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| Bespoke Magnums - old fashioned and leading edge retail! |
Another brilliant bit of 'old-fashioned' leading-edge retail brought to the world's attention by my good buddy from down-under, Jon Bird.
Please simply click through to Jon's blog to find out how Unilever, the world famous FMCG company, is teaching experienced retailers how to run shops and excite customers by bravely customising an old favourite.
Currently a series of pop-up shops for Magnum ice creams, Unilever’s new venture is soooo right, on soooo many levels and as Jon points out, soooo 'me-tail' - the very essence of what the modern customer is looking for these days.
Different and fun, it gives customers reason to choose the product and at the same time re-evaluate the brand. It builds depth, richness and 'values' to the Magnum name that can easily be lost in the frozen wastes of a supermarket’s commodity orientated chiller-cabinet.
Why does this old trick of customising ice cream excite me?
Well, with a few notable exceptions, it strikes me that it's the world's manufacturers and producers that are creating the most on-trend retail experiences - think Nike, Burberry, Nespresso and of course Apple...even think Tesla eco-friendly American electric cars sold in ordinary shops in ordinary shopping malls!....and never forget, Zara, the world's largest fashion retailer who first and foremost is a manufacturer and who only decided to open stores to ensure the customer experience matched the level of dedication and thought that went into its fashions.
There's a lot of intellectual talk about dinosaurs in the high streets and shopping malls around the world - personally I think more in Darwinian terms. For me business success, and therefore survival, is all about adapting at speed – listening to customers and paying attention to what they’ve said, and dare I say, listening between the lines of what they've said to surprise them!
The customer (like never before) is in total control.
There’s now an absolute need to entertain and make life as easy as possible for customers, an imperative to be relentlessly relevant to their lives. The winners perpetually ask themselves is this as easy as possible for our customers, are they enjoying the experience, are we delivering change in a totally stimulating and differentiating manner? And if all this difference can be delivered with a 'point of view' that emotionally engages customers, then, and only then, do you have a fighting chance of survival, a fighting chance of success.
And just in case you might be wondering who can help you deliver the direction you need to take, try talking to your most important customers - they’re on your payroll. The world’s most successful companies do, they're busily shifting their emotional centre of gravity to the contact point with their customers, using and acting on the rich feedback from the people who serve their customers (be that physical or digital: in person or through algorithms).
Manufactures making life tough for retailers – enjoying turning the tables - now that's a paradigm shift!
Well we all know ice cream can give you a headache, but we also know if you point a Magnum in the right direction, it can make your day!
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