WHAT’S NEW IN DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BEAUTY? OVER 200 BEAUTY EXECUTIVES MEET IN NYC TO SHARE AT THE WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY (WWD) DIGITAL BEAUTY FORUM

At Accelerated Analytics, I work with over 20 beauty brands to supply key reports and analysis of how their products are performing at their retail stores. Our expertise, based on years of working with beauty retailers like Dillard’s, Ulta, Sephora and Nordstrom, help account executives, planners and sales reps to track sales to goals, store display marketing, promotional effectiveness and inventory stock levels. I joined the WWD Digital Beauty Forum in New York on Tuesday to hear where the beauty industry is going with digital marketing and social media.

It was an inspiring day! From hearing how the Estee Lauder brand Smashbox is revolutionizing how to use social media influencers to expand their brand awareness, to learning how beauty brands like NYX and Shiseido are using digital technologies to expand social experiences online and in stores to broaden their customers’ experiences was mind blowing. In the ever-important retail need to address the increasing customer desire to have an experience, and not just shop, the beauty industry is using technology in a variety of ways to personalize what they can do for their customers and make their brand fresh, exciting and fun!

Beauty products are personal. Ecommerce efforts to use digital technology to put colors and skin care effects into a virtual customer’s hands live, is amazing. When a customer is in a store, actually touching products, digital technology gives shoppers a hands-on experience to custom-tailor products. Events and contests around pop-up stores is getting more and more common.

What resonated the most with me is, with so much activity and options for shoppers, and the very fast pace of beauty sales, the ability to see what is selling organically and where inventory is at all times is critical. I’m excited that our solution helps my beauty customers, like Coty, L’Oreal, Bvlgari and Parlux, to get the insights they need, when they need it, and gives them the opportunity to expand their digital reach to customers and react quickly when these initiatives take off!

THE HOME DEPOT’S HOMETOWN OF ATLANTA DISCUSSES THE RETAILER’S TECH EDGE

Atlanta news station 11Alive (NBC) sat down Sunday with The Home Depot’s Sr. Director of Digital Strategy & Mobile Applications, Matt Jones, about how the company uses technology to enhance in-store and online customer experiences.

Says Mr. Jones about the retailer’s mobile app, the latest strategy has been to help the customer navigate in the store while shopping. The app also gives consumers the ability to read product ratings and look up detailed product information while looking at products in the aisle, enhancing the shopping experience.

“One of the challenges is being able to visualize how the products will look in your home, “says Mr. Jones. “A door could be an example, a patio set could be an example.”  

When asked how the use of technology has impacted sales, the bottom line and overall efficiencies within the organization, Mr. Jones says the blending of the in-store and digital experiences has definitely been a driver of sales success.

Who is The Home Depot’s tech consumer? “We’ve got a very diverse customer base, from the professional customer…to the customer buying home décor…to the customer doing a DIY project at home.” This year marks the biggest wholesale change to the mobile app in years.

There are a few things Home Depot is focused on for 2017 according to Mr. Jones: giving customers a way to personalize their app and online shopping to focus on their interests. He feels that the faster you can get a consumer to the information they want and will find most valuable is the key to success.

Source: 11Alive.com 

HOME DEPOT FOCUSES ON THE ONLINE SHOPPER…BY FOCUSING ON THEIR STORES

The Home Depot has been on the great end of the rebounding housing market with a continued 4% increase in sales in the last quarter, while homeowners work on big remodeling projects like installing decks or remodeling kitchens. Without plans to add more new stores, Home Depot focuses on how to use their existing stores in new ways.

About 42% of Home Depot online shoppers order online, but pick up in the store. To accommodate that, Home Depot is allocating capital to build out store storage to hold those products. When the customer is in the store, the retailer is trying new displays that help the customer shop easier. For example, the spray-paint section is set up like a soft drink display, so as one can is selected, the next can pops into place. In the lumber and millwork flooring area, the displays are easier for the customer to shop off of on their own, and the signage has been improved.

For the increasing online sales where customers want the items shipped to their homes, Home Depot has opened 3 new fulfillment centers that can deliver orders to 90% of their customers within 2 business days. They are also looking into leveraging their store locations to use local economical transportation for buy-online, ship-to-store orders.

