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Marketing and Merchandising Trend ReportSeptember 2012

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Steps of strategic foresightDaily blog posts. Monthly magazines. Quarterly trend reports. Must-read books. Anyone who works at the intersection of technology and people is swimming in information. This data smog can make deciphering the implications of the latest tech and social developments difficult. One solution is strategic foresight, which can help you make sense of emerging trends and clearly evaluate your options for the future. It’s a tool to manage risk when facing ambiguity in the marketplace.

Strategic foresight doesn’t predict the future, but it does help prepare you for it by envisioning a number of different, yet possible, future states in the market landscape 10+ years from now. These future states are often described as a set of scenarios, and they emerge from an analysis of current trends. So, as a simple example, the increasing popularity of pop-up retail spaces, combined with the high adoption of mobile devices, could develop into a future filled with transient storefronts. This scenario would be made possible due to the minimal wired infrastructure required for information and payment.

The rapid uptake of technology means that our social lives, cultural experiences, policies, regulations, ecological landscape, and business models are increasingly intertwined. Through its very design, strategic foresight is built to accommodate complexity by considering trends from a multi-dimensional perspective.

Manage the ambiguous future with strategic foresight

Trend scan

Identify trend drivers

Evaluate critical uncertainties

Future scenarios

Strategic implications

Action plan

Monitor trends

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Steps of strategic foresightThe Nurun Toronto team has launched a strategic foresight initiative to articulate the future of business-to-consumer (“B2C”) retail and commerce, and explore implications for Canadian and U.S. retailers. The scenarios we generate will give our retail clients the toolkit necessary to start imagining (and preparing for) the possible futures in the marketplace.

The first of seven steps in the strategic foresight process involves trend scanning. The trends we capture will be published as a series of trend reports that focus on five domains of importance to both online and omni-channel retailers.

This is the first of five trend reports, and it looks at retail through the lens of marketing and merchandising. Next will be a report on business models, followed by value exchange, analytics and emerging technology platforms. The culmination of trend scanning and subsequent phases will inform future scenarios in our final strategic foresight report. For more information, you can follow the project on Nurun’s blog, Digital for Real Life or subscribe to our email list, futureofretail@nurun.com

Why Retail Foresight?

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Marketing and Merchandising

Preparing for the Future of Retail: A Strategic Foresight Report

Business Models

Value Exchange

Analytics

Emerging Technology Platforms

Identify trend drivers

Evaluate critical uncertainties

Future scenarios

Strategic implications

Action plan

Monitor trends

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Over the last five years, new forms of technology have radically altered, augmented and disrupted how Canadian and U.S. retailers approach many fundamental aspects of their business. New devices such as tablets and smartphones, along with an explosion of social media channels, have meant that retailers are able to market and merchandise their products in a number of novel ways. Technology is both a blessing and curse, however, as it has introduced new competitive pressures. It has also significantly altered buying behaviour, forcing retailers to react and adapt to a smarter and more informed consumer.

Retailers continue to struggle with the fact that consumers are taking advantage of new technologies to locate, research and compare products, thanks to a trend toward Social Product Discovery, Consideration and Evaluation. In order to better attract and entertain their customers, retailers have started to take inspiration from film and print magazines in a trend of Product Placement Morphs into Content + Commerce.

Retailers also need to make sure they reach customers wherever they are, seamlessly integrating and supporting the shopping experience across multiple channels. This might mean creating digital catalogues for the iPad so customers can browse and purchase products directly from their tablet, or allowing customers to order laundry detergent through a smartphone app that can scan items on a wall poster thanks to The Integrated Expansion of the Omni-Channel Storefront trend.

U.S and Canadian retailers are also trying to reconcile the promises of The New Geography of Merchandising trend with the reality that e-commerce is not yet borderless. Duties, shipping fees and supplier markup have meant significantly higher prices for Canadians who wish to buy products from U.S. retailers, be it in-store or online.

