Pricer, the leading solution for digitally connected stores and the world’s most trusted electronic shelf label (ESL) vendor, has today announced the appointment of Finn Wikander as its Chief Product Officer.

With over a decade of experience leading the product and go-to-market strategy for out-of-home media company, Clear Channel Scandinavia, where he held the role of Chief Product & Strategy Officer, Wikander comes with a wealth of experience in successfully orchestrating product portfolios to drive business performance.

Joining Pricer’s global management team, Wikander will be responsible for developing Pricer’s product and solutions portfolio roadmap, as it looks to accelerate innovation around its Pricer Plaza platform and its suite of store execution solutions.

Plaza is Pricer’s cloud-based software solution that enables retailers to centrally manage and control pricing, product information and promotions centrally across all ESLs, eliminating the need for manual updates and improving accuracy and efficiency in store operations.  Already used by leading retailers, including Carrefour, the development of Plaza as a central store execution platform will be a cornerstone of Pricer’s change journey as it looks ahead to 2024, spearheaded by Wikander’s team.

Wikander will also be charged with accelerating Pricer’s product development strategy, as it furthers its connected store solutions, including digital signage, retail media network integrations and digital shelf-edge communication and engagement offers.

Magnus Larsson, CEO at Pricer, commented: “We’re very excited to have Finn, who is a talented and experienced strategic product lead, join the Pricer family.  As retail stores undergo a renaissance, many retailers are recognising the renewed importance of their bricks-and-mortar estates.  And, as such, many are looking to invest in new and improved ways to digitally connect the store to its products, people, systems and customers, and so we see great opportunity for innovation – Finn will be a key part of accelerating our offer and the capabilities we can deliver to retailers.”

Finn Wikander, newly appointed Chief Product Officer at Pricer, commented: “After talking to Magnus and the senior leadership team, the journey that Pricer started and the opportunity of realising their vision for the future, made this a role I couldn’t resist.  During my career, I have always thrived in roles that focused on making opportunities a reality for the business, and I enjoy being part of change journeys where there is an opportunity to create something fantastic based on a stable foundation.  I look forward to leveraging my experience to deliver new perspectives and even more energy to Pricer’s proud history.”

Registration for the Retail Technology Show (RTS), the leading event that connects the industry’s changemakers and brings together Europe’s most forward-thinking retailers and leading tech innovators, is now open.

Having increased senior retail visitor numbers by 45% year-on-year in 2023 with almost 10,000 industry decision-makers attending RTS last year, the Retail Technology Show will be back bigger, better and bolder at London’s Olympia on 24-25 April 2024 in what promises to be a spellbinding event.

As the foremost event platform that fast-forwards retail transformation, RTS sets a course for the innovation and insight needed for retail businesses to adapt to the disruptive forces facing the sector, from economic uncertainty and the cost-of-living crisis, to ever changing and fast evolving consumer behaviours, and rapidly-evolving, transformative tech opportunities, including the acceleration of GenAI and Retail Media Network opportunities.  With its mission to drive the industry forwards through innovation, the RTS will help retailers unlock more access to tech, more insight and debate, exciting new show features and unrivalled networking opportunities in 2024.

A one-stop shop for innovation

With over 85% of its 2024 floor space already sold-out and jampacked with the latest cutting-edge innovators, the RTS is a one-stop-shop for technology.  Over 300 innovators – from tech’s biggest players, fast-growth disruptors and future-forward start-ups – will showcase transformative solutions, spanning the full spectrum of tech to power every part of retailers’ operations.

“There’s such a diverse range of opinions, points of views and perspectives and then when you walk through the RTS exhibition hall, it is just a treasure trove of new technologies, potential partners, potential clients and everything in between.”

Dragon’s Den star and entrepreneur, Steven Bartlett

Returning for 2024, the ever-popular Discovery Zone gives retailers a first glimpse at the newest next-gen tech available.  Meanwhile, a new dedicated Ecommerce Pavilion will showcase the latest technologies for digital commerce.

