PwC’s Global Total Retail Survey

www.pwc.ru/totalretail#TotalRetail

PwC’s Global Total Retail Survey reveals the need for a unified, always-on consumer experience

February 2014

Achieving Total RetailConsumer expectations driving the next retail business model

Contents

Introduction 2

Executive summary 4

Eight customer expectations 12

A compelling brand story that promises a distinctive experience 13

Customized offers based on totally protected, personal

preferences and information 18

An enhanced and consistent experience across all devices 22

Transparency, real time, into a retailer’s inventory 26

Favorite retailers are everywhere 30

To maximize the value of mobile shopping, both store apps

and mobile sites must improve 34

Two-way social media engagement 38

“Brands” act like retailers, and we’ll treat them that way 42

Final thoughts on the next retail business model 46

Survey methodology 48

Contacts in Russia 49

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Introduction

Internet and e-commerce are having a large and lasting impact on retail globally, disrupting the traditional way of conducting retail business. This trend is creating opportunities for new entrants while demanding that incumbent retailers adapt quickly – or perish. Globally, this is one of the key topics on the agenda of our retail clients. That’s why my colleague John Maxwell, PwC’s Global Retail & Consumer Practice Leader, and his team have launched this survey and have been publishing the results on an annual basis.

In Russia e-commerce is also growing rapidly; we have participated in the PwC Global Multichannel Survey for the second year in a row. Our work with retail clients shows that multichannel shopping has become a part of everyday life here. Not surprisingly, the survey results confirm this. Among the 1,074 Internet users in Russia we interviewed, 1,006 have already made an online purchase, with around 600 doing so at least monthly. And, Russia’s Internet users are not some obscure group of tech-savvy young people, as may have been the case just a few years ago. The Internet has established itself as an essential part of life in Russia. In 2013, for the first time more than half of Russian households had broadband Internet access. Penetration is projected to grow further to 68% by 2017, reaching 38 million households, providing a solid basis for the further spread of e-commerce.

But, what will probably have an even greater impact on the lives of Russians in the next couple of years is the rapid spread of mobile Internet. Currently, 61 million people in Russia have mobile Internet, which is 43% of population. However, penetration is projected to explode in the next several years to reach 100 million users by 2017, or 70% of the total population. At that point, mobile Internet penetration will have exceeded fixed broadband Internet penetration. Already in 2013, over 40% of respondents reported using their mobile devices for shopping; with penetration growing at this speed, the potential for mobile shopping is immense.

Also of great interest are projections that by 2016 Russian mobile Internet penetration will have nearly caught up with that of Great Britain (the gap is forecast to shrink from 20 pp in 2013 to 2 pp in 2016). This will have an enormous effect on e-commerce, which currently in Russia still has a lower impact on retailers’ sales compared to some developed markets. Sales through online channels account for around 3% of total retail sales, while in the UK this figure is around 12% already. Given the rising penetration of Internet access and the ever greater popularity and convenience of shopping via mobile devices, we can confidently predict that the share of e-commerce in Russia will swiftly move towards parity with today’s UK figures.

Total Retail – a winning concept for Russia as well Quadrupling the share of e-commerce in retail will have a disruptive effect on the retail sector in Russia. In fact, this process has already begun. Naturally, the effect will vary among categories, with consumer electronics, home appliances and media content being the most affected, and grocery the least. But, even in the grocery category, around 30% of Internet users prefer to research products online. This means that no retailer can afford to neglect the relevance of interacting with its customers through multiple channels and, thus, must provide for a seamless transition among them. At PwC, this is what we call the Total Retail concept.

In working with clients and analysing the Russian retail industry, we are constantly observing trends that are very much in line with the conclusions of our study. For example, those companies that have embraced the Total Retail approach, with full connections between channels, tend not only to perform better in terms of online sales but also in overall sales and customer satisfaction. And, customer satisfaction is a critical asset nowadays, as the competition is always just a few clicks away. Our survey shows that, in spite of a growing number of shopping options, Russian consumers tend to shop with fewer and fewer different retailers. Although there are differences

among regions, the key message is clear: Once customers get over the initial thrill of experimenting with a wide range of different retailers, driven by the diverse shopping options available, most tend to favour a few chosen retailers, which they have grown to trust.

Our clients also tell us – and again the survey confirms this message – that online shopping does not necessarily undermine the role physical stores play. Eighty percent of Internet users still visit a store at least monthly, meaning that multichannel players have a significant advantage over pure players. And, it’s not just the technical aspects of online shopping that drive people to stores. The ability to touch and try out products, as well as a consumer preference for the in-store shopping experience, are by far the most popular reasons our respondents cited when asked why they don’t shop online, while reasons linked to payment methods and security are decreasing in importance.