New e-commerce developments, while providing many benefits for both consumers and retailers, can come at a personal cost, as the I’ll Trade My Privacy for a $5 Coupon trend demonstrates. Retailers are reacting in very different ways to the shifts in how consumer data is being collected and utilized. ⊲

Introduction

“You have to be really agile and flexible in how you deliver information to people and give them choices. There was a time years ago when retailers and packaged goods companies dictated what consumers could have. Now it’s the other way around.”– Joanna Track

Founder & CEO of eLUXE

Defining Our TermsGiven our expertise in the realm of digital retail, we defined retail marketing to include:

· Product findability and discoverability

· Recommendation and comparison tools

· Social commerce

· Issues relating to consumer privacy

Our examination of merchandising trends focused on:

· Pricing

· Localization of assortment

· Product presentation

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Some aspects of retail remain constant, however. Emerging technologies are being used by retailers to deliver century-old marketing and merchandising strategies like coupons, while bulk discounts and private labeling have newfound relevance, as demonstrated by the Sophisticated Frugality trend.

Canadian and U.S. retailers will need to contend with these trends if they wish to remain successful in the coming decade. This report offers a thought-provoking look at each of the six key trends mentioned above, along with a series of provocative questions that relate to each trend.

A complete strategic foresight report that incorporates these six marketing and merchandising trends, along with key retail trends relating to business models, value exchange, analytics and emerging technology platforms, will be released in early 2013. ■

Nurun Toronto found six key trends relating to marketing and merchandising:

Social Product Discovery, Consideration and Evaluation

Product Placement Morphs into Content + Commerce

The Integrated Expansion of the Omni-Channel Storefront

The New Geography of Merchandising

I’ll Trade My Privacy for a $5 Coupon

Sophisticated Frugality6

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

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Want to find the perfect gift for a friend’s birthday? Rather than taking your best guess as you wander around a local mall, you can now utilize your friend’s Facebook data to generate a more relevant list of suggestions. That’s the premise of a mobile app called Karma, which helps people discover, consider and evaluate products and services for purchase. Through Facebook integration, Karma is able to send out birthday reminders for close friends and provide personalized gift ideas. Karma, along with other social discovery and recommendation sites such as LYST, Glimpse, and Curisma, speak to a consumer desire for social approval and belonging.

At the same time, a number of visual discovery tools have emerged to make the process of online browsing more efficient and visually pleasing. Many of these tools borrow inspiration from Pinterest, an image sharing website that allows users to pin their favourite images onto unique digital boards.

Fancy, for example, is an online store that combines elements of blogs and magazines with a wish list function, while Polyvore encourages users to act like magazine editors and curate collections of their favourite fashion finds. Sites like Lockerz, meanwhile, allow customers to act as brand ambassadors, a function traditionally performed by celebrity endorsements.

A March 2012, Bizrate Insights Online Consumer Pulse report found that 32 percent of online consumers have purchased a product after seeing it on a social image sharing site such as Pinterest, Juxtapost, Discoveredd, Fancy or Polyvore. (Silver, Tan, & Mitchell, 2012). These sites tap into the long-standing popularity of in-store window-shopping, but eliminate the need for consumers to visit multiple websites in order to recreate the same experience online.

For Canadian and U.S. retailers, this trend presents an opportunity to move beyond the use of on-site dynamic product recommendation and merchandising tools, such as Certona, RichRelevance, and PredictiveIntent. Some retailers are starting to offer personalized assortments and storefronts, including Amazon’s “My Store,” (Amazon.com, Inc., 2012). While these tools are frequently used to boost online conversion, they can alienate privacy-conscious customers when used improperly, as discovered by omni-channel retailer Urban Outfitters (Singer, 2012). In the same way, retailers are working to find the right approach to retargeting and remarketing, two techniques that involve displaying online ads for products from websites consumers have recently visited (Hof, 2012). ⊲

Social Product Discovery, Consideration and Evaluation

“Collective consumers have great power. Communities now form around dissatisfaction and they instantly scale and become really influential and powerful. And they often appear out of the vapor.”– Joe Jackman

CEO of Joe Jackman Brand Inc.

