EMEA 2015-2016RETAIL

“RETAIL IS DETAIL… The details that mattered most in retail used to be things you could see and touch. Did your store layout create a path of temptation—so that a customer looking for a hosepipe would end up walking down an aisle of gleaming barbecue grills? Could you move your stock around fast enough to follow the sun?”

— FINANCIAL TIMES, NOVEMBER 2015

HOW SIMPLE IT USED TO BE...

TODAY, WE WANT HIGH TECH TO FEEL SIMPLE AND WE WANT SIMPLE TO FEEL ADVANCED

TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES WITH TECHNOLOGY WHILE STILL OFFERING THE SEAMLESS EXPERIENCE OF BASIC RETAIL.

RETAIL IS FILLED WITH CONTRADICTORY REALITIES, LEAVING MARKETERS UNCLEAR AS TO WHERE TO FOCUS THEIR ENERGIES, RESOURCES AND TALENT. PINTEREST-STYLED STORES TO INSPIRE BROWSING OR A QUICK CLICK-TO-SHIP WEBSITE OPTION? STIMULATE OR ENABLE? ENTERTAIN OR DRIVE EFFICIENCY?

SPEEDING UP // SLOWING DOWN

HIGH TECH // HIGH TOUCH

VIRTUAL // PHYSICAL

INSTANT BUYING // INSPIRED BROWSING

DELIVER EVERYTHING // PICK UP ONLY

PEER TO PEER // PERSONAL DATA PARANOIA

HANGING ON TO THE BITTER END / FAST OBSOLESCENCE

SELF DISCIPLINE // SELF-INDULGENCE

TRENDS WITH TENSION

Every year, the planners at Y&R share insights about how the world around us is changing. But the reality is that it’s never black and white. At a macro level, every behavior, observation and perspective has an inherent tension. Every trend has a countertrend. Here are some of the Trends with Tension we are finding across retail in EMEA.

Same-day delivery; Ads no longer than 140 characters; Apps like QGO that reduce waiting time in alpine resorts or airports are all focused on limited attention span and therefore quicker everything.

We are being told by digital experts to hurry up—that “the best mobile today happen as milliseconds—tiny moments as the consumer glances at his screen, often whilst doing something else more mundane, filling up downtime with screen time.” -TechCrunch, October 2015

STARBUCKS is jumping on this bandwagon. Pre-order Starbucks so you avoid the queue. “Starbucks has got the concept of context = time + utility absolutely nailed...it’s the hot coffee, not the consumer, that waits.” -TechCrunch 2015

SPEEDING UP

Mindfulness is top of mind with apps like HEADSPACE that offers 10-minute meditation workouts.

Adventure travel agent WILD FRONTIERS jets you off to a remote island with no mobile phone coverage to go back to basics.

Passengers on France’s iDTGV trains are invited to select the zone that best fits their mood, including a Zen zone for those who want a relaxing trip. The backlash to an over use of technology means people are looking for some quiet time to pay more attention to themselves.

SLOWING DOWN

HIGH TOUCH

AMAZON launched “HandMade at Amazon” for artisans to sell their handcrafts.

ALIBABA and UBER teamed up to promote Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace by using 300-square-foot vehicles as mobile dressing rooms. -Retaildive.com, August 2015

London startup CUTECIRCUIT debuted the world’s first haute couture dress to feature Tweets. Their products are more about a platform than fabric and have “the ability of being forever updatable through the mobile App.” -CuteCircuit.com

OCADO, UK’s online supermarket, is focused on predicting orders and fulfilling food deliveries with limited interaction with people.

CTO Paul Clarke says the technology allows “the right groceries [to] arrive at the right time as if by magic without having to order.”

HIGH TECH

AMAZON opened up a new photography studio in Shoreditch, London. A 46,000-square-foot venue with 22 photography bays will help it create and add more than 500,000 images of clothes to its sites every year.  —TechCrunch, July 2015

ZALANDO, Austria and Germany’s most popular shopping website, opened up pop-up stores in Berlin, Vienna and other European cities, to allow consumers to interact with the products they only see online.

PHYSICAL

JOHN LEWIS launched a virtual kitchen drawer where customers’ receipts can be easily saved and they get an instant price match refund if they find a product cheaper somewhere else.