Source: Wall St. Journal, IHRC

LOWE’S GOES FUTURISTIC WITH VIRTUAL REALITY HOME IMPROVEMENT FOR CUSTOMERS

Lowe’s has successfully tested the Microsoft HoloLens in its stores in Raleigh and Seattle – so successfully that it plans to expand the technology to three more yet-to-be-disclosed locations.

The HoloLens brings high definition hologram images overlaid to real world surroundings. A customer can use the technology to visualize their home improvements. For example, a customer can go into a Lowe’s store and design their kitchen while sorting through Lowe’s assortment of appliances and material samples. To take it even further, a customer can select an item they saw and liked on Pinterest, and a similar item sold by Lowe’s will appear.

Kyle Nel, executive director of Lowe's Innovation Lab, told USA TODAY in a briefing: "Mixed reality takes some getting used to, because we're all used to pinching to zoom to get closer to things instead of just walking forward. The idea of using small samples and swatches to try and imagine what a room looks like seems very antiquated now."

To try out the HoloLens in the store requires an appointment, especially on the weekends. Lowe’s Innovation Lab is looking for ways to stay ahead of technology, and stay ahead of rival Home Depot.

Source: Investopedia

HOME DEPOT TURNS STORES INTO MINI DISTRIBUTION CENTERS

The Home Depot announced a 6.6% increase in revenue and a 9.3% increase in net profit to $2.4 billion.

The retailer stated that customers are taking advantage of their new options for retrieving their ecommerce orders. In the second quarter, about 42% of Home Depot’s online orders and almost 90% of its online returns were handled by its stores.

Ecommerce sales were just 5.6% of Home Depot’s sales in the second quarter, but were up 19% from a year ago, showing significantly higher growth in sales than in-store. Home Depot is choosing now to invest in infrastructure and order management software to address ecommerce fulfillment from their stores. Online purchases can now be delivered from over 700 stores, faster and with shorter scheduled-delivery windows than possible before.

Source: Wall St. Journal

WILL RETAILER DISCOUNTING HARM BRAND VALUE?

In an effort to get out of this year’s retail doldrums, department store retailers have been reducing prices on fashion brands they typically do not run promotions on. Promotions reached an all-time high in the last quarter, and in July over 2,000 emails advertising specials were sent to shoppers across the US. Some prices in May, June and July were reduced as much as 80%.

Luxury brands most heavily discounted included Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and Eileen Fisher. Michael Kors is trying to rectify the situation by ending all coupons and friends-and-family sales at department stores. Ralph Lauren is reducing excess inventory. The brands hold the power with the ability to push sales in their own stores and online web sites.

How much are department stores discounting? Saks is leading with an average discount of 60%. Neiman Marcus’s average is around 50% and Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom are averaging 40% discounts. 

With massive discounting, consumers will expect these luxury brands to be available at the lower price points, bringing down the value of the brand.

Source: Bloomberg Pursuits, Chain Store Age

TOP RETAIL BRANDS OF THE YEAR ANNOUNCED

The 2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend Retail Brands of the Year study results were announced, with several retailers getting high points for engaging customers. For the fourth straight year, 2 brands took top honors in their segment categories: The Home Depot for hardware and home brand of the year, and Kohls.com as online department store of the year.

Other top winners included Macy’s as department store of the year, Nordstrom as luxury department store of the year, TJ Maxx as off-price retailer of the year, Best Buy as electronics store of the year, DSW shoes as discount shoe store of the year and Cabela’s as sporting goods store of the year.

Within retail, hardware and home store was the top ranked category, with baby boomers and GenX shoppers driving that, investing in home improvements and moving up from starter homes. 

Over 97,000 US consumers rated more than 200 retail brands for the survey. The scores take into account familiarity, quality and purchase consideration.

Source: Chain Store Age

HOME DEPOT AND LOWE’S ATTENTION TO PROS SHOW DOUBLE DIGIT SALES INCREASES

Both Home Depot and Lowe’s report that they have increased sales to professional customers by double digits. They have taken several steps to seek out professional and MRO buyers, including adding products to their pro business lines as well as offering new services, making it easier for pro customers to order and receive supplies. “We continue to strengthen our pro business, driving comps well above the company average, by further advancing our products and services offering to better serve the pro customer,” said Lowe's COO Ricky Damron during the company's Q1 earnings conference call.