To embrace Total Retail, retailers will need to offer more services like “click and collect”, which is a typical example of how the use of more channels can provide a superior customer experience. It’s not surprising that growth in this service is surpassing home delivery service in a number of markets. Our survey shows that Internet users find the option of picking up ordered goods at a convenient location to be one of the most important delivery features (second only to free delivery). This means that retailers can extend the reach of their entire assortment to every store, as any item they hold in the warehouse can be delivered to any store after it has been ordered. We can also expect further collaboration between online retailers seeking to expand their reach and other businesses with available space in a convenient location, be it a local convenience store, gas station, metro or bus station, or something else. Such cooperation may take the form of either a staffed pick-up point or just operating an automated pick-up machine. This also addresses an issue that is quite relevant for Russian shoppers regarding delivery: the ability to pick up a product at any time that is convenient for them.

3 #TotalRetail The next retail business model

Another way for traditional retailers to leverage their stores is to use in-store technology. A large majority of Russian shoppers believe this can improve their shopping experience. Interestingly, the top-ranked in-store technologies are those that embrace multichannel shopping, featuring the ability to check online (or another store) and stock quickly, as well as in-store Wi-Fi with easy login (enabling price comparison, research, and peer-to-peer communications). Forward-looking retailers can differentiate themselves in this area while at the same time embracing the Total Retail concept.

Social media is an increasingly relevant aspect of the new shopping experience. Social media sites are very relevant in Russia, not just for brand-building purposes but all throughout the customer purchase journey, including the actual purchase. Fashion is the most affected category in this regard, giving fashion brands an enormous opportunity to steer customer journeys to their favour. What is especially fascinating is the increase in social media use for purchases – the percentage of respondents who bought products over social media more than doubled in 2013 versus 2012 (up to 48%) while the share of those who commented on their experience with a product rose from 31% to 56%.

E-commerce also brings challengesClearly, e-commerce is bringing not only benefits to retailers, but challenges as well. One of these is new competition. Not only can other retailers more easily expand to new geographic areas and/or new categories, but the Internet also lets manufacturers sell directly to consumers. The direct-to-consumer approach is spreading rapidly in Russia (in 2012 only 30% of respondents bought directly from brands, whereas in 2013 this figure had grown to 78%). This rapid development has likely been accelerated by the opening of branded web-stores by such category leaders as Zara in fashion and Apple in electronics. For retailers, this presents a very profound challenge: to offer a raison d’être that will attract customers. After all, if manufacturers can deliver goods directly to end-consumers, then

why are retailers still necessary? The answers will probably lie in exclusive product offerings (private label or designated production, such as in fashion retail), impartial advice, and the convenience of “one-stop” shopping, among other things.

Another issue is maintaining the profitability of physical stores even as more and more revenue is migrating online. Operating physical stores offers several benefits, but also carries the burden of various costs, for labour, rent, equipment, etc. To a large extent, such costs are fixed and the more revenue migrates online, the higher share such costs represent in a typical retailer’s revenue. Adding to this, price transparency forces retailers to match their off-line prices with online prices, but margins online tend to be significantly lower. So, not only do retailers see lower revenues per square metre because of growing online sales, but they also earn less for each unit of this revenue because of thinner margins. Clearly, this is not an ideal situation, but finding a solution will mean that retailers must first define the problem correctly. This begins with adjusting the KPIs they use to assess their stores’ performance. Measuring performance separately, a store’s KPIs might deteriorate, but it is crucial to understand how much the specific store contributes to online sales (through customer service, store pick-up, etc.). This is one of the key questions we are helping our clients address, not only in Russia but in more mature e-commerce markets such as Great Britain and the United States as well.

Retailers are also struggling with inventory management. The idea of customers being able to order goods anytime from anywhere is, of course, appealing, but when customers expect their purchases to be delivered the next day at a specific time, and preferably free of charge, the company’s back-office systems must spring into action quickly. We have worked with several retailers worldwide, helping them to address this issue by first configuring the supply chain network to support such delivery fulfilment, and then using advanced methods to allocate inventory based on projected demand. Then, a decision must be made concerning the most appropriate

fulfilment method (e.g. from a near-by store, from a distribution centre) and delivery terms offered (time and price), using various input data, such as past user behaviour, cost of various options, the current location of an ordered item, and others.

Another area where we advise retailers is how to optimise their value proposition by analysing the key decision points in the customer funnel and comparing their performance to best practice. The most critical areas here concern website functionality, stock availability and delivery options (as well as price, of course). Another challenge is co-ordinating communications within a retailer’s corporate structure across all communications media. In today’s environment of radical transparency, it is crucial for companies to be consistent in how they communicate. This means that a shop assistant in a store, an agent in a call centre, and a social media specialist should all answer the client in a co-ordinated manner, which in our experience is quite a rare achievement in Russian retail.