“The big challenge is to strip away the marketing hype and spin and find the commercial utility in word-of-mouth referrals. A friend recommending to a friend is still one of the most powerful sales drivers. But getting beyond the technobabble can be tough.”– Dr. Paul Marsden

Editor of Social Commerce Today

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Meanwhile, retailers such as Krush (Walker, 2012) and Modcloth (Amed & Company, 2012) are collecting customer product preferences and post-purchase feedback. This data is then used to create new products and better respond to shifts in supply and demand for existing items. Clothing company Betabrand has gone so far as to encourage customers to submit new clothing ideas for community consideration (Kavilanz, 2011). These user-submitted ideas are then turned into new Betabrand products if sufficient consumer interest exists (Kavilanz, 2011).

Looking ahead, retailers should stop viewing their online catalogues as walled-gardens and look for ways to attract new customers by showcasing a curated selection of products across a variety of niche social discovery sites. Otherwise, visual discovery tools might augment their e-commerce capabilities, leading to increased retail competition. Retailers also need to treat customer feedback as a source of future product innovation and incorporate this feedback into their merchandising analytics so they can be more nimble in adjusting their catalogue assortments. ■

8 Forward ThinkingAre you ready to distribute your products not only through your own e-commerce site, but also Pinterest and Fancy? Are you prepared to let your customers make suggestions for new products? Would you be willing to put “talking” price tags on your in-store merchandise so that customers could instantly connect to an external social recommendation tool through their smartphones?

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

8 Forward ThinkingIs your company ready to hire editorial staff in order to create a retail catalogue that leads with editorial and offers embedded e-commerce options, indistinguishable from a content-rich online magazine? Is your brand robust enough to create captivating stories?

The print magazine industry has struggled to stay relevant over the last decade as consumers turn to blogs such as Fashionista, Gizmodo, and Apartment Therapy as their preferred source of information about new products. At the same, retailers are starting to realize that engaging lifestyle content integrated within an e-commerce environment can be a very compelling method of speaking to consumers. The mixture of content and commerce also provides new opportunities for creative merchandising approaches, visual narratives and brand curation.

This helps to explain why the humble email newsletter remains a viable way to market new products, used by companies as varied as the Gilt Groupe and Sephora. Some retailers, including Zappos, publish a monthly magazine of original content to promote their products and reinforce their overall brand image.

Meanwhile, online luxury retailers including eLUXE, MR PORTER, and IWC provide specific fashion and lifestyle advice alongside their products. This advice resembles the how-to style guides found in legacy print publications such as Vogue or Esquire, but their e-commerce platforms allow for a more seamless and rapid process of discovery and purchase. This type of approach represents the latest evolution of the advertorial.

More sophisticated versions of this trend involve shoppable online videos. By embedding their clothing line within a music video, SSENSE was able to put a fresh spin on the traditional fashion catalogue (FKi, Azalea, Diplo, 2012). This video served to demonstrate products in a relevant lifestyle context and entertained younger consumers who may be tired of traditional marketing approaches.

In the same way, short films created and produced by companies such as BMW and Chanel showcases sophisticated narratives with brand and product integration. A recent example is Karl Lagerfeld’s multi-part branded film The Tale of a Fairy (2012).

In many cases, Canadian and U.S. retailers can take advantage of existing content (blog posts, online video) to generate newsletters or produce magazine-like experiences on their websites. A successful blend of content and commerce might require retailers to think like a publisher and develop an editorial calendar so that fresh, engaging content can be created and published on a regular schedule. ■

Product Placement Morphs into Content + Commerce

“You’ll continue to see more retailers getting into content and more publishers getting into e-commerce. The path to purchase is going into a big blender and the lines between the two will disappear.”– Joanna Track

Founder & CEO of eLUXE

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Mobile technology makes it possible to offer time-strapped consumers the convenience of purchasing products from almost anywhere. In response, a number of unique sales channels have emerged, including QR code enabled virtual storefronts. Canadian online retailer Well.ca used the public walls of a transit corridor to display photos of dozens of products that consumers could purchase by pointing at specific items with a smartphone app. eBay has also created a 24/7 shoppable storefront window display in New York that utilizes QR codes (Kats, 2011).

