Chinese New Year : Celebrating the Traditional & the Modern in the Year of the Dog

Chinese New Year Instore theater

Greetings from Shanghai where the pace of life is slowly returning to normal after the Chinese New Year festivities, which kicked off on February 16th.

I’ve long enjoyed CNY celebrations in cities around the world. However, the experience of my first Spring Festival in Shanghai is one I will not soon forget.

The 15-day festival is the most important holiday on China’s cultural and retail calendars. For reference, it's interesting to know that Chinese families spent close to $100B on CNY shopping and dining in 2014– almost double what was spent during American Thanksgiving.

A CULTURAL TENSION

Among other things, I observed the festival to be a study in contrasts. On the one hand, there is a strong cultural imperative to return home for a traditional celebration with family members. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that homeward-bound Chinese travelers make almost 3 billion trips annually during the New Year celebration, creating the world’s largest human migration.

However, the idea of duonian, or “escaping” from the Spring Festival is also gaining popularity throughout China. Growing numbers of urban professionals enjoy escaping the mainland for international vacations, while migrant workers are increasingly forgoing trips home to skip the financial burden of the gifts expected to accompany their arrival.

PepsiCo's Quaker Chinese New Year displays

Travel home or escape? Cook a traditional meal or dine out? Shop at customary markets or online?       Give time-honored gifts or foreign goods? Or even an English couplet?

The interplay between 4,000 years of tradition and a decidedly modern lifestyle was at play throughout CNY preparations and celebrations this year.

At many points during the festival, I encountered people expressing aspects of this duality – a deep yearning to honor tradition mixed with a desire to infuse their holiday celebrations with contemporary goods and experiences.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR BRANDS

I also observed several companies actively helping Chinese consumers reconcile this cultural tension. They represent great examples of how a brand can deepen their relationship with consumers during moments that matter, by answering unmet needs and desires with delightful solutions.

WeChat:

Image: Caixin Global

I’d be remiss not to start with WeChat’s reinvention of the hongbao, or cash-filled red envelope customarily exchanged during CNY celebrations. In 2014, the company launched a Red Envelope App, which allowed users to digitally participate in the customary gifting. 

WeChat drew on the traditional iconography of the red packet, so the app felt familiar and rooted in tradition. However, a novel innovation allowed gifters to send a lump sum to a group to be dispersed in random amounts, adding a new element of surprise and luck.

By all accounts the idea was a cultural hit, and exchanging money via the Red Envelope app has become a modern tradition (and a clever way to drive WeChat trial and use). In 2017, approximately 46.6 billion red envelopes were exchanged – an incredible 33 envelopes for every person in China. Aptly, The China Post declared that, “even grandma is ditching hongbao for WeChat’s digital red envelopes.” 

TABAO:
Chinese New Year preparations customarily include family shopping trips to local markets to buy fabric for new clothing, décor items, gifts, candies, and the ingredients for holiday meals.

Today, consumer goods are abundant throughout the year, families live further apart, and shopping trips are rapidly shifting to hypermarkets and online. Yet, many still yearn for the time-honored market experience.

Last year, the eCommerce website Taobao acknowledged this tension with a beautiful redesign of their user interface for the CNY holiday. The seasonal overlay drew inspiration from a famous, Song-dynasty era painting of a traditional Chinese market, Along the River During the Qingming Festival. 

Image: Dragon Social 

Taobao created an animated, interactive interpretation of the art that became their homepage during the festival. Users could shop the animation, either by clicking parts of the picture corresponding to what they wanted to purchase or by using a search feature. 

This creative website redesign was an insightful solution to help shoppers reconcile a longing for the traditional market trip with the ease and convenience of accomplishing their holiday shopping online. 

NOKIA:
During the festival, there is no shortage of nostalgic advertising that explores the increasing difficulty of pausing one’s busy life to return home. 
(See here, here, and here, but have your tissues ready). 

Image: Nokia China

This year, Nokia did something less expected with their holiday advertising, which launched the Nokia 6 just ahead of the CNY. The campaign features a dutiful son who is a busy actor, unable to return home for the New Year. 

His mother, unsatisfied with a video call, surprises him on the set of his film with a home-cooked meal, and the pair enjoy a warm dinner together.

I love the way that Nokia suggests an unexpected solution to a common consumer dilemma, by reimagining the idea of the “return home” and opening up new paths to family togetherness.

PEPSI:

Pepsi’s “Bring Happiness Home” campaign is a fourth and final example of the insightful updating of CNY tradition. Each year, the brand partners with award-winning talent to produce a short film that celebrates CNY and explores the idea of a “happy family.” 