Tel Aviv start up CIMAGINE visualizes products in lifelike 3-D so you can imagine a piece of furniture in your home while standing in the store.

VIRTUAL

STRIPE RELAY is a buy button that retailers can place on multiple platforms so that all purchasing can happen in-app rather than going to an outside mobile site to complete. They’ve already integrated with Twitter.

INSTANT BUYING

HOUZZ is a home design app that gives you ideas for decorating. In the last year, it went international with offices in London, Berlin and Sydney.

EATALY (supermarket) is one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Brands in Retail 2015 and whose owner describes retailing as “understanding that a washing machine wasn’t a washing machine, but this white magic box where you put dirty stuff in and it comes out clean, which changes people’s lives!” -Fast Company, February 2015

INSPIRED BROWSING

Restaurants and even supermarkets refuse the whole delivery service in order to avoid extra packaging and be thus more environmentally friendly. Some shops in Vienna and Berlin sell all their products without packaging. Shoppers bring jars and bags from home when they pick up groceries. Similarily, certain restaurants only offer takeout if the customers bring their own tupperware.ORIGINAL UNVERPACKT is a grocery store in Berlin where “customers bring their own containers, refill them and pay by weight.” -Curbed, August 2015

“To buy shampoo, customers fill reusable bottles from giant vats that line the walls. Chewable white toothpaste pills are sold out of a large glass jar. Instead of grabbing a box of tissues, people pick from a woven basket filled with colorful handkerchiefs... paper, plastic and polystyrene are strictly verboten.”-USA Today, in describing Berlin’s Original Unverpackt, October 2014

PICK UP ONLY

DELIVEROO, an on-demand delivery service from premium restaurants that don’t traditionally offer a take-out service, is on a roll—it ensures food doesn’t turn up cold and couriers arrive “just in time” and aren’t clogging up restaurant reception areas waiting for the food to be prepared.

DELIVER EVERYTHING

Counter-apps such as CLOAK and HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE are using the same GPS technology as FOURSQUARE and FACEBOOK to help us avoid running into people we would rather not see.

Heightened connectivity has also led to a peer-to-peer economy, where everything from lifts to work to crowdfunded ideas can be shared among the online community. Mobile payments are predicted to lead to more shared products, experiences and services with apps like SPLITTR helping consumers to share costs with peers.

People have become as open with brands as they are with friends—and expect a strong value exchange. They are therefore sharing data with brands with the hope of a more intimate relationship.

“Once customers share data with you, they assume you know everything about them, and that you have the intention and the capability to personalize their experiences.” — Simon Uwins, Author of “Creating Loyal Brands,” Former CMO, Tesco UK

PEER TO PEER PERSONAL DATA PARANOIA

We are eager to buy the next versions of our devices when our current ones feel obsolete—and feel confident that over paying is worth it.

FAST OBSOLESCENCE

Today’s savvy consumer wants to know more about the quality of the product and hopes for minimal waste, damage and negative impact on the environment.

Supermarkets are now promoting “ugly” fruit and veggies to people sharing leftover food in their neighborhood via apps.

In countries like France there are now laws that prevent supermarkets from throwing away food that is still edible.

HELLOFRESH delivers recipes and ingredients to consumers so that they can cook fresh meals at home. They provide only the quantity of ingredients needed to cook the meals.

Researchers and start-ups are coming up with new technologies to alert consumers when food products are spoiled.

Online lifestyle retailer ZADY’S packaging design for its Essentials collection features infographics displaying the specific production details from farm to final garment.

HANGING ON TO THE BITTER END

While it is easy to blame apps for making spending too easy, too seamless and too instant, the wave of personal finance apps are doing their best to empower self-control when its comes to spending. LEVELMONEY offers daily, weekly and monthly spending goals and gives you an allowance. MINT, a personal finance service analyzes spending and offers ways to better structure behavior. DIGIT goes so far as to withhold money to prevent you from spending. With the willingness to share financial information with these app providers comes a personalized advisor that helps you spend and save in smarter more structured ways.

Today we enjoy access to services we never before had the opportunity to experience.

GOBUTLER offers a free, 24/7 SMS-based assistant service that fulfill requests from booking a flight to a table.

STYLEBEE allows customers to order beauty experts on-demand from their mobile phones. Those experts will come to you and provide a variety of different services—everything from providing haircuts (for men or women) to blowouts, makeup and face painting.

