Retail Customization
Yesterday, I started talking about how marketing is going to evolve, and the evolution of customized marketing. Well, here are the various technologies that are either already in use, or will be in the very near future.
In the past, marketing was "all to all" - For example, there was a single TV Commercial that was broadcast across the country. So, every consumer in the US would see the same General Motors commercial regardless of the area they lived in, their income etc. And at one point, that was the only option, when TV broadcasting was centralized.
In the first stage of evolution, "some to some", there was some amount of customization - For example, people in Arizona would get more advertisements on SUVs, Californians on Hybrids and Minnesota residents on All-Wheel Drive vehicles. In addition, there was a certain amount of customization in Direct Mail, with the letters having different content depending on their gender, age and income.
The next stage is "one to one", where everyone in the country/world gets a unique message, based on their individual tastes.
There are two aspects to the entire "one to one" marketing.
The first of course is the collection of information about each person's individual tastes. This can be done in several ways.
It is unbelievable the amount of information retail stores already have about you, collected using loyalty cards and charge accounts.
Option two is to simply ask you for it - Through surveys and questionnaires. Research shows that most people are willing to provide this information if their shopping experience can be enhanced. And of course, offering a chance at getting a $25,000 prize in return for filling out an online survey is very, very successful.
Sharing data with other retail stores about customer buying patterns, although at the border of flouing privacy laws is another option.
The second aspect is offering the customized marketing message.
On Television, technology is moving towards customization already with viewers being able to control and purchase content. Eventually, the advertisements that will be beamed to each cable receiver will be dependent on the people in that household. There will be a provision to identify the location of each receiver in the house. For example, if there is a family of four (Parents, Son and Daughter) in a house and they each have their own TV, each of them might have different programming and different advertisements.
On Direct Mail, technology has enabled companies to print a million different pages at the same cost as a million copies of the same page. This enables companies to print a customized message to each customer with their name on it - A message that would depend on their previous purchase history, age, gender, income, location, interests and even taste & style. Imagine technology that will enable a company to print an advertisement with a map from the customer's home to the nearest store !
Mobile Phones are well suited for customization with custom SMS messages sent to each user. As is the Internet and E-Mail.
However, the most exciting customized experience is in the Retail Store itself.
There are some exciting display technologies available today - One of them is a mist of water that can have messages projected on it - And you can walk right through !
With the use of RFID, ultimately every credit card and loyalty card will have a unique RFID tag embedded. And this RFID tag would be linked to a database where every possible detail about you would be stored.
Imagine this scenario ..
You walk into a retail store. The RFID reader in the store scans your card automatically and recognizes you. (The amazing thing about RFID is that the readers have a range of 30 feet). After it recognizes you, it dynamically changes the advertisements on the windows.
And there is also talk about replacing the floor of the store with glass and placing several projectors underneath. As you walk past, there would be messages flashing underfoot.
For example, the store would know that I buy a 6-pack of beer every Friday. And it would know my favorite brand. Imagine if there could be a message projected from underneath - "Corona Beer on sale - Buy 2, Get 1 Free".
This could even go further. Lets take the example of a young couple with no children. Their regular pattern might be to go shopping together every Saturday morning and buy the usual groceries (Milk, Bread etc). However, if one day, only the husband's tag is scanned, what does that mean - Maybe the wife is out of town - Which could only mean one thing - PARTY ! So, of course there is going to beer, chips, chicken wings involved - What if the store could recognize all of this ?
This would be the ultimate in "one to one" marketing.
In the past, marketing was "all to all" - For example, there was a single TV Commercial that was broadcast across the country. So, every consumer in the US would see the same General Motors commercial regardless of the area they lived in, their income etc. And at one point, that was the only option, when TV broadcasting was centralized.
In the first stage of evolution, "some to some", there was some amount of customization - For example, people in Arizona would get more advertisements on SUVs, Californians on Hybrids and Minnesota residents on All-Wheel Drive vehicles. In addition, there was a certain amount of customization in Direct Mail, with the letters having different content depending on their gender, age and income.
The next stage is "one to one", where everyone in the country/world gets a unique message, based on their individual tastes.
There are two aspects to the entire "one to one" marketing.
The first of course is the collection of information about each person's individual tastes. This can be done in several ways.
It is unbelievable the amount of information retail stores already have about you, collected using loyalty cards and charge accounts.
Option two is to simply ask you for it - Through surveys and questionnaires. Research shows that most people are willing to provide this information if their shopping experience can be enhanced. And of course, offering a chance at getting a $25,000 prize in return for filling out an online survey is very, very successful.
Sharing data with other retail stores about customer buying patterns, although at the border of flouing privacy laws is another option.
The second aspect is offering the customized marketing message.
On Television, technology is moving towards customization already with viewers being able to control and purchase content. Eventually, the advertisements that will be beamed to each cable receiver will be dependent on the people in that household. There will be a provision to identify the location of each receiver in the house. For example, if there is a family of four (Parents, Son and Daughter) in a house and they each have their own TV, each of them might have different programming and different advertisements.
On Direct Mail, technology has enabled companies to print a million different pages at the same cost as a million copies of the same page. This enables companies to print a customized message to each customer with their name on it - A message that would depend on their previous purchase history, age, gender, income, location, interests and even taste & style. Imagine technology that will enable a company to print an advertisement with a map from the customer's home to the nearest store !
Mobile Phones are well suited for customization with custom SMS messages sent to each user. As is the Internet and E-Mail.
However, the most exciting customized experience is in the Retail Store itself.
There are some exciting display technologies available today - One of them is a mist of water that can have messages projected on it - And you can walk right through !
With the use of RFID, ultimately every credit card and loyalty card will have a unique RFID tag embedded. And this RFID tag would be linked to a database where every possible detail about you would be stored.
Imagine this scenario ..
You walk into a retail store. The RFID reader in the store scans your card automatically and recognizes you. (The amazing thing about RFID is that the readers have a range of 30 feet). After it recognizes you, it dynamically changes the advertisements on the windows.
And there is also talk about replacing the floor of the store with glass and placing several projectors underneath. As you walk past, there would be messages flashing underfoot.
For example, the store would know that I buy a 6-pack of beer every Friday. And it would know my favorite brand. Imagine if there could be a message projected from underneath - "Corona Beer on sale - Buy 2, Get 1 Free".
This could even go further. Lets take the example of a young couple with no children. Their regular pattern might be to go shopping together every Saturday morning and buy the usual groceries (Milk, Bread etc). However, if one day, only the husband's tag is scanned, what does that mean - Maybe the wife is out of town - Which could only mean one thing - PARTY ! So, of course there is going to beer, chips, chicken wings involved - What if the store could recognize all of this ?
This would be the ultimate in "one to one" marketing.
Comments
Also, yours was my first comment in 5 days ! Was wondering what was happening to my readers ...