The inside-track that’s setting the sector’s agenda

The Retail Technology Show’s trademark conference programme, which brings the industry’s brightest minds and sharpest strategists to the stage, returns for 2024.  To ensure that the RTS remains an event ‘for the industry, by the industry’, each session on its conference programme has been vetted by RTS’ Advisory Board, a collective of 40+ industry leaders, including Tesco, M&S, Currys, Trinny London, Iceland, Fortnum & Mason and John Lewis, to ensure it delivers maximum value and insight.

100+ retail leaders, tech juggernauts and industry luminaries will deliver unrivalled insight into retail’s hottest topics setting the sector’s agenda across six tracks including: leadership, economy and workforce; Sustainability, supply chain and delivery; AI data and innovation, Customer, marketing and loyalty, Ecommerce excellence and omnichannel; and Loss prevention, security and payments.

New for 2024, RTS will partner with ecommerce event and networking specialists, Commerce Futures, who will curate its ‘ecommerce excellence and omnichannel’ conference stream, which is dedicated to digital best practice.  Handpicking a line-up of industry leaders who are shaping and redefining online retail, the Commerce Futures stage will deliver the inside track on ecommerce excellence and visionary insights for driving digital retailing success.

“There’s so much dialogue and conversation about the future of retail [at the event] – and that’s the magic of the Retail Technology Show.”

Nina Patel, ex-Director of Innovation, Farfetch

Unmissable networking opportunities

As well as its gold-standard tech exhibition and conference, the RTS will once again deliver its  trademark opportunities for unrivalled networking – from the Big Party on Day 1 hosted at the Champagne Bar, private lunches and roundtables for peer-to-peer discussion, and the chance to unwind in the Retailers’ Lounge.  New for 2024 the RTS will also be partnering with Commerce Futures to host a private dinner, where partners and retailers can share learnings under ‘Chatham House’ rules.

Matt Bradley, Event Director for the Retail Technology Show, commented: “At the Retail Technology Show, ground-breaking is a given – whether it’s the tech on our show floor, the topics discussed on stage or the conversations and value-exchanges we’re able to create through our networking opportunities.  Retailers need bold innovation – and the partners to deliver it – now more than ever to underpin their businesses and drive performance, and its our mission to remain the central platform that brings those changemakers together.”

Register to attend the Retail Technology Show: here.

With the rise of new technologies and advances in innovation accelerated by fast-evolving customer expectations, how has engagement changed, and what can brands do to keep up?  

We heard from customer engagement leaders, including Travelodge, Pooch and Mutt, Oswald by Unilever and Lounge at MoEngage’s #GROWTH Summit in London.  They discussed the significant shifts in customer engagement, what this means for brands and retailers’ strategies to stay relevant and, crucially, how they can adapt and prepare for these changes.  

Omnichannel insight charts a map for growth

Omnichannel engagement is tipped to rise in importance – so it will be imperative that brands are able to join the dots between their engagement channels.  This imperative will only grow as the store experiences a renaissance in investment from retailers who have reassessed its value and role in delivering engagement, led in part by rapidly growing retail media network opportunities. 

Lounge’s Head of CRM, Rita Sousa, pointed to change within its business as it announced the opening of its first UK store in London’s Westfield White City in October – a key move heralding its commitment to omnichannel from the social-first underwear brand that was originally a pureplay – and its plans to open four further permanent UK stores.  

Using data from online to impact the offline channel engagement was also key for Nadine Berdux, Head of CRM and Online Marketing at Oswald by Unilever.  It is increasingly using insights derived from its e-commerce operations to inform how its in-person reps interact with shoppers to help grow sales through a single view of the customer.

Engagement  – but on your customers’ terms 

Engagement for Pooch and Mutt’s E-commerce Director, James Collingham, is all about letting customers be a part of the brand but, crucially, letting them do so on their own terms.  And that means knowing when to communicate, but also when to remain silent.  “Our focus is… understanding if they want to hear from us and knowing when they don’t want to talk to us.  A big part of that is changing our view of what engagement means, and applying that with transparency [of communications] led by our customers,” he said.