This year’s production, Thunderbolt Parents, is a musical comedy that tells the story of two generations of love and dreams. It sagely reminds “young people” across generations that we will find our parents much cooler (and more complicated) than we imagine if we only make an effort to understand them.

Image: Pepsi, 2018

Over the past 7 years, Pepsi’s launch of a short film has become a CNY tradition in its own right, signaling to consumers that the Spring Festival is near. 

This year’s project has already garnered over 600 million views, along with a noteworthy amount of social media buzz.

I appreciate the way that Pepsi, true to its fun-loving spirit, uses a star-studded cast and karaoke-worthy tunes to refresh the idea of the traditional reunion dinner. Pepsi joyfully reminds consumers that, with a little heart, celebrating the New Year with family can be a lively, modern affair. 

THE YIN & YANG OF MODERNITY AND TRADITION

These examples are four sparks that illuminate how an insightful blend of the customary and the contemporary can result in a delightful updating of tradition. 

Rapid technological innovation and increasing prosperity are contributing to moments of cultural change in cities around the globe. This is certainly true in China during the Spring Festival and at other times throughout the year as well. 

I believe brands, especially multinationals, are at their best when they can help consumers forge new ways forward while also helping them retain what is important from the past. 

The most successful will approach this opportunity with the perfect blend of fresh thinking and humility – a mandate that will be at the core of my work in the year ahead.

Happy Year of the Dog to all. Xin nian da ji! (Have a prosperous New Year.)

2018, A YEAR IN QUESTIONS

Have you ever heard of a “questionologist?” I had not, until I came across the word in a book by self-proclaimed question advocate Warren Berger. He posits that asking better questions can be a game-changer—sparking innovation and propelling us forward in our personal and professional lives.

This idea inspired me to frame up some thought-provoking questions for the year ahead of me. I’ve jotted down three queries, shaped by my observations about the significant cultural themes of 2017. I hope they will be thought-starters I can come back to throughout what promises to be an exhilarating year ahead.

 #1: CAN WE BE SMARTER ABOUT OUR SMART PHONES?
(Alt: Are Smart Phones Ruining Our Lives?)

 In 2017, a growing body of research illuminated the negative effects of our digital culture. We learned that we touch our phones a shocking 2,617 times per day, that the majority of Americans feel near-constant anxiety about how their social life stacks up (#FOMO), and that “phubbing” is weakening our relationships.

A steady stream of cultural influencers voiced concerns about the all-consuming powers of social media, with Deloitte dubbing mobile addiction a “real phenomenon,” and more than one of Facebook’s founders are publicly criticizing the platform for exploiting human psychology while weakening social bonds. This movement is perhaps best summarized by Justin Rosenstein‘s provocative statement that “all of our minds can be hijacked.”

People didn’t sit idly by as the realization set in that our screens make us less happy and reduce our brainpower. Rather, a growing awareness of the toll of near-constant scrolling, liking and swiping prompted cultural responses like the 72-hour tech cleanse, DIY hacks to help you use your phone less, and even the idea that you can become a “conscientious objector” to social media.

In the year ahead, I foresee the dialog about the potentially detrimental results of the “attention economy” continuing and reaching a broader audience. Even Facebook engaged this month, with the company’s first acknowledgment of the ways the platform can harm mental health.

In particular, I think we will see a growing number of people looking to companies and brands to help them re-evaluate the role of digital and social technology in their everyday lives. Undoubtedly, business leaders will continue to offer tech tools to connect with their customers. However, these efforts will be influenced by a cultural desire for more tech-free spaces – physical and mental.

This will include growing interest in tech tools that can help limit or modify existing habits and behaviors.

And, increased value placed on solutions that help bring some focus back to tangible experiences and relationships.  For example, travel providers predict the digital detox vacation will be a 2018 trend. And, Nokia punctuated this year’s holiday marketing campaign with the call to “Switch Off” for Christmas.

This tees up the first question to ponder in the year ahead:

How is my company suited to participate in the reappraisal of our smartphone-centric culture? How can we help people maintain the upper hand in their relationship with smartphones and create spaces for analog thoughts?

 WHAT LIES OUTSIDE MY FILTER BUBBLE?

 The events of 2017 also underscored the incredible power of technology (social media in particular) to divide versus unite.

Eli Paiser coined the term “filter bubble” in 2011 to describe the intellectual isolation that occurs when algorithms selectively tailor everything we see to align with what we already believe.

However, the concept experienced a true cultural inflection point this year, when it became clear that heavy filtered (and fraudulent) online content likely played a significant role in surprising election outcomes in both the U.S. and the U.K.

These revelations led to a productive cultural conversation about the ways that self-selecting algorithms have the potential to filter diverse viewpoints out of a growing number of aspects of our lives (what we watch, where we go, what we buy, who we meet, even how we get to work).

