[Intern Insights] Digitolution: The digitalisation of Marketing

The History of Marketing in a Nutshell

The concept of marketing has changed. It dates as far back to the merchants in Ancient Greece, selling their goods on the markets, and even further to the very beginning of human trade in the first civilisations.

Over the course of time, marketing has become a broad discipline. It has many elements such as branding, advertising, sales, market research, and analytics. All these factors can no longer be clearly separated, connecting all departments within a company.

In the 20 Century, newspaper and television advertisements dominated. Today, we find ourselves in the age of social and digital marketing, with augmented reality just around the corner.

Despite its evolution, the goal of marketing has remained the same: to persuade the consumer to make the purchase.

Outbound vs. Inbound Marketing

I grew up during the time of mass advertising. When I watched television I was bombarded by advertisements for things that I had no interest in, interrupting my TV activity. With today’s digitalized streaming, all that has changed. Companies have access to data that enables a better understanding of an individual’s needs and interests and thus enable tailored advertisements.

20 years ago, marketers used cold-calling techniques or creating advertising campaigns that interrupted daily activities in order to catch people’s attention.  It was annoying and invasive, but it was the only way to do it.

Nowadays, marketers connect with prospects by making information they want easier to find. They still reach out, but the focus shifted to optimising the consumer experience, using digital channels and creating valuable content to attract a defined audience. This approach is called “inbound marketing”.

A few years ago, inbound marketing and terms such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Mobile Website Optimisation (MWO), Facebook Ads – and, trust me, this list is very long – were completely unheard of. Today, marketers use these terms on a daily basis.

The Information Highway

With the rise of the Internet, information is readily available by everyone, at all times. Information scarcity is no longer an issue; this has shifted the power from the salesman – and outbound marketing tactics – to the consumer, thus creating a need for inbound marketing tactics.

This isn’t as simple as it sounds: the immense amount of information available at our fingertips leads to much of it being discarded or ignored. – Imagine, every minute more than 300 hours of video material is uploaded to YouTube and over 4 million posts are liked on Facebook! [WERMS, 2015] – The overload of information means people learn to tune it out. In this jungle of information, creating and optimising unique content that stands out has become an art and skill set all of its own. Rather than ‘information scarcity’, marketers have to content with “attention scarcity”. The overload of information requires people to filter what is of interest; it isn’t easy to capture the attention of any target audience. This has transformed the buying process.

Modern Marketing

Having left the times of one-way company-to-customer communication and the “quick- sell approach” behind, marketing today is about building long-term relationships. It’s about generating a consumer relationship with the brand, interacting with consumers by providing inspiring and relevant content that engages and caters to the gain and pain points of a clearly defined target group. People are very good at blotting out messages they don’t want to hear; today’s content needs to be tailor-made to get people to read it.

The increase of marketing intelligence and corresponding data analytics provides more accurate insights into consumer behaviour.

Big Data’s possibilities

Big data – extremely large data sets that can reveal insights about patterns, trends and relations, especially related to consumer behaviour and interaction – will allow better decision making for a company. The possibility of soon having very accurate 360-degree pictures of customers, even capturing current emotional states shows that technology not only automates processes; with the right use of data, marketing can be “humanised” and provide personalised messages.

This effectively can create a need before the customer is aware of it, that can be used within all industries, with the retail industry certainly profiting a lot from the advanced methods that will ease the process of predicting consumer trends, forecast the demand or optimising the price.

As tempting as that avenue of marketing sounds it remains a challenge to make the most out of the collated data. It remains a challenge to choose what is relevant to measure. Especially, in the end, it’s all about the individual consumer, to be able to break the big amount of data down into small bits and pieces.

“The future of marketing isn’t big data, it’s big understanding.” – Jay Bear

Where do we go from here?

With all the advancements in technology, the unlimited access to information at any time, and the empowerment of consumers, companies have never had to give so much to their prospective customers simply to convert them.

Digitalization has affected every field, and marketing is no exception. Working in marketing provides the chance to experience a very tech-innovative field.

It sparks my curiosity. How will marketing continue to evolve? What new job positions will become the norm? How will innovations such as sensor-based technology, seamless integration, and augmented reality change the marketing landscape?

This post is brought to live by AQ’s Undergraduate Alexa V. .
As part of our internship programs, undergraduates and classic interns are encouraged to take part in company culture. Alexa’s primary focus is in digital marketing.

