26 FABRICARE continued from page 25 “These strategies have resulted in too many malls and stores, too many brands and sub-brands, too much inventory, too many price options, and product life cycles that are too long and too costly,” he says. Digital interactions with retail are the new norm. Consumers are now in charge of brand relationships; their experiences are driving new brand behaviors, and they expect perfection with digital interactions. Customers own the technology to do this—and have for a decade (the first iPhone was launched in 2007). “With the consumer’s ability to control experiences— what they buy, where they buy it, and what they want to pay for it—this is forcing the industry to rethink the channels in which we engage with consumers,” Santacroce says. “These won’t replace brick and mortar, but we need to think about mobile, online, and in-store holistically. We need to be prepared to interact and engage with consumers in the same quality and context that meets the expectations of the consumer,” he says. THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY IS PERSONAL The consumer path to purchase includes digital and physical brand interactions. The digital path to purchase must be simple, and this channel is a chance to inform, engage, and acquire new consumers. And that digital dialogue equals loyalty: 40% of consumers won’t go into a store unless they can go online first; over 80% have been online at least two days before entering a shop; a brand’s website plays an important role for 69% of purchases; and 49% of purchases are heavily influenced by digital. For brands, this is an opportunity to meet customers at their moments of intent, when decisions are being made or preferences are being shaped. And personal engagement leads to loyalty. “65% of the E.U. discover beauty online,” says Amy Kean, vice president of Transformation at Coty, at a November 2017 event in London focused on “The Digitalization of Beauty” sponsored by the luxury digital agency Verb Brands. Coty has a global portfolio of 77 fragrance and beauty brands, including CoverGirl, Clairol, Rimmel London, OPI, and Philosophy. “Beauty is the most personal industry, and at Coty it is all about personalized retail,” Kean says. “Personalization drives conversion up by 35%,” she explains. “We don’t have to shout their names at them,” Kean says, referencing a yogurt brand that did just that during on-demand TV advertisements. “But we do want to know what they want and give that to them without elaborate unnecessary content.” SOCIAL IS DATA Social listening is key to Coty’s social media strategy, she explains. Marketing teams monitor trends via Scout, a proprietary software created in-house that identifies trends in visual content across influencers. The marketeers then create content relevant to these trends. For example, pink drinks for summer 2017 resulted in pink makeup nail and lip looks for the relevant brands’ Instagram posts. “To better target advertising, customer data from Instagram helped Glossier [a U.K.-based beauty brand] deliver a clear brief to marketing creatives on who their customer is and what they want,” explains Charlotte Parks-Taylor, Director of Strategy and Insight at Cream U.K., a strategic media and communications agency specializing in connecting brands to affluent audiences. TALK WITH ME, NOT AT ME “Conversational commerce” has been available in Asia since the launch of WeChat, with What’s App, Facebook Messenger, and other E.U. and American telecoms either launching or piloting this year. “At Boodles [jewelers], in-store staff are able to interact with consumers who are online,” Parks-Taylor FE ATURE continued on page 27 Too much inventory, too many price options, too many brands and too many sub-brands have resulted in an oversatuaration of the retail market, leading to the decline of traditional retail.