MostContagious2012.pdf - Contagious Magazine

Rover discovered that in 2000 people
made an average of 7.5 trips to dealerships
before buying a car. By 2010 that
figure had shrunk to 1.3 visits. The impact
of each encounter gains significance. Audi
City combines the flexibility of digital carconfiguration
with the sense of high-impact
retail theatre that a brand-controlled environment
of a store can offer. It’s a strategy
the brand clearly believes in: Audi plans 20
further such destinations around the world
by 2015. Contagious 32.
tinyurl.com/audicity
Neiman Marcus / NM Service App
With a long standing reputation for customer
service, high end US department
store Neiman Marcus spent the summer
trialling a smartphone app designed to
enhance the relationship between sales
staff and shoppers. The free NM Service
app allowed users to see which staff were
on duty, and set up meetings with their preferred
associate. The opt-in service notified
staff when participating customers entered
the store, displaying their Facebook profile
picture (to help assistants identify them)
and also their purchase history. Shoppers
could use the app to access product information
and to tag their favourite items, helping
staff make more accurate recommendations
for individual customers.
So far San Francisco-based Signature
Labs, the clienteling specialists behind the
app, are maintaining an enigmatic silence
about results. This much we know: the Luxury
Institute, New York, recently published
the findings of its 2012 Luxury Customer
Index survey, which found that across categories
70% of ultra-wealthy customers
say their relationship with a specific sales
associate causes them to spend more.
Confirmation, if it were needed, that it pays
to know your customers. Contagious 31.
www.getsignature.com
Topshop Unique / London Fashion Week
Understanding its young clientele is a
major obsession for Topshop, the standard-
bearer for British high street fashion. The
Customise the Catwalk feature for its
London Fashion Week show allowed web
users to not only select and order key looks
and accessories, but also to change the
colour of their preferred option before buying.
Additionally, Shoot the Show let viewers
snap and share pictures of their favourite
looks direct from the show’s live stream.
Music and make-up from the show could
also be bought straight away, with online
tutorials available to help customers replicate
the beauty looks created for the show.
Topshop’s new CMO Justin Cooke –
former vice president of PR at Burberry
– described the show as ‘social entertainment’,
but Topshop is not innovating for the
sake of it. Cooke is very clear on the value
of this heady mix of social, entertainment
and commerce: ‘By putting our customers
in control of the live experience, they
show us what they love, how they want to
consume information, the ways they like to
share and more.’ Contagious 33.
www.topshop.com
MOVEMENTs purpose sErVicE data technology design social biz sharing amplified screens augmented retail personalise new loyalty payment sbpf
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