In conclusion, the rapid growth of Internet penetration and e-commerce in Russia clearly presents a wealth of opportunities for retailers. But, it also brings some challenges, which retailers must learn to manage. The first steps in making the most out of this trend are to understand customer behaviour and learn from international and local developments. I am confident that research studies such as the PwC Multichannel Survey can significantly contribute to this process. I hope you enjoy this publication and would be happy to receive your questions or comments.

Martijn Peeters

Martijn Peeters

Partner, Consulting, Retail and Consumer [email protected]

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Executive summary

It’s a high bar our survey participants

have set for retailers: compelling in-store

technology, an “always-on” 24/7 service

mentality, real-time insight into product avail-

ability at individual stores, and consistent prices

and offerings across a retailer’s assets. Within our

data we’ve unearthed eight expectations, which

you’ll find featured throughout this report,

along with their implications for the

next retail business model.

One unifiedexperience

5

5 continents, 15 territories, 15,000 online shoppers surveyed

CanadaNetherlands

Turkey

Germany

Italy

UK

Middle East

France

India

Switzerland

Russia

South Africa

China and Hong Kong

Brazil

US

Maybe I’m in a hurry; can I complete the transaction quickly? Can I find the book I’m looking for? Is it a pleasant interaction?

The key question is: Do I want to repeat this particular shopping experience?

It turns out that my desire for a seam less customer experience is very similar to other consumers around the world. This report, our seventh in a series, is based on our 2013 survey of more than 15,000 online shoppers in 15 different territories. In it, we report that today’s consumers now view multichannel shopping as a given. Convenient physical stores, a website capable of handling purchases, a mobile site or app—these capabilities are simply the price of admission for a healthy relationship with a consumer.

A s a student of history and economics, I love to read about the past with a view to

understand where the world is headed. While no one has a crystal ball, under-standing prior geopolitical, consumer and economic developments helps us to consider the probabilities of what is most likely to happen in the future.

Whether I’m reading G-Zero, by Ian Bremmer or The Age of the Unthinkable by Joshua Cooper Ramo, the last thing on my mind is how I actually purchased the book. Maybe I was shopping in a physical bookstore or maybe I made an online impulse buy after reading a review. But, as a book consumer, I’m not adjusting my desires based on these two very different shopping “channels.” I just want to find a good book with a minimum of effort.

Today’s consumers

now view multichannel

shopping as a given.

#TotalRetail The next retail business model

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It’s a high bar our survey participants have set for retailers: compelling in-store technology, an “always-on” 24/7 service mentality, real-time insight into product availability at individual stores, and consistent prices and offerings across a retailer’s assets. Within our data we’ve unearthed eight expectations, which you’ll find featured throughout this report, along with their implications for the next retail business model.

The legacy of multichannelIt is still very much in vogue among retailers to celebrate shopping chan-nels, as if the physical store and the different devices through which online sales are conducted—the laptop, tablet, or smartphone—are standalone pipe-lines to the consumer.

Figure 1: A greater focus on the consumer and integrated, customer-focused technology transforms the “channel” experience into a Total Retail experience

Connected experience

One-way experience

Source: PwC Global Total Retail Survey 2013

50%+ increase in weekly online shoppers

from 2012 to 2013

Omni-channel

Total Retail

More channels

2000s–present

Brick & mortar

Pre-1990s

Dot.com

1990s –2000s

Product centric

Customer centric


The costs and complexi-

ties of managing on a

multichannel basis are too

great and offer too few

rewards for the customer

experience.

In many ways this fidelity to the channel is understandable. The phrases “multi-channel” and “omnichannel” have been useful for retailers as a framework to think about the different avenues afforded by e-commerce and as a road map for how to shore up their func-tionality. It makes sense that retailers initially responded to the challenges of digital commerce by attempting to manage on a multichannel basis in the back office. But the result today is an expensive channel-focused model that involves multiple marketing, merchan-dising, and supply chain teams; need-lessly complex, individually broken-out profit and loss statements; and even different accounting methods based on the channel from which sales originate.

Similarly, at the customer-facing end of things, barriers have hardened among sales channels. Trade promotions are inconsistent across channels, products are unavailable in-store because units already were sent from distribution centers to fulfill web orders, customer loyalty information is haphazardly applied across channels, and even basic customer payment information has to be re-typed again and again. The costs and complexities of continuing on this path are too great and offer too few rewards for the customer experience. It’s a faulty formula doomed to failure.

Thinking beyond channels to Total RetailContrast this state of affairs with the mindset of the digitally empowered consumer as shown in Figure 2 on the following page. Today’s non-stop

customers have taken things into their own hands and become more tech-savvy than retailers. Customers have embraced show-rooming, learned how to exploit their own shopping data for deals, and become experts at taking advantage of online coupons and offers.