The audio search technology provided by Shazam, meanwhile, allows marketers to “magically” send TV audiences to special mobile microsites based on audio recognition tools (Hockenson, 2012). And locative technologies such as geo-fencing allow retailers to define a specific geographic area surrounding their store within which customers receive push notifications for promotions via apps or text messages (Burby, 2012).

Retailers are also trying to anticipate consumers’ purchasing needs from within social media and tablets. CoffeeTable is an iPad app that compiles multiple retail catalogues and adds an e-commerce option. This allows customers to not only browse, but also purchase products at their convenience.

As these and other options emerge, retailers are being careful to integrate new channels with existing approaches in order to provide a seamless customer experience. Since customers shop by brand, not channel, retailers can no longer segment brick-and-mortar and online operations if they wish to avoid redundancies and conflicts of interest. Merging channels makes it possible to offer a more unified brand message, a more seamless shopping experience and a more consistent approach to assortment, pricing and promotions.

Best Buy Canada, for example, is opening two new pilot stores in the Fall of 2012 with only 5,000 square feet of retail (instead of the average 32,000 square feet) (Wexler, 2012). Every aisle will include a tablet that allows customers to view and order from Best Buy’s complete inventory for a given product category (Wexler 2012). UK retailer Marks and Spencer has also been aggressively pursuing an omni-channel shopping strategy with a unique store format that recently debuted in Cheshire, England (Wood, 2012). The new location connects the in-store and online shopping experience through free Wi-Fi, iPad-equipped sales assistants that can access additional inventory and giant touchscreen kiosks that allow customers to browse and order online items (Wood, 2012). ⊲

The Integrated Expansion of the Omni-Channel Storefront

“Historically, Canadian retail investment in technology has involved a relatively long cycle. The trouble today is that the technology in the consumer’s hands is better [than the retailer’s] and it’s refreshing faster.”– Joe Jackman

CEO of Joe Jackman Brand Inc.

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

This shift in approach has been described as “omni-channel retail” and will require merging disparate channels that include websites, mobile devices, gaming consoles and physical stores (Rigby, 2011). For example, embedded RFID tags are being used in some New Balance stores to trigger additional product information through a video display when customers place the sneaker on a hotspot (Swedberg, 2012). The move toward omni-channel retail also includes aligning in-store and online operations through “buy online pickup in-store”; “buy online return in-store” and “buy in-store ship to home options.” Canadian retailers have been slower to adapt to such innovations as compared with their U.S. counterparts.

Increased retail integration requires an ability to provide equivalent levels of customer experience in-store and online. For example, online retailers are trying to ensure that customers have access to 360-degree product views and online video reviews to compensate for the lack of tactility (Charlton, 2010). At the same time, retailers are trying to develop integrated CRM perspectives that generate a 360-degree view of their customers, including cross-channel order histories. However, most retailers are still encountering difficulties integrating customer data across all channels, as they lack a sophisticated master data management system (IBM, n.d.). Without investing in appropriate infrastructure, customer information tends to get “trapped” within complex information systems that include business performance metrics, in-store and online transaction data, promotional data and social media listening and trend data.

The challenge for Canadian and U.S. retailers is to provide a seamless retail experience through consistent brand experiences amidst increasing complexity and customer expectations, regardless of the touch point. Omni-channel retail requires a significant investment in infrastructure and training, which can be a major barrier to entry. This approach to retail also necessitates a willingness to bridge e-commerce operations with physical retailing through the use of cross-functional teams with both digital and in-store expertise. This will allow retailers to eliminate the current silo-based approach that developed before and after the dot-com crash of March 2000 (Rigby, 2011). ■

“Are bricks and mortar dead? No. But people want choice.”– Joanna Track

Founder & CEO of eLUXE

Have you considered adding an extended aisle or virtual backroom functionality to your retail operation so that in-store and online customers enjoy a wider range of products? Is your brand voice connected and consistent across all channels? Can your customers purchase an item directly from your bus shelter ad by simply taking a photo of it?

