In 20 short minutes, GSI Commerce’s Fiona Dias showed attendees at the Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference how many retailers are embracing the future and enough examples of awesome iPhone apps to make me reconsider my mobile phone choice. The presentation, entitled “Embracing 24/7 Digital Innovation in Marketing,” focused on four specific points:
Fiona Dias
- Focus on today’s customers and their needs. No doubt it about it: consumers are calling all the shots these days. That means that you need to pay attention to what today’s consumers want, including convenience, real value and customer service. Consumers also want to choose when, how and where they hear from retailers. Your opinion is irrelevant to them, so make sure you know what they want.
- Innovate by testing and learning. Gap’s app lets you assemble an outfit and show it to your friends on Facebook. Pizza Hut has built its consumer database using a text-messaging/sweepstakes promotion. You can use their app to assemble toppings on your pizza. But don’t get too greedy, Dias cautions, otherwise your pizza will explode! Create your own drinks with Starbucks’ apps. North Face is positioning itself as a knowledge builder for skiers and snow boarders by encouraging customers to tweet snow updates and news about lifts and runs directly from the mountain. If you have an iPhone, you’re probably familiar with at least one if not all of these apps. But the message is clear to us all. Customers want to customize products. Customers want experiences. It’s your job, as a retailer or marketer, to offer a platform for them to do it.
- Measure everything. Numbers are key in this business. The great part about online and mobile is that you easily can measure all of your marketing efforts.
- Pick the right partners. There are tons of technology companies out there to help you create the types of customer experiences you want to provide. Choose vendors wisely.
The main message: don’t dwell on the past! It’s time to experiment with all the new technologies out there.