• RENDEZVOUS
Ritu Nakra is a seasoned professional with 26 years of experience at WPP, where she has earned a reputation for driving business growth and leading key brands to success. Her expertise in design thinking and strategic design has been instrumental in creating distinctive brand value and leveraging technology to deliver memorable consumer experiences through successful WPP collaborations. She shared with The Himalayan Times her perspectives into optimising retail branding strategies, understanding consumer versus shopper needs and integrating technology to create impactful brand experiences.
With your extensive background in design thinking and strategic design at WPP and Landor, how have you applied these principles to enhance retail branding? Can you share a specific example where your approach significantly improved a brand's performance in retail?
Our expertise with branding allows us to uniquely tie the values, proposition and objectives that the brand has, with all of the retail interventions to create a cohesive and unifies storytelling across formats. Each client we work with goes through a rigorous strategic process with us to firstly understand the customer we are designing for, then that strategy provides the foundation for the customer journey. With the Customer journey in place, that provides the 'central nervous system' to all the designed elements such as signature and standard touchpoints that ladder up to this strategic spine.
Our work on KitKat Chocolatery was the first-of-its-kind, a differentiated omnichannel retail experience that delivered a story led by surprise and delight, letting customers 'create their own break'. Sharable over digital platforms, the reach of this experience went beyond bricks and mortar to become a 'create your break' movement.
The results speak for themselves, 2800-plus footfalls in the store day on day, sales projections exceeded by 30 per cent, 45,000 social mentions in the first month. With Kit-Kat, this was our retail opportunity to share the brand story in a tangible way and excite a shifting consumer landscape.
In your view, what are the key distinctions between consumers and shoppers in the retail environment? How should brands adapt their strategies to address these differences effectively?
All shoppers are consumers, but not all consumers are shoppers. The consumer is the end-user of a product or service, someone who eats a chocolate bar they bought. The shopper is defined by the act of browsing and purchasing products. Someone exploring the aisles of a grocery store, comparing prices and features of different chocolate bars is a shopper. These polarities are a snapshot into mind-states spectrums we work with at Landor that define our customer journey. From dreaming, exploring, locating and achieving - this gives us a full lens of how our consumers and shoppers will interact with a retail environment and then distinguish our design elements accordingly. There is a different way to speak to the shopper and a different way to drive purchase through the consumer subliminally. Different things appeal to a kid seeing a bunny sell a bar of chocolate, but to get the mom to buy it, you need to talk about the milk content, the nutrition value, etcetera.
Brands need to be able to adapt their strategies on the one hand to engage their consumer and on the other optimise for the shopper. We view consumer engagement as an end-to-end service, from deeply understanding the consumers needs and desires to connecting on an emotional level with compelling brand stories and creating a sense of community, their needs state sit over a broader spectrum.
Shopper optimisation is achieved through quicker wins, by creating a seamless omnichannel shopping experience that leverages the power of personalisation and consistency across not just in-store experience but content marketing and social media will ensure the immediacy the shopper operates in is taken care of. By understanding and catering to both the consumer's broader needs and the shopper's immediate purchase drivers, brands can build lasting relationships, drive sales and foster brand loyalty in today's dynamic and ever-changing retail environment.
What strategies can brands use to create powerful and differentiated experiences at the retail touchpoints? Can you provide examples of how focusing on the 'moment of truth' has led to successful outcomes for brands you've worked with?
Memorability and talkability is key! Creating touchpoints that resonate with consumers and shoppers on a personal level will create an intrinsic connection. Once captured in the mind, people are far more likely to talk and share this touchpoint experience, leveraging the power of word of mouth. For example, a moment of truth is where the shopper and consumer both cross the threshold and experience the in-store space for the first time. By deep diving into this high profile touchpoint, it allows us to interrogate what the consumer/shopper sees/feels/senses/touches/hears for the first time. Imagine a shopper who has spent an hour at the KitKat chocolatery having fun creating their custom pack of eight different flavours, created their avatar and played KitKat games virtually, tasted some fantastic creations from the live counter and created tonnes of content for social - the brand experience has created a strong magnetic pull to purchase and consume. This sensorial engagement is the secret sauce to creating the customer journey blueprint from the moment of truth.
How can a deep understanding of the consumer journey in retail unlock valuable insights for brands? What are some key takeaways from your experience that can help brands refine their retail strategies?
The customer journey acts like a connective tissue to your brand's retail experience. Think of the touchpoints along the journey as pause moments of engagement at product/service level. Elevating selected touchpoints to a signature experience can ensure peak moments along the journey. It's these peak moments that create memorable interactions with your brand.
This brand experience firstly needs to be tailored to the specific needs and target audience preferences will ensure the brand recognises their audience. By then asking 'Where is the value add?' you can create a unique set of touchpoints that truly add value to your consumers and shoppers will set a brand apart from its competitors.
Finally, by tracking how the experience is perceived and by continuously tracking customer feedback, you can measure and iterate the design based on data to improve and optimise your strategies.
How can technology be effectively integrated into retail strategies to enhance brand experiences and meet consumer expectations? Are there any innovative approaches you've implemented that have proven successful?
Technology is the connective tissue between the physical and human elements of a brand experience, bridging the gap between online and offline experiences. The digital age has seen a revolutionary shift in the savviness of consumers' expectations. The digital connoisseur is looking for enhanced convenience, these can be achieved with fulfilment and click and collect offers and augmented reality to enable a fourth-dimension in the visibility of products and services.
At Landor, we imagine turning physical spaces into dynamic, commercially impactful brand environments that shoppers can't wait to return to digitally or physically. To do this, we use MXP as our unique solution for placemaking/connected spaces that aligns with Landor's brand-first approach and expertise in creating holistic brand experiences. This alignment emphasises how MXP is not just a technological solution, but a comprehensive brand experience tool that sets it apart from other offerings in the market.
Given the theme of 'Branding with Purpose', how can retail strategies be designed to reflect and reinforce a brand's core purpose? What advice would you give to brands seeking to align their retail touchpoints with their broader mission?
Retail strategies are a powerful tool for bringing a brand's purpose to life. It's not just about selling products; it's about creating experiences that resonate with customers and embody the brand's values. From products to storytelling, the red thread should be the purpose. By aligning the brand's retail touchpoints with the core purpose, a business can create authentic connections with customers, build brand loyalty and drive positive change. It's about moving beyond transactional relationships and fostering a sense of shared values and purpose.