8 Forward Thinking

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

The erasure of borders that e-commerce makes possible means that retailers can theoretically sell their products to anyone, anywhere in the world. The reality is more complicated however, and geography continues to assert its influence on merchandising strategies in both obvious and subtle ways.

Despite their proximity to the United States, many Canadians have been disappointed to discover that online retailers such as West Elm are unable to sell and ship specific products to Canada (Williams-Sonoma Inc., 2012). This is especially confusing since both companies have physical stores located in Canada.

Along with a more limited product selection, Canadians face higher prices for the same merchandise as compared with the U.S., which can range anywhere from 10 to 50 percent (Beltrame, 2012). This price gap has become more noticeable over the last decade thanks to an influx of U.S. retail chains arriving in Canada. Within a week of opening their first store in Canada in August, 2011, J. Crew had to adjust their shipping fees and lower their online prices through the elimination of duty fees after The Globe and Mail reported significant price disparities between the U.S. and Canadian versions of the website (Strauss, 2011).

Technology has made the price gap between the U.S. and Canada nearly transparent, and helps to explain the rise of cross-border shopping through both online orders and physical trips to U.S. destinations (Strauss & Grant, 2012). Black Friday, for example, has now become a more popular Google search term than Boxing Day in Canada (Oliveira, 2011).

Within their own borders, national retailers in Canada and the U.S. are carefully considering geography in order to localize their in-store product assortment and reflect the needs of regional customers. By offering products based on seasonal weather patterns and region-specific cultural preferences, retailers are better able to serve their local markets and manage their overall inventory (Schouten, 2010; Deale, 2012). The same cannot be said for e-commerce retailers, although this is slowly changing. Columbia Sportswear has recently begun initiatives to localize site messaging, product assortment, pricing and promotions (Florletta, 2012). ■

The New Geography of Merchandising

8 Forward ThinkingAs a Canadian retailer, how are you preparing to compete with the wide online product assortment and streamlined cross-border shipping policies of large American retailers, such as Nordstrom and Bloomingdales? Have you considered fortifying your online presence with robust e-commerce operations? How might you compete on uniquely branded customer experiences instead of price?

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8 Forward ThinkingWant to gain access to the private habits of influential customers? Be prepared to openly barter for this information.

Many consumers have developed complicated math in order to maximize their return on loyalty programs such as Best Buy’s Reward Zone, Shoppers Optimum, Safeway’s Club Card and AIR MILES (LoyaltyOne Inc.). The savings and rewards these programs offer aren’t technically free however, as they cost consumers some of their privacy.

Canadian and U.S. retailers, meanwhile, are also finding it necessary to develop complicated math to cope with the era of “big data.” An increasing number of retailers are focusing on data collection and analysis in order to more effectively personalize their marketing appeals and strengthen customer loyalty in the process. Target, for example, is now able to offer relevant coupons to women in the early stages of their pregnancy based on their purchasing habits (Duhigg, 2012).

While many customers appreciate this type of personalization, they may also feel that the information security practices of these companies are murky. In most cases, privacy is no longer a default option, but something that must be configured by consumers.

Despite some negative associations regarding corporate approaches to privacy, consumers remain quite willing to gamble with their personal information if they believe there is a clear benefit in doing so. For example, a November 2011 survey found that nearly two-thirds of consumers do not trust online companies such as Facebook or Google with their personal information (eMarketer, 2012).

Despite this skepticism, the value that consumers receive from these same companies is high enough to overlook or ignore issues of trust. The popularity and growth in Facebook usage may be due in part to a human desire for community belonging. Social media also allows people to satisfy their personal curiosity about the lives of friends and family.