SELF-INDULGENCESELF-DISCIPLINE

ON THE GO // INDULGE IN CHOICE

SMALL SCALE // HIGH END

HIGH CLASS // STREET FOOD

PREMIUM // DIY CRAFT

LOCAL // GLOBAL

HECTIC // RELAXED

FIXED // LOOSE

FUNCTIONAL // INSPIRATIONAL

RETAIL DESTINATION // CHARITY FUND

UBER CHIC // UBER CHEAP

PREMIUM // DOWN TO EARTH

TIME-SAVING // QUALITY

RETAIL AT ITS BEST ACROSS EMEA IS LEVERAGING TENSITY TO CREATE WINNING EXPERIENCES FOR CUSTOMERS:

TEL AVIV

ANTWERP

FRANKFURT

LONDON

ISTANBUL

VIENNA

SOUTH AFRICA

PARIS

EMEA/GLOBAL

PRAGUE

DUBAI

INDULGE IN CHOICE

ON THE GO

TEL AVIV, SARONA MARKETSarona Market in Tel Aviv is a large space that includes retail stores, restaurants and bars and combines outdoor and indoor areas. There is lots of space for kids to run in the grass, the restaurants all are farm to table in the form of small storefronts with an option to sit and eat at the bar and the food choices vary from Asian dumplings to NYC style-bagels to Mediterranean meat dishes, spices and fresh veggies. It’s global, on the go and high touch. And while it calls for sampling a bit of everything (one restaurant even gives you a ready-to-go filled picnic basket), it also begs you to be mindful of the taste and the experience.

HIGH END

SMALL SCALE

ANTWERP, SCOOP STORESCOOP store gives the maker movement and small-scale entrepreneurs a physical presence in the high street.

SCOOP store works with up-and-coming designers and has the allure of a concept store but is located among high-end fashion retailers.

STREET FOOD

HIGH CLASS

FRANKFURT, MARKT IM HOFMarkt im Hof is an exceptional Zeitgeist experience, a backyard weekly market en miniature.

It combines authentic and raw with a modern “foodie” attitude. There you can find food trucks and small stands selling newly interpreted snacks (like Hessendöner), as well as vegetables from local farms and organic freshly baked bread.

On Saturdays, hipsters meet bourgeois families meet ethno-hippies. Tasty. Colorful...“bio” trend left the hippie-unsexy corner and is mixed with the current street food trend, with this entrepreneurial creative spirit.

DIY CRAFT

PREMIUM

LONDON, JO MALONEJo Malone offers the “the art of fragrance combining” where customers can build their own customized scents—an experience that is getting a lot of attention both in-store and via their website marketing.

They have perfected the art of the luxury POS experience, from services in store such as the fragrance tasting bar to exclusive packaging.

Each store offers a spa-like atmosphere with treats such as hand massages, and the sales team provides a highly tailored, customized service

The in-store experience strategy is driving world of mouth in new Jo Malone markets in Asia, especially in Korea, which is generating volumes of online social chatter.

GLOBAL

LOCAL

ISTANBUL, SOUQSouq is an indie marketplace in Karaköy that showcases a new concept each weekend. One can see designer goods one week and enjoy artsy food the next.

This constant change makes it a dynamic marketplace where one can go not only to buy stuff, but also to stay in the know of current trends.

One goes to have a full-package experience—not to just buy what he needs and leave.

While Souq has taken its model from the traditional marketplaces, the products sold are often far from Turkish culture. As a result, Souq blurs the line between local and global style.

RELAXED

HECTIC

VIENNA, ADDICTED TO ROCK STOREThere is a shift happening from driving traffic for high frequency to encouraging people to stay, relax and shop. From pure revenue goals through selling products to revenue through food and beverages plus sale of products.

The normal shopping rhythm of busy hours, that entail getting as much done in limited time is now shifting to a space where one can relax, socialize and indulge.

LOOSE

FIXED

SOUTH AFRICA, PICK N PAYPick n Pay on Nicol brought the farmers’ market into the supermarket environment.

This store is all about inspiration. The sensory experience inspires cooking and home-entertainment, a focus on provenance, locally sourced ingredients, organic goods and sustainable farming. Plus it supports small farmers and local businesses.

An extensive range of general merchandise (kitchen accessories, cooking utensils, cookbooks) were cross merchandised in all the fresh areas of the store.