Lowe’s has developed an omni-channel approach to pro business, using Account Executive Pro Services with more than 180 representatives in the field. They also have a targeted marketing strategy aimed at the professional customer and buying events in store to generate new business.

Home Depot offers pros private label cards with extended terms and special return policies. They are also expanding a flexible delivery program seven days a week and next-day delivery, as well as in-store pick-up in 2 hours. Home Depot says it currently has a small percentage of sales in building and maintenance and Menear said “we think there’s lots of opportunity to grow.”

Source: Inddist.com

ACE HARDWARE RANKS #1 IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION FOR THE 10th YEAR IN A ROW

The J.D. Power 2016 Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Survey awarded Ace Hardware top ranking for their 10^th straight year. The study surveys 2,995 customers who purchased home improvement-related products from a home improvement retailer in the last 12 months, and was conducted in January and February 2016.

On a 1,000 point scale, Ace Hardware scored 810 in overall customer satisfaction, followed by Menard’s with a score of 803. Lowe’s placed 3^rd at 799. The overall average across retailers was 795, up from 788 a year ago. The Home Depot was just at the average with 794. The study found that average drops significantly when an initial greeting in the store takes longer than 2 minutes. Customers also want the retailer to provide advice, and be able to answer their questions effectively in the store. "The retailer's staff is most critical to differentiating the experience provided to customers, especially when it comes to the timeliness of greeting customers, answering their questions or providing advice," said Greg Truex, senior director of the at-home practice at J.D. Power. "Retailers that train their employees to engage with customers proactively and assist them are more likely to provide them with a satisfying experience during these moments of truth."

Ace scored 855 in staff and service compared to 811 average.

According to the Home Improvement Research Institute, home improvement consumer spend is on the rise, with an expected 4% increase this year to $332 billion.

Source: Chain Store Age, JD Power.com 

TAKEAWAYS FROM ACCELERATED ANALYTICS’ GS1 CONNECT 2016 SESSION: ‘The Importance and Value of Data Sharing – Using Point-of-Sale Data to Deliver Outstanding Customer Experiences’

I had the opportunity to lead this session last week and came back with some takeaways that I wanted to share, as I feel they are reflective of the state of retail today and how retailers and vendors are using point-of-sale data to manage their business in this time of OMNI-channel, customer-experience driven retail.

Customers want a single-vision of brands and be able to have a consistent, complete and winning experience every time they shop, in whatever channel they shop in. To ensure products are available when and where the customer shops, retailers need real-time inventory visibility, a seamless order management system and the ability to deliver. Retailers and brands realize they need to work together to have both a single view of the customer and a single view of their data in order to be successful.

Some interesting, yet not surprising, statistics were gathered from the retailers and vendors represented in the room. When asked about managing their POS data week to week, 66% were using POS data that was not provided via an EDI 852 file, eliminating their ability to automate the collection and processing of the data electronically, and instead having to work with multiple sources and formats of data. This process of data management and then trying to create usable reports to have meaningful partnership conversations between retailer and vendor is extremely time consuming: 83% of the retailers in the room spend 11-50+ hours per week managing and processing their POS data. More staggering was 95% of the vendors in the session were spending 11-50+ hours per week: 30% spending 11-20 hours, 40% spending 25-50 hours and 25% over 50 hours per week!

The good news is over half of the attendees in the room felt they are getting better at managing and using POS data each week, but 30% still admit to ‘Barely Using’ their POS data. Recognizing that heavy resources are needed to use POS data, especially on the vendor side, is making vendors ask, “Do we build an in-house solution to manage this, or outsource it?” CLICK HERE for an infographic detailing the pros and cons of each, and the differences in resource and financial investment.

Based on the time and effort being made by most of those represented, it is clear that POS data sharing is important for effective collaboration between retailers and vendors to “get it right for the customer”. POS data can be used to not just track units sold overall, but can give product/store level details on out-of-stocks, weeks of supply, sell thru %, average sales, geographic trends, inventory investment and lost sales opportunities. CLICK HERE for our industry sell thru % guidelines infographic.