Engagement on your customers’ terms can also mean speaking to them on the channels where they want to be spoken to, according to Lounge’s Sousa.  And this could be segmented by demographic data within your target audiences, such as focusing engagement for younger demographics on TikTok, while retaining more traditional email-led interactions for slightly older audiences. “It’s about tracking and listening to where your customers want brand interaction, and then honouring and acting upon it,” Sousa said.  

Lounge is also using automation to optimise the relevance of the content shown to customers on each platform, as well as helping them look at engagement with a holistic view to drive performance. 

Meanwhile, Pooch and Mutt’s Collingham described how the pet food brand was also using data modelling to move towards a predictive output for customer engagement, using buyer signals to adapt the content it serves to customers to drive engagement and CX.  

Combating a ‘recession’ in shopper attention

Brands are increasingly coming up against a ‘recession in attention’, according to Gian Luzio, Travelodge’s Digital Director, prompted by the intensification of online competition driven by the Covid-19 pandemic.  In recognition that customers are harder to reach than ever before, he suggests more ‘mastery’ in how segmentation is approached will be needed moving forward.  

And that requires personalisation to be able to deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time.  While the ‘right message, right customer, right time’ premise isn’t new, Luzio suggests that where the step change is needed is in leveraging data and insight to add context and relevancy to brand communications.  Travelodge, for example, uses data on where the customer is planning to stay, information about the city or region and weather, in order to give contextual relevance to their email campaigns and build value to the customer into their engagement strategies.

 

“The day of the one size fits all [approach] has gone and in order to get that customer engagement that is all about personalisation.”

Gian Luzio, Digital Director, Travelodge 

Own your own data 

Apple’s introduction of the mail privacy protection policy has significantly impacted email metrics and benchmarks for email open and engagement rates, and is a policy likely to be adopted by Meta and Google.  This makes it harder for brands to segment their engagement strategies as they can’t see what a customer has clicked on, and puts retailers at a disadvantage as engagement data sits with the platform or a 3rd party and not with the brand itself.  

Retailers will need to address this by owning and optimising their own 1st party channels and data if they want to mitigate against these 3rd party platform developments.

“Data is becoming harder and harder to track, so 1st party data will become more and more important.”

Rita Sousa, Head of CRM, Lounge

AI’s coming of age: automation and trusted customer engagement

Travelodge’s Luzio points to the ‘transformational’ last 12months for AI, and suggests ChatGPT, by putting AI into the hands of the consumers, has been a key driver of this transformational change.  While AI and ML technology has been around for 30+ years, the difference now, he suggests, is the access that consumers have to it – and it is this that has driven accelerated levels of adoption, across brands’ shoppers-base and within retail organisations themselves.  

And, as more consumers use AI, it is fueling the technology with even more data and information sources, which is helping marketers become more inquisitive of their customer data and allows them to interrogate it more closely to drive more actionable outcomes.  

However, the next stage, as retailers and brands grow out their AI capabilities, will be understanding and putting frameworks around how this technology sits against compliance, regulation and IP protection processes.

Travelodge, Lounge, Pooch and Mutt and Oswald by Unilever were speaking at MoEngage’s #GROWTH Summit, the event that brings together the leading voices and sharpest minds in marketing and commerce.

Black Friday weekend saw online retail revenues boosted by almost +15% year-on-year as shoppers headed online to bag bargains, with eCommerce revenues on Black Friday itself doubling compared to the week before, according to the latest data from Wunderkind, the performance marketing solution that scales one-to-one messages for retailers.

Original data from Wunderkind’s Marketing Pulse, which analysed over 77.6million shopper journeys, showed that on Black Friday (24 Nov 2023) web traffic to UK retailers’ ecommerce sites rose +34% week-on-week, prompting web revenues to double, rising +100.78%, compared to the Friday prior.  With cost-of-living pressures prompting increased price and promotions sensitivity among shoppers, online sales also experienced a +11.52% uptick compared to Black Friday in 2022, while digital revenues across the Black Friday weekend (24 – 26 Nov inclusive) were up +14.96% year-on-year.