The store is uncluttered with messaging and the staff is friendly and consists of well-informed foodies. Cooking demonstrations occur daily, the atmosphere is welcoming, and the pace of the shop isn’t frenzied.

It’s a great place to mill around and explore the shelves.The fixed prices of a supermarket meet the feel of an non-commercialized farmer’s market.

INSPIRATIONAL

FUNCTIONAL

PARIS, SÉZANESézane is an e-shop platform launched in 2013 by a young French self-made woman, Morgane Sézalory, passionate about vintage fashion.

The specificity of this retail example is that it is built on a strong community of fans that used to follow Morgane Sézalory’s fashion advice online before she became a fashion designer.

Today her range of product has evolved as she now offers home decorating pieces and has created a concept store that looks more like an art-of-fashion gallery than a common clothing store.

CHARITY FUND

RETAIL DESTINATION

PARIS, MERCIMerci is a trendy Parisian concept store that looks like a living Pinterest board. It describes itself as “a shop which works like a magazine.” Each new season brings exciting exhibits and collaborations with famous designers/artists/artisans.

Merci calls their approach “The One and The Other” because it allows them to mix together traditional and modern, local and globally, simple and costly, mass-produced and individual made all together. They sell high-end products, but not show-off products. Everything is selected for its quality, its respect for the environment, and, of course, its beauty and alignment with general trends.

There is a coffee shop with books to borrow, a perfume bar to get a personalized flask, men’s and women’s high-end designer clothes areas, a home décor area, jewelry area, kitchen and bar area with cooking lessons once a week, and a fine paper and coffee table books area.

At the end of the journey everything is donated to a foundation that helps underprivileged women and children by providing them with learning skills they can use to improve their quality of life.

UBER CHEAP

UBER CHIC

EMEA/GLOBAL, PRIMARKOne person who shops at Primark shared, “I feel like a cow being sent to be slaughtered —but it is useful.”

The experience is sweaty, pushy, and messy. But the style is up-to-date and the price is great.

“If you go in there on any given Saturday or Sunday, there are 70 people in line...You can’t move in the store. I went to the brand new store that opened recently in Berlin, same thing. The traffic in there, the lines in there, the excitement in there is incredible. And you walk into a regular full-price apparel retailer and it’s dead.” — Stacey Widlitz, president of SW Retail Advisors, tells Racked

PREMIUM & COMFORT SEEKING

PRAGUE, FARMERS MARKETFarmers markets are increasingly trendy events that emerged a few years ago and quickly spread throughout the country as a result of higher health consciousness, growing purchasing power, fear from origin-less industrial food and a strong foodie culture.

Farmer’s markets attract the attention of all kinds of shoppers from the price sensitive to well-off-middle class people seeking quality and experience.

Czech food buyers consider low price the more important choice driver than they do quality, yet they pay a large price premium (often hundreds of percent) when buying food at farmers markets.

DISCOMFORT & DOWN TO EARTH

QUALITY

TIME SAVING

DUBAI, VIRTUAL SUPERMARKETVirtual supermarkets started in Japan and South Korea by Tesco Homeplus, a British grocery company. Users scan the QR codes with their smartphones and add the items to a virtual shopping cart. Once all of the products are in the cart, the shopper places the order and is charged through their credit card. The groceries then arrive at the person’s doorstep the next day.

Interesting that this has taken off as people have become more critical than ever of freshness of food, especially true in Dubai where fresh fruits and vegetables are not always obvious…the tactile experience is so important for shoppers.

The experience of picking the best themselves gives consumers the feeling that they can walk out of the store with pride over what they purchased.

What will overpower—the convenience or quality?

EMEA 2015-2016RETAIL

For more information please contact:

Saul BetmeadChief Strategy Officer, EMEASaul.Betmead@yr.com

Lianna WolfsonDirector, Global ContentLianna.Wolfson@yr.com

CONTRIBUTORS:

ALESSANDRA COTUNGO

ANDREAS ROITNER

EMILY JAMES

FREDERIC VUILLERMIN

FRANCK SAELENS

HEATHER GRIFFITHS

KAREN SAVILLE

KENNA STOUT

LORA VANHOOF

TOMAS MRKVICKA

TOON DIEPENDAELE

YEDA BERALDO