We need to do everything we can to exceed our customers’ expectations and deliver an outstanding experience for them when they come across our brand. Sharing POS data and then using it to partner together to analyze it will help shape the customers’ experiences and give us inventory visibility and fulfillment across channels to meet customer expectations.

Want to learn more? Contact Jennifer@AcceleratedAnalytics.com to start a conversation. CLICK HERE to download whitepapers on analyzing POS data like a pro.

- Jennifer Freyer, Director of Sales and Marketing, Accelerated Analytics

JC PENNEY’S BRINGS DIY COMPETITION TO HOME DEPOT, LOWE’S, BEST BUY AND SEARS

JC Penny’s announced Monday that they will be doing a major expansion into home appliances. Starting in July, JC Penney’s will add an appliance showroom to almost 500 of its stores. The showrooms will feature kitchen and laundry appliances from Samsung, LG, GE Appliances, and Hotpoint, with over 100 appliances on display.

“Since launching major appliances in 22 stores last February, the response has been outstanding,” said Marvin R. Ellison, CEO, JC Penney’s. “The pilot confirmed that we should not limit our business to apparel and soft home in order to achieve significant revenue growth.”

The retailer also plans to allocate additional 25% of floor space to window coverings in about 500 stores, and pilot a new furniture line, Signature Design by Ashley, from Ashley Furniture, in 25 stores.

JC Penney’s is also testing an in-store flooring concept with Empire Today in stores in Tampa, Florida, and Washington, D.C., beginning this summer. "The current housing market presents a lucrative opportunity to diversify our Home assortment and strategically align with consumer spending patterns,” Ellison said.  “By combining our soft home and window coverings merchandise with the industry`s leading brands for appliances, furniture and flooring, JCPenney will become a destination for home design and redecorating, allowing us to weather-proof our business during seasonal periods of the year."

Source: Chain Store Age

OMNI-CHANNEL SWITCHEROO: ONLINE RETAILERS GET PHYSICAL WHILE RETAIL STORE STALWARTS SHRINK

Amazon.com opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Seattle in November, and announced plans to open another store in San Diego. Macy’s announced it is shutting down almost 40 stores this year. Kohl’s plans to follow suit and close 18 stores, stating its online sales increased 30% in the fourth quarter, causing their reevaluation of its store footprint. Similar announcements of closing stores were also made by Sears, JC Penney and The Gap, as 8% of total US retail sales are now online.

Companies that began their retail lives online, such as Athleta, Fabletics and Birchbox are now adding brick-and-mortar stores. They are moving into prime real estate that was once reserved for top-performing retail stores, such as Birchbox opening its first store in Manhattan.

Is this the new evolution of retail, blending the two worlds? Experts say the trend will continue to grow. The impact will be different in each retail category, such as electronics versus clothing. "For most products, consumers actually prefer to shop in store because they want to see and touch what they're buying," said Dave Parro, vice president of the retail technology practice at Walker Sands, a PR marketing firm. "But they also shop online regularly because of the convenience and range of products available."

The winners of the switcheroo? The consumer. Those who are omni-shoppers know which retail channel and retailer is best to fit their needs.

Source: Philly.com, WSJ

AMAZON ANNOUNCING INCREASED SHIPPING FEES AND A PRIVATE LABEL APPAREL LINE MAY BE ON THE WAY

Big changes are being announced at Amazon.com. Based on shipping price increases imposed by UPS and FedEx late last year, Amazon announced its threshold for free shipping is increasing by 40%, to $49 in orders. However, Amazon is not raising the threshold with an interest in shipping revenue, but instead to incent more customers to become members of Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime members always receive free shipping on all orders, but membership costs $99 per year. These customer spend on average double what Amazon’s other customers spend, and absorbing shipping costs will be nothing to them compared to the billions of dollars in sales the company may gain.

Amazon is also hiring heavily to staff up its Amazon Fashion Private Label unit, which could take on fast-fashion chains to sellers of basic apparel. An analyst at Women’s Wear Daily estimates Amazon could launch a private label apparel brand by early 2017. Amazon can undercut prices that other fashion retailers have at brick and mortar stores, and its ability to collect customer data can help them to give customers exactly what they want.