Consumers have the tools, literally at their fingertips, to immerse themselves in a retailer’s brand but also to skewer that brand on blogs or social media if the brand promise is broken, the shopping experience disappoints, or a purchase costs more than expected. In this year’s survey, for example, 55% of our global sample provided positive or negative comments about their experi-ences with a product or brand on social media. In other words, if customers feel strongly enough about a brand, expect them to spread the word.

To respond, retailers need to embrace what we at PwC are calling Total Retail. Total Retail means two things: a unified brand story across all chan-nels that promises a consistently superior customer experience and an integrated back-office operating model

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with agile and innovative technology. While retailers are fond of saying that customers are educated and empowered as never before, Total Retail entails doing something about it by focusing the retail business model on the customer.

In our experience, single-point solutions for each separate channel are not nearly enough. What’s needed is a Total Retail business model transformation that incorporates supply chain, marketing and sales, and finance.

Figure 2: Digitally empowered consumers embracing social media to connect with brands

Q: Which of the following have you done using social media?

Discovered brands

Researched a brand

Bought products

42% 41% 52%58% 59%

Followed favorite brands or retailers

Interacted with favorite brands

Provided positive or negative comments about

experience

41% 48% 45%59% 52% 55%

48%

Base: 15,080 Source: PwC Global Total Retail Survey 2013 NoYes


Great expectationsThe customer expectations we feature in this report all have specific business model ramifications for retailers. In this year’s data, for example, we’ve noted fairly strong growth in the number of survey respondents who used tablets and smartphones for shopping.

In this year’s research, 41% of global shoppers who took the survey bought products through tablets, compared with 28% in 2012, and 43% of our respondents purchased products through smartphones, compared with 30% in 2012. One could reasonably surmise that one of the customer expec-tations being expressed, then, is for an enhanced and personalized experience across devices. Online shoppers will expect that product promotions, offers, and other communications will be available in the store and also work on every kind of mobile device, from the smartphone to the tablet to whatever wearable technology becomes popular in a few years.

A total retailer will have prepared for this customer expectation by embed-ding digital marketing materials with the appropriate formatting necessary to be readable on all of these devices. Sound easy? When we asked our global survey respondents why they don’t use their mobile phone for shopping, more than 40% said the screen is too small, illustrating the difficulties in designing shopping features that work intuitively on such a device. It’s a good bet that many retailers don’t have the technology processes or in-house skills to design an elegant

shopping architecture on a screen that two out of five consumers believe is too small to comfortably execute a shopping transaction.

Another expectation we’ll examine in this report is real-time transparency into a store’s inventory. When we asked which in-store technology our survey participants most wanted, it was the ability to transparently view—on their own, without having to engage with staff—a retailer’s stock to see where they can get a particular product. Globally, 46% of our survey participants said that they would like the capability to “check other store or online stock quickly.” The basic idea here is very simple, but the inventory and operational ramifications are enormous. Total customer visibility into inventory means that whatever the customer wants to buy, and however that inquiry is made, retailers need systems that talk to one another.

A compelling brand story that promises a distinctive experience

Favorite retailers are everywhere

Customized offers based on totally protected, personal preferences and information

To maximize the value of mobile shopping, both store apps and mobile sites must improve

An enhanced and consistent experience across all devices

Two-way social media engagement

Transparency, real time, into a retailer’s inventory

“Brands” act like retailers, and we’ll treat them that way

Our eight consumer expectations

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Figure 3: Building the next retail business model

Customer analytics for easy, convenient,

personalized transaction experiences

Supply chain optimization

enabling transactions anywhere

Integrated technology, platforms, and systems to provide seamless

transaction services to anyone, anywhere

A customer-focused organization, instead

of a channel-focused organization

1 3

2 4

Building blocks for the next retail business modelRetail CEOs know that action is needed. According to PwC’s 17th Annual Global CEO Survey, published in January 2014, 56% are planning aggressive action to change their business model; but what are the specific steps? The changes to the retail business model that we highlight in this report can add up to very significant changes in how retailers operate. In fact, the CEO Survey also finds that 53% of retail CEOs have change programs under

way or planned for their organizational design. In the area of organizational change, the move away from a channel focus to a customer focus can have huge implications for the retailer C-suite and how those executives interact with the business units within a retail organiza-tion. As our firm works with retail clients, for example, we see an increasing need for a chief customer officer who “owns” the customer experience and what we call the “demand chain” part of the busi-ness, such as marketing, social media or customer service centers. Another


with consumers outside the store or factory walls; the analytic tools that can help make sense of point-of-sale and other proprietary data; a supply chain rooted not in cost efficiency but in getting customers what they want, where and when they want it; and the change management needed to align the organization around its new customer centricity.

With these building blocks and the many retail business model implica-tions we feature in this report, PwC is hoping to offer a fresh perspective on the store of the future. Within a few years, we think the retail sector will be talking a lot more about how retail business models need to adapt. The goal of this paper is to help companies have that conversation today.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you find this report helpful.