In the year ahead, I look for the movement to “break out” of filter bubbles to gain steam, with people actively seeking perspectives that challenge or at the very least broaden, what they already believe.

We are already seeing cultural signs of this including: public calls for more understanding (see article: “The Other Side is Not Dumb”), tech applications like Escape Your Bubble, and marketing calls for greater cultural acceptance á la this beautiful ad from HP.

From this space of recognizing and challenging bubble boundaries, comes a second question:

How can we help people better understand their own biases and cultivate a broad range of perspectives in their everyday lives?

 WHAT MAKES US HUMAN IN 2018?

 Before you write this last one off as coming out of some sort of phenomenological left-field, hear me out.

It is a safe bet that the word “robot” appeared in mainstream media content more in 2017 than in any prior year. In fact, Wired calls this the year robotsu really, truly arrived. We know that in the not-so-distant future machines will cook our meals, teach our kids, care for our aging loved ones and maybe even steal our jobs.

We also know that machine learning is quickly blurring the lines between what it even means to be a human or a robot. Over the past year, technologists have created algorithms that can design symphony halls, indiscernibly mimic human voices, and even pass college courses.

Futurist Kevin Kelly goes so far as to say that by 2025, technological advances will bring a convergence of humans and machines that will rework the planet’s sphere of consciousness.

In the year ahead, I would not be surprised to see a cultural identity crisis of sorts, as more of us stop to consider exactly what it is that separates humans from machines.

Thus far, I have seen this inquiry result in more interest in traits like creativity, imagination, and the capacity to empathize – all areas where humans still have (and are likely to maintain) the upper hand.

Additionally, I expect to see more cultural exploration—and possibly also governmental action— around the ethical implications of human/robot interactions.

I’ve also been pleased to see companies take a more active role in considering and investing in new educational formats that will help ensure that future generations will be able to stay one step ahead of our technological counterparts.

And so, a final question for leaders:

What am I doing to ensure that my company creates an environment where current and future generations can survive—and thrive—in a machine-powered world?

WISHING YOU AN INSPIRED YEAR AHEAD

There we have it. Three seemingly simple questions; very few concrete answers. I hope they will inspire unconventional ideas in my own work, and that they might spark new thoughts for you as well.

In the meantime, happy New Year, and best wishes for a fulfilling and productive season ahead.

There are fairly big changes on my horizon, as I prepare to move my family (dog included!) to Shanghai and assume a new leadership role. Please drop me a line if you find yourself in my new home city, where you’ll find me setting aside my mobile more often and looking to burst my filter bubble, while remaining ultimately thankful for the capacity of technology to help us build a better world.

Holiday Cheers for Inclusive Advertising

‘Tis the season for holiday ads. I always look forward to the parade of new efforts that dot the marketing landscape this time of year.

I love that the annual holiday “adstravaganza” has been elevated to a cultural event in the UK. (And, I am intrigued by the fact that some British marketers now monetize their holiday ads through the sale of related merchandise!)

These holiday messages surely exist to build brand equity and make the register ring. But taken together, I think they can also serve as a nice mirror that reflects back important themes on our current cultural landscape.

This year, I am heartened to see several ads (and their omnichannel extensions of course) veer beyond the more expected holiday motifs to celebrate moments of connection and inclusivity across differences.

From British grocery retailer Tesco, we see a celebration of the ways families from different walks of life and religious traditions participate in the shared ritual of the turkey roast. The spot, titled “Turkey every which way,” closes with the affirmation “Everyone is Welcome” at Tesco.

From Lego Australia comes a story of what can happen when Santa and the Asian martial arts archetype Sensei Wu team up to save Christmas. In addition to reflecting the spirit of imagination foundational to the brand, the whimsical tale delivers the charming sentiment that we are better when we work across cultural perspectives to “build together.”

From Sonos, the lively message that a shared musical celebration is just what is needed to transform a dull holiday gathering into an epic, multicultural and multigenerational holiday dance party.

And, from Samsung a poignant statement about the universal power of gratitude compliments a diverse group of building tenants who come together to thank the doorman who has gone the extra mile to make each of their holiday celebrations– from Diwali, to Christmas, to Chinese New Year –extra special.

In a year when the news headlines have been dominated by the many issues that divide us, it is refreshing to see marketers choose to hold up a cultural mirror that celebrates the potential for connection across boundaries, be they ethnic, religious, generational or otherwise.

Around the globe, our cities are diverse and becoming more so every day. Millennial consumers are particularly comfortable in this heterogeneous world and deserve credit for encouraging companies to stand up for inclusivity. Cheers to these advertisers who have taken note of this cultural shift and chosen to emphasize what unites rather than what divides this holiday season.