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[Intern Insights] Digitolution: The sharing economy

What is a sharing economy and what changes came along with it?

Sharing and exchanging items has been around as long as humanity and digitalisation has brought it to the next level. With the rise of the Internet, people can connect across boundaries, now able to swap, lend, rent, resell, donate, subscribe, and share all kind of item.

The sharing economy movement, collaborative consumption – the definitions for this vary per disciplinary field – as we know it today, is all about people sharing underutilised human, physical and intellectual resources. The concept might have originated from idealism but with the help of digitalisation, it has evolved into a profit-driven business model.

With a sharing economy, the borders between customer and professional have been blurred. In many cases, the middleman has been cut out. Every consumer is now empowered to make business by monetizing their own assets, knowledge, and services.

Behind many peer-to-peer transactions, we often find fast-growing profit-driven, multi-million dollar corporations. Start-ups that had a simple but brilliant idea based on the values and spirit of the sharing economy movement now surpassed the sizes of well-established companies, disrupting several long-established industries and economic structures. With all advantages that have come along, such as a boost of innovation, marketplaces have become less regulated, creating challenges for established industries and businesses.

To quote Tom Goodwin:

“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.”

Reasons why the sharing economy might revive:

 At the core of the sharing economy are the people., Whether it’s individuals, communities, or companies, all are embedded in the sharing system. Aside from the fact that every aspect of out lives is digitalised, changes in demographics have contributed to a sharing economy as well.

Maybe it’s due to our exposure to news on a daily basis, but certainly, our societies experience a shift back to community values.

Especially in developed economies, we can see a shift away from status-driven values, instead, we see that unique and authentic experiences, coupled with convenience, is what people are really after [Escan, 2011].

A sharing economy reflects those changes: trust between the provider and user lies at the core and using a service offered on a sharing platform often is perceived as a more authentic experience than purchasing the same product or service at a traditional store.

Besides this, people’s consumption patterns changed. Just look a few decades back where we lived in an ownership economy and dreams were realised by buying a nice house with garden in a suburban area, owning a car and all. Today ownership often feels like a burden. The dream house now has been swapped for a small rented apartment conveniently located in the city centre.

“We always have been in a culture where more is more, and suddenly we’re in a culture where less is a better quality of life. It’s pretty revolutionary.” – Bill Steward-

People want to be satisfied on the spot, having the product or service delivered instantly and conveniently, without having to put any effort. Connectivity, social media and smartphones make this possible. This is especially true for Millennials, that take part in sharing goods most actively, and for whom sharing is becoming the norm more and more.

Depending on the model, sharing concepts indeed are a more sustainable form of consumption that can contribute to a more circular economy. However, this story is more complex. Sharing can make us consume more as well, but we’ll save that discussion for another time.

How does the sharing economy affect the retail industry?

When hearing about the sharing economy, mostly we link this to companies like Airbnb, Uber, or Spotify, which have changed the concept of travel, transportation, and entertainment. But it is not ending there, small companies based on the sharing economy models are popping up everywhere, letting my wonder, which industry will be next?

In 2015, a survey conducted by PWC found that whilst the percentage of US adults that already have engaged in a sharing economy transaction connected to the entertainment and media industry with 9%is the highest, only 2% did so for a service within the retail industry in 2015.

I would probably have been reluctant letting a complete stranger stay at my house a few years ago, it’s something I could consider doing today. This is because platforms like Airbnb have managed to create trust. People have already opened up their homes for a night’s sleep, sharing cars for carpooling, and so on, and yet, we’re not really ready to share clothes quite yet.

Also read this article: Retail Customer Service: Reality of Retail Industry

How come?

It might be because whilst the examples above provide services, the retail industry is product based. Furthermore, owning assets such as a car comes with a lot of extra costs, such as insurance and ever-rising fuel prices, that make it less attractive to own a car. Owning a normal-priced piece of clothing, on the other hand, does not have further implications for the owner than the initial price and using up some space in the wardrobe – however, the implications on the environment the production and distribution of clothes have is huge. To get a better idea of what impact the fashion retail industry has on our environment you can have a look at this blog.

This post is brought to live by AQ’s Undergraduate Alexa V. .
As part of our internship programs, undergraduates and classic interns are encouraged to take part in company culture. Alexa’s primary focus is in digital marketing.

