Cate Trotter from Insider Trends was also presenting at the
ThoughtWorks Retail Agility conference the other day. Being a big fan of
William Gibson’s ‘Pattern Recognition’ series I was very excited to meet a
real-life ‘cool-hunter’.
Cate’s day job is looking for trends, looking for patterns
that exist in subcultures that will come to influence main stream culture. She
takes businesses on ‘trend tours’, to show them where the hip and happening
starts. She had a dizzying amount
of great examples of cutting edge inovation in the retail sector that drives
not just compelling customer experiences but also disruptive experiences. Real
creative ways of engaging customers and creating buzz.
One of the underlying
themes that seemed to emerge for me was the subtle shift away from ‘hard sell’
and the focus on the immediate returns, to building brand and relationships in
a more meaningful and engaging way. Which in the current economic climate is
not only refreshing but a very insightful strategy for long term survival.
While most retailers are scrabbling to claim their share of shoppers’ limited
wallet with sales, discounts and ‘special-purchase’ cheap and nasty give-aways,
to secure short-term income, some creating brand experiences that will
encourage loyalty long after the event is over.
Take Airwalk as a great
example: They created and ‘Invisible Pop‐Up Store’ enhanced with augmented
reality to create buzz around the very limited edition Goldrun sneaker. So cool! Or Wetseal, who have taken the
concept of user-generated content and have created the capability to ‘crowdsource’
outfits.
Big thanks to Cate.
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