Happy holidays, and may each of you enjoy your own simple moments of simple connection amidst the year-end bustle.

WILL PREDICTIVE MARKETING MAKE RETAIL LESS FUN?

Every retail leader has “build a better predictive marketing program” on their to-do list this fall. Savvy marketers are using their growing troves of shopper data to predict what customers might want to buy next,  and then merchandising these items at every touchpoint.

In many categories, it is beginning to feel like shoppers no longer need to stop and consider what they actually might want to buy; they just refresh their social media feeds and let retargeted ads remind them what is on their list. Author Kevin Kelly calls this the “filtering effect,” and he identifies it as one of a dozen technocultural trends that will reshape society by 2050. He predicts that in the coming years the retail landscape will shift from “mass personalization” to “mass customization.”

 In this not-so-distant future, shoppers will look to filters (brands, curators, friends) and algorithm-powered recommendation engines to deliver customized clothing, food, transportation, and more–on demand. In retail, this could mean that most if not all experiences will involve browsing and selecting from a highly customized set of options that past selections suggest a shopper will like. As Kelly notes, “the filters have been watching us for years; they anticipate what we will ask. They can almost autocomplete it right now...To some degree we will rely on the filters to tell us what we want.”

WILL DATA CREATE A RETAIL FILTER BUBBLE?

 This incredible ability to individualize the retail offer sounds great at first blush. Shoppers have too little time to wade through too many choices, and data-driven marketing is a powerful solution. But the promise of such a hyper-curated universe also begs the question: if the filters narrow everything, what is being left out?

As retailers get better and better at offering customers only things they are highly likely to want – are we building a retail filter bubble? One that may eventually diminish the retail experience?

 The concept of the “filter bubble” describes the result when a constant personalization of (mostly online) content isolates people from news and information that does not align with their existing beliefs and search habits. Many argue that putting on such blinders – knowingly or unwittingly – can create tunnel vision, narrow one’s worldview and foster a negative “groupthink.” This has led to a movement to encourage individuals to “pop” the news filter bubble and preserve the diversity of online news and content, and even tech players like Google have joined the effort.

While the consequences for retail may not be quite so dire, it is troubling to imagine a retail world where shoppers mostly browse and purchase items that an algorithm has determined they will probably like.

At best, that sounds boring and staid in a category and culture that values the novel and unique. At worst, it could leave shoppers feeling dispassionate and uninspired. In a heavily filtered retail world, it is not a stretch to imagine retailers will see less brand and product diversity in shopper baskets, lower trial of new brands, and have fewer opportunities to surprise customers with an unexpectedly satisfying product.

That last point is the stickiest for me. Research supports the idea that unexpected discoveries are a critical element of the retail experience. In a large global study conducted by McCann Truth Central a few years, two-thirds (66%) of respondents said that they are looking to be inspired while shopping and over half (57%) worried that they will discover fewer new things if companies always show them exactly what they are looking for.

Culturally speaking, we know that deciding to buy something (or not) is a way for shoppers to define themselves and express their values. Do we really think customers will be happy to cede the bulk of their purchase decisions to a faceless algorithm, no matter how sophisticated or precise?

CAN SERENDIPITY SAVE THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE?

 So if we worry that too much data will make the retail offering predictable and uninspired, what’s the solution? Serendipity.

Serendipity is the unexpected discovery of something you had no idea you’d want, in a time or place when you were actively looking for it. Like my new Blackwing pencil collection – the perfect gift for an upcoming wedding anniversary, discovered cleverly merchandised at the checkout counter of my neighborhood bookstore. Or the Mr. Davis undershirt brand I bumped into while browsing a high-end watch site. (Editorial note to my wife: Just looking, I promise.)

The thrill of the find has historically been a key part of the brick and mortar retail experience. It’s the invitation to browse the storefront window, the thrill of the hunt during a flash sale, or the unexpected find in the holiday catalog. However, the move to data-driven transactions is crowding it out.

I recently heard the President of Chronicle Books describe an emphasis on serendipity as a key part of the retail strategy that has helped the company thrive where competitors struggle. “Our books have to be discovered,” she noted, underscoring the fact that simply battling it out on the shelves of Barnes and Noble or building a better recommendation algorithm would not cut it for the brand.

There is a kernel of wisdom in this strategy for all retailers. Besides pushing for more sophisticated big data competencies (which we surely should continue), it’s time to consider how to design a little bit of serendipity into the retail experience. It will keep shoppers out of a retail filter bubble and ensure that we continue to find ways to surprise and delight them.

A few real-world examples hint at attempts to design an element of discovery into a brand experience. Square recently opened curated showrooms. Havianas launched a series of summer pop-up shops in unexpected locations like a New York Ferry. And, Nordstrom launched Olivia Kim pop-up shops that introduced shoppers to a novel Korean eyewear brand.