John G. Maxwell Global Retail and Consumer Leader

welcome addition to many retail manage-ment teams would be a head of sales responsible for all sales revenues, regard-less of channel.

Also included in this report are profound technology implications for the retail business model. First and foremost is that IT’s main purpose must evolve from enabling operational efficiency to driving a superior customer experience. Second and closely related is how IT generally is regarded by many: as a cost center rather than as a strategic enabler. In a recent survey of retail executives, for example, 45% of CIOs report to the CFO or the COO, whereas 65% of CMOs report to the CEO or board.1

Integrated technology platforms, as well as organizational change, are two of the four business model building blocks that lay the foundation for many of the more specific business model adaptions we talk about in this paper. The other two are supply chain opti-mization (which probably comes as no surprise) and customer analytics, which is crucial for many of the business model changes that relate to the new power of the consumer.

If retailers can refocus on customer expectations as the foundation of their business model, the building blocks they need will flow from there: the technology needed to share customer data across channels and engage

The Total Retail

business model marries

a consistently superior

customer experience to

a back office with agile

and innovative technology.

1 “The New Cost Structure of Retail IT,” Q4 2013, EKN.

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Eight customer expectations

Why have we linked consumer expectations with the retail business

model? For too long, the customer has been

of interest mainly to the sales department or

to market research. But today, consumers

empowered bytechnology have enormous

expectations that raise the bar for every part

of a retail organization.

and online, price consistency, and stored personal credit card and other ID information to speed transactions. We’ve looked at our survey findings and grouped them into eight overall customer expectations.

Our survey shows that consumers have become agnostic about channel and

want a unified customer experience: consistent promotions across channels, loyalty programs recognized in-store


Several different data points from our survey suggest that global consumers are hungry for reasons to stay with a particular retailer or set of retailers. And while it wasn’t our intention at the outset of our survey to measure online shoppers’ reactions to certain brands, it appears as if a compelling brand itself—outside of the actual shopping experience—can exert a strong pull on consumers.

The consolidation trend presents an opportunityFirst, let’s talk about the enormous opportunity for retailers that can connect emotionally to consumers. Our data show that a clear consumer motivation exists to embrace a select group of favorite “go-to” retailers. Global shoppers, according to our survey, are shrinking their shopping footprint to just a few retail brands. When we asked survey participants to choose the number of retailers they shopped with over the previous 12 months, from a list of 30 well-known domestic retailers from their country, 15% of our global sample responded that they shopped with just one retailer, an increase of 7% from 2012. That same trend held in the “2 to 5” favorite retailer range, as 43% selected this choice as representing the number of retailers they shopped with in the previous year.

Figure 4: Number of retailers shopped with over the last 12 months

Q: Have you shopped with any of the following retailers over the last 12 months through any channel?

Note: Information was calculated from specified lists of specific country retailers and excluded online-only retailers. Base: 15,080 (2013); 11,067 (2012)Source: Global PwC Total Retail Survey 2013

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Only 1 retailer

2 to 5

6 to 10

11 to 20

21+

15%8%

43%35%

27%35%

14%21%

1%1%

2013 2012

A compelling brand story that promises a distinctive experience A compelling brand narrative can be as much a contributor to retail success as the customer experience itself.

On the other hand, the percentage of survey participants who said they shopped with 6 to 10 retailers fell from 35% to 27%, and the percentage who shopped at between 11 to 20 retailers fell from 21% in 2012 to 14% in 2013. Online shoppers in Hong Kong were particularly conservative with the number of retailers they shopped with; in Hong Kong 88% of shoppers patronized five or fewer retailers in the previous 12 months.

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When we looked at the data from another point of view—the number of retailers used by multichannel shop-pers (these shoppers are defined as those who purchase from at least two of the following channels: physical store, online via tablet/PC, or online via mobile/smartphone)—46% of those shoppers frequented just one retailer, and 48% shopped with between 2 to 5 retailers. Just 5% said they used 6 to 10 retailers.

Whatever is behind this consolidation trend, the new normal in retailing is that shoppers are searching for reasons to consistently visit a small number of retailers. The question is, which retailers will they choose and why?

The pull of a strong brandCertainly price and product availability are time-tested reasons for choosing a store. “Inexpensive/reasonably priced” is an option that 85% of our survey respondents chose when we asked why they shopped at their favorite retailers. But a closer look reveals that the number one reason people shop at their favorite retailers is this one:

“I trust the brand,” with 86% of respon-dents concurring. In addition, 81% said they liked the “store, its location and staff”; 64% said they shopped at favorite retailers because of “different, interesting marketing that catches my imagination;” and 50% shopped at their favorite retailers because of interesting things the company is doing on social media. In other words, a high percentage of our survey participants were attracted to brands that tell a story in an engaging manner.

