With December around the corner, we are upon the gift-giving season—making for the time of year when consumers tend to spend the most.
No matter which way you prefer to shop, retail now embraces an omnichannel format so that individuals can shop via their preferred method. However, in a recent study on holiday shopping trends for 2021, brick-and-mortar retail shopping was the third-highest response in how people will be conducting their holiday shopping this year. Whether it’s because people want to get out of the house, or because they believe most people around them are vaccinated, it seems to be that physical stores will get their volumes of customers back up to normal again.
This will turn the page for retail, moving on from one of the more difficult chapters it has seen to date. True resilience was shown by the industry over the past year and a half, and businesses continually morphed to meet the shifting needs of customers and communities. What is more, many places of business did their best to accommodate the clear shift in consumer mentality. Shopping went from being a leisurely activity prompted by want or joy to one that was necessary for survival as people only braved the storefront for the things that were essential.
Retail’s Big Show, NRF 2022, is a pinnacle event that highlights trends, current realities, and future projections for the retail world. This is a milestone event that will be a key indicator of what is to come for the industry, and with much change, it will be a showcase that can generate a roadmap of what the future of retail will look like. One company, in particular, Tokinomo, will be attending this event and bringing the magic we all need as we move into a brighter future for retail post-pandemic.
A New Era In Retail
This year, retail numbers are expected to come down the pipeline a little earlier than they have in the past, on account of the circumstances caused by COVID-19. According to a report by McKinsey, approximately 40% of respondents say they expect to shop and spend earlier than they did in 2020 because they anticipate shortages, longer shipping times, and unexpected supply-chain challenges related to COVID-19.
Not only will numbers increase, but expectations as well—as retail has shown that it is capable of more, and now the bar has been raised for consumers’ wants. This means that the industry needs to accelerate its efforts, and brands need to do more to glean an edge in a highly saturated market with mounting needs. Tokinomo, a global award-winning in-store, interactive, brand activation Point of Sales Display startup, can help do just that by creating retail displays like no other.
Tokinomo’s patented and CSA-certified robotic solution for supermarket shelf advertising and POP marketing uses sensor technology with a combination of sound, motion, and light to bring products on the shelf to life. This gives common products the capacity to talk, move, sing, or dance in front of shoppers. Bringing magic to something that was once ordinary, then somewhat anxiety-driving, and then back to blasé again, this brand is generating a whole new grocery store experience and manifesting memories along the way.
The cost of acquiring consumer attention has increased dramatically, on average seven- to nine-fold, in the past two decades. Tokinomo’s brand activation POSM solution is connected to the internet and managed remotely via a cloud-based platform, so everything is digital other than the robotics themselves that are reusable. This makes marketing strategies not only completely customizable and interchangeable but also cost-effective as well.
Their mission is to promote what they have termed as brand “activation”, enhancing a brand at whatever time it is needed—whether that be to bolster a new product or play into a special event such as the holidays. This creates a unique experience for every individual shopper, prompting them to engage deeper and share their experience, which naturally stimulates word of mouth marketing—the most powerful marketing tool known to date.
Retail’s Big Show Expo, The NRF 2022
CPG brands worldwide use the Tokinomo robotic in-store advertising solution, increasing their sales by +200% on average. Transcending beyond the limitations of an average shop experience, stats show that customers are 40% more likely to remember the name of your brand when you implement a campaign with Tokinomo. For these reasons and many more, Tokinmomo was selected for Retail’s Big Show Expo Innovation Lab for 2022.
This lab is an immersive exhibit that tracks the latest developments in retail’s tech transformations and participants experience the most innovative solutions, products, and tools from across the globe. If you want to tune in to see what’s next for retail, with Tokinomo or with other technological innovations in the industry, register now for NRF 2022: Retail’s Big Show, which is January 16 – 18 in New York City, USA.
Disclosure: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company.