As the importance of lifestyle marketing continues to grow, Canadian and U.S. retailers will need to rethink critical aspects of data collection and privacy policies in order to generate relevant and targeted marketing campaigns. One approach to privacy is to better reward customers for the data they provide or offer a higher degree of transparency about how their consumer data will be used. ■

I’ll Trade My Privacy for a $5 Coupon

“People are smarter than we give them credit for. They will give up their personal information, but only if they get something in return.”– Dr. Paul Marsden

Editor of Social Commerce Today

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

The coupon made its debut in the late 1880s, and the basic idea behind it has changed very little in the intervening 120 years. While saving money will probably never go out of style, it is surprising that many successful new technologies and services are being used to deliver coupons, bulk discounts, auctions and other timeless pricing tactics.

At the same time, the dynamic pricing made possible by current CRM systems means that retailers can offer promotions that reward and enhance loyalty, as these offers are based on a customer’s purchasing history. Getting customers to look beyond simple price reductions requires a long-term education strategy, as demonstrated by the difficulties encountered with JCPenney’s recent Everyday Low Price Strategy (Mohammed, 2012).

Retailers must continue to experiment with new discount options and the best way to deliver these deals. SavingStar, for example, is a mobile app that generates coupons based on a customer’s cluster of loyalty card information. Discounts are applied automatically at the point of sale via the loyalty card (Van Grove, 2011). Decide helps consumers predict the best time to purchase major appliances based on historical discount data, and recently added a Consumer Reports style recommendation component. Groupon, meanwhile, has made bulk purchasing a popular option for retailers who want to reach new customers. Its success has inspired a host of competitors including TeamBuy (Buyers Unite Inc.), LivingSocial and AllDailyDeals.

Consumers have also become more vocal about product pricing due to the popularity of social media. The result of this trend are co-buying sites such as Buyapowa, where the price of a specific product drops based on the number of confirmed purchasers, and Netotiate, a site that allows consumers to name their price for a wide range of consumer goods.

Sophisticated frugality refers not only to the use of technology-enabled discounts, but merchandising strategies that developed in response to the economic downturn of 2008. This has included a focus on developing more robust lines of private label products. (Nielsen Wire, 2010). The ability of retailers to develop private label products that can compete on both quality and value has helped encourage the recent emergence of luxury private labels. Examples include Loblaw’s PC Black Label, launched in October 2011 (Scott-Thomas, 2012); Duane Reade’s DR Delish launched in April 2010 (The Dieline, 2010); and Wal-Mart’s Our Finest, launched in November 2011 (Kwon, 2011). ⊲

Sophisticated Frugality

“The ability to compare value instantly via mobile has created an amplification of comparison. It has real impact on sales and the brand relationship.”– Joe Jackman

CEO of Joe Jackman Brand Inc.

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The growing importance of private labels is reflected in the fact that both IBM (“Consumer-Centric Analytics: The Foundation for Competitive Advantage,” Waldron, 2011) and Accenture (“The Waiting is Over: Why retailers have to get better at private label now,” 2011) have conducted extensive research into this increasingly critical aspect of retail merchandising.

Canadian and U.S. retailers considering a discount strategy need to decide whether they want to pursue a price-based strategy over a brand-driven approach (or vice-versa). However, dynamic pricing and an inventive mix of private label products can help retailers split the difference between value and brand approaches. Brands also have an opportunity to reframe what frugality means by recognizing that consumers may prefer to be smart with their money, rather than simply being cheap. ■

8 Forward ThinkingAre you ready to think beyond the coupon? Are you willing to barter with customers who expect to be able to name their own price for your products? How might a line of luxury private label products reinforce or augment the key strengths of your retail brand?

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Our next report will look at retail trends through the lens of emerging business models, followed by value exchange, analytics, and technology platforms. Once these trend reports are complete, we will move to the next phase of strategic foresight: identifying the driving forces underlying the trends. Those driving forces will inform future scenarios, leading to the last phases in this strategic foresight initiative to articulate the future of B2C retail and commerce.