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[Intern Insight] Imagining the Future: My Future Shopping Experience

We have come to an end. This is the final article in this series and I’ve been struggling to find a fitting finale for it. We have covered topics ranging from customer service, customization, psychology to retail sustainability and global influence. All relevant sides to this major economic engine. I have conducted relevant research and read a lot of expert opinions. I think the only thing left to say is how I picture my future shopping experience.

What makes me so special?

Simply? The future shopper generation is my generation: The Millennials (Synchrony Financial, 2017). These shoppers will be technology-oriented. I am a futurist, hence the title. These shoppers will make purchases mostly online, but they will visit brick-and-stones store to benefit from merged service experiences! I’m partial to bookshop-cafés for example. Further, Millennial shoppers will opt for augmented reality to enhance their experience (ibid); I limit myself to trying out new hairstyles on mobile apps…

What I am trying to say is that I am a tiny drop in a massive storm that is about to come down on the retail industry. Together with my fellow “drops”, I have the power to shape the future and this is how I picture my future shopping experience:

First, I would like to bring to your attention the Law of Technological Adoption. As Taylor Romero said in his TED Talk “Everything invented before you were born: it’s just how it’s always been. Everything invented before you were 30: it’s innovation. Everything invented after you are 30: it’s impossible.” (Taylor Romero, 2016).

Let’s take a product that I like: books. You cannot go wrong with books. Nowadays, books come in many formats; hardcover, softcover, eBooks, audio books. When I was a kid, those formats were more limited. So, softcover and hardcover, it’s just how it’s always been. Ebooks? Innovation. I can take an entire library with me in just one tiny device, everywhere, every day. Currently, I’m still in my ‘innovation’ window of opportunity. What I really want, what I imagine many an avid reader wants, is total immersion in the world of stories.

I would love to walk into a bookshop and be welcomed by the smell of chocolate, hot pastry, and fresh paper. When I walk into a specific section, I want the authors to talk to me, let them be the advertisers.

Imagine a holographic Shakespeare popping up in the Classics section to tell you more about Hamlet, or King Lear, or Romeo and Juliet. This technology is not as science fiction as you might think. With the help of digital holographic projectors and optical screens that reflect the light of projected holographic 3-D images to a target observation area, digital 3-D signage and holographic in-car dashboard display is just around the door (Phys, 2016). Why shouldn’t it be adopted in the retail industry?

How wonderful would it be, if I would walk into the Fantasy aisle and an entire panorama of the Lord of the Rings’ Middle Earth would appear with Aragorn’s holographic self to escort me to the cashier. Talk about personalization!

If I had doubts about my choice of literature and immersion, then the augmented reality technology from my phone would help me understand what each book is about. In any of these situations, I would get my information instantly and accurately, no “buffering” for me, no sir! Because I have no patience. My gratification needs to be instant.

For a long time, I thought that this imagined experience was just wishful thinking, a daydream, but technology has this miraculous quality of transforming the abstract into almost tangible interactions.

Technology is the avatar of what we dream and cannot express.

It makes self-interaction possible without selfishness. The retail industry of the future can help me understand myself better: letting me explore the reasons why I like certain products or services, the reason why I chose them, or why I am not trying out new ones. Most importantly, the accessibility of the retail industry would be so easy; I would not be held back by the inertia of buying simply because it’s comfortable. Everything will be comfortable. What is left to say other than the fact that I am looking forward to the future. And William Shakespeare speaking to me from the aisles. And being guided to a cashier by a favourite character. Thank you for imagining the future with me.

This post is brought to you by one of AQ’s Undergraduates, Laura Susnea. As part of our internship programs, undergraduates and classic interns are encouraged to take part in company culture. Laura’s primary project focusses on training programs and eLearning and how best to adapt this to industries under pressure.

This is the final entry for the Imagining the Future series. The entire collection can be read here.

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[Intern Insights] VARK…

When you read the title, you must have thought it’s a spelling mistake, or have you actually heard of this term?
VARK is an acronym that stands for Visual, Auditory, Read/write and Kinesthetic. Does it ring a bell?

When I first saw the term, I must admit that I hadn’t heard of it before, but then I did a bit of research and found that it would be useful for everybody to know.
The VARK model was developed by Fleming and Mills (1992) and proposes that there are four main types of learners: Visual, Auditory, Reading/writing and Kinesthetic learners.
The question is, what type of learner are you? And do you learn better when the teaching method matches your learning style?