Many retailers have excelled at estab-lishing a very strong brand promise that solidifies a core of loyal customers. Nordstrom’s shopper-friendly brand, famously highlighted in business author Jim Collins’ Good to Great, is personi-fied in its employees, all of whom carry a business card and are trained for just about any customer contingency. Whether the brand promise is centered on employees (Nordstrom), granular knowledge and a willingness to go the extra mile or other attributes like community involvement or low price, living up to that promise can make all the difference with consumers.

Brand trust is the number

one factor consumers

give for shopping at their

favorite retailers.

Figure 5: Number of retailers used by multichannel shoppers over the last 12 months

Q: Of the retailers where you shop, please specify if you have purchased something from them in-store and/or online. Select all that apply.

46%

48%

5%

1%

Only 1 retailer

2 to 5

Note: We have defined a multichannel shopper as someone who purchases from at least two of the following channels: physical store; online via tablet /PC or via mobile/smartphone.Base: 4,869Source: PwC Global Total Retail Survey 2013

6 to 10

11 to 20

21+ (0%)


Similar to the global trend, Russian consumers also patronized fewer

retailers in 2013 compared to the year before. But, this development does not appear to be linear, as there are two factors in play here, which work in opposite directions. On the one hand, there is more competition in large cities, especially Moscow, giving consumers a choice of several retailers offering a good value proposition. This is probably why the consolidation

of demand in Moscow (which is comparable to the UK) did not change much in 2013 compared to 2012. The other factor is the maturity of shoppers; once modern retail starts to spread, they like to experiment and try different retailers, as they enjoy the shopping experience itself. In developed retail markets, shoppers prefer the convenience of finding everything they need with minimal effort and, thus, once they find retailers that consistently deliver this, they remain loyal.

Figure 6: Similar to the global trend, Russian consumers patronized fewer retailers in 2013

Q: Have you shopped with any retailers over the last 12 months through any channel?

2%

3%

16%

52%

26%

0%

7%

29%

54%

9%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

21+

11 to 20

6 to 10

2 to 5

Only1 retailer

2%

34%

40%

21%

3%

1%

21%

28%

38%

12%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

0%

6%

32%

53%

9%

1%

7%

22%

52%

17%

0% 20% 40% 60%

China UK Russia

2013 2012

In Moscow, retailers that

can provide a consistent

value proposition are

rewarded with a high

degree of customer loyalty,

while in regions the focus is

on winning new customers.

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Looking at various Russian regions, we can assume that a number of regions are still at the early stage

of this development trend, with little consumer choice limiting the number of retailers visited. As retailers begin spreading and providing better value propositions, however, shoppers start experimenting and using more retailers – a development similar to that seen in China. Later, when shoppers themselves mature, they start valuing convenience more and again limit their shopping to fewer retailers. These factors also shape customer loyalty. When asked what they would do if their favourite retailer closed its local store, over 60% of shoppers in Moscow and St Petersburg responded that they would look for the next closest store of the same retailer, while in the Far East only 42% chose this response.

For Russian retailers, this means that they need to adapt their approach to regional development. In Moscow, consistent delivery of a promised value proposition is crucial to retaining customers. Retailers who achieve this are rewarded with customer loyalty that is strong enough to prevent most customers from shopping elsewhere even if some of retail outlets get closed. In the regions, however, we assume that the high percentage of shoppers patronizing only a few retailers is grounded more in a lack of competition. Incumbent retailers in such areas should focus on how to retain their existing customers as their shopping options expand, while such retailers’ challengers should be focused first on raising awareness and then on delivering a superior value proposition that would induce shoppers to switch permanently.

Figure 7: In many regions little consumer choice still limits the number of retailers visited

Q: Have you shopped with any retailers over the last 12 months through any channel?

2013 2012

Northwestern Federal District� (except St Petersburg)

St Petersburg

Moscow

5 retailers or less

Far Eastern Federal District

59%84%

80%85%

58%59%

47%70%

0% 50% 100%


In-store WiFi and sales associates who can take payments away from registers were two popular in-store technology choices in our survey.

Business model implication: To help strengthen a brand, change how that brand is communicated, both internally and externally

Retailers typically under perform in terms of brand value. For example,

in Interbrand’s 2013 “Best Global Brands” list, only two retailers—Louis Vuitton

and Amazon.com—registered in the top 20 based on brand value. That compares

with eight technology companies, four automotive companies, and four consumer

companies. This lack of brand heft particularly is true for those retailers that could

be considered aggregators of other brands.

“A lot of retailers don’t have a brand of

their own, so it’s hard for consumers

to really put their hands on their hearts

and say, ‘Why should I spend money

with you?’” said Matthew Tod, a PwC

UK partner who specializes in working

with retail and consumer packaged

goods companies. “Retailers must

develop a very clear proposition and

a brand that means something to the

consumer.”

