Insights

Excerpt from Glossy article
Written by Jessica Schiffer

It’s no longer enough to personalize beauty products with a shopper’s name or favorite color. Today’s consumers are seeking out brands that allow them to customize everything about a product, down to its formulation.

To satisfy this, a crop of brands across the cosmetics, hair-care and skin-care categories have popped up in the last few years to offer bespoke products, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. A report last year from GlobalData found that a growing number of consumers, then at 61 percent, found the concept highly appealing.

“The push toward customization is linked closely to the beauty space’s desire to appeal to a diverse and global clientele,” said Maya Mikhailov, CMO and co-founder of retail app developer GPShopper. “Standards of beauty are shifting from traditional norms, and consumers are increasingly demanding beauty products that not only offer more choice, but also help them express their individuality.”

Originally published in Total Retail
Written by Maya Mikhailov, CMO and Co-Founder of GPShopper

During the 2017 holiday shopping season, retailers saw a 5.5 percent increase in sales from the previous year. Now that the holiday crush has come and gone, most executives are busy celebrating a huge jump over the prior year, and consumers are still dizzy from another whirlwind shopping season with delayed shipments and missing packages.

The battle for the relevance and convenience that keeps customers coming through the physical or proverbial door didn't pause for Christmas dinner. In an even less certain 2018, retailers must reflect and recalibrate quickly to succeed.

The Logistics and Shipping Headache Will Only Get Worse in 2018

This past holiday season, a majority of consumers spent up to 15 hours shopping for gifts. And despite the fact that they’ve spent tons of time with their favorite retailers instead of their favorite family members, there are still major mishaps that retailers have been unable to fix.

While online and mobile shopping boast to be the solution to avoiding overcrowded stores, a third of shoppers still reported paying extra for shipping and ultimately not receiving their gifts on time. This year, many retailers tried to solve this issue by setting shipping deadlines earlier, but with delays from the likes of UPS as early as Black Friday, even bumping up deadlines wasn’t enough to guarantee delivery by the holiday. Thirty-five percent of shoppers reported placing their orders by the deadline, yet they still didn't receive their gift in time, which seems pretty unbelievable when we’ve figured out tech solutions for everything from personal shoppers and chatbots to checkout kiosks.

2018 will be all about emerging brands that deliver unique and authentic experiences to their customers. Although many are digital natives, they are actively pursuing expansion strategies which include pop-ups and permanent storefronts. Whether it be Parisian style, sneaker culture, gender fluidity, authenticity or - my favorite theme - sustainability, I’ve uncovered a stellar list of innovative retailers to watch this year. 

Stadium Goods

Perhaps you have heard about the billion-dollar sneaker resale market? Limited edition sneakers are the must-have of stylish workwear and streetwear. In today’s workplace, an in-demand pair of kicks has become the new necktie, but so much more modern and comfortable. Whether you’re a sneakerhead or not, Stadium Goods is your one stop shop for highly sought-after streetwear and sneakers. While the sneaker resale market is quite saturated, the two-year-old marketplace is booming. Though Stadium Goods has its fair share of competitors, it has a great handle on both its brick and mortar and mobile strategy. Stadium Goods has two locations in New York City and recently launched its first app. If you haven’t been so lucky this Yeezy Season, head on over to Stadium Goods – you’ll be sure to find the latest Blue Tint colorway.

Let’s be honest, NRF can be extremely overwhelming. To make it easier for you, I’ve rounded up a list of innovative technology players from this year’s NRF floor – most of which are new to the market. Consider these companies and their services as you plan your 2018 retail strategy. As we all know, if you aren’t innovating, you’re allowing your competition to eventually put you out of business. 

Retailers, take a peek:

Pricer

Electronic Shelf Labeling is the new “it” technology. Pricer is the only company to offer the three fundamentals to store digitization: product positioning, device tracking and universal product/label flash. Best Buy is one of many major retailers to sign on with Pricer for their Electronic Shelf-Edge solutions. Nicole Nelson, Vice President at Best Buy said, “having electronic shelf labels in place allows employees to focus on serving customers instead of changing paper price tags.” In addition to the ESL solutions, Pricer has also combined wayfinding/product locator for large retail storefronts. Pricer’s wayfinding technology easily detects the physical location of shelf tags – for example, if you happen to move an item or tag from one aisle to another, its system will automatically update the location on your store map.

Excerpt from Business Insider article
Written by Kate Taylor

This week, Amazon finally opened the doors of its futuristic grocery store, Amazon Go, in Seattle. The cash-free store allows customers to simply walk out without paying at a cash register, with the proper money simply being charged to their Amazon account. 

Amazon isn't the only company experimenting with cashless. The popular salad chain Sweetgreen announced it was going completely cash-free in late 2016, and Starbucks recently opened a cashless store in Seattle. 

"Mobile payment in the U.S. has grown to over 30% of total tender," Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said in a call with investors on Thursday. "The ubiquity of mobile and credit card payment is enabling us to begin an exploration of cashless stores in the US."

Maya Mikhailov, the CMO of retail app developer GPShopper, told Business Insider that quick-service restaurants and other chains, such as Sweetgreen and Starbucks, are set to lead the way in the revolution against cash. Going cashless can speed up service, dissuade theft, and allow companies to gather more information on shoppers by linking them to digital loyalty programs.