Comment: Convergence of media will be the key trend of 2014

Here at Carat we believe that the convergence of media (effectively using technology to drive people towards buying things in a simpler way) is set to become the main driving force behind the innovation and success in the modern retail landscape and I see no reason why this will not be the predominant trend in 2014.

Bearing that in mind, all of my predictions can, and should, be looked at through the lens of convergence, as it’s how we look at all the work we do for our clients.

The proliferation of searches, social interaction and location-based devices create a wealth of data about people that can be used to understand their needs and desires in more depth. From this, retailers can start to better anticipate demand, create relevant retail events and tailor promotions by location and target audience.

The data is by its nature very deep, complex and noisy and it can be difficult to see the wood for the trees. It’s also essential to acknowledge privacy issues and treat personal data with great integrity. But if you have a clear idea of what you are looking for, and choose the right sets of data, you can spot immediate opportunities to optimise the shopper journey, or find white spaces that mark you out from the competition. 

The nature of retail is highly reactive to external events, whether it’s changing weather, changes in pricing, competitor activity or even changes in traffic and infrastructure. The lead times of advertising communication have long been frustrating to businesses that move a lot faster than the advertising process. But a storm is coming that will blow the old traditions away.

The availability of data in real time is giving us ever better signals of what to communicate, like an early warning radar. Digital disruption is making content quicker to create, and the changing advertising trading model is making it quicker to activate. This is a vitally important new opportunity for retail businesses.

But nowhere can convergence in the retail sector be felt more keenly than in the erosion of the classic (some say, ‘out-dated’) purchase funnel.

Every time there is further convergence in the digital landscape the outcome is that it becomes easier for consumers to search for information, prices, goods or buy at a swipe of the finger.

This removes whole sections of the purchase funnel and moves the consumer from engagement to purchase in one stroke. 

And with a bit of clever thinking this can be done relatively easily. We recently put a campaign together for Very.co.uk that did just this. We found that our key target audience loved celebrity and loved Big Brother.

We took this insight and combined it with click-to-buy technology and put together a product placement deal, which meant that not only there were 100 products in the Big Brother house supplied by Very.co.uk, but also people could go online at http://www.channel5.com/bigbrother/house and buy anything in the house with a simple click. The sales uplift was astounding with one coat selling out in hours and increasing sales by over 1000%. 

Matthew Hook, chief strategy officer, Carat