For more information, you can follow the project on Nurun’s blog, Digital for Real Life. If you have any questions, or want to receive an email reminder when our next trend report is published, please contact futureofretail@nurun.com.

What’s Next

Steps of strategic foresight

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1 Trend scan

Marketing and Merchandising

Preparing for the Future of Retail: A Strategic Foresight Report

Business Models

Value Exchange

Analytics

Emerging Technology Platforms

Identify trend drivers

Evaluate critical uncertainties

Future scenarios

Strategic implications

Action plan

Monitor trends

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Nurun’s strategic foresight team performed a horizon scan using the “STEEPV” framework to locate current and emerging trends and signals in the following areas: Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, and Cultural Values. This scan generated over 100 relevant trends.

These signals and trends were then clustered and sorted into six overarching trends. Each of these overarching trends required the support of three to five strong signals or examples. Some trends had an excess of signals – in those cases, excess signals were catalogued for future inclusion or consideration.

Sincere thanks to the merchandising and marketing experts who graciously shared their insights with us for this report:

Joe Jackman, CEO of Joe Jackman Brand Inc Joe leads a 60-person multi-discipline team of ‘retail reinventionists’ – researchers, analysts, management consultants, marketers, creative directors, writers, designers and activation managers – focused on accelerating value creation and disrupting the status quo. Joe Jackman Brand is the first company to combine in-depth analytics and strategy with creative vision, design, marketing, and the hands-on shaping of all touch points of customer experience.

Dr. Paul Marsden, Editor of Social Commerce Today Paul is a social psychologist and market researcher specializing in digital and social media, influencer marketing and reputation management. He works with brands and organizations to develop effective digital marketing and PR strategies.

Joanna Track, Founder & CEO of eLUXE Joanna has over 15 years experience in marketing, business strategy, branding and advertising. In 2004 she started Sweetspot, the ultimate destination for Canadian women to stay in the know about what’s new and fabulous in their city. In 2011 she founded eLUXE, Canada’s online shopping destination, offering the best edit of global contemporary brands through engaging consumable content.

The Nurun foresight team will continue to monitor and collect new developments in marketing and merchandising to inform subsequent strategic foresight work, especially scenario development.

Methodology

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Accenture. (2011). The Waiting is Over: Why Retailers Have to Get Better at Private Label Now. Retrieved from http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-retailers-better-private-label.aspx

AllDailyDeals.ca Inc. (2012). All Daily Deals.ca - View all daily deals and group buys in one place! Retrieved June 14, 2012, from http://www.alldailydeals.ca/

Amazon.com, Inc. (2012). Amazon.com Help: Recommendations. Retrieved September 11, 2012, from http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=13316081

Apartment Therapy, Inc. (2012). Apartment Therapy. Retrieved July 30, 2012, from http://www.apartmenttherapy.com

Beltrame, J. (2012, April 24). Retailers blame multinational suppliers for Canada-U.S. price gap. The Canadian Press. Ottawa. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/retailers-blame-multinational-suppliers-for-canada-us-price-gap/article4102212/

Best Buy, Inc. (2012). Best Buy Reward Zone. Retrieved July 30, 2012, from https://www.bestbuyrewardzone.ca/

Betabrand.com. (2012). Betabrand - Pants, Jackets, Hoodies, Bags & Fabrications. Retrieved August 20, 2012, from http://www.betabrand.com/

Burby, J. (2012, June 11). Building Relevance With Geo-Fencing. ClickZ. Retrieved from http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2182814/building-relevance-geo-fencing

BuyaPowa Ltd. (2012). BuyaPowa - Social Commerce tools to turn buyers into brand ambassadors. Retrieved August 20, 2012, from http://www.buyapowa.com/

Buyers Unite Inc. (2012). TeamBuy. Retrieved June 14, 2012, from http://www.teambuy.ca/

CBC News. (2012, August 10). 6 U.S. retailers set to invade Canada’s malls. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2012/08/09/us-retail-canada.html

