Modern retailing - 6 Jun 2016

Last week saw a special focus feature on shopper marketing, edited and curated by Louise Marsland, on how technology is changing how people shop, as well as how digital signage will transform the retail environment. Today, based on this year's theme of the Consumer Goods Forum's Global Summit, 'Seizing opportunities in the face of disruption', Marsland shares some of the top shopper marketing and consumer trends that are leading disruption in the retail value chain.

A new Nielsen Global Brand-Origin report comparing local and global brands suggests that homegrown brands maintain a powerful hold over local consumers. Nielsen Africa Marketing and Communication's director Ailsa Wingfield adds, "South African perceptions about a brand's country of origin shape not only their purchase intentions, but match and frequently surpass other key purchasing drivers - such as selection/choice, price and quality. As a result, in a crowded retail environment, brand origin can be an important differentiator between brands making it an extremely valuable asset for both global and local companies."

Contributor Musa Msane says "OMO-Mailbag marketing is so 80s". He's all about marketers encouraging customer engagement, even if that means including WhatsApp numbers on their brand packaging.

Similarly, referring to the rough path taken by an early leader in omnichannel and with their analysis and work with hundreds of other clients across retail sectors to navigate the omnichannel journey, Oliver Merkel and Andrew Noble identify three rules required to build a modern retailer.