discountcodes and genuine shopping vouchers for par-ticipating retailers that can be unlocked throughgameplay, directing users to brands' ecom-merce sites. Launched in the UK in Beta version,Fantasy Shopper is a social shopping game al-lowing users to browse, style and purchase ap-parel virtually - without spending any real money.

Up-to-date collections of over 300 stores areavailable, with users spending 'Fantasy Money'.Shoppers can share ‘wardrobes’ with friends, de-sign outfits, ‘follow’ famous style icons, ‘unlock’major world destinations, and complete shop-ping challenges to boost their ‘fashionista repu-tation’.4More links on trendwatching

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Selected videoCoca Cola Japanese RedCross aid appeal

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Selected videoThe future of retail

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Interview 1 David Wright, GroupMarketing Director of designconsultants Dalziel & Pow

How do you see the balance between themove toward screen culture and the needto maintain a human touch?The store is the perfect location for technologyto enhance the experience but transactions in-store on the screen are not as prevalent as wemight have expected. People are just not inthe mindset to transact on screen instore, itjust doesn’t feel natural. The screen is a usefultool for inspiration, information and sometransactions but they lack the 'realness' of theproduct interaction. For us technology is a toolwe need to use like lighting or VM to enhancethe shopping experience.We talk a lot about the creation of 'One BrandSpace' and that concept will gain momen-tum, where integrated and appropriate usesof technology exist within the store environ-ment and throughout the customer's jour-ney. New shopping channels, specificallyinternet, but increasingly mobile, are chippingaway at traditional retail. The better brandshave increasingly integrated their on-line andoff-line channels in one seamless offer, recog-nising that in the customer's mind, retailersare monolithic, homogenous traders who

happen to have made our life easier. The in-tegrated offer uses technology to support thesales team and the customer, firstly to attract,then inspire and inform, and finally to aid thetransaction. There are many ways to achievethat Attract, Inform and Transact process.It is predicted that by 2015 there will bemore wireless internet traffic than wireddevices. How do you see that impactingon the shopping centres and the retail en-vironment?The days when you could treat your store asan open stockroom have long gone, it is nolonger good enough simply to allow access tothe product on offer, you need to enhance thatproduct, tell a story and give a reason to buy.Through every aspect of the retail experience,we are creating showrooms rather than stock-rooms, spaces that attract and engage. In this'Showroom' we can edit, enhance and entice.Whether the story is one of heritage, customi-sation or value, there is always a story to tell,we just need to work a little harder to find it. Ina showroom environment a shopper will beencouraged to stay longer and spend more, itdelivers on every level.

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How do you see the balance between themove toward screen culture and the needto maintain a human touch?Human touch and screen culture shouldn’t beopposed. They complement each other inmany regards. Customers are growing accus-tomed to using touch screens for their per-sonal use with their phones and tablets.Moreover, they see more and more digitaltotems in their daily lives. This has led Klépierreto sign a deal with Clear Channel, the worldleader in digital advertising inside shoppingcentres. 73 of our French malls will beequipped with 900 digital screens and totems.72% of our visitors believe this enhances theirpositive perception of the shopping centre. Inthe end, this gives both Klépierre and brandsa new way to reach customers. Events and an-imations are often organised using these digi-tal screens, showing how screen culture andhuman touch can cooperate.Do you see the future of shopping centresand retail being challenged by online, ordo you see them coexisting.They will definitely coexist. Traditional retailingchannels feed off online shopping and viceversa. Nowadays, consumers have a widearray of options to discover products and make

their purchases: shopping centres, airports,train stations, e-commerce websites, etc. Butit’s a fact that today 76% of purchase decisionsare made in-store. Customers still need totouch and feel products before convincingthemselves to buy. That kind of genuine cus-tomer experience is impossible to translate inan online environment and acknowledges theneed for bricks & mortar retailing.It is predicted that by 2015 there will bemore wireless internet traffic than wireddevices. How do you see that impactingon the retail environment?Traditional retailing will need to seize that op-portunity by giving customers more services.At Klépierre, many of our shopping centreshave mobile applications offering visitors amap of the mall and exclusive deals. Most re-cently, we have launched a geo-localisationapplication for our Val d’Europe shopping cen-tre. It allows customers inside the centre tofind the easiest way to specific stores, theirparking space and even their friends! By theend of 2012, our Blagnac shopping centre vis-itors will also have the opportunity to down-load a similar application. We put a great dealof effort in designing new services for cus-tomers to better their shopping experience.

Interview 2Jean-François Bouvier –director of GALAE,Klépierre’s specialty leasingsubsidiary

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Interview 4 Ron Epstein, President, BalticAmerica, real estateinvestment company

How do you see the balance between themove toward screen culture and the needto maintain a human touch?It is the question of the difference betweenquantity vs. quality; and the balance ofcost/benefit, with the later imposing a newparadigm in which the former is being an-swered. In a global economy those that donot have the time or resources to fly to everyclient for a relationship reinforcing lunchvastly outnumber those who do. Moderncommunication tools allow this group ac-cess, and by their numbers, are defining anew modus operandi in business. In theend, no one will deny the ‘human touch’ ismore effective, but being able to reach mul-tiple potential business opportunities fromsingle locale is a worthy second place, allow-ing more with less. If you agree that it is aworld that anyhow values quality less andquantity more – it seems that even the gapis closed even further.

