Williard Bishop is again out with refreshing views on how to stay relevant in today’s environment. Catch the issue here, http://www.willardbishop.com/PDFs/201006CE.pdf.

Relevancy means everything in today’s very difficult retail environment.  Relevant prices, relevant ads and displays, relevant assortment, and a relevant shopping experience are all key to winning shoppers and shopping trips.  Has relevancy really changed that much during these difficult times?  Many grocers will tell you that they have been caught off guard by how fast relevancy has shifted over the past two years.

Relevancy means everything in today’s very difficult retail environment.  Relevant prices, relevant ads and displays, relevant assortment, and a relevant shopping experience are all key to winning shoppers and shopping trips.  Has relevancy really changed that much during these difficult times?  Many grocers will tell you that they have been caught off guard by how fast relevancy has shifted over the past two years.

Google and Compete recently completed their latest research study, Wireless Shopper 2.0, which covers the shifting cell phone marketplace, the rise of the Smartphone and the role search plays in the purchase process.

Download a PDF version of the study.

Key consumer findings revealed that today’s wireless shoppers are:

• Open to Switching: At the beginning of the purchase process, 42% did not have a a specific carrier preference, while 78% did not have an OEM preference
• Reeled in by Features: 45% bought a new Smartphone because they wanted more features, while 22% bought because they saw a new phone they “had to have”
• Reliant on Search: 62% of consumers who searched for a newly launched mobile device purchased one, and the average consumer conducts 13 searches throughout the purchase process

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, these behavioral insights indicate the importance of having a comprehensive digital marketing strategy to bridge the gap between queries and sales. To do so, digital marketers should focus on:

• Targeting the Entire Funnel: The purchase funnel is not as linear as it once was; query trends indicate that search is paying a central role throughout and that generic (non-branded) keyword are prevalent and convert, even at the end of the purchase process
• Device-Centric Campaigns: Shoppers are searching online for everything to do with their wireless device: features, reviews, price, applications, etc. Optimize device-specific landing pages and integrate device-focused keywords and ad texts into campaigns
• Leverage Search for Product Launches: Search is an effective tool for introducing new products to customer prospects, especially during the announcement and pre-launch face - don’t miss the opportunity to acquire new potential lifetime customers

For more insights into today’s Wireless Shopper 2.0, download the full study

Mashable has a great innovation story on how some sites are changing the way we shop. Great thing about most of these sites is the way they present the information to the shoppers, you really don’t have to go to each Retailers site looking for deals, these sites will do it for you.

14 Sites Changing the Way We Shop

Socks, underwear, or high-end jeans and shirts you design yourself, Internet services can provide them all. A great look at how some small retailers are using technology and providing simple services in innovative ways.

NYTimes.com - The Man, the Mouse and the Wardrobe

Great Infographic on the number of followers of US Grocery Retailers.

So far we have relied on Comp Sales (also know as Same Store Sales), which is a measurement of productivity in revenue used to compare sales of retail stores that have been open for a year or more, to gauge Retailer health. Now, the folks at Consesus Advisors have come up with a new way to gauge the Health.

The Consensus Retailer Health Ratings (RHRs) measure and compare retailers over a five-year period with regard to their:

• Healthy Growth
• Asset Utilization
• Pricing Power
• Balance Sheet Strength

Each of the four components is comprised of a variety of factors and measurements that, taken together, yield a relative score for each retailer in the component. Each component is important to overall health, but we do not weight each component of the RHRs equally. We employ a proprietary weighting system that incorporates the correlation of the components to commonly used financial performance metrics such as return on assets, net income margin, total investment return and return on capital. Retailers are assigned scores and placed in
one of five tiers.

I liked the way, Consensus Retailer Health Ratings™ enable one to compare a retailer's area of strength / points of weakness to those of its peers.

Tim Dickey from Retail Technology Trends blogs about the Retail Tech specific news from the Store 2010 conference that concluded recently in Canada. He has listed highlights with relevant examples.

Daniel W. O’Connor of RetailNet – 2015: Next Generation Retailing

• Increasing popularity of list management tools – mysupermarket.com
• More marketing against trips to the store – alice.com
• Collective buying options and discounts are increasing – groupon
• Vending unit popularity and options continue to grow with a number of retailers expanding their footprint beyond their stores
• Brand and category migration means new strategies to stay in a business

Chris O’Neill of Google – Google’s Big Bets in a New Retail Landscape

• 20% of queries are local – opportunity for retailers to capitalize – Google’s Nearmenow makes it even easier for consumers to find what they are looking for.
• Search is getting even easier on a mobile platform, as the need to type is removed, as Google Goggles allows for search based on an image from a mobile phone.
• 87% of consumers research retail purchases online, while only 4% complete the purchase online

Mitch Joel of Twist Image - Social Commerce and Emerging Trends

• 81% of shoppers read reviews – 1 negative review converts more people than every review being positive – people know what idiots are like
• Comfort with channel drives commerce – Best Buy allows purchases within Facebook via Best Buy Shop and Share
• Haul Videos are an example of how consumers are changing the dynamic
• One day, one deal – Woot uses extreme simplicity, selling one product for one day only.
• People discuss what they bought on Blippy, connect credit card, and tweets purchases.

From Future of Retail: World As Retail Experience

Mobile payment systems and product identification technologies are enabling users to interact with and purchase virtually any product they come across in the world, regardless of whether or not it is found in a traditional retail environment. The ability of an individual to buy almost anything they see, shortens the path to purchase by transforming any encounter into an opportunity to make a sale.

Some great examples of how Mobile technologies are changing the way consumers are interacting with products. Interactions today are not limited to Physical or Online store. With you going out with your Mobile, the world is the Market now.