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02.20.2008

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It May Be Fun, But What Problem Does It Solve?

Do you know where your pizza is? When it will be delivered? Does it matter?

Recently, we were more than a bit amused to read the Domino’s Pizza announcement for “Pizza Tracker,” an online pizza tracking device designed to calm the nerves of customers anxiously awaiting the delivery of their pizzas. From order placement, to preparation, baking, boxing and delivery, with this online tracking service there is nary a moment when customers will be left to wonder the status of their pizza order. From our consumer-centric vantage point, this is perhaps yet another buried piece of ordnance in a minefield of gadgets and technologies that litter the retail landscape.

Many of these gadget-oriented innovations have been known to literally blow up on inception or implode in sooner-than-expected timeframes. How many recall the mushroom clouds hovering over the charred remnants of Webvan, Kozmo or Nutrition Grocer, all causalities in the twilight of the dotcom frenzy?

Yet, in retail environments today, as if heralding in a new era of miracle discoveries, industry headlines are frequently abuzz with news about shopping carts with consoles, hand-held scanners that memorize products placed in carts, RFID product tags, or the rapid expansion of in-store television and self-checkout systems.

While many of these gadgets may appeal to customers at, say, The Sharper Image, we might ask, “How appealing is The Sharper Image after all?” To find an answer, one doesn’t have to look much beyond the story of The Sharper Image’s own struggles of late, itself imploding on what can only be described as a severe case of “gadgetitus,” a disease contracted by touting an array of products (save for the wonderment of the Ionic Breeze) that claim to solve a host of tricky problems for consumers. Unfortunately, as The Sharper Image is finding out the hard way, most of the tricky problems that retailers are trying to “fix” with gadgets, simply don’t exist with consumers.

Does Gadgetry Enhance or Diminish the Consumer Experience?

In the Northeast, Stop & Shop recently rolled out across 90 of its stores a new portable shopping device for consumers called EasyShop. EasyShop is a handheld terminal with a small screen that allows loyalty card shoppers to scan items as they shop and receive targeted offers. Sounds great doesn’t it? Not all consumers we talked with were enthralled with the new technology.

One long-time Stop & Shop customer was enthused after using the device, mainly because the system placed her in total control of her shopping trip. Another consumer, however, was mortified to find that he required an “audit” at the end of this trip. Ostensibly, the audit was to “check” on how his trip went, but emotionally he likened the “audit” to a criminal investigation.

We took the system for a test drive ourselves and found that while it was fun to have product specials appear, we were not interested in the beeping alerts displayed on our scanner. We were dismayed at the self-checkout to learn that all lanes were closed and thus, had to process our order the old-fashioned way with a cashier (who promptly chastised us for not bagging our items!). In the best case, such a system empowers the user to play at being their own cashier, but in the worst case, the retailer must audit purchases to guard against losses. All of which leaves us to wonder, “What do such systems really do for shoppers?”

Install a TV, Build Your Brand?

Many retailers and manufacturers believe (still) that the retail space is sacred ground for building brand loyalty, a space which is seen as one of the last frontiers for multi-media marketing. So, it is not uncommon now to see in-store televisions broadcasting infomercials at strategic locations within the store. Retailers and vendors find this a lucrative venture, but what’s in it for the consumer other than a price promotion? Do consumers really want to watch in-store TV while shopping for pure entertainment value? Not the consumers we’ve talked with. When we talk to consumers about such devices we find a near unanimous agreement that such devices detract from retail experiences by increasing the “noise” level across the store.

As far as we know, shoppers have not stood up in unison to ask for flat screen televisions to be suspended from ceilings or hung at registers. They have, in fact, repeated over and over that they wish they could have more personal interaction with store employees.

Let’s be clear on this point: Traditional CPG brand orientations and loyalty are formed mainly in the household. While there is much to learn about consumer behavior within retail environments that may yield crucial insight into how to extend channel penetration or otherwise drive sales, our current evidence suggests retail is not a crucial site of brand-building activities for traditional, established CPG brands. Many of these brands are part of our generalized American cultural life, and a smaller number even have enviable transnational cultural equity as symbols of “the good life.”

Self-Checkout Creates Missed Opportunities

Despite continued proliferation, and accompanying frustrations encountered by shoppers frequenting a broad range of retailers using self-checkout, we believe self- or automated checkout systems have their place within brands built almost exclusively on convenience. We have written extensively on the potential of exit experiences and how such experiences can be dramatically enhanced, even within discount superstore settings, by providing cashiers, as opposed to automated self-checkout technologies. Point-of-sale, human contact does four critical things for retailers that can't be easily ignored.

• Create a valuable opportunity to connect with consumers at a deeply empathic level and, thereby, lessens the pain of the shopper’s final tally.
• Offer the only conversational spaces through which shoppers must pass to leave the store, acting as a primary crucible of community formation.
• Provide an opportunity to talk with staff without the nagging feeling that you’re “interrupting” their work.
• Form a lasting impression of the retail experience that is more powerful in consumers’ memories than many other in-store experiences.

The Real Problem to Solve is How to Keep Consumers In the Store

Considering the many issues facing the retail industry today, especially mainstream grocery stores, one would think that retailers and marketers would be more concerned with showing consumers that someone cares about their preferences. Our research with consumers about retail over the years makes it very clear: Consumers want more attention paid to shopping from their point of view.

Gadgets and technologies created for mysterious “unmet needs” are largely technologies looking for problems that didn’t exist in the first place and far too often serve to benefit the store above the consumer.

In an age where retailers have the opportunity to forge a connection between shopper interests in obtaining quality products, engaging shopping experiences and authentic narratives behind products (all of which benefit from human interaction) and the store, it is interesting to watch these same retailers seemingly obsessed with finding ways to make shopping more “convenient” so consumers can get in and out of their stores more quickly. And we thought the whole point of retailing was to create relevant, compelling shopping experiences that made shoppers want to spend more time in them, rather than being felt like they were being pushed out the door. After all, what’s so bad with a store consumers never want to leave?

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