February 3rd, 2010

Industry Insights: 2010 Will Be the Year That Smart Phone Ubiquity Changes the Face of Retail

This post is the first in our “Industry Insights Series,” and is guest-written by Colin Hynes, Director of Usability, Staples, Inc.

By now, it’s well documented and accepted that customers research online before buying in a store. In fact, a recent survey of in-store customers showed that 88% said they had shopped at that retailer’s web site while 75% said visiting the store’s site helped them shop in-store (2009 RichRelevance/Envirosell Study). It’s clear that bricks and mortar retail and the web have become inextricably linked. Even casual web users are weaving the mediums together to make more informed decisions.

So, as the mobile landscape evolves, smart retailers are now grasping the fact that customers are not just researching at their desk or kitchen table, but on the way to the store and while in it. This dynamic shift has profound implications on every element of the retail experience from associate training, to branding, to pricing and promotions, and everything in between.

For example, the store associate was once the exclusive bastion of product knowledge when a customer walked through the doors. Now customers feel empowered to rely on getting product information from the device ringing in their pocket. They perceive many sites like CNET as unbiased and unwaveringly reliable. Do customers feel the same way about an associate in a store? Maybe with some associates in some stores, but that trust is undoubtedly more situational and inconsistent based on the store and the associate standing in front of them. As more apps get built that make the product selection process easier, will customers eschew the face-to-face interaction with a store associate for the shiny glow of their iPhone? And while a device will not fully replace a face-to-face interaction with a trained and knowledgeable sales associate, the prospects are frightening for many retailers.

Also consider what smart phone ubiquity does to pricing. A customer could see a physical product in a store, scan a bar code, and research prices from land-based and internet-only retailers. It is the ultimate in price transparency. And this capability is not something that is coming—it’s here. At a recent NRF Conference, Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru stated that 39% of consumers with mobile devices are now using them to comparison shop (Live from NRF: Consumers Want Cross-Channel Synergy, Jan 12, 2010 By Tim Parry). And that number will only grow as the year goes on.

There are many more use cases for what will evolve in retail as we all carry computers in our pockets. Ultimately though, it will force the smart retailers to focus on the aspects of the experience that they can control and are important to their customers. For example, companies like Staples will continue to be laser focused on price while ensuring an exceptional in-stock position. Will a customer standing in front of a product on the shelf want to buy it on their cell phone through an online retailer with whom they have no relationship, wait for delivery and then hope they can return it in a hassle-free way all to save a few bucks? Perhaps, but probably not many.

In addition to focusing on differentiators, smart retailers will embrace the wireless world in ways that will transform how customers interact with their brand. We ran a test at Staples a couple years ago where we placed customer review cards adjacent to the product facts tags. The test was successful on a number of key metrics. However, the costs to create, post, and maintain the paper review tags made it a non starter. Now with smart phones, customers can have those reviews in their hands via the WAP-enabled Staples.com site. With a few swipes/presses/clicks, a customer can easily pull up product reviews on the mobile Staples.com site while touching and feeling the product in a Staples store. It’s akin to instantly having 100 people you trust who bought the product you’re considering at your beck and call to give you their viewpoint. Very powerful indeed.

While we are in the beginning stages of understanding the transformative impact of wireless on retail, it will undoubtedly continue to change the landscape of shopping. Much like the disruptive technology of the web, the winners will be those who do not run away from the light but toward it. They will realize that experimentation is key, failing fast is essential, and customer focus remains paramount. These are qualities that Staples bleeds and breeds, and why it is well positioned for success as we enter the wireless age.

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About the Author: colinhynes03Colin has spent the last 15 years designing user-centered experiences for electronic and physical environments. He founded, built and currently runs the usability group at Staples, which is responsible for information architecture and usability research for the corporation. Colin is a frequent author, keynote speaker and is a faculty member in Bentley’s Information Design program. He has also been interviewed by more than 30 publications including the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes and Boston Globe. Colin has also been featured in five books including The Persona Lifecycle and Cost Justifying Usability. Colin sits on the PowerReviews Product Advisory Council, Creative Good’s Customer Experience Council Advisory Board and is a former advisory board member of TargetSurf.

Additionally, Colin is a foremost authority in online selling and was recently named by Internet Retailer Magazine as the Design and Usability Executive of record for Staples Inc–the second largest ecommerce company.

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January 29th, 2010

The Product Page: REI Shows Us How It’s Done

by Yvonne Gando, Social Commerce Analyst

Ah, the product page. Blog author Martin Smith wrote a post on what he deems are the best e-commerce product pages, prefacing his list of top 5 examples with a succinct, and fitting quote that online retailers can certainly relate to: “Creating a magical mix of information while making it easy to buy may be the hardest thing to create on any e-commerce site…”

Who makes the cut, you ask? Along with Bass Pro Shops, PetSmart, and  RedEnvelope, PowerReviews client REI gets some serious accolades for their product page design, displayed below.

rei-prod-page

Smith describes REI’s product page as “state-of-the-art,” and we’d like to share some of the highlights below.

Enjoy!

  • Clean product page design clearly presents product variables with numerical 1,2,3 ordering:

REI Product Page

  • Smartly-placed tabs for available video and product images:

Videos/Images

  • Detailed product description can be found easily on the bottom of the page:

Detailed Product Description

  • Specs tab is logically placed to the right of product description tab:

Specs Tab

  • Each product’s Pros, Cons and Best Uses summary is easily accessible from the Customer Reviews Tab:

Reviews Summary

January 21st, 2010

2009 Highlights: PowerReviews Insider’s Top 5 Blog Posts

by Yvonne Gando, Social Commerce Analyst

We’re closing out the first month of the New Year with our top five blog posts of 2009. Here we go!

Top Posts of 2009Mining the Gold: 5 Ways to Really Leverage Customer Reviews

How do you drive ROI using UGC? VP of Client Services, Matt Parsons, reveals how to gain the greatest sales uplift value from customer reviews. From boosting SEO performance to taking reviews offline, Matt gives 5 top ways to harness the value of UGC to drive sales.

In-Line SEO. Finally!

What PowerReviews solution boosts rank on search engines, shines the spotlight on retailers’ products when shoppers arrive, and grows search-related sales dramatically? Robert Chea, COO, talks about how our In-Line SEO solution brings together the merchandising and marketing power of customer reviews onto the product page, driving search traffic where it will generate the most sales.

PowerReviews 2.0 : New Reality, New Brand

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How do you take a company personality and translate it into a new look entirely? The process of PowerReviews 2.0. revealed. Darby Williams, VP Marketing, details how our company’s growing footprint in social commerce prompted a transformation of everything PowerReviews.

PowerReviews Granted Patent for Pioneering Product Review Technology

The USPTO issued PowerReviews the first of seven patents filed on next-generation product reviews. Andy Chen, Founder and VP of Strategic Partnerships, reveals three major advances in social commerce, enabled by PowerReviews’ tag-based technology.

Welcome, Pehr Luedtke!

Forward thinkers driven by innovation: this is how we describe the dynamic leadership team at PowerReviews. We were excited to welcome our new CEO in 2009, Pehr Luedtke, to guide our expansion into broad-based Social Commerce Solutions.

Here’s to a kinetic 2010 filled with opportunity and learning for retailers, brands and all things social commerce.