The gap between the physical & digital retail experience continues to narrow, as retailers look to mobile tracking & facial recognition software to better understand brick-and-mortar consumers
CONSUMERS
Luxury Retail: Big Data is Watching
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Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
The gap between the physical & digital retail experience continues to narrow, as retailers look to mobile tracking & facial recognition software to better understand brick-and-mortar consumers
Stores Using Surveillance Software to Collect Data on Customer Behaviour
The gap between the physical & digital retail experience continues to narrow, as retailers look to mobile tracking & facial recognition software to better understand brick-and-mortar consumers
The average Briton now has 26 online accounts, covering everything from banking to utility bills to social networks to registration with online retailers. 25 to 34-year-olds sign up to an average of 40 accounts. That is a lot of data for marketers, and rich data that in most cases, is not available to retailers selling their goods in a physical store.
In the information age, consumers are subscribing in droves to websites that require information regarding age, sex, geographical location and even credit card details. I.P. addresses provide online retailers and search engines with rich data as to what is being searched, how long they spend on site and what behaviours they exhibit when searching or shopping.
Then of course there are social tools. Pinterest literally tells marketers what trends and specific products are resonating well with consumers. Facebook collects not only the demographics of consumers, but their likes, psychographics and details regarding their peer group. Twitter doesn’t necessarily tell you what is happening in the world, but it will tell marketers the Top 10 most important things happening at any given time within its community.
“ Personal data is the price we pay online for the ability to quickly compare pricing & arrange convenient delivery ”
It has become accepted that personal data is the price we pay online for the ability to quickly compare pricing, arrange convenient delivery and benefit from limited-time discounts. We inscribe our email addresses and social profiles to receive direct alerts, personalised offers and customised content.
Yet when retailers try and collect similar data from consumers in a physical retail environment, they become ‘unnerved’. “We did hear some complaints,” explained Tara Darrow, a spokeswoman for Nordstrom, to the NYTimes.
In a bid to better understand its customers – how many came through the doors, how many were repeat visitors – the department store tested new technology last fall that allowed it to track customers’ movements by following the Wi-Fi signals from their smartphones. The retailer ended the experiment in May in part because of consumer protests.
Nordstrom’s experiment used video surveillance and signals from their cellphones and apps to learn information as varied as their sex, how many minutes they spend in various parts of the store and how long they look at merchandise before buying it.
“ When retailers try and collect similar data from consumers in a physical retail environment they become unnerved ”
According to the NYTimes, all kinds of retailers are testing these technologies and using them to decide on matters like changing store layouts and offering customised coupons. Technology by RetailNext uses Wi-Fi networks to pinpoint where the shopper is in the store and recognise returning shoppers, divulging how repeat customers behave and the average time between visits.
One consumer described the process as “creepy”, another decreed that it was “way over the line,” despite the fact that the in-store counts were made anonymous. A key criticism of in-store data collection is lack of consent, with the NYTimes article noting that consumers can rarely control or have access to this data. Online, it is still the consumer – to an extent – who volunteers their information.
Similar irk has arisen with the news that facial recognition software – similar to that used to help identify criminals and terrorists – is now available in retail settings.
Designed by NEC IT Solutions, the ID technology analyses footage of people’s faces as they enter a store, taking measurements that generate a numerical code or “face template” which can be checked against a database (BrandChannel).
“ The ID technology analyses footage of people’s faces, taking measurements that can be checked against a database ”
For luxury brands, this could mean instant identification of a VIP client on a global basis. NEC’s technology means that if someone notable enters the store, staff can receive an alert via computer, iPad or smartphone, with details such as dress size, favourite purchases and shopping history.
When you consider the nomadic lifestyles of the ultra-affluent consumer, this could prove to be an invaluable tool for luxury brands, and their ability to ensure consistency of service across the world. When consumers increasingly are looking for personalised service and enthralling in-store experiences, these types of tools seem to be logical stepping-stones in delivering desired outcomes.
Arguably part of the success of the Net-A-Porter group has been its ability to adapt its platform, services and marketing to consumer preferences and expectations, based on recording consumer behaviour and data on each of its sites.
“ Part of Net-A-Porter’s success has been its ability to adapt its platform, services & marketing to consumer preferences ”
When you consider the ease by which a Net-A-Porter customer can receive personalised stock notifications based on geographical location (and therefore season), designer preferences and garment size, as compared to a consumer walking into a department store, it is easy to see why online channels continue to grow. And why physical retailers are looking to technology to enable them to compete.
The privacy implications must be addressed and regulated, just as they must be in the digital space. But perhaps consumers need to think more holistically about the data they already surrender online without a second thought, before accusing brick-and-mortar retailers of intruding surveillance. Ultimately, it is difficult for brands to be able to deliver what a customer wants, without having some semblance of what that is.
To further investigate retail technology on Luxury Society, we invite your to explore the related materials as follows:
– Omni-Channel Retail: A Roadmap to Execution
– Experiencing Luxury: From Digital to Dynamic
– The Future of Showrooming & New Consumer Behaviours
Creative Strategist, Digital
Sophie Doran is currently Senior Creative Strategist, Digital at Karla Otto. Prior to this role, she was the Paris-based editor-in-chief of Luxury Society. Prior to joining Luxury Society, Sophie completed her MBA in Melbourne, Australia, with a focus on luxury brand dynamics and leadership, whilst simultaneously working in management roles for several luxury retailers.
