Cross-Border Commerce EU Digest #7

?? RETAIL INNOVATION

Offline merge with online to assure friction reduction in retail

In the last few years, particularly after the pandemic, with the explosion of eCommerce, the retail industry has undergone massive innovation digitally, technically, and physically.

The common trait of such change has been?friction reduction. Here is a summary of some relevant examples from an interesting article by AdWeek about the innovation brought to retail by the most recent digital technologies.

Walk Out technology

For example, think of Amazon Fresh: with Walk Out technology, shoppers enter a store, grab what they want and go. Shoppers skip the queue and know where to find the products they need in the store and their stock.? Walt Out technology proves offline and online retail can work well together.

Transforming static retail surfaces into smart display screens

A solution provided by Cooler Screens. Another critical example consists in transforming static retail surfaces into?display screens. This way, the display might change according to various signals, including time of day and weather, to determine what items to highlight on an in-store refrigerator screen. Brands can have their product facing forward, looking perfect, while showing off an assortment and providing a top-notch user experience. Consumers can quickly ascertain the differences between products, ingredients, offers and brand value proposition before they make their final point-of-purchase decision—all without letting the cold air out and blocking the aisle. A significant change to save energy and optimize the sales process and experience.?

Smart (physical) shopping carts

Albertsons and Veeve have been testing physical smart shopping carts, a less intrusive version of Walk Out technology with an intelligent coach that allows you to add items in the physical store as you would online.

"Bring it to me now" thanks to autonomous delivery vehicles

Another example of the integration of digital technology with offline retail is the?autonomous delivery vehicle. Think of Kroger as well as 7-Eleven and?Domino Pizza. The vehicle's ability to traverse the literal last mile will be a game changer in the so-called?"bring it to me now" market?and disrupt the human-powered models.?In previous editions of this Digest, we discussed the growing importance of micro-fulfilment in retail delivery, not just for food or grocery.

Virtual fitting rooms

Another emerging digital innovation that promises to enhance the customer experience is the virtual fitting room technology to help consumers determine what the item will look like on their bodies. Virtual fitting rooms can reduce return rates, increase shopper confidence, and possibly the basket size. Among the others, early adopters of this technology have been Walmart and Amazon.

The metaverse promises a revolution in retail

Before jumping into this topic, it might be opportune to provide some definitions for the ones who are not much familiar with new terms.

Key terms to know

• The?Metaverse?stands on technological foundations, including virtual, augmented and mixed reality (AR, VR and MR), blockchain, cryptocurrencies and NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Metaverse is not a monopoly of Meta (the former Facebook Inc.). There are many players in the field, each with a specific offer. From the old parallel world Second Life (very popular more than a decade ago and still alive) to Roblox, Decentraland, Sandbox, Star Atlas, Meta Hero and European platforms like the Belgian ThreeDee.World, the field is getting quite crowded. Some platforms offer (virtual) real estate investments, others focus on live events (including gigs of popular bands), but many are built around gaming, with NFT playing a crucial role.
• NFTs—Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique, unreplicable data units representing the ownership of a piece of digital intellectual property such as an image, work of art, video or audio clip, or virtual property. NFTs can also have utility in that they can be used to access exclusive experiences, for example. Records of NFTs reside on a blockchain and can be owned, sold or traded.
• Web3, the third iteration of the Internet, promises a decentralized version of the Internet, in which user content and data are no longer under the control of large tech companies, enabling creativity to flourish.
• Blockchain—This decentralized technology forms the basis for commerce and asset tracking in the metaverse. It enables a public ledger of transactions in an indelible record that is shared across the participants in the chain, and its strengths include trust, verifying ownership, transparency and traceability. The concept is crucial to both NFTs and cryptocurrencies.
• Cryptocurrencies—The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies makes them a logical payment method in the decentralized metaverse. Not only is Bitcoin - recently more volatile than ever - the arena is highly crowded, and both corporates, public institutions, financial institutions and the respective regulators are rushing to catch up with the latest development.

Despite often being mentioned together, Metaverse and Web3 are not the same things. Here are some key differences:

How can retail benefit from the metaverse revolution?

The metaverse opportunity is estimated at hundreds of billions of euros; sales of NFTs amounted to billions last year, and sales of virtual environments are running into the billions weekly. The magnitude of these investments suggests an enormous emerging commercial opportunity.

Brands and retailers can use the metaverse to create new, fantastic, otherworldly spaces and experiences, promoting their brands, marketing their products and generating new levels of consumer loyalty.

Specifically, in retail, brands can engage with the metaverse via minting NFTs, acquiring virtual spaces, and collaborating with platforms and marketplaces.?

Virtual places and experiences can be combined with physical ones, thanks to the metaverse. Sales of virtual goods and experiences could potentially surpass sales of physical ones.

Consequently, employees or virtual assistants must also be trained to work in virtual shops.

Learn more

??? FASHION RETAIL EVENT

Cross-Border C-Suite Fashion 2022: Brussels, 14-15 September

Cross-Border Commerce Europe organises the first edition of C-Suite Fashion, an invite-only event for a community of 120 executives from the?top fashion retail companies and marketplaces in Europe.

The event is held in Brussels, the hearth of Europe, on 14 and 15 September, and it's free of charge, including hotel and gourmet experiences. Attendees will join roundtables and debates, and sharing case studies, discuss common struggles and learn from best practices, particularly from a cross-border perspective. You can also enjoy a speed meeting cocktail, the Cross-Border Fashion Award pitch arena, a gala walking dinner, and a networking evening with an open bar.

Anyone interested in attending the event can book a 10-minute call with our Managing Director, Carine Moitier, to receive more details about the event and its agenda, and arrange your possible participation.

???Learn more and book a 10-minute call to arrange your participation

Watch our last event, C-Suite Spring (Brussels, May 2022), to get a brief idea of what happens during our events.

If you can't make it in September or your main focus is not either fashion or luxury, look at the other event on the agenda, C-Suite Winter (October 13-14).

?? Also worth reading from our Industry Insights Blog...

• Text-commerce is upfront permission to sell
• How to build a successful cross-border business with successful localisation
• Psychological pricing: 7 research-backed strategies that convert
• Omnichannel customer revolution: 3 keys for your strategy - based on the RACE framework by SmartInsights below

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