Designer fashion chain Ted Baker has weathered the tough economy to deliver robust rises in sales and profits.
The company has reaped the benefits of a global expansion programme, as fellow retailers in the UK feel the pressure from the ongoing squeeze on consumer spending during a double-dip recession.
Ted Baker - which started as a shirt store in Glasgow in 1988 - has recently opened new stores in Tokyo and on Fifth Avenue, New York.
The chain, which has now 179 stores in the UK including concessions, said retail sales were up 15.4 per cent in the 28 weeks to August 11. The upbeat performance implies like-for-like sales growth of around 3 per cent.
The group also revealed a 10.4 per cent increase in underlying pre-tax profits
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But knowing exactly where a shopper is in-store opens up a wealth of other functions that will mean their favourite device, the smartphone, will almost certainly be the retail brand’s main communications channel going forward.
1. They want to pay, not queue
Very soon, the retail customer is going to expect to be able to pay for any item anywhere in-store. Mobile payments systems are not limited to just PayPal or WorldPay, and retailers can now deploy their own solution and link it to stock inventory control.
They could even use beacons as security devices – beacon ‘stickers’ are now small enough to be embedded in packaging – sending an alert when an item leaves the store that hasn’t been paid for. Unlike RFID tags, beacons can also be followed and tracked out of store, although there are complications.
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2. They want to be inspired
A survey by leading ad agency McCann revealed that 66 per cent of consumers want to be inspired, whilst they are shopping. For a fashion brand like Ted Baker, the possibilities are almost endless: What’s trending in-store today, virtual catwalks, invitations to special events, all triggered by being in proximity to a particular dress or
Do you like saving money? Of course you do. In-store tracking is a great way to help you do just that. And while many people have different opinions about whether or not stores should be allowed to use in-store tracking, I am all for it. Cell phone tracking benefits customers in multiple ways. It allows businesses to improve the shopping experience, make checkout easier, and tailor coupons to your liking.
Consequently, this created a misconception about T-Mobile amongst consumers that they could not uphold their word. Having said that, T-Mobile has come a long way since that campaign and has been constantly trying to re-establish their image/brand amongst its future and existing users. Currently under their new vice chairman, Jasmine Montgomery T-Mobile have increased their marketing budget to £115 million to support their slogan “We are the ones to catch”. From T-Mobile’s marketing strategy we can understand that the company is trying to play against their odds and come out a winner. In a situation where all the firms in the Telecom industry are not increasing their marketing budget, T-Mobile hopes to differentiate itself amongst in customers in hope of a better future.
The researchers at the University of Arkansas noted a 16% reduction in out-of-stocks since Wal-Mart adopted the RFID system into its supply chain (Healthcare Purchasing News 2005). The study also revealed that EPC items were replenished three times faster than comparable items using standard bar coding system. Wal-Mart has been able to use the new system to reduce excess inventory with more effectiveness than the control stores (Healthcare Purchasing News 2005). To this day, using its detailed supply chain management system Wal-Mart has been able to achieve respectable leadership in the retail industry.
Most of the stores in the future will use this technology to enhance their business and keep it safe too. RFID can help in every area of retail stores ranging from management to security. Tagging the products with RFID tags result in the following advantages.
