There’s very few things in life as good as a great breakfast…apart from when that great breakfast is in central Stockholm’s biggest cinema and is shared by some of the best people working in retail from across Europe.
This was the scene for Retail Breakfast Club Stockholm 2022.
The event has always been a chance for us to share everything that inspires us about modern retail and this edition was no different. Joining Sitoo co-founder and CEO, Jens Levin on stage were Michael Ewald Hansen, Chief Digital Officer at LAKRIDS BY BÜLOW and Kasper Holst, CEO of IMPACT Commerce.
These three speakers shared their insight into what’s happening in retail right now, where the industry is going, and what retailers have to get right in order to deliver for their customers, employees, and to future-proof the success of their business.
Apart from how the day is always better when it starts with a great breakfast, here’s what we learnt from the line-up of speakers.
1. It’s not clicks or bricks…it’s both forever
Modern shopping is cross-channel and it’s not linear. Shoppers can start their purchasing journey from anywhere at any time. And, more often than not, this journey is a combination of in-store and online - with a whopping 75% of customers saying online research is important for their in-store experience.
It’s why 70% of all shopping is cross-channel, with less than 10% being pure online and just over 20% pure in-store. And this means that physical stores and digital channels have to go hand-in-hand. It’s not one or the other and never will be (unless in very niche cases).
Just look at the figures; Macy’s ecommerce is 2-3x greater in locations where they also have department stores, 62% of shoppers are more likely to buy online if they can return a product to a store, 80% of customers that do return a product to a store end up spending the refund in the store, and omnichannel customers are 83% more profitable than single channel customers.
It’s a compelling case for the power of physical stores and the importance of physical retail long into the future.
Take LAKRIDS BY BÜLOW as an example. They see up to 20% higher return on their digital ad spend in areas where they have physical stores. As Michael Ewald Hansen explains: “Our stores are instrumental to our success and growth strategy. When customers come to our stores they can taste the product and experience it. And they can hear from our store staff the story behind the brand and learn all about the different flavors and where they come from.
“Alongside this, we get better performance on our ads and a higher return on ad spend when we run digital advertising in areas where we have stores. This gives us higher footfall in these areas but, really interestingly, also boosts the business of our wholesalers who operate in the same area. It’s this kind of halo effect that’s super important to performance.”
2. Data and customer loyalty go hand in hand
Real-time data across all sales channels - and the technology that makes this possible - is key to long term success. By collecting and owning first-party data - and having systems in place that allow you to use this data in the best possible way - you can give your customers so much more.
At Retail Breakfast Club we heard how LAKRIDS BY BÜLOW collect first-party data to build loyalty, to better understand their customers, and to build an omnichannel experience.
This centers around their ‘Lakrids Lovers’ concept - a community of customer ambassadors who receive exclusive perks while at the same time giving the business invaluable insights and creating the perfect link between physical and digital channels. What’s more, the data LAKRIDS BY BÜLOW collect allows them to deliver personalized experiences to each customer, building yet more loyalty and driving more sales.
The takeaway? Get systems in place that allow you to collect and use your data in real-time to deliver best-in-class shopping experiences to your customers.
3. You need tech that’s fit for purpose
In 2010, Dave Brailsford became the director of professional cycling team, Team Sky (now Team INEOS). His mission was simple, win the Tour de France in 5 years time with a British cyclist. He didn’t do it in 5 years - he did it in 2. His philosophy of marginal gains involved transforming the team from inside out. Only the best would do. Team Sky invested in the best equipment – from bikes, skin suits, helmets and even the mattresses their riders slept on - to optimize performance and find the extra percentage points they needed to win. The approach saw Team Sky go on to become the most successful professional cycling team of the modern era.
And this story echoes the sentiments Jens Levin shared at Retail Breakfast Club. If, as a retailer, you want to optimize performance, deliver more to your customers, more to your store associates and have a more successful business, then the argument for investing in boundary-pushing, game-changing, innovative, modern technology is a no brainer. This means adopting a best-of-breed approach, waving goodbye to legacy systems and embracing cloud-native tech that lets you do more with less.
Yet, as seen in Impact’s Omnichannel Index, only 18% of retailers surveyed for the report have a mobile POS, only 13% have self-service screens in stores and only half are offering ways for customers to sign up to a newsletter or loyalty program in-store.
If you want to win, then leveling-up your retail tech is one of the best ways to go about doing it.
In Summary
In life, change is the only constant and, in retail, it’s the same. As Kasper Holst notes, retail is now a constant transformation game. This means that to stand still is to fall behind. And it’s why it’s more important than ever before to invest in tech that evolves with you, with changing customer behavior, and with the wider demands of society.
Cloud-native tech does exactly this. Updates come as standard and means the systems you choose to invest in will keep on getting better over time. Tech is how you empower your employees, give your customers what they want when they want it, and build increased loyalty and customer lifetime value.
And if Retail Breakfast Club taught us one thing, it’s that modern tech makes shopping the way it’s meant to be - every single time.
If you’d like to learn more about how a Unified Commerce Platform anchored by POS can help you change the game, then we’d love to speak to you.