Do you see the future of shopping beingchallenged by online, or do you see themcoexisting?The internet is a giant new shopping centerin every neighborhood. All the rest will justbe less appealing but most will survive inone way or another.It is predicted that by 2015 there will bemore wireless internet traffic than wireddevices. How do you see that impactingon the retail environment?The obvious is location based coupontext/email contact from merchants whenprospective customers are geographicallyconvenient. The reverse is also likely withonline merchants sending product or cate-gory-related promotions to consumers whentheir location is detected in a retail store.This is probably why Google has the edgeover Facebook in monetizing the internet,though each has the data the other needs toinstitute this in an efficient and massive way.

Interview 3:Pamela Wolf,partner/digital business,INVALIO, distributionchannels consultants

How do you see the balance between themove toward screen culture and the need tomaintain a human touch?I’m a believer in using digital as a way of improv-ing the quality of “human touch”. Digital gives usa choice as to how we want to do things. Shop,read the paper or a book, watch a movie, play agame, organise a meeting, talk to a friend…With shopping, people will continue to want thetouch and feel experience but they will also wantfast and easy service at the touch of their finger-tips. Why can’t we do both?Do you see the future of shopping centresand retail being challenged by online, or doyou see them coexisting.I believe that they will coexist. For the shopper,it’s not an either/or scenario. And let’s not forgetthat some of the biggest online brands are alsobig bricks & mortar (B&M) retailers (ie. Macy’s,Home Depot, Sephora).The mental barrier dividing online shopping andB&M, which was created with PC web use, isbeing removed with the increasing use of mo-bile devices and will eventually disappear. Both forms of retail will continue to evolve ascustomer habits evolve. New forms of retail willemerge through this convergence allowing forfurther opportunities for today’s retailer.Nonetheless, the main challenge for all retailchannels will remain the same, now that thecustomer is in your store (whether physicalselling point / or Numeric (website / blogs/etc.), how do you keep him there?

Can you give us some examples of caseswhere retail companies have received andacted upon consumer feedback?Many examples come to mind, but overall Ithink that retailers react to customer feedback alot more today than in the past thanks to digitaltools. These multi touch points give the shopperdirect access to the product and to the peoplebehind the product offering. Digital really is a two way channel and smart retail-ers who have realized this are adjusting their strat-egy accordingly. Customer reviews, direct emailingand online chat with customer service, affiliationprograms, social networks, fan pages, retailer sites,blogs, fan made sites/videos, and many more, areall opportunities for the retailer to exchange with,learn from and react to their customer base.It is predicted that by 2015 there will be morewireless internet traffic than wired devices.How do you see that impacting on the retailenvironment?Traffic will come from the increased number ofconnected devices but also from the types ofdata being exchanged (video being the greediest).I see this as an even bigger opportunity for richershopping experiences both online and at thePoint of Sale allowing for more powerful connec-tions between the shopper and retail. Cus-tomers will want to dive more deeply into theirfavourite brand and digital will make it possible. Customers will come to expect quick, seamlessshopping across multi-touch points and retailerswill be able to provide it.

@wolfpamela

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CreditsContributors: Peter Clucas • Jean-Marc AndréAcknowledgement: MORE+ Vision wishes to thank the interviewees for their kind participationDesign: Frédéric Beauseigneur – Reed MIDEM Publishing Dept.Sources: “trendwatching.com, a London-based, independent trend firm, scans the globe for the mostpromising consumer trends, insights and related hands-on business ideas. Its free monthly TrendBriefings get sent to more than 160,000 business professionals in 180+ countries”

The pavilion will host several workshops on the following themes:• What business and governance model for culture in retail?• Instore product pickup: Value add for Brick and Mortar?• How to drive traffic to stores and transit zones thanks to culture?• Digital platforms: must have & nice to have for shopping centers• The Power of Pop-up storesThese conferences will be brought to you by:

• There are one trillion conversations about brands each year in the U.S.alone.… what is your Retail social media strategy?

• How can retailers and retail developments reach out and engage with thecitysumers?

• Culture, Leisure: traffic generator? Retail spaces undergo constant changeand shopping centres are embracing a fusion of cultural and retail opportunities.

• Retail renaissance: physical retail has come under attack from e-commerce,but as multi-channel retail gains strength, the industry is experiencing aconvergence of physical and virtual shopping experiences.

• Retail in-Motion: Retail in transport hubs is becoming a real revenue driver asterminals upgrade and expand commercial development and turn into shoppingmalls.

• Staying top of the pop-ups: Pop-up shops have gone from a perfect example oftemporary installation to a fixture on every marketing-strategy-to-do list”

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