Kiosks an efficient off-media strategy ?

Apple’s retail strategy has inspired other major manufacturers of
consumer electronics equipment and it is likely that we will see this
more LG, Sony, Samsung, Dell stores pop-up in shopping malls or in other
strategic locations around the world.

                           source:Sony 

However, unlike Apple’s branded shops, these stores or kiosks are often
more marketing than commercial ventures.
The motives are clear: most of these CE companies already have
significant online sales, and want fresh fields for expansion. They can
provide a richer and more customized experience for shoppers than the
major retail chains can. They can control and protect their brands.

When LG launched a year ago it’s own LG branded kiosks in major French
shopping malls (about 50 kiosks to spread across the French territory),
they intended to provide better customer experience of their product
prior purchase though standard retail channel. These kiosks, kind of
permanent show-rooms, aimed to “pre-sell” products in an environment
where customer were minutes aways from real stores, where they could
purchase LG products once convinced.

                        Source:mobilesachat.fr

Dell also tested this path with more than 160 kiosks in major US Malls
and airports. The goal was to let customer touch, experience the product
before purchasing it on-line (no products were stocked in kiosks
although the customer had the possibility to order the product through
the Dell website).

RNB Analysis:
Manufacturer-owned outlets represent permanent cost centers, and must
perform well over the year. It is likely that if these outlets don’t
allow customers to directly buy products, measuring the ROI of such marketing venture will not be that easy. As the economy contracts and
competition gets fierce, manufacturers will probably get more aggressive and use their kiosks to relay more promotional activities and monitor with less patience their impact on the bottom line.

Apple Retail Stores: the 9-success factors

“In 2001 Apple Computer acted on a decision to open a series of retail stores that would display their entire line of computer products, software and peripherals. Part of the decision was based on Apple’s declining share of the computer market. But the move was also forced by *poor* marketing of Apple’s Macintosh products at other retails stores, most noticeable the Sears and CompUSA chains. “

Source: Ifoapplestore.com
http://www.ifoapplestore.com/the_stores.html

RBN analysis: 

This is the kind of decision that can have a dramatic impact on your business and some might have thought that Steve Jobs became crazy when he fired key retailers (including sears) to develop independent retail stores. Apple operates today more than 200 stores and has imposed very tight guidelines to its retailers when it comes to display and sell its products. Apple’s operating incomes has jumped from about 19 million € in 2003 to 3.3 billion € in 2007. Its retail strategy has certainly helped the company to achieve such a tremendous performance; according to Peter Oppenheimer (Apple’s CFO), every Apple store attracts about 9000 visitors per week! No question that Apple retail strategy has inspired other A brand selling high value product. Company such as Archos, TomTom, HP, … are investing a tremendous amount of money in retail to have their own shop (Shop in shop) within the retailer’s outlet and by doing so, they want to have a better control of customer retail experience towards their products. It is no secret that IT brands have to evolve towards CE to secure their future.

A Wall Street Journal article about the 2004 Apple mini-store openings explained, “Mr. Jobs said that Apple wants, ‘the best buying experience’ for its products, and that most of the resellers weren’t investing enough in their stories (sic) or making other selling improvements.”

Apple-branded outlets were meant to succeed thanks to “9 success factors”

*A strong concept / Solid business model*

*New and exciting products*

*Enough Cash on the balance sheet*

*Excellent Marketing and brand name***

*Excellent Supply chain management***

*Relevant Information systems*

*Excellent shop locations*

*A unique solution-focused store design*

*Outstanding store operation to deliver “Fantastic experience”*

*Source: MacWorld* *Read the complete article here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/17502/2001/05/success.html*

Product demo videos: a necessary web 2.0 evolution for Etailers?

Comet launched online product demonstration videos last month to enhance customer service and improve conversion rates.

The new web site, comettv.co.uk, has videos showing how its products work. It hosts 150 demonstrations for products including vacuum cleaners, iPods and laptops. Comet forecasts that about 50.000 customers will view the product videos each month.Rival DSGi’s e-tailer Pixmania provides videos for many products sold online and Currys provides videos for 300 products.

 

(source: www.retail-week.com)

RBN analysis :

Pretty good tool to sell high value products. We know that about 2/3 of purchase decisions are taken in front of the shelf so it does make sense to offer on-demand customer sales speech to support on-line sales.

. As e-shoppers are becoming more demanding and shopping basket increases, e-tailers have to adapt to provide in-store like shopping experience. This tool could reinsure the customer’s on-line purchase decision when he wants to purchase a 3-digit priced product.

On-line product video will certainly become a mandatory tool such as brochure or web banner. It is possible that the manufacturer will have to provide such tool every time it launches a new product.