Nationwide said its customers made 9.92million transactions on Black Friday – equating to more than 114 transactions every second – while more than four times as many shoppers planned to do most of their Christmas shopping over Black Friday weekend this year compared to 2022, according to a McKinsey & Company study. Meanwhile, on the high street, Sensormatic’s data showed footfall rose 52.4% week-on-week on Black Friday as shoppers headed in-store seeking discounts, with store visits in retail parks over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend (24  – 27 Nov 2023 inclusive) up +1.8% year-on-year.

Wulfric Light-Wilkinson, GM International at Wunderkind, commented: “Price was always going to be a watchword for shoppers as we entered peak trading 2023. Cost-of-living pressures continue to weigh heavily on households – and with consumers making every effort to make their spend stretch further, we anticipated that Black Friday demand would see an even more pronounced boom this year, as more customers seek out deals and bargains online.”

“While the event will have delivered a welcome boost to online retailers, it’s really only the start of the journey in shoring up peak trading performance,” Light-Wilkinson continued.  “The real challenge (and opportunity) now for retailers will be keeping and retaining those shoppers beyond Black Friday, and locking in engagement to ensure these bargain hunters become repeat customers who will buy at full price in the future.”

With email topping UK shoppers preferred channels for shopping for deals – 62% said email was their primary source for searching for bargains, according to original research of 1,000 shoppers in Wunderkind’s Consumer Spending During Economic Uncertainty report – email revenues on Black Friday also saw a marked spike, rising 50.4% week-on-week.

Despite the proliferation of brand marketing channels, UK shoppers place the most value on email communications they receive from brands and retailers, according to the latest research by Wunderkind, the performance marketing solution that scales one-to-one messages for retailers.

Email tops brand communication preferences

Original research of 1,000 shoppers by Wunderkind in its Consumer Spending During Economic Uncertainty report showed that over 82% of UK consumers chose email as their channel of choice for brand communication.  While 16% of UK consumers are influenced in their buying journeys by text messages from retailers, email was highlighted as their primary driver for brand engagement.

Wunderkind recently announced its latest integration with Customer Data Experience Platform (CDXP) provider, Ometria, which helps brands and retailers scale revenue with high-performing, one-to-one automated emails. The partnership provides a unique view of Wunderkind and Ometria together, allowing brands to view Wunderkind sends within Ometria’s CDP single customer view while providing the clarity needed to measure the impact of Wunderkind’s automations.

Top channels for deal searching

1. Email – 62%
2. Social ads – 33%
3. = Search – 27% / = Word of mouth – 27%
4. In-store – 26%
5. = Brands’ apps – 24 / = TV ads – 24%

As many retailers and brands are in the swing of their Black Friday discounting campaigns, email is proving the primary channel for shoppers finding out about deals.  The majority of U.K consumers (62%) find out about brand deals through email, underscoring its relevance – almost twice that of social media ads.  And with Brits planning to spend an estimated £3billion on Black Friday deals this year, retailers and brands must ensure their channel mix is optimised to benefit from the sales bonanza, as Wunderkind GM International, Wulfric Light-Wilkinson, explained:

“When considering channel spend mix, owned channels, such as email and text message, are central to successful campaign strategies.  Owned channels allow retailers to reach qualified consumers at a fraction of the price of acquisition via ‘rented’ 3^rd party audiences and media.  And, when combined with personalised, 1:1 messaging informed by individual customer behaviour, they have enormous conversion potential – something retailers should be taking full advantage of in this critical BFCM period.”

64% of global shoppers will shop in November as Singles Day (11.11) and Black Friday (24.11) capture the majority of consumer spend with just 23% intending to purchase in December the latest data from ESW, the leading direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecommerce company, reveals.  Just 2% of consumers plan to start holiday shopping on Cyber Monday (27.11) as spending shifts to earlier in the month.