These all facilitated finds in the physical world, but there is an opportunity to bring an element of surprise discovery into the online shopping experience too. I’ve challenged myself to think about how to weave online serendipity into my strategic thinking for 2018 and beyond.  Could a retailer or brand:

1.       Allow customers who are increasingly mindful of the filter bubble effect to opt-in to random email recommendations?
Real World Inspiration: New York Times writer Steph Yin subscribes to a handful of science-themed Twitter bots to provide “serendipitous notes that take me out of my day, if only fleetingly.”

2.      Build a bot that facilitates serendipitous discoveries on an eCommerce website?
Real World Inspiration: The SF MOMA developed an app that makes contextual recommendations, guiding visitors to unexpected works of art based on their physical location within the museum.

3.       Create their own monthly subscription service, offering an assortment of unexpected products that surprise & delight?
Real World Inspiration: Bespoke Post provides men a themed box of novel products, true to the brand personality but not curated to an individual’s taste and purchase history

At the end of the day, the march to a data-driven retail landscape is inevitable, and more personalized retail offers provide benefits for retailers and their customers.

However, in a world where shopper data work against the joy of discovery, there will also be value in preserving the power of the unexpected find. In the months and years ahead, let’s plan to deliver more serendipity, shall we?

Reflections From Berlin: The 4th Generation of Retail is Coming – Are You Ready?

“The future of retail will be led by sophisticated technology companies who happen to have a retail business.”

This quote lit a fire in me at a recent Consumer Goods Forum Summit presentation in Berlin, where pervasive topic of conversation was the fast-approaching 4th generation of retail (“4G Retail”).

Dan O’Connor, a fellow at Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Institute, spoke about the impending shift. In his conceptualization, the past 100 years saw three iterations of the retail model and the landscape today is being disrupted by a fourth new model.

O’Connor preaches that companies which function between innovation curves are best positioned for success. He cites Netflix as a great example, noting their ability to leverage one declining business model (the DVD) while anticipating and preparing for the next (digital content).

My key takeaway from his impassioned overview: in today’s retail environment, visionary leadership means optimizing for the world we know while preparing for the 4G Retail future.

Thinking about where retail has been helps us see more clearly where we are headed, so let’s dive in at the beginning!

The first wave, 1G Retail, was mediated through small, community-driven trade networks. In 1G Retail – which still accounts for 50% of the global retail pie – proximity, localization, and relationships are everything. This is the domain of the small family-owned shop where everyone knows your name and your buying habits.

Retail consolidation marked the beginning of the 2G Retail era. Starting in the 1960s and 1970s, large retailers (think: Wal-Mart) created new economies of scale by merging fragmented supply chains. These pioneers offered both convenience and cost savings, creating a juggernaut model that comprises 30% of the global retail pie today.

The rise of the online marketplace ushered in the third generation– 3G Retail. In this model, transactions take place on “platforms,” like Amazon or Alibaba’s Taobao. And, through what O’Connor calls “intermediaries” like Facebook, Google, or WeChat. Amazon’s IPO took place less than two decades ago. Yet, 3G Retail already accounts for at least 20% of global retail dollars.

Driven by real-time data analytics and rapid innovation (e.g., subscription pricing, mobile ordering, same-day delivery), the digital store model disrupted almost every aspect of the retail landscape. 3G Retail also prompted a shift in the very pace of the business, from a 52-week planning cycle to an environment that requires near-constant response to real-time developments.

 O’Connor dubs the next era 4G Retail or the age of “Real Time Retail.” In this 4G landscape, he predicts that a significant part of commerce will take place on a small handful of large digital value networks,” or digital platforms that serve a widening variety of functions including commerce, search, and social. Notably, technology companies and not traditional retailers will own these networks. In the U.S., we immediately think of Amazon, but around the globe, other platforms like Alibaba, Flipkart, and JD come to mind.

Tech innovation notoriously empowers consumers, and the Age of “Real Time” Retail will be no different. Imagine the 4G landscape like today’s retail on steroids – with interactions increasingly fast and frictionless. Transactions will take place on a few digital platforms, seamlessly along the spectrum between online and offline.

Same-hour delivery via driverless truck. Check. Personalized offers based on yesterday’s purchase behavior. Yep. A content-rich environment where everything you see is for sale? You got it. The 4G world will push the era of consumer control to its infinite boundaries, fueled by innovations around things like robotics, AI, driverless delivery, and 3D printing.

So now that we know that a 4G world is coming, what should we do about it?