Many Accelerated Analytics’ vendors utilize our POS reporting and analysis tools to manage their Amazon sales and inventory. These vendors sell online with the retail giant in addition to selling at department store brick and mortar stores and online sites. Being able to compare sales trends between them is a key tool to help them win at retail and ensure customers are able to access the products they want to buy regardless of which retailer they are shopping with.

Sources: Wall St. Journal, New York Business Journal

NORDSTOM IS RANKED FAVORITE RETAILER IN RECENT SURVEY

A survey of over 5,700 consumers found that Nordstrom ranked first among retailers in customer satisfaction. It specifically ranked highest scores for atmosphere, checkout speed and finding the correct size/product the customer was looking for. One in five customers surveyed indicated they were dissatisfied in general with their fashion retail experience across all retailers. 40% of these customers indicated that the sales experience was very important to them, and that less than half of them were approached by a sales associate, which was key to their satisfaction. Nordstrom’s sales associates assisted customers the most and received the highest satisfaction scores.

Coming in behind Nordstrom were Marshalls, H&M, Ross, Kohl’s and Macy’s.

With merchandise selection and ease of finding items and size selection the top of customers’ needs, retailers and vendors recognize the importance of partnering to share point of sale and inventory data in order to optimize store assortments. Many vendors, such as Brahmin Leather, Anastasia Beaute and The Sak, utilize Accelerated Analytics to monitor and act on inventory levels and customer buying patterns in Nordstrom and other retailers to maximize their effectiveness in this area.

Source: Chain Store Age

HOME DEPOT IT INVESTMENTS IN OMNI CHANNEL FOCUSES ON CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

The Home Depot discussed this week its IT investment and strategy that focuses on the customer buying experience. The company’s Common Order Management system, or COM, is the largest IT project in the history of The Home Depot.

COM is an inventory visibility platform that looks at millions of deliveries through small and large delivery trucks, direct fulfillment to DCs and in-store pick up transactions. COM will help identify the best fulfillment option for a customer, while allowing Home Depot to leverage its omni-channel options.

The focus on this area is based on the fact that 1) the retailer’s fastest growing ecommerce channel is buy-online, pick up in sore, 2) the average ticket for ecommerce transactions are considerably higher than physical in store transactions and 3) ecommerce chat and email are growing  in product information exchange.

“The IT investments we are making are really to optimize the whole supply chain offering,” said Home Depot Senior VP and President-online, Kevin Hofmann.

Source: Chain Store Age

SWAROVSKI ALLOWS BARTERING AT ITS NEW, SPARKLING LAS VEGAS STORE

Swarovski is the centerpiece of Las Vegas’ newest retail destination, Grand Bazaar Shops. To keep with the Grand Bazaar theme, Swarovski has opened their first-ever “bartering window”, allowing shoppers to negotiate the price they pay for select items. Most items to be found in the bartering window are limited edition items such as crystallized Beats Headphones and black and pink skulls. Inside the store is a large video screen with scenes from exotic bazaars, alongside specially crafted panels as platforms to display their jewelry and décor.

Outside, the store is designed to look like a cut crystal. Towering above the store is a 14 foot diameter starburst made of 911 custom-cut Swarovski crystals. The tower puts on a three minute light show every night at midnight, choreographed to music.

Source: Chain Store Age

CONSUMER SATISFACTION WITH RETAIL IS ON A DECLINE

The American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) reports that consumer satisfaction with retail is on the decline for the first time in four years.

The ACSI report states brick-and-mortar customer satisfaction fell flat or weakened, while Internet retail is up from last year. By category, overall satisfaction with department and discount stores stayed flat at 77, while the gap between best- and worst-ranked companies grew. Nordstrom was the top rated, gaining 4% to 86. They are followed by Dillard’s (81), Kohl’s (-1% to 80) and Macy’s (79). Walmart dropped 4% to 68 and is at the bottom of the category behind Target (+4% to 80), Meijer (78) and Sears (-5% to 73).

Among home improvement chains, Lowe’s rated best at 81, while Home Depot falls to the category’s bottom dropping 4% to 76.

