7 Supermarkets to visit in 2012

When interviewed for my book So You Want To Be Customer-Centric, Georges-Edouard Dias of L'Oréal pointed out the opportunity to truly improve the customer experience in many traditional supermarkets.  In his view:  “Many stores today aren't really user-friendly.  You need to drive there and park far away from the entrance.  When you get inside, it's hard to find the information you're looking for.  There are too many products to get a clear picture, and the staff aren't always much help either.  Not to mention that even if you know exactly which product you want to buy, it may not be in stock.”

Having just restocked our fridge at the local hypermarket, I can only agree that grocery shopping can seem like a stressful, inefficient and occasionally depressing endeavour.  

While it was tempting to write a post on "fixing the supermarket experience", I decided to take a positive view and instead look for supermarkets which are making the experience of grocery shopping painless, or even enjoyable.  As much of the industry is still stuck in its orthodoxies, the examples weren't always easy to find.  But the seven below definitely stood out enough to make my 11 year old son conclude: "if these people can do this, why can't supermarkets do it everywhere".  I think he's got a point, so if you're working in the supermarket trade, you may want to visit a few of the stores below for inspiration.

MPREIS in Tirol (Austria)
If you thought supermarkets were square boxes which lacked any form of architectural imagination, MPreis in Austria is clearly intent on proving you wrong.  Launched 90 years ago, this Tirolian supermarket chain is known for making sure their supermarkets are architectural beauties beyond compare in their industry.

EATALY in New York
Part deli, part experience, part restaurant and with a massive beer garden on the roof, Eataly is somewhat hard to define.  But what is pretty clear is that this high end Italian megastore is pretty on the ball when it comes to creating a food shopping experience to remember.  Not to mention the art of securing the margin that goes with it.   The video below says it all.



H-E-B in San Antonio, Texas
In early 2010, this Texas supermarket decided to group all male skincare in a Men's Zone.  This was driven by the insight that most guys, especially in Texas, don't really feel at ease looking for their products alongside female hygiene and hair removal products.  The results were phenomenal with a year-on-year sales increase of 11% on a range of 534 personal care items.  


ChronoDrive/ChronoVillage, France
We have all seen the "shop online and pick up in store" programmes which most advanced supermarkets have implemented.  But France's Auchan has taken matters a step further by designing a Chronodrive service station where you can  collect your groceries in 5 minutes or less.  The current format upgrade, Chronovillage even helps you secure a freshly baked baguette, a good bottle of wine or a rose to remind your spouse how much you love her (hey, it's France).  These extras are provided by complementary specialty stores which surround the pick-up zone. Apparently the format is hitting it off, as Auchan has announced a quite aggressive roll-out plan.

Kaiser's Berlin, Germany
The Futurelab blog already covered the store in 2009, but Kaiser's in Berlin is still the most senior friendly supermarket that I've ever seen.  From magnifying glasses to read prices to modified trolleys, every aspect of this food retailer has been adapted to the needs of those who aren't as young as the product managers that typically market to them.  As the world's population keeps aging, this is one retailer everyone needs to watch.



Tesco Homeplus, Korea
Sure, I know it's shown up in every retail presentation of 2011, but Tesco out-innovated everyone with its subway station smartphone stores.  If you would have missed it, or would like to indulge once more, do check out the video.




The People's Supermarket in London, UK
Last one in the row is a supermarket that doesn't use special furniture, architecture or technology to create a unique experience, but manages to do so nonetheless.  Owned by it's customers, who are also regularly asked to lend a hand in the restocking the aisles or servicing customers, The People's Supermarket focuses on local, authentic products at fair prices.  




Did I miss anyone who's equally remarkable?
This was my little list of remarkable supermarkets.  Do you know of a chain that should also be on the list, then please use the comment section below to add to this post. I'm always happy to learn about new customer experience innovators.

New book: So You Want To Be Customer-Centric?

For the past few years I've been quite active in the field of customer-centric marketing and management. I had the privilege of working with the likes of Philips, ING, Lexus, L'Oréal, Sanoma and many others on projects which touched every part of our globe.

Along the way I learned many things. But the most important thing I learned is that the journey to customer-centricity is the most rewarding but also the most challenging that any executive or company can undertake. It is rewarding because a truly customer-centric business grows faster and creates more profits than any of its competitors. It is challenging, because the desire to focus on the customer questions many existing corporate habits, beliefs and even industry orthodoxies.  

But as I tried to explain the rules of this game to my colleagues and customers, I struggled to find easy points of reference for them. Take a look on Google and you'll find hundreds of books, articles and presentations on the theory of customer-centricity. 

You'll find research models, academic frameworks and aspirational cases, usually referring to Apple, Zappos, Southwest airlines and Virgin. But you'll find very little about the practice of getting a business to become customer-centric. 