 Here are three implications. In a 4G Retail World: 1. Data is table stakes 2. Retail platforms > media platforms 3. Success requires inventing new moments of consumer discovery.

#1: Data Is Table Stakes

In the 4G Retail future, the companies who control the data will rule the world. Success in the 4G retail world will require “big data collaboration” – both within organizations and across new (unconventional) manufacturer + retailer alliances.

This was illustrated in a recent Financial Times piece about Alibaba, which noted the company’s transformation into a growing “big data conglomerate.” Their massive data stream informs everything they do including merchant strategy, marketing, inventory management and even the layout of physical stores.

Despite the importance of data-driven insights, most traditional retail companies still face significant organizational and technical challenges to integrating and analyzing their own data. These issues compound when companies try to look further afield to think about how to work together with digital platform partners (e.g., Amazon) to optimize.

Getting their data house in order is an urgent matter for current retailers, since even simple data transformation efforts can take many years to launch.

#2: Retail Platforms > Media Platforms

My hypothesis is that in the 4G Retail landscape, the importance of large retail platforms will ultimately dwarf that of traditional media publishers. In fact, I am not sure the traditional standalone media content players survive in this future.

Think this sounds radical? Consider the similar tale of digital consolidation playing out in two very different retail markets, the U.S. and China.

In the U.S., Amazon is steadily reducing the need for online consumers to venture far from their site. They dominate commerce, with over half of shoppers starting every online shopping trip on the site and a full 90% cross-shopping Amazon even if they find what they are looking for on a retailer site. Amazon Prime Video is tripling their production of original content series over the next few years. Amazon Spark – curated retail in a social media format – looks poised to change the way we shop. In a retail future where consumers can shop, view content and socialize all within the Amazon platform, traditional publishers start to look much less relevant. 

That “single platform” future is even one step closer to reality in China. Alibaba-owned Tmall already controls more than 60% of the Chinese eCommerce market. Their multi-faceted Alipay is a true “killer app” that lets users complete a wide variety of tasks (from bill pay, to calling a cab, to getting a loan) right within the app. Like Amazon, Alibaba is aggressively expanding into digital media and entertainment with ventures including Alibaba Music, Alibaba Pictures and video-streaming site Youku. With aspirations far beyond simple retail transactions, Alibaba is building a vast “social commerce” ecosystem that supports almost everything someone needs or wants to do online.

This shift to a world where commerce, content and social life seamlessly merge on a single platform will require marketers to rethink the 4P’s through the lens of ecommerce retail platforms. (These are the future “Digital Value Networks” in O’Connor’s G4 framework).

New alliances between retailers, manufacturers and social platform companies will be critically important. Retailers and manufacturers will succeed by viewing shoppers as more than “trips and baskets” and by understanding their increasingly wide array of behaviors on digital retail platforms. In a G4 world, an Amazon shopper could be binge watching her favorite show via Prime Video, purchasing the outfit the main character is wearing, while conversing with her friends about the plot twist that just happened. How will your product or service get in on the action?

Savvy industry leaders will benefit from thinking now about which partnerships matter and how to develop these.

#3: Success = Imagining New Moments Of Discovery

In a 4G world, the retail storefront will be “everywhere,” and it will be up to brands and retailers to create new times and places to engage shoppers.

Critical questions for retailers and manufacturers will include: Where and when are my consumers that my product could be? How can we bring our product or service experience TO them, as they come to us less frequently? How do we offer a personalized experience to every shopper?

A number of retailers and manufacturers have begun seamlessly integrating the retail and hospitality consumer categories by rolling out “buy what you see” lines available for purchase at boutique hotels. This seamless, arresting experience is a picture-perfect example of the thinking needed to succeed in the G4 Retail world.

The spoils will go to the companies with the vision to imagine and create the retail landscape of the future – where every space and moment of technological interaction with a consumer is a potential storefront. What can you do to create a more seamless, simple connection to your customers today?

At The End Of The Day, So What?

We’re at the early, nascent stage of the 4G Retail Age. Today, promise yourself that you will be one of the leaders with the vision to co-create the new, exciting, ready-to-be-built world of 4G retail that’s coming, whether we like it or not.

MARY MEEKER MUSINGS – 2017

I enjoy Mary Meeker’s internet trends report every June, and the 2017 version presented at last week’s Code conference did not disappoint. 

Meeker, a partner at VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, touched on a wide array of topics via 355 slides delivered in under 35 minutes. Noteworthy themes included: the explosion of mobile, continued media disruption, the mainstreaming of gaming, China’s “golden age” of entertainment and transportation, and opportunities for disruption in healthcare.

This content sparked several ideas for me. I’ll share a few here and would love to know via comments what resonated with others. 
 