Building that brand often starts

internally. For example, most of

Nordstrom’s employees probably don’t

come to work on their first day with

a clear vision of the retailer’s brand

promise. Through training programs,

the company instills both its brand

promise and the freedom to creatively

delight customers. Emphasizing the brand promise during the hiring and training

process is not a complicated change to most retailers’ HR models—but it’s one

that could pay big dividends to brand health.

Externally, retailers need to greatly improve how they communicate their brand.

PwC US principal Sean O’Driscoll, who helps clients engage with customers more

successfully through social media, advised, “Many organizations still ‘broadcast

out’ what they want people to learn about their brand. It’s not about broadcasting

out to customers, it’s about engaging with customers.” For many retailers, that

could mean a dedicated social media staff to run campaigns and competitions, a

formal process to respond to customer comments left on social media, and less

traditional advertising rather than other kinds of branded content such as social

media blogs from company executives and placed articles in trade publications.

On the flip side of brand building is reputation management, which retailers also

need to improve. Social media, for example, does not only offer opportunities for

brand communication and building customer loyalty, it can be a powerful tool for

protecting the brand. Negative publicity or remarks about the company’s brand

or its services can be quickly addressed by responding via various social media

tools. By approaching social media as a way to engage with customers about

brand value, retailers are not only able to build brand power, but to manage

reputation risks as well.

PwC18

It’s human nature—people like to be accepted and want their needs understood.

Online shoppers, for example, like to be known and recognized at their favorite retailers. We found that 71% of our survey respondents shopped at their favorite retailers because of a great loyalty points or reward program. This desire to be known and understood by a favorite brand manifests itself in social media as well. Just over half (51%) of our global sample used social media to interact with a favorite brand, leading them to like the brand even more than before the interaction.

Up front and digitalShoppers also increasingly said they want personalization based on their past purchases, and retailers are getting better at delivering it. In fact, in our latest survey research, we see a major jump in the percentage of participants who visited brand social media sites because of personalized promotions via email or text message. In this year’s survey, 21% of our respon-dents who visit brand social media sites were drawn to a site because of such a promotion; last year, just 9% of our respondents were attracted by a similar offer. The opportunity to engage in a competition also is a form of personalization, and this year, 23% of our sample who visit brand social media sites said that they did so for

the opportunity to compete in various brand-sponsored contests, up from 16% last year.

In another example of online shopping personalization, 66% of our global sample used a coupon received on their smartphone to make a purchase, in-store, at home, or in transit. As PwC US partner Tom Johnson explained, “The opportunities to further person-alize the shopping experience through mobility are huge, and we think personalization is the ultimate goal of mobile services. A great example is the daily deal and personalizing those daily deals on what you’ve purchased over the last couple of years.”

Big Data analytics helps. Storing lots of information about their customers allows retailers to offer customized, more enjoyable shopping experiences. By employing predictive analytics, many retailers have been able to use customer data to increase marketing and sales effectiveness. Customization can take the form of digital coupons, mobile loyalty programs, exclusive branded content, and social media contests or promotions that can all be used to drive traffic toward online purchases. Many retailers and CPG companies are now using hyper-targeted emails to home in on narrow bands of consumers, typi-cally in a specific geographic locale or demographic strata, with special offers designed to appeal to their personalized interests.

In China, 53% of our

respondents shopped

online weekly via a PC,

the highest percentage

seen in any of our

surveyed territories.

Customized offers based on totally protected, personal preferences and information While cyber-security still is a major online shopping concern, online shoppers also want personalization.


The safety of personal data: A common concern among global shoppersAt the same time, cyber-security still is a major issue for online shoppers in various territories. For our survey respondents who did not purchase items online, we asked them why. Almost 43% said they were worried about the security of their personal data. This is slightly up but still is consistent with the 41% who answered similarly in 2012.

Brazil and South Africa were where the online users most worried about the security of their personal data. Of those Brazilian online users who didn’t shop online, 60% mention personal data security concerns, the second highest percentage answer. In South Africa, that percentage was 61%, the most common choice. For South Africa, this mistrust of online security could be rooted in the fact that this country had the highest percentage of new online shoppers in our survey. Twenty-five percent of South Africans reported that it had been less than one year since their first online purchase, while the global average was 19%.

Figure 8: Data security is a major concern keeping many from shopping online

Q: Why don’t you buy products online? Select all that apply.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Base: 1,234 (2013); 2,343 (2012)Source: PwC Global Total Retail Survey 2013

I prefer to touch/try the product

I just prefer to shop in-store

I'm worried about the securityof my personal data

I don't trust online payment methods

I don’t have a credit/debit card

54%53%

52%

35%

47%

43%41%

32%

25%22%

2013 2012

Secure personal information, of course, is a long-standing e-commerce expectation. But now retailers need to safeguard that data knowing that customers want slick new options like coupons electronically sent to them when they are near a store, as well as all the conveniences of having personal payment and loyalty information acces-sible throughout a retailer’s channels.

