Flux Trends presents Blurred Lines - latest trend report

Last year e-commerce in South Africa entered a phase of rapid acceleration. Sceptics were silenced, as consumers continued to embrace online shopping. (A new PwC survey found that only 15% of South African respondents had never bought anything online.) The current market share of etailing is still small compared to traditional bricks & mortar business, but the growth potential is undeniably huge. But while the online shopping trajectory rises steadily, it has became clear that retail success does not hinge on two distinct paths - an online offering and/or a bricks & mortar offering - but rather a service offering that straddles both realms.

Hybrids want both worlds

The hybrid consumer is using new technologies to navigate the bricks and mortar environment, while simultaneously embracing the virtual world of online shopping. The hybrid shopper has developed a taste for both worlds as they bring different emotive qualities to the consumer experience. This duality has created a need and expectation for certain elements of both environments, to blur seamlessly, providing the best of both worlds.

For brands and retailers, this hybrid customer challenges all traditional templates of marketing and consumer engagement. However, there is no rulebook for this seemingly schizophrenic customer.

Presentation overview

• The emergence of the hybrid consumer: we track the pendulum swing of the tech-savvy consumer from showrooming to webrooming.
  
• Bringing cyberspace to the store: how to bring digital elements into a bricks & mortar environment to create a tech savvy consumer experience.
  
• Taking the store into cyberspace: even businesses that are solely online are seeing the benefit of introducing tactile, offline experiences for their customers
  
• And everything in between: something old, something new - 21st century retail
  
• Struggling to provide that "omni channel" presence? This presentation will show you how to communicate with the hybrid customer.
  
• Servicing the hybrid customer: Whether it's online or offline, service is the gateway to the now, elusive and rare, customer loyalty.

The presentation will be of benefit to retailers and brands that are contemplating or have embarked on an online offering to complement their bricks & mortar businesses; those that want to create better retail theatre to lure this hybrid customer, and marketers and advertisers that need to communicate with a customer that moves continually and seamlessly between online and offline.

Event details

The presentation will be held in Johannesburg at 4.00pm on Wednesday 2 July 2014 at the Protea Hotel Fire & Ice, in Melrose Arch and in Cape Town at 4.00pm on Wednesday 16 July 2014 at the Protea Hotel President, Bantry Bay.

The cost is R300 per person and R200 for students with a valid student card. Bookings can be done by calling +27 (0)11 726 5529 or email az.oc.sdnertxulf@ofni. for more information, go to www.fluxtrends.co.za.