ESW’s Global Voices research of more than 18,000 consumers across eighteen countries, shows most shoppers in China (75%), India (60%), the UK (58%), Mexico (53%) and the U.S. (51%) will shop before Black Friday (24^th November).  This highlights the growing popularity and power of Singles Day (with sales starting on 31^st October and running to 11^th November), with gross merchandising volume (GMV) estimated to have reached $156.4 billion this year*, which, along with Amazon Prime’s Early Access Sale taking place in mid-October, is pulling the ‘Peak’ shopping season forward for shoppers seeking out gift deals.

Black Friday, which generated $65.3 billion in 2022*, remains the most popular holiday shopping event in Brazil for 40% of shoppers, South Africa and Italy (both 39%).  However, it is now the least popular holiday shopping day in China (3%), where Singles Day originated from, India (7%) and Argentina (10%), with overall global demand dropping dramatically to just 2% for Cyber Monday deals before climbing again to 23% for the month of December.

Globally, 43% of respondent plan to spend the same amount for the 2023 holiday season as last year, with 30% spending less and 27% spending more year-on-year (YOY).  By market, a greater number of shoppers in India (60%), UAE (49%) and China (42%) will spend more, while France and Germany (both 40%), Australia (38%) and Cananda (37%) report the highest number of shoppers intending to spend less YOY.  The highest average household budgets for holiday spending were reported in the UAE ($1,134), China ($1,075) and the U.S. ($1,026) with the lowest allocations reported in Japan ($318), where 50% of respondents indicated they didn’t plan to do any holiday gift shopping, South Africa ($454) and Germany ($602).

Martim Oliveira Avillez, Chief Revenue Officer of ESW commented: “As global holiday demand shifts and peaks by both month and market, driven by differing discount events, brands and retailers must ensure they have the agility to scale into different markets quickly in order to capitalise on demand and convert during this critical final quarter sales period.”

“Globally, consumer confidence and accompanying spend remain disparate.  This is once again a reminder of the importance to brands and retailers of having easy access to international DTC ecommerce solutions to expand their customer base beyond domestic markets to grow topline revenue,” he commented further.

Globally, the most popular categories for gifting in 2023 were apparel (40%), fragrance and cosmetics (37%) and toys and games (34%).  While Gen Z and Millennials planned to spend on apparel (38% and 43% respectively), fragrance and cosmetics (37% and 44% respectively) and accessories (36% and 38% respectively).

Independent retailers across the UK are set to defy the Black Friday sales frenzy for the third year running, according to a survey conducted by Bira.

The British Independent Retailers Association has revealed that 86% of independent retailers surveyed would not be participating in Black Friday – similar to three years ago when 85% had said they would not be taking part.

It also revealed that 69% said that Black Friday had a ‘negative impact’ on the high street, and that 67% had not previously participated in the event.

Bira, which works with over 6,000 independent businesses of all sizes across the UK, ran the survey to showcase the resolute commitment of independent businesses to stand against the Black Friday tradition, citing concerns about the dominance of large retailers and e-commerce giants.

The decision to boycott the event comes amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, and the association also wanting to emphasise the importance of supporting local businesses and the broader economy.

Andrew Goodacre, CEO of Bira said:

“The results speak for themselves, that this has been consistent from our independent traders for the past three years, and no doubt will continue. It’s not about our shops lacking competitive pricing, but rather a strategic move to support the high street and foster economic growth for all.

“From an indie retail perspective, Black Friday is seen as a big business, internet event. This makes it very hard for smaller retailers to compete, lacking the buying power of larger counterparts. In general, independent retailers do not see Black Friday as an opportunity,” he added.

“Our independent retailers really are the beating heart of Britain, as they can offer so much more than prices that seem low but perhaps aren’t as good a deal as they at first appear. Our traders can give an array of goods, from everyday essentials to unique, one-of-a-kind finds and we want people to support that.”

ESW, a global direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecommerce company, today announced it is now a Gold Partner in Adobe’s Technology Partner Programme. This partnership will empower Adobe Commerce merchants to scale their direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses to more than 200 countries internationally.

“We are thrilled to be a Gold Partner in Adobe’s Technology Partner Programme,” said Martim Oliveira Avillez, Chief Revenue Officer of ESW. “The partnership will enable easy access to our international DTC ecommerce solutions for Adobe Commerce merchants looking to expand their global consumer base and grow topline revenue while improving margins through an asset light strategy.”