Certona, Inc. (2012). Certona. Retrieved July 30, 2012, from http://www.certona.com/

Charlton, G. (2010, November 10). Why online retailers need product videos | Econsultancy. Econsultancy Blog. Retrieved from http://econsultancy.com/ca/blog/6834-why-etailers-need-product-videos

CoffeeTable. (2012). The Leading Retail Catalog App for iPad. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://coffeetable.com/

Curisma, Inc. (2012). Curisma. Retrieved July 30, 2012, from http://curisma.com/

Deale, S. (2012, January 25). 5 Ways Chain Retailers are Localizing Their Stores | InStore Trends. In-Store Trends. Retrieved August 20, 2012, from http://www.instoretrends.com/index.php/2012/01/25/localization-chain-retail-store-trends-merchandising/

Decide. (2012). How it Works / Decide. Retrieved August 20, 2012, from https://www.decide.com/how-it-works

Discoveredd. (2012). Discoveredd - Discoveredd.com. Retrieved August 20, 2012, from http://www.discoveredd.com/

Duhigg, C. (2012, February 16). How Companies Learn Your Secrets. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html

eLUXE.ca. (2012). eLUXE. Retrieved from http://www.eluxe.ca/

eMarketer. (2012, January 24). How Marketers Can Manage the Privacy Problem. eMarketer. Retrieved from http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008793&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4

Facebook, Inc. (2012). Facebook. Retrieved July 30, 2012, from http://www.facebook.com/

Fancy. (2012). Fancy. Retrieved June 13, 2012, from http://www.thefancy.com

Fashionista, Inc. (2012). Fashionista. Fashionista. Retrieved July 30, 2012, from http://fashionista.com/

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Ryan Bigge As a Digital Content Strategist at Nurun Toronto, Ryan Bigge combines over 12 years of experience as a freelance journalist with a passion for design thinking and interactive art. His writing has been published in the New York Times Magazine, Report on Business, and the Toronto Star. As part of a recent residency at the CFC Media Lab, Ryan co-created txt2hold.ca and tweet2hold.com, two related interactive projects that convert digital experiences into tangible, permanent keepsakes.

Jen Chow As Nurun Toronto’s Design Research lead, Jen utilizes a diverse set of consumer research techniques to uncover insights and shape new opportunities for various retail clients. Jen recently co-authored a report on the future of consumer-to-business payments that focused on the Canadian banking industry as part of her work in OCAD University’s Master of Design Foresight & Innovation program. Jen’s work fuses her eclectic background in accounting and finance with her keen interest in sociocultural trends and technology.

Kira Levine As Senior Retail Strategist at Nurun Toronto, Kira’s focus is on translating consumer needs into viable retail solutions, bridging both in-store and online capabilities. She brings a unique blend of passion for retail with over nine years of experience in category and product management. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Retail Management and an International MBA.

Audrey Carr As Director of Digital Strategy, Audrey guides Nurun Toronto’s cross-functional teams in identifying, framing and solving customer-centric opportunities across our omni-channel retail clients, including Sears Canada, Home Depot Canada, Acklands-Grainger, and the LCBO. She also leads the development and evolution of Nurun Toronto’s strategic capabilities in design research, design & retail strategy, analytics, and interaction design.

Meet the Nurun Toronto Strategic Foresight Team

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Marketing and Merchandising Trend Report | September 2012

Nurun is the world’s largest independent full-service digital agency, providing a broad scope of services that are uniquely tuned to the opportunities and challenges faced by online and omni-channel retailers.

With strong expertise in digital retail strategy, experience design, platform development, enterprise integration, and platform management, Nurun Toronto crafts experiences that marry consumer brand engagement and digital utility for some of Canada’s most recognized retailers, including Sears Canada, The Home Depot Canada, Holt Renfrew, LCBO, and Walmart Canada.

For Toronto new business inquiries, please contact Emily Bond, Vice President, General Manager at emily.bond@nurun.com.

About Nurun