So I called up some of my friends at the above companies as well as Orange Business, C&A and the World Economic Forum, and I wrote the book I wanted to read. Short, to-the point and packed with practical suggestions from a guy who's been there. I'm proud to announce that the result So You Want To Be Customer Centric? is now available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and an increasing number of other outlets (Click here for details).

But I'm even prouder to say that the book's message is starting a conversation. At Philips, Arne Van Wijdeven, Director Customer Experience and NPS has declared the book compulsory reading for the company's market customer experience leaders around the world. Satmetrix Systems apparently liked it enough to invite me to their London NPS Certification course as a guest speaker. More companies that I can't yet mention are also expressing their interest. And in the weeks running up to publication, requests have come in to discuss translated editions in Danish, Finnish, German and Spanish.

At a very personal level, this conversation is what the book is really all about. My personal mission is to do all I can to make the world more beautiful, happier and healthier. In a business context this translates in an objective to help make the world a more customer-friendly place. I know there are many people out there like me, and I want to reach out to them with the suggestions I've picked up, while learning from the knowledge they have acquired as well.

If you are one of these people, I invite you to go to Amazon and then join the reader's only group on Linkedin (titled: CustomerCentric). If we share what we know and act on this knowledge, we can all make a difference, one customer at a time.

Six Areas Where B2B Marketers Should Up Their Game

In many B2B companies, marketing is still regarded as a secondary, non-essential part of the business.  Whether this opinion is justified, depends on the situation.  But these days, it is an expensive opinion to hold.

B2B commerce isn’t what it used to be, and the competitive rules are changing.  Buyers don’t like to be sold to.  Products all look the same.  Competitive advantages disappear in a matter of months.  I could keep going.

An implication of this changing competitive landscape is that B2B companies should take a fresh look at the way they market themselves.  Having a department for digital brochures and tradeshows isn’t enough anymore.  Even white papers are a dime a dozen.

Implementing quality marketing systems is a first step to make this happen.  But even the best tools are not inherently differentiating.  After all, when everyone has upgraded their CRM system with the latest measurement and lead nurturing modules, that advantage will disappear as well.

On top of this, B2B marketers should focus on developing sustainable differentiators for their business.  Identify methods to capture maximum customer value.  Finding ways to deeper engrain their business into the customer’s organisation. 

So below I have written a few areas which I think merit priority attention.  The list is anything but complete, so if you have additions or thoughts; please use the comment section.

#1 Use customer economics models as the basis for commercial plans

Implementing customer economics as a driver for commercial decision making is probably the single most profitable contribution any B2B marketing department can make.  By using metrics like the Net Promoter Score® to estimate customer growth potential, it can enable customer and finance teams to focus their attention on those customers and actions which will generate most money for the business.

#2 Better engage all stakeholders, not just purchasing

We all know it should be different, but most B2B companies don’t really connect to all the stakeholders that drive their business.  Marketing departments need to remedy this by developing engagement plans for all relevant decision makers, influencers and users.  And then ensure these plans are implemented by aligning them with their colleagues in sales, service, finance, production and logistics.

#3 Come up with innovations that go “beyond the product”

There’s only that much mileage you can get from making products faster, better or cheaper in the traditional sense.  B2B marketing teams need to boost the innovation power of their company by providing product development and research teams with additional customer insights that go beyond the product and drive innovations on business models, customer experiences, etc.

#4 Connect to the irrational side of the customer base

B2B businesses largely use rational argumentations to sell their products.  But business is done by humans who are inherently irrational.  Especially when competitive offers are “close”, emotions come into play.  Marketing needs to help the business understand the customer’s emotional choice drivers and devise commercial dialogues/stories that connect to customers at a deeper, more primal level.

#5 Manage the on/offline reputation of the business

Strong reputations are not built by websites and nice brochures.  They require the whole business to behave in a customer-centric manner.  Be true to the promises it makes.  Avoid bad profits.  As customer advocates and custodians of the corporate reputation, marketing teams need to work with all parts of the business to ensure this happens.  Or confront the business, when it doesn’t.

#6 Introduce customer experience thinking as a formal capability

While already implied in the previous points, business buyers do more than just buy a product.  Even in commodity markets.  Depending on their needs, they may buy expertise, convenience, affordability, or other things.  These are customer experience factors, and they cannot be left to chance.  That is why marketing teams need to map them, and align other parts of the business around them. 

And if marketing is unable to do the above

The CEO should intervene.  Ideally by empowering marketing teams to do what is right or– if needed – by finding other ways to make things happen.  Because if he doesn’t one of his competitors eventually will.

It’s time to #ChangeMarketing.  Let’s get to it.

This post is one of a series to accompany the launch of the #ChangeMarketing Manifesto.  This is a call to action for marketers world-wide to change the nature of marketing itself.  To reconnect the profession to the needs of the customers and the businesses they serve. 

CLICK HERE to download your copy of the #ChangeMarketing Manifesto.

Does HP Need a Plan for Broken Promises? Do You?