To find out what type of learner you are, Fleming made a “self-report inventory” that explained multiple situations. You are asked to select the answer that fits your preferred approach to learning.

Let’s look at an example! Imagine that you are learning a new physical skill like riding a horse.
Would you learn this skill best by …

a) looking at charts and diagrams of how to ride a horse? (Visual Learner)
b) listening to an expert about how to ride a horse? (Auditory learner)
c) reading about how to ride a horse? (Reading/writing learner)
d) watching others riding a horse and then try it yourself? (Kinesthetic learner)

Visual learners (learn through seeing)

These learners prefer learning via diagrams, charts, graphs, flow charts, symbolic arrows and other devices that represent what could have been words. These individuals think in pictures and learn best from visual displays. They need to see the teacher’s facial expression and body languages to completely understand the content of the lesson.
However, where people go wrong is to think that visual learning includes pictures. As it DOES NOT include photographs of reality, movies, PowerPoint or videos. It does include designs or other different formats that are used to highlight and convey information.
Learning strategies for visual learners might include: ‘creating flashcards for key information (be concise) or to highlight information and to be creative with charts.

Auditory learners (learn through listening)

This type of learners learn best via discussions, verbal lessons and talking things through or listening to what others say. Regularly these individuals prefer to speak first when sorting things out, rather than sorting through their ideas and then speaking. They would probably repeat something that has already been said. However, they have to say it again to themselves, in their own words, in order to learn it. They understand the underlying meanings of speech via listening carefully to the tone of voice and speed in which it is delivered.
Some learning strategies for auditory learners are: Reading notes and text out loud, also to record notes, key information, lessons and listening to these recordings frequently.

Reading/writing learners (learn through reading/writing)

Reading learners learn best when information is displayed in words. It does not come as a complete surprise that a lot of teachers and students prefer this learning method. Since this learning method emphasises text-based input and output, like reading and writing in forms such as reports, essays and assignments.
Individuals who prefer this method use PowerPoint, Google, and the rest of Internet a lot! –. Well, I can relate to that, although, it is not my preferred learning method. –
Some examples of learning strategies for this learner are: Rewriting notes or to write lists and rewriting ideas and principles into their own words.

Kinesthetic learners (learn through touching, moving and doing)

Lastly, we have the Kinesthetic learners, who learn best via the hands-on approach. These people can sometimes find difficulty in sitting still all day and are soon/easily distracted by their need for activity – wow, I think I just found the perfect description of me!
The key of this learning method is that these individuals are connected to reality, like concrete personal experience or practice. Also, if it can be tasted, felt, grasped or held, it will most likely be included. People with this preferred learning style, learn from their own experiences and value their own background and less the experiences of others.
Learning strategies of this method could be: Record notes and listen to them while exercising, take frequent study breaks and sit in front of the classroom (to not be distracted).

Now, after writing this, of course, I had to do a test of what type of learner I am, and the results were kind of divided. I am multimodal. By the way, the link to the test I took you can find here.

Being multimodal means that I don’t have one preferred learning style. I scored the highest in Kinesthetic learning – shocker. Within this learning style, there are two types.

Type One is context specific. You choose a specific model that suits a situation or occasion. In this case, you may have two, or more almost-equal preferences in the VARK scores.

Type Two are the real strivers, they are only satisfied until they have had input or output in all of their preferred modes. Usually, they take longer to gather information from each model, however, this results in them having a deeper understanding.
Some people see them as procrastinators, however, their late decision making and learning may be better in the long run due to the breadth of understanding.

To conclude, everybody learns differently and it is important to know that there is no right or wrong learning style. Every style has their own advantages and disadvantage.
Knowing your learning style is not mean to limit you – On the contrary! It’s to help you expand, as it will eventually help you to live, work and learn more efficiently.

This post is brought to you by one of AQ’s Undergraduates, Paula van Staalduinen. As part of our internship programs, undergraduates and classic interns are encouraged to take part in company culture. Paula’s primary project focuses on training programs and eLearning and how best to adapt this to industries under pressure.

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[Intern Insights] Digitolution: How digitalisation changes the global retail supply chain

A supply chain covers all businesses and individual contributors that are involved in creating a product, ranging from suppliers of raw materials to the end-customer.