Time starved consumers have the ability to create a new kind of communication touch point in various organizations(Eastwood, 2010). Fewer shoppers currently take time strolling through stores looking for the goods that they need. In other words, mobile technologies have provided the necessary platform for consumers to make purchases without physically gong to the shops. This saves them enough time for doing other activities. Parents find it easier shopping while taking their kids to vacations or their pets to cleaners. Mobile devices aid in delivering various expansive applications thathave the ability to help consumers in locating restaurants or stores and ensure provision of price comparisons and the peer
One way any business could stay connected to their customer bases is through technology and using the smartphone to their advantages. Every
The role of retailers in the distribution channel has grown in tremendous proportions in the last few decades. The last two decades have been a time of technological innovation for retailers. In just about every area – from executive suite to the ceiling floor, to the warehouse – new technologies promise to transform retail operations (Burke, 2002). Imagine walking into a hypermarket, the door opens automatically welcoming you, in the process recording the store traffic. We pick an item from the shelf which usually has a barcode imprinted on it. When the product is scanned at the register, it automatically triggers the process of updating the virtual inventory records and
Abstract: Just 30 years ago, most consumers relied on traditional print media, television and radio for their marketing information. The Internet changed the landscape of marketing by providing a new platform for interaction with consumers and a majority of consumers began to rely on desktop and notebook computers for the marketing information to make their purchase decisions. More recently, though, so-called smartphones and iPads have outpaced desktop and notebook computers as the interface of choice and current signs indicate these mobile devices will remain the marketing medium of choice for tens of millions of consumers the foreseeable future. These trends have been fueled by the development of a national wireless infrastructure that now provides a near-ubiquitous computing environment and it is only a matter of time before pervasive computing becomes a reality. In the interim, consumers are increasingly turning to social media networks and relying on the wisdom of crowds to formulate their purchase decisions. For instance, Bojei and Hoo (2012) report that, "An intention to buy a brand is based on a consumer's attitude towards buying the brand as well as the influence of social norms about what other people expect" (p. 33). Increasingly, consumers are turning to smartphone applications for these purposes (Bojei & Hoo, 2012). Therefore, determining how consumers are using these mobile
The work of Niederman, Mathieu, Morley and Kwon (2007) entitled "Examining RFID Applications in Supply Chain Management" states that radio frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that has recently emerged in the news due to large organization's requirements that goods shipped by identifiable by RFID tags. The potential benefits of RFID tags include lowering of costs by improvement in inventory management, consumer information gathering, and checkout procedures. RFID tagging is such that data from a tag, which is attached to the product, a case, or pallet, may be "captured by a reader device. Functionally, this data can be used to identify all of the times passing the reader's location at a point in time." (Niederman, Mathieu, Morley, and Kwon, 2007) This enables the tracking of items "from supplier through the distribution network to the point of consumption." (Niederman, Mathieu, Morley, and Kwon, 2007)
Woolworths’ is perceived to be in a recession-proof industry in both the global and local economies in which it operates. The company has maintained steady growth during the current economic downturn and it is likely to maintain steady growth in the future.1 (See Appendix 2 for full details)
Business users are particularly intrigued with the prospect of having mobile serve as another revenue-generating channel. A survey undertaken by Opinion Matters, sponsored by OutSystems, shows that more than 200 UK and US respondents were asked about the primary goal of their new mobile app initiatives, and 64% said their main aim was to generate revenue. (digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk)
It is amazing to remember that only a few years ago, mobile devices were simply seen as a communication method on the go. Now over 75% of the world has at least one phone! Mobiles have become a necessity rather than an accessory in the eyes of today’s consumers. This statistic shows that clearly mobile is the future of of media, as a result, marketers have some catching up to do with their consumers to effectively optimize marketing through the use of mobile devices. Whether it is through branded apps, or engaging consumers through hundreds of new apps that developers are creating or updating regularly, the truth is that the next generation of consumers expect ads to be not only engaging, but also interactive, as well as
The popularity and capabilities of these new smartphones are opening up new markets and changing the ways that businesses are attempting to reach consumers. It is estimated that half of Americans over the age of 18 currently own a smartphone and that half of them access social media with these devices (Armstrong & Kotler, 2014). This has created a new and effective way of marketing to consumers that many companies are
When technology change the way people interact with each other in daily life, those writing days were gone with letters and postcards and personalized greeting cards and they are turned into emails, online social
To solved these problems we have invested 150 million pounds in online shopping, which mainly is for selling non-food products. Then we made an app for the use on your phone. This will make it possible for you to shop from your phone, and go straight down to our stores and pick up our products, which of course is ready to go.