Well before the social media age, we all learned that trust and reputation are important currencies in this thing called life.  That's why our parents, professors and parish priests have taught us to be honest and honour our promises.  And most of us try and do just that.  It doesn't always work like we want, but largely we get by.  Or if things go wrong, we apologise and try to make amends.

As a company, this is a bit more difficult.  Not in the least because the promises are typically made in one part of the business (marketing), while the actual delivery against them happens somewhere else (in production, logistics, service, sales, ...).  Along the way, just like in the best of families, things are bound to go wrong.  The question then becomes how do you deal with that?  Because, just like in real life, the brand trust you have taken years to build, can evaporate overnight.

A little case of how HP printers lost my trust
An example of this happened just the other week.  I won't bore you with the frustrated customer details, but HP seems to be unable to provide any of its dealers in the viscinity of Belgium with a particular printer drum cartridge for at least another month (starting already weeks ago).  Without the drum I can't print, hence no printed invoices, no customer presentations, no recipes for creme brulée.

Not delivering on what I understood to be the promise of a printing company (i.e. we ensure you can print) was bad enough.  But things got worse when the HP small business help-desk sent me around to various dealers after which it transpired that the service agent full well knew they didn't have inventory (to which he just mumbled an apology).  In addition, it became clear that he actually knew more about the situation than his dealers yet had elected not to tell me at first.  I think you can understand my frame of mind.

But what if it had been done differently?
Now some may say this is about "one guy living in call-centre hell" and "one type of drum cartridge" in a world of HP people and products which generally get it right.  That's probably true, and either way I can't judge, because I don't have all the data.  But I can't help wondering what would have happened if HP had pro-actively developed a broken promise plan.  What if:

    * on my very first visit to Staples, HP had already informed them of the difficulties and offered me to buy a temporary small printer to tie me over (note: a drum costs € 164 +21% VAT which is the price of a small printer). 
    * HP had pro-actively gotten in touch with me to inform me of the delivery issues and offer alternatives or at least information clarity (as a registered user they have my email address and know the type of printer I own).
    * the call center person had immediately come clean to me on the phone, rather than give me the run around. This would have challenged the tyranny of the get rid of complainers quickly metric (aka. first call resolution), but it would also create room for real conversation.
    * set up a mini-website to explain the situation to the people affected by this (and from the empty shelves in store, it's not just my drum that went AWOL).

I might still have been annoyed for a moment, but probably would be thinking well, in the end they took care of me ... s*** happens.  I might even have bought an extra printer which my son could play with after mine was sorted out.

Food for thought
The morale of the story is that broken promises happen in every relationship, but if they are dealt with in the right way they can be an opportunity to strengthen the bond with your brand. 

As marketers are typically the promise makers of the company, I believe they should also look at the ways the business deals with promises that are broken, and pro-actively establish systems that kick in, if not everything goes to plan.  

Oh yes, and I am switching back to Dell.

Is Your Brand Cheap & Easy?

Or are you the sophisticated and seductive type?  As a follow-up to my earlier comparison between human love and the occasional affection we display for brands, I sometimes wonder whether some brand managers are still stuck in a bad 70s macho interpretation of Don Juan.

I'm sure you remember the type.  Curly hair on head and chest.  A purple shirt with so little buttons closed that you wonder whether it has any at all.  Dark - oversized - sunglasses that are only used at night. And to really blind you a few pounds of golden chains doubling as early warning signal for the fact that "Mr. Cool has arrived".

Of course, I exaggerate.  Still, walking through the supermarket aisles, surfing the web or zapping channels in a New York of Hong Kong hotel room, a lot of what I still hear is "look at me, I'm bigger", "I'm cheaper", "I'm easier to use", "I'm this", "I'm that" ... 

Brands flaunting their features and benefits, and continuously emphasizing how they are easier to "get" than the one that came by 30 seconds before.

Now, in the right mood, I'll be the last to knock the concept of a cheap & easy thrill.  But I do wonder if those thrills are the ones that relationships are made of?  The difference between lust and seduction is that the former concentrates purely on the body, while the latter deeply penetrates the mind.

Just think about it.  Would you stay interested for long in a partner who bared it all at the first encounter and left very little to discover over time.  Or would you be more intrigued by a man or woman, who slowly seeped into your mind, continuously surprising, occasionally startling?

It's the same with brands and products.  The propositions we make and the ways we communicate about them should "lure" consumers into a slow and seductive spell, rather than provide all throw all features, benefits and cheapness out in the open.

So as food for thought I throw you a little challenge.  When you look at your  communication efforts, do you "bare it all" at the first contact, or do you leave something to be discovered as customers start engaging with your brand?  Have you built in follow-up surprises which rekindle interest and pique curiosity?  And if you don't today, are there ways you could start changing this?

After all, the proverb "if you've got it, flaunt it" only works while your young and your abs are still firm. After that, it's the depth that matters.

For a great reading tip on the topic check out The History of My Life by Giacomo Casanova.  If you gotta learn, go straight to the master himself.