By leveraging its deep understanding of local markets, ESW creates DTC opportunities that drive enhanced customer lifetime value. Brands maintain control over every aspect of their experience, from their data to the look and feel of their ecommerce sites to their content, catalogue, payments, fulfillment, and delivery and returns experience.

This expanded partnership will allow Adobe Commerce merchants to benefit from ESW’s cross border solution and offer a fully localised experience simply by plugging ESW’s digital checkout solution into Adobe Commerce.

“We are excited to have ESW join Adobe’s Technology Partner Program,” said Jason Knell, Adobe’s Senior Director, Commerce Services GTM & Content Partnerships. “As a provider of global and domestic direct-to-consumer ecommerce solutions, this partnership will help Adobe Commerce merchants quickly create local personalised experiences for ecommerce sites so they can deepen the existing relationships with customers and build loyalty.”

LeMieux, the premium equestrian brand, has improved product experiences through the creation of a single source of data in partnership with Akeneo, the Product Experience (PX) company and global leader in Product Information Management (PIM).

Founded in 2006, LeMieux is a brand with equestrianism at its heart, selling products made for riders created by riders.  LeMieux’s products are globally recognised for their quality, durability, technical performance, and design.  Originally known for its saddle pads, the brand has since expanded its range into most areas of equestrian equipment, as well as premium rider wear and accessories, creating a signature LeMieux look and colour story.  In addition to its direct-to-consumer (DTC) website, its products are sold by more than 500 online and brick-and-mortar outlets, including Selfridges and John Lewis, in more than 69 countries globally.

In 2022, LeMieux was ranked 66th in the Sunday Times 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the UK with sales totalling more than £35m in that year. Today the business employs more than 140 staff at its Hampshire Headquarters.

Historically, LeMieux had no single source of product data across its sales or marketing channels. Data sets were stored on spreadsheets that needed manual input at each stage of the product lifecycle by multiple teams in the business.  This was impacting data quality and consistency of the product information available to internal teams, 3rd parties, and customers, resulting in a subpar product experience.  Additionally, the process of enriching product data was operationally inefficient because of the manual processes of multiple teams checking and entering data.

As a fast-growing business, LeMieux understood the impact that data has on success and how it can act as the foundation for future growth.  The equine product brand wanted to unify and enrich its product data into a single platform. They aimed to provide a foundation of accurate and up-to-date product information to improve the customer experience and make both its core range and seasonal collections more shoppable.  The brand also wanted to ensure that the product experiences it delivered to its trade partners were not only consistent and information-rich but would also uphold the brand’s identity and values when merchandised on third-party retailers’ websites.

Having conducted a thorough review of the PIM market, LeMieux selected Akeneo because of the usability and accessible user interface of the solution, as well as Akeneo’s open-API infrastructure and MACH architecture.  This composable configuration will allow LeMieux to effectively scale at pace, integrate Akeneo PIM within the tech stack with ease, and connect new technologies in the long term as the business evolves.

Within one month of going live, LeMieux has more than 4,500 products, which comprise over 13,000 SKUs categorised in Akeneo PIM.  With each team feeding into the product journey, from product development to ecommerce and marketing, and contributing towards product data enrichment, accuracy and consistency of its product record has improved. LeMieux believes this will benefit the business by reducing returns and streamlining customer service enquiries.  Additionally, the time to access and provide product information to trade partners has also significantly reduced.

Dan Mahoney, LeMieux Managing Director commented: “As a brand, LeMieux is synonymous with quality and our partnership with Akeneo is central to ensuring the quality of not only our product data but also our shopper experiences, regardless of where our customers engage with our brand.”

James Barlow, Director UK&I at Akeneo, commented: “Product experience is the keystone for commerce and foundational for creating meaningful customer experiences that build long-term connections with shoppers to drive conversions and loyalty. We’re proud to have partnered with LeMieux to future-proof its product experience strategy for growth and further success.”