Amazon remains at the top of the Internet sector, at 86. Netflix improved for the third straight year gaining 3% to 81. Overstock and eBay both dropped to 77 and 79, respectively.

The ACSI is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the US. The ACSI uses data from 70,000 customers annually for measuring satisfaction with more than 230 companies in 47 industries.

Resource: Retailing Today

Customer Less Satisfied In Q3

December 9, 2014

The national level of customer satisfaction fell 0.7% in the third quarter of 2014 to 75.6 on a 100 point scale, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), pointing to weak spending growth for the fourth quarter.  This is the third consecutive quarterly decline in customer satisfaction for the country as a whole, which is at its lowest level since early 2011.

While most predictions for the Thanksgiving period projected strong growth, retail sales actually fell relative to the previous year.  The suggestion that weak income growth is to blame is inconsistent with the data.  Income growth has indeed been weak, but not worse than it was in 2013.  In fact, American households are marginally better off now.  Unemployment is down, and a major factor boosting consumers' ability to buy, gas price, is at its lowest level in years, much lower than it was in 2013.

Based on income, gas price, and even consumer confidence, ACSI says an increase in consumer spending would be expected, but not if customer satisfaction is used as a predictor.  There are two major factors that determine spending: expected satisfaction and ability to spend.  The latter has improved somewhat, but the former has gotten worse, and continues to deteriorate.  Accordingly, the ACSI prediction for the fourth quarter is weak spending growth of 1.8 to 2%, a pace behind the overall pace of the economy.

"The US economy needs more consumer demand to shake off these seemingly persistent doldrums," said Claes Fornell, ACSI chairman and founder.  "Low interest rates, some inflation and wage growth would all help, but consumers also need a reason to buy.  Their satisfaction matters not only to them as individuals, but for the economy as a whole."

Source: Retailing Today

Target.com falls just shy of 'superior' on customer satisfaction list

Though 79 is just one point shy of what ForeSee considers a superior score on its annual top 100 online retailers for customer satisfaction list, Target should still be concerned, as it was three points behind rival Walmart, and three points does make a difference.  With the lowest score on the list being 69 and the highest being 89, achieved by Amazon.com, most retailers on the list had a score in the 70s, while 36 on the list earned the distinction of scoring 80 or higher. The scores are based on a 100-point scale.

“We’re measuring the biggest players in the game, and they just keep getting better and better. Because customer satisfaction, as we measure it, is predictive, that’s a good sign not only for the consumer experience, but for the bottom line of internet retailers as well,” said study author Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee. “If there’s a negative spin to these positive trends, it is that this puts even more pressure on all other e-retailers to keep up or catch up.”

Target.com's score of 79 was one-point better than what it achieved in 2011. Though small, the increase is significant considering how much flack Target got over the issues surrounding the launch of its Missoni line. Last fall, the retailer failed to anticipate demand for the product, and many online orders ended up delayed or canceled.

Meanwhile, Walmart.com's score jumped from 79 to 82, showing that the company's investments in online and social media are paying off.

However, no online retailer seems to come close to Amazon.com, which climbed three points to 89 to top the list, and is four points higher than the second highest scoring websites, Apple.com (85) and QVC.com (85).

“Amazon continues to set the standard for e-retailers. The truth is that every consumer who has visited Amazon knowingly or unknowingly benchmarks all other experiences against it, and why wouldn’t they? They do everything and they do it well,” said Freed.

Measuring customer satisfication is subjective, so to achieve its list, ForeSee uses individual satisfaction scores for the top 100 e-retailers by revenue as measured by Internet Retailer, quantifies the likely future behaviors of website visitors, including their likelihood to purchase online or offline and proxies for loyalty such as likelihood to return to the site or recommend. When compared to dissatisfied customers, highly satisfied website visitors—those who score their experience 80 or higher—report being 72% more likely to purchase from that retailer’s website and 56% more likely to make the purchase through another channel.

“Highly satisfied website visitors are nearly 70% more likely to recommend the website to others than dissatisfied customers. In the modern world of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, it is even more imperative to provide the best experience possible to your customers because any experience has huge potential to be amplified, for better or for worse,” said Freed.

Source:  retailingtoday.com