PwC20

In terms of a personalized shopping experience, Russian shoppers’ responses closely parallel

the overall global pattern. In 2013, 43% reported having used social media to interact with a favourite brand, leading them to like the brand even more than before the interaction, while 59% said they have used a coupon received on their smartphone to make a purchase.

The area where Russian shoppers most differ from the global average is concern about the security of personal data. Whereas 43% of respondents globally don’t shop online because of security concerns, only 22% of Russian respondents chose this answer in 2013, down from 36% in 2012. Thus, consumer worries about personal data have become less relevant as a barrier to online retailing. Additionally, the percentage of Russian consumers who don’t shop online because they do not trust payment methods or they lack a credit or debit card is decreasing. On the other hand, however, Russian consumers still enjoy in-store shopping. Sixty-two percent of Russian respondents answered “I just prefer to shop in-store” when asked for the top reason they don’t shop online.

This means that technical factors, which prevented people from shopping online (low trust in online payment methods, concerns about personal data, lack of credit or debit cards), are not perceived as a barrier anymore. Those, who still don’t shop on-line, do so because they just like shopping and prefer to try and touch the products before buying them. For retailers this means that the physical shop continues to be relevant, even though it will be used differently by different shoppers – some will only use it as a place to browse the offering and will then buy on-line, while some will still make their purchase in store. Hence, it is crucial important for retailers to understand there personal preferences of their shoppers and adapt their value proposition to them.

Figure 9: Consumers, who still don’t shop on-line, do so because they just like shopping and prefer to try and touch the products before buying them

Q: Why don’t you buy products online?

2013

201211%

36%

43%

40%

75%

7%

22%

38%

62%

74%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

I don’t have a credit/debit card

I'm worried about the securityof my personal data

I don't trust online payment methods

I just prefer to shop in-store

I prefer to touch/try the product

Technical factors are

becoming less of a barrier

to online shopping;

shoppers, who still visit

stores, do so purely

because of their preference

for an in-store shopping

experience.


Business model implication: A balance between customization and security

The business model imperative

will be upgrading cyber-risk

capabilities while still offering

a seamless experience to the

customer. In the current business

model, different channels own

multiple customer databases,

so there is no single view of the

customer. What’s needed to achieve

Total Retail from a cyber-security

perspective is a technological

renewal with customer-centric front

office systems, integrated customer

databases, and a leadership focus

on new, previously unforeseen

threats. The retail sector isn’t

the only one that’s facing these

unprecedented threats. The gaming

sector also has recently been

targeted by hackers in so-called

“denial of service” attacks.

With increasing cyber-threats possible and the potential vulnerabilities of mobile

devices in particular, retailers must decide if they can build out their capabilities

step-by-step, or whether their business model needs to quickly add an entirely

new set of skills and capabilities through acquisition. For example, according

to PwC’s latest global cyber-security mergers and acquisitions report, many

companies are hiring external, mobile-focused cyber-security firms to shore up

their defenses.

South African shoppers are relatively new to shopping online, with 25% reporting that it had been less than one year since their first online purchase.

PwC22

In 2008, e-book revenues constituted just 1% of all US publishing revenues. By 2011, they made up 17%.2 That’s several consecutive years of triple-digit growth.

Just last year, the percentage of our global survey respondents who shopped via smartphone was just as small as e-book revenues were in 2008. Online shoppers already had a favorite, trusted electronic device with which to shop, and it’s called the PC. Fast forward to today, and, according to this year’s survey research, the PC still rules when it comes to executing online purchases. For example, across all 11 of the shop-ping categories included in our survey, purchasing via the PC was by far the preferred method of online purchasing.

A small but fast-growing base of shoppers are using a smartphone and tablet to shopCompared with last year, both tablets and smartphones are gaining traction, even as purchases via a PC continue to dominate the online purchasing process. A few examples of the positive data for the tablet and smartphone: When it comes to household appliances, 10% of our global sample purchased online via tablet, compared with 1% last year. As for the smartphone, 5% of our global sample purchased using that device, compared with 0.4% last year. In clothing and footwear, smartphone and tablet growth in purchasing was even more evident. Our latest results show that 11% of our global sample purchased online via a tablet and 7% via a smartphone. This compares with last year’s results of 1.5% and 0.5%, respectively. In fact, overall, 41% of global shoppers who took the survey bought products through a tablet, compared with 28% in 2012, and 43% of our respondents purchased products through a smartphone, compared with 30% in 2012.

Chinese shoppers are