the future of retail

Dealing with an in-store problem like Black Friday.The impact on the store, retail standards

and brand equity.

Black Friday 2015

• Shoppers spent more than £3.3 billion over Black Friday weekend• Black Friday was the UK’s biggest day for online retail ever• Supermarket Asda announced that it would not take part in Black Friday

2015 sighting ‘shopper fatigue’ towards one-day sales events – the retailer credited with first bringing the one-day sales event to the UK

• In the US, outdoor retailer REI closed its 147 stores on Black Friday promoting instead its #OptOutside campaign. More than 1 million shoppers chose to do just that

• Black Friday 2016 felt much more restrained and ‘grown up’ than in previous years

Black Friday 2015 - Review

• Marks & Spencer - Black Friday POS was displayed prominently- Finding the products on offer proved difficult- POS was dispersed throughout the store only ‘suggesting’ discounts- No visible marking down of clothing at the point-of-purchase

• Boots– Only gave a nod to Black Friday, with window posters and Black

Friday FSDUs deep in-store

Black Friday 2015 – Retailer Review

• Tesco – Closed its doors overnight in order to prepare for Black Friday – Doubled staffing levels

• Halfords - Featured balloons, new entrance displays, posters, freestanding

display units, and lots of external POS.


Driving high levels of shopper spend with big in-

store promotions is impressive

But at what cost?

Impact on the store

• Typically, processes (online and in-store) will fail ‘at peak’• Operational vulnerabilities come to light• Retail standards within the wider store must be maintained• Some shoppers visit the store for routine shopper missions and have no

interest in sales event• Brands outside of such events must remain unaffected

Impact on the store

Impact on retail standards

• Large scale promotional retail events put a huge strain on promotional displays and in-store resources

• Displays must be ‘reset’ quickly post promotion• Failure to do so can leave displays looked tired and unloved• This leads to substandard retail experience• And, ultimately… unhappy customers

Impact on retail standards

Impact on brand equity

• During Black Friday 2015, retailers experienced problems online with at least 15 retail websites suffering “some form of loss of service” on Black Friday. They included big names like Tesco, Argos and John Lewis.

• Highly concentrated footfall in-store during big promotional events can cause the customer experience to ‘crash’ too:


• Promotional displays will be shopped, hard• Shoppers can lay waste to retail standards • Brand displays outside of promotional event are also shopped harder• Poor retail standards in one area of the store can affect sales of

‘neighbouring’ brands• Poor retail experience can impact negatively on overall brand perception

amongst shoppers


Deal in success

• Plan ahead • Ensure sufficient resources are allocated to ‘landing’ the promotional

event successfully• Limit the ‘bleed’ into other areas of the store • Merchandising standards must not be compromised• Remember: not everyone shopping in-store wants a bargain – the

shopping experience still matters• Ensure brands not involved in the promotion are ‘shielded’ • Work to quickly put the store ‘back together again’ post-event

Top Tips: Deal in success

• Better still… build compliance excellence into working practices – in every store, every day (not just for one-off events)

• Maintain brand standards during high footfall periods• Reduce shopper frustration• Protect brand equity• Improve the customer experience• Maximise sales

Top Tips: Deal in success

Thank you.