[New report] Retailing for Profit and Purpose
Apr 09, 2022
Show notesA How-To for retailers and brands to engage audiences, drive revenues and deliver social impact through better processes and practices.
Consumers are increasingly aligning their progressive values with their purchasing decisions, driving companies to rethink their operations and retail and marketing efforts. Top of mind for shoppers are how organizations are driving meaningful change through sustainability initiatives and DEI efforts. It's now critical that businesses think beyond messaging about social impact as their customers are ready to hold them accountable for lack of follow through or by running campaigns that lack authenticity and transparency.
Across the commerce landscape, businesses are reexamining their end-to-end offering from sourcing and product design to internal representation and logistics to embed measurable social impact at every stage. Companies are also developing new business models and platforms to empower customers and partners to get involved and drive collective action. Beyond creating positive change, these initiatives must now be viewed as a true differentiator in an increasingly competitive marketplace. When effectively implemented, these efforts can enable operational efficiencies and open the door to new revenue streams, creating value for consumers, companies and their workforce, and the planet.
In this report, discover how leading retailers and brands are innovating through better processes and practices. Learn how intrinsic motivation to prioritize social, cultural, and environmental responsibility, enables businesses to not only navigate shifting consumer expectations and marketplace change, but lead the way with responsibility and empathy, and understand how profit and purpose can be intertwined to drive growth.
Adidas NFT Drop Promises Access To IRL Goods
Apr 03, 2022
Show notes
The Adidas NFT collection, called Into The Metaverse, also comes with exclusive access to physical streetwear drops and apparel products which will be released to NFT owners in phases.
MoonPay Concierge Service Helps Members Purchase NFTs
Apr 03, 2022
Show notes
Fintech company MoonPay offers a crypto ‘concierge service’ that handles the sourcing and purchasing of digital collectables and blockchain-based assets.
Discord “Cook Groups” Give Streetwear Fans The Inside Track On Drops
Apr 03, 2022
Show notes
“Cook group” servers on Discord are helping sneakerheads “cop the best drops” and increasingly dictating the realities of the multi-billion dollar streetwear resale market.
[New report] Product Drop Strategy
Apr 01, 2022
Show notesIn this guide, PSFK presents strategies for retailers and brands to leverage as they develop their own services, platforms and tools to support next-gen drop experiences.
Placing brands at the center of culture, commerce and community, the drop has established itself as an effective brand building tool across both IRL and digital environments. As brands consider today’s retail landscape, where omnichannel and cross-world shopping have become mainstream behaviors, the role of the drop has taken on new importance in helping to not only differentiate brand experiences but also establish an ongoing value exchange with consumers.
To cultivate community, inspire loyalty and deliver against this new value proposition, innovative brands and retailers are repositioning the drop as a multipronged touchpoint, leveraging the model as a method to continuously reward consumers for their engagement. For brands and retailers, this comes to life through dedicated channels that combine live drop events and daily programming, services and tools that provide 1:1 support in procuring limited-edition items on behalf of consumers, and virtual drops and tokens that carry both digital value and redeemable physical goods and services.
Within this report, PSFK researchers have identified six strategies for retailers and brands to leverage as they develop their own services, platforms and tools to support next-gen drop experiences. Supported by best-in-class examples of innovation from the marketplace, understand how leaders are tapping into cross-channel activations to engage consumers, sell products and ultimately build loyalty.
[New report] AI-Enhanced Customer Service
Mar 26, 2022
Show notesIn this guide, PSFK explains how brands and retailers can use AI to deliver greater value to their customers, develop stronger relationships and ultimately drive loyalty.
Looking across the retail landscape, the concept of “anywhere commerce” has arisen from a set of consumer expectations that prioritize convenience, ease, seamless connectivity and relevance wherever they choose to shop. This is especially important given the expanding range of customer touchpoints that now encompass physical storefronts, company websites, mobile apps, social media and gaming platforms.
To meet shoppers with the elevated level of service and experience they now expect, companies are prioritizing AI, machine learning and data. Together these technologies enable companies to scale 1:1 support 24 hours a day and deliver new levels of personalization. When combined with the capabilities of human associates, these solutions can power greater efficiencies and enhance overall CX.
Throughout the end-to-end shopper journey, the role of AI has graduated from the basic chatbot to now personify a top sales, marketing and support agent. Advancements in empathetic AI, conversational commerce and natural language processing have all allowed for more humanistic AI experiences. Further, businesses are taking a more considered approach while training AI models and algorithms, centering inclusivity, and prioritizing a wider view of needs to deliver an overall improved experience for all of their customers.
In this report, PSFK researchers have identified six strategies that unpack the AI opportunity across customer service processes. Supported by best-in-class examples from the marketplace, learn how leading brands and retailers are delivering greater value to their customers, developing stronger relationships and ultimately driving loyalty. #ai-2 #customer-service #macys
Alpha’s Clienteling App For Luxury Brands Is An Exclusive, Modern Way To Shop
Mar 26, 2022
Show notes
Digital personal service platform Alpha is reinventing the way luxury brands and their shoppers interact.
Animatico Is Improving Customer Interactions With AI-based Avatars
Mar 26, 2022
Show notes
By combining artificial intelligence and voice control technology with fun, engaging and customizable avatars, Animatico creates seamless interactions for store and brand customers and visitors.
Levi’s Turns To Next-Gen Bots For Labor Efficiencies
Mar 26, 2022
Show notes
Iconic denim retailer Levi Strauss & Co. is leveraging bot technology across its operations as it pilots shifting labor resources to higher-value initiatives.
[New report] Strategies To Engage & Sell to Gen Z
Mar 19, 2022
Show notesThis PSFK How-To will help brands and retailers understand and engage Generation Z customers, with additional insights around brand experience transformation.
Gen Z, the first truly digitally native generation, are used to moving seamlessly between the online and offline worlds, freely expressing themselves across platforms and in real-life interactions. Generation Z, the generation of consumers born between 1995 and 2014, has come of age during an unprecedented period of technological evolution, demographic shifts, and changing cultural norms, many of which they are leading.
According to PSFK's Gen Z's Consumer Survey 2022, 57% of the Gen Z audience surveyed seeks out like minded community online who share their passions. This freedom allows them to view the world through a unique lens, making creativity and open-mindedness second nature and rendering old constructs and binary norms irrelevant.
Quite simply, this is how they grew up… as a generation that is able to adapt to new tech and is simultaneously creator and consumer. Their values can be highlighted with buzz words like authenticity, transparency, empowerment, customization and personalization. An overwhelming 71% of Gen Z we surveyed indicate their preference for brands and retailers that not only optimize profit, but are also focused on community.
In our previous report about this generation, we focused on how brands and retailers needed to adapt to engage and serve this audience. However, the new experiences being built now not only cater to Gen Z, but they are being built by Gen Z in their own vision. This report studies:
- DAOs as digital coops with distributed responsibilities and egalitarian ambitions
- NFTs that offer new forms of community ownership
- Blockchain tech which is predicated on a publicly available general ledger offers new levels of transparency
- AI tools that allow for personalization at scale
- New ways of working that embrace more flexible, and ‘human’ approaches to work have broken out of the strictures of the 9-to-5
Ultimately within this report, PSFK provides brands and retailers with a framework that helps them to make sense of this new landscape, with guide posts around brand experience transformation and ways in which they should continue to evolve in order to engage with this new generation of consumers.
Watch the Accompanying Webinar with Expert Analysis on Gen Z Engagement
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