Technological innovations can be used to upgrade traditional supply chains to smarter, more connected and highly efficient digital supply chains. This is not an easy process, as supply chains are very complex systems embedded in an even more complex global economy. Contributors often are internationally located, which involves dealing with different politics, trade and traffic laws, and quality control regulations.

I like to imagine it like the Butterfly Effect: a small wing flutter, a slight change of a process or regulation, might affect another stage in the chain.

Today, a supply chain is often a series of isolated steps taken through different stages of logistics such as manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation.

In a digital supply chain, those stages will be seamlessly connected and fully transparent to all individual contributors involved. A completely digital chain does not exist yet, but to keep up with demands and technology, and to profit from the financial benefits, many companies within different industries now started digitising their supply chains.

Whilst industries such as electronics are already further in the process of digitalising their chains, asset-intensive companies or consumer-facing companies, such as retail and fast-moving consumer goods, stayed behind [PWC, 2016].

How is the general supply chain going to change?

A digital chain becomes more transparent, which contributes to a better understanding of what every link in the chain is doing. Amongst others, this leads to:

  • Improved collaboration: Real-time insights in the needs and challenges of others will be possible.
  • Fast communication: Information that used to be delayed, as it had to move through each step and reach all stakeholders will be available to all simultaneously.
  • Demand driven supply chain: Planning will be fast and flexible and away from just forecasting, instead of being demand driven.

The transformation to optimise supply chains becoming more reliable and responsive is driven by new technologies such as track-and-trace technologies, big data, cloud computing or the Internet of Things, but it’s not technology alone. People’s behaviour changed, they became multichannel consumers, more demanding, wanting the product delivered instantly and conveniently.

[PWC, 2016].

What do the changes in people’s behaviour and expectations mean for the retail supply chain?

Today, people purchase digitally. Online shopping is booming, even categories that relied on an in-person shopping experience moved online. In 2016, nearly two-thirds of consumers shopped online at least once a week, an increase of 41% from 2014.

People shop using multiple channels, be it in-store purchases, mobile, tablet or laptop, consistency, high quality and excellent service is expected, of course to the lowest costs (The Future of Retail Supply Chains, McKinsey, 2016).

Comparing competitors’ prices online or ‘showrooming’ – browsing in stores but buying from a cheap competitor online – give the consumer more power. Customers define more and more how companies have to structure their supply chains.

The shift to multichannel, the customer’s expectations such as same-day deliveries or returning online ordered goods free of charge – using any channel – lead to blurring the boundaries of channels. For example, goods ordered online but not liked can be returned back in-store.

This requires adaptation, to give a simple example:

Instant deliveries require a high stock of inventory in strategically positioned distribution centres. One centre might is enough to secure delivery within 2 or 3 days, same-day shipping requires more distribution centres. A piece of clothing that was ordered online gets returned in-store, means that the store now must stock an item that might is not sold usually or bring up time and costs of returning it to the distribution centre.

What does an optimised retail supply chain look like?

In the example above, technology that allows seeing inventory levels across the store network can help managing inventory levels across the store using various channels. A returned item that the store normally does not manage, can be delivered straight away to the next online order that comes in, saving time and operation costs to return that item to a distribution centre whilst cutting time on the delivery side. With technology, information about products that are stored anywhere, be it a store, a warehouse, can be made available to customers instantly.

But it can go further than just inventory management.

Imagine that drones could be used to deliver goods faster, a move Amazon is looking into. Or imagine virtual reality, used to shop online, letting customers enter a virtual store with products they actually can engage with whilst just sitting on their sofa in the living room. A whole new level of customer experience! – and a way to collect more data about the customer than was possible before. Every move, every product just looked at could be tracked.

Retailers that want to stay competitive need to find a right balance between quick wins and long-term strategic vision. The supply chain needs to become more customer-focussed, agile to fast respond to the changing needs of the consumers and cost-effective. Big data helps better predicting demand, even though combining internally available data with external, less transparent data as well as correctly interpreting the data will be challenging [KPMG, 2016].

What will change is the way the supply chain is looked at, seen as a cost driver – factors such as total cost of ownership, spend analysis and so on are very well understood – however, with technology, that brings an understanding of how customers’ behave, the supply chain will become a sales driver.

This post is brought to live by AQ’s Undergraduate Alexa V.
As part of our internship programs, undergraduates and classic interns are encouraged to take part in company culture. Alexa’s primary focus is in digital marketing.

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