NRF Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference Highlights

NRF divisions Shop.org and the Retail Advertising & Marketing Association (RAMA) joined forces to stage the inaugural Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference, held March 2-4 in San Francisco. The agenda for the sold-out conference was specifically designed to address the issues most critical to digital retail and marketing and advertising professionals.

In a session titled “The Mobile Revolution,” shopkick co-founder Cyriac Roeding told a capacity audience how cell phones are poised to become a major factor in the U.S. retail arena — not so much as a sales channel, but as a marketing medium. Roeding’s company developed the CauseWorld cell phone application that allows users to earn credits for visiting retailers and donate them to various charities/causes.

By the end of this year, the number of cell phone users – five billion worldwide, according to a U.N. estimate – will have increased more than 500 percent since 2001. In the United States, cell phone penetration is roughly 90 percent, Roeding said, and the technology is undergoing a sea change. At the core of this change is 3G architecture — soon to be succeeded by 4G, which will feature connection speeds akin to those of broadband.

A recent poll of U.S. cell phone users reveals that, overall, 13 percent use them to browse the Internet – but 85 percent of iPhone users do so. Search the web for a brand or product? Six percent overall, 59 percent for the iPhone. The gaps are similar for social networking (4 percent vs. 50 percent) and music downloads (7 percent vs. 74 percent).

What makes these figures particularly significant is that Americans, on average, replace their cell phones every 18 months, and 30 percent of the new phones being purchased are smartphones. By the end of the year, every other mobile phone in this country will be a smartphone.

The big opportunity for retailers, Roeding said, is online-influenced offline purchasing: According to Jupiter Research, it will account for 40 percent of total U.S. retailing by 2012 – nearly six times the projected volume of e-commerce.

The mobile device has an enormous advantage over the personal computer. You have it with you; it knows where you are, and you can use it to find a nearby restaurant or hardware store. Click on the retailer’s icon and you can find out about specials or inducements to get you in the door.

“Mobile,” Roeding said, “is a natural tool to replace the newspaper as a way to reach customers. It can drive foot traffic, basket size, the in-store experience and frequency, and manage your loyalty program at the same time.”

The Customer Rules
Peter Sachse, chief marketing officer for Macy’s, gave a presentation entitled “How Macy’s Delivers Consistent & Creative Customer Experiences in All Channels.” What really came through in that session, however, was the retailer’s understanding of its customers.

Following its organizational consolidation early last year, Macy’s undertook an intensive study of its customers and their needs and wants. Working with consulting firm dunnhumby, it gathered massive amounts of data through a quantitative survey of 14,000 customers, focus groups, store intercepts, customer and non-customer purchase diaries and 12 months of transaction data from customer households.