Spark 1: Who is a “technologist”? – Everyone

A key theme across the report was the pervasive role of tech in today’s culture. Sure, we intuitively know that tech makes the world go round. But the numbers Meeker presented are striking: 40 percent of the 20 largest companies – in terms of 2017 market capitalization – are tech companies, and 100 percent of the top five carry the same label. Further, Meeker highlighted dozens of noteworthy companies throughout her presentation, and all are thriving due to tech-driven innovations.

For me, this prompted a reappraisal of the word “technologist.” This is often a standalone job title within an organization or department, or a descriptor that people use to augment their “real” job title. Meeker’s numbers underscore the fact that this concept must evolve. 

Increasingly, all business leaders are technologists, or should be. The complete fusion of tech and business culture requires us to put tech thinking at the core of everything we do. Across industries, companies and job titles, all business leaders of the future will be "technologists."                                                                        

Spark 2: Two Corners for Marketers – Visual and Voice

Meeker also said that companies who thrive in this tech-driven era are able to “see around corners” to envision a future that others may not see coming. 

If I put on my marketing cap, I can identify two sharp corners around which marketing and retail leaders are beginning to peer. They can be summarized as the “Two Vs,”: voice and visual.

Corner 1 - VISUAL marketing:

Meeker noted that online ads (and all kinds of online content) are becoming digital storefronts. This simple statement is quite extraordinary if we stop to think about it. 

Tools like Pinterest’s “Shop the Look,” the shoppable Facebook feed, Snap’s “Swipe up to Buy,” and the curated email newsletter are fundamentally changing the way consumers shop and purchase. The newly launched Google Lens takes this to next level, and it will train people to expect to be able to take a picture of literally anything and buy it immediately.

As ads become transactional vehicles for click and purchase, marketers will need to find other ways to build brand relationships. To that end, they will need to re-imagine the role of retail stores. We know, and Meeker emphasized, that retail stores as a genre aren’t dying, but stores that don’t engage and enrich consumers are. 

It’s conceivable that the role of ads and stores may “flip” in the next decade, with ads becoming transactional storefronts and storefronts becoming spaces for building brand relationships.

Ironically, marketing teams who have spent the better part of the past decade refining their Search Engine Marketing strategies now need to contemplate a not-so-distant future where pictures matter much more than words.

Corner 2 - VOICE marketing:

Much as Visuals are replacing words, Meeker also pointed out that Voice is replacing typing. 

Already, 20% of mobile queries are made via voice, and this represents incredible growth for a genre that didn’t exist even five years ago. Further, she noted that the number of installed voice assistants and their use cases are increasing and that voice recognition accuracy continues to improve.

Why does this matter for brands? Consider the growing number of transactions in which consumers never see a package, a product design, a logo, or even a brand name. Marketing guru Scott Galloway recently called voice the “killer app” for brands, noting that a shopper can prompt a voice assistant to “buy batteries,” have Alexa return a result, buy something, and get a product delivered to their door – all without ever encountering a brand name.

Again, this calls for marketers to stop and re-think. In a world where brands become invisible at the point of purchase, brand stewards must reimagine new ways to maintain share of mind, drive brand preference and express brand identity. 

This movement to Visual and Voice is a major “corner” for business leaders to see around in the next few years. Are you ready?
 

Spark 3: Humans (not robots) will chart the course of our future

Meeker closed the report with a slide suggesting that the key drivers of growth in the 21st century will be “computing power and human potential”. 

This was a heartening idea. After all, it can be a stressful time to read the news. Meeker’s report nods to complex political environments, rising national debt and entitlement obligations, and the very real workforce disruption the next decade will bring. 

Meeker provided an important reminder that it is our humanity that will see us through the future. Even as we bring tech to the core of all we do, things like reading widely, traveling, pursuing broad education, feeding our curiosity, and honing the ability to connect the dots in news ways will continue to differentiate human intelligence. These are the skills that will usher us into the new tech-driven decades ahead.

I'm striving to be ready – are you?

Can Amazon be Beaten: How UK Grocery Retailer Ocado Is Holding Its Own

Imagine a retail grocery business run by a deep technology estate. No stores, only online deliveries from automated warehouses. Robots in those warehouses pick most items and send them via high-speed conveyor belt to human attendants for packing.

A human-like robotic hand is capable of handling over 50,000 products of all shapes, including delicate items like produce. This process is all monitored by technology that can alert the human attendants to packing errors. Other “collaborative robots” learn from and assist the human warehouse manager. An artificially intelligent warehouse system collects data and optimizes operations. A computer program even maps the best delivery routes for drivers.

This isn’t the grocery store of the future but a description of the present-day operations at Ocado. Ok, the robotic hand is still in development, but the rest is 100% operational.

