Last year Sony developed an exciting product for audiophiles, especially those that find themselves doing a lot of travelling. The product was the world's first pair of digital noise cancelling headphones. Sony released two models the MDR-NC200D and MDR-NC500D. These little gems are a traveller's best friend, they have the ability to cancel out that annoying "airplane drone" while aboard a plane. 

I was skeptical when I was told of their capabilities to cancel-out ambient background noise and deliver better sound, but hearing was believing!

We were asked to design an in-store demo unit for Best Buy that would not only display the product but allow the consumer to try before they buy. I was excited about this product and the unit we built to display and demo them. I couldn't wait for it to hit the stores because I knew it was going to work well.

The unit we designed and manufactured features two sets of headphones that play a music track through a hidden mp3 player. The consumer is asked to push a button to activate a simulated airplane noise that plays out through an external speaker at the centre of the unit. There is a small switch on the right earphone that activates the digital noise cancelling feature and this is the point when you realize that it really does work.

How did the consumer react?  People were literally lining up to try the demo out. Sony experienced a sales lift that was unprecedented in the history of their audio products over a one week period after the unit hit the stores. Nothing says success like sales!

We designed additional units for Relay stores at major airport locations across the country.

This year look for an addition to the digital noise cancelling headphone lineup with the XBA series of ear-bud type headphones.

Shawn Hall

It can be quite a challenge to grab the attention of today's electronics consumer in the big box retail environment. In a sea of great looking product, competitively priced and on display in-store side by side it's easy to get lost in the shuffle for a brand. At first glance the products often look so similar that it's hard to even tell the brands apart. 

 

To truly capture the consumer in-store these days you need to position your product in a way that allows it to stand out from the competition (duh?). As I have said before, "we need to interrupt that same old pattern the consumer is used to taking in subconsciously over and over again in the retail environment to stand out". Get them out of autopilot and engaged! One sure fire way to do this is to separate a brands retail footprint from the pack. This is a concept that we have been preaching to our clients for quite a while and it makes perfect sense to them. However, getting the commitment from a manufacturer and the cooperation from a retailer at the same time can make this concept somewhat difficult to execute. 

 

We recently partnered up with Sony and Best Buy Canada to design a separate space inside the store that would entice, engage and entertain the consumer while educating them on Sony's new line of products at the same time. It starts with a 12' x 12' floor space separated from similar products nearby, but that's just the beginning. This designated area is not only positioned at the front of the home entertainment section of the store, it's open-concept design invites the customer traffic to notice it from 3 separate directions (270 degrees).

We call it the "Vignette" and it's pretty cool.

 

When a Best Buy customer enters the Sony Vignette area they have the option of experiencing a number of Sony's latest and greatest offerings. As they approach a large pedestal in front of two Bravia TVs the customer is given the option of sampling a Sony 3D movie at the touch of a button while donning a pair of 3D glasses that are constantly powered and actually work. By simply pressing another button and picking up a Playstation 3 controller folks can take a test drive of Gran Turismo 5, one of Sony's most amazing games now available in 3D. Not only is this an amazing visual experience for the customer, the thunderous 5.1 Surround Sound System that delivers the audio portion of the demos is absolutely mind blowing. 

 

The Vignette display execution allowed us to put the "consumer" back into the consumer electronics experience at retail. For Sony it was an opportunity to really elevate the brand by separating their products from the pack and showcasing them in way that encouraged the consumer to be curious, experience and be educated all at the same time. It's this type of connection with the consumer that helps build brand loyalty and in this super competitive market you need that if you want to survive.

 

This project took on various forms during the ideation and design stage but in the end it became a model example of how an open discussion between a manufacturer, a retailer and a design firm can lead to great things. For us at RR it became the project that totally illustrated all of our rantings on what today's true consumer experience should be.

 

Shawn Hall

 

From our side, good service in the business of retail display design is an art form. At the heart of it is a perpetual need to supply creative, practical solutions that address all of the objectives and evolving challenges that clients place in front of us. To be successful at this requires more than just a throw-back smile or some nifty rhetoric in response. Clients require fact based, strategy driven solutions that can twist and change as their needs change and evolve to swiftly accommodate the retail playing field. 

 

When it comes to servicing a clients needs, one of the best ways to truly be an asset is to extend the ability to be flexible. At Retail Roadways we have made it a mandate for our team to always use process and execution methods that are fluid. This mandate enables us to offer the best possible solutions to our clients at any stage of a project we work on. If the objectives ever change, we shift our gears to accommodate that change. To us, there is no other way of doing things.

 

As retail display solution providers in this ever-evolving environment of shopper engagement, we also need to be ever-evolving in order to thrive and survive. The ability to adjust and transform our services as we move through the process is absolutely necessary. 

 

Manufacturers and retailers rely on service that is fast and flexible to meet their needs. We design, execute and remain devoted and focused on delivering what was promised from beginning to end. We just don’t see this as something that can be negotiated or compromised in any way. This is how we define our business. 

 

There are no rules; there are no steadfast solutions….Just the willingness to say "yes" and go the distance.

 

Ralph Hoskins 

 

There has been so much dialogue by retail marketing experts about harnessing the right strategy to engage shoppers at the point of purchase, but is it just talk? Are those same so-called experts actually doing the research and gathering the insights that they say they are to get a better understanding of how the "shoppers" mind works? 

 

A lot of retail marketers drop the "shopper marketing" catch phase but can't even define what it means. This becomes crystal clear when you enter many of the popular stores that showcase their attempt at shopper engagement. For many, it's the same old story, from one aisle to the next. The same old overload of information over and over again, like a broken record. The shopper switches to auto pilot and continues to walk on, avoiding the overload of information that simply confuses the brain. 

 

The reality is, if you truly want to attract the shopper at the point of purchase, the first thing you need to do is to interrupt the same old pattern that their brain is experiencing while taking in information at the store level. Once this interruption happens a path is cleared and we increase the chance of any kind of successful communication. This is not going to happen if your display creative is weak or the messaging is too overwhelming. This is the golden moment, so don't blow it. At this point we get the opportunity to educate the shopper on the product and the offer, but do it quickly and keep it simple. The average shopper is captured in seconds so get to the point and deliver your message in a clear and concise manner. When done successfully, the shopper will stay engaged long enough to take in all of the information on the offer available at that exact location in the store. This entire process can be broken down into 4 parts: interrupt, engage, educate, and offer.

 

Today's retail environment is more competitive than ever, but that doesn't mean that brands need to shout louder with even more information than the next to win over the shopper. In fact, to be successful we need to take the opposite approach at the point of purchase and adhere to the "less is more" rule when designing a point of purchase display. Consumer's take more time to get educated on products before they even leave their homes via the web while seated comfortably in front of their computers. We don't need to overload them with information during the only 3 seconds they give us as they approach our store shelves. 

Gathering accurate insights of shoppers on how and why they shop the way they do will streamline product offerings and solutions. When this happens retailers will have a much deeper understanding of who is shopping in their stores and what they need to offer them in order to satisfy their needs and engender loyalty. 

 

As marketers, our job is to make sure that the brands we represent can stand out next to the competition and that won't happen by doing the same old thing over and over again. Marketers, do your homework. Find out who you are talking to, speak in a language they can understand and speak the words clearly.

 

By: Shawn Hall