I’ve recently returned from a UK market tour where colleagues were buzzing about this unique, online-only grocery retailer. They are the world’s largest and their team of technologists and techies has been working to change the way we shop for groceries for the past 16 years.

Amazon Fresh entered the UK market last summer, and many predicted Ocado’s demise. Yet, the retailer has survived, some might even say thrived. Their 2016 sales beat forecasts, rising 14.8% to £1.3B. This momentum has continued in 2017 with both sales and weekly orders increasing despite a sluggish British retail environment.

I have heard of other similar David vs. Goliath success stories. Earlier this year, I wrote about the fact that Amazon is surviving but not thriving in several other markets including China, India, and Mexico.

This most recent example got me thinking again about how and why homegrown retailers are able to give Amazon a run for their money.

In India, Amazon has struggled to win trial and loyalty in face of rival Flipkart’s entrenched awareness and strong seller relationships.

In Mexico, Amazon has fought to build trust in a market where the cultural defaults are cash payments and brick and mortar shopping. Meanwhile, local competitor Mercado Libre has leveraged a nuanced understanding of local culture to hold their own.

In the UK, Ocado’s impressive tech infrastructure is helping them keep Amazon at bay. The Independent calls the company “superlatively innovative” and they likely embody what the grocery category will look like in the age of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Yet, Ocado has retained a strong compass for human values too. The company is testing delivery via more sustainable electric vehicles. They are partnering with underground urban farms with lower carbon footprints vs. traditional farming. And, they run a ‘Code for Life’ initiative designed to prepare the next generation of workers for the automated workplace.

I don’t want to overstate Ocado’s success. They still have a long road ahead; one that requires them to sustain their growth and license their tech infrastructure to an international grocery partner soon.

Nevertheless, I am heartened to see an innovative player succeed in the face of a powerful incumbent competitor.

Photo Credits: Business Insider, http://read.bi/2qJuvwE

UK: New application fills consumers’ baskets while they work, sleep, play…

Couple of weeks ago travels take me across the pond to the UK. While I’ll steer clear of adding my analysis of the Brexit vote, I am felt compelled to reflect on changing retail landscape in the U.K & implications here in the U.S. Specifically what was intriguing was the launch of an innovation aimed at making grocery shoppers’ lives a little easier.

Tesco recently leveraged the power of IFTTT (If This Then That) to create an automated shopping application. While it is powered by sophisticated backend technology, the proposition is simple: shoppers can join Tesco’s IFTTT channel to create “recipes,” or triggers that will automatically add items to their shopping basket at Tesco.com.  Yes, bots will do your shopping & take out the mundane tasks.

IFTT, eloquently described by Tesco Labs, is a “platform for joining together all your different online accounts to enable you to do clever things.”

Consumers sign up for a free IFTTT account and connect it to other applications (think: Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.). Registered users can then create “If, Then” recipes that proactively help accomplish a variety of tasks including controlling home appliances, staying healthy, connecting to loved ones, shopping smarter, or staying current. A tech maven can get an email whenever there is breaking news from their favorite publication. A health nut can receive a text anytime they fall short of their Fitbit goal. (Finger-wagging tone free of charge.)

Tesco’s channel offers a few recipes to get shoppers started. You can add milk on a certain day of the week, get an email if a product drops below a certain price, or even add burgers to your basket if it’s unexpectedly sunny.

Further, users are encouraged to create their own unique recipes. I can only imagine that these user-generated recipes will provide Tesco rich new territory for mining consumer insights and identifying unmet needs. 

This proactive technology is an example of the many “butler/bot” applications that are stepping up to manage the mundane and time-consuming aspects of people’s lives even when they are not actively thinking about them. (See: Google Alerts, Amazon Dash, and Brita’s wifi pitcher). Clearly, it has the potential to help consumers save time and money, and even make more satisfying purchases.

In addition to these consumer wins, I can’t help but think about what this application might mean for grocery retailers and their partners.

One innovation expert suggests that automation disrupts the typical shopping process (make a list, go to store, seek and select products) in a powerful way. It creates new imperatives to get a product into a shopper’s consideration set and basket long before they enter the doors of a store – if they ever do.

Conversely, as shoppers offload the job of shopping for weekly staples, they may enter retail grocery environments with more time and mind space to seek and sample novel products, creating new opportunities for brands and retailers to engage them.

Eventually, cart automation could pave the way for a “predictive grocery basket,” wherein algorithms would allow retailers to understand a shopper’s patterns and populate their basket with the items they want. While this may be a few years away, what a game-changer it will be if consumers can accomplish most of their grocery shopping without a single step, swipe or click.

For more on how Tesco is piloting technology to innovate the retail grocery space, read here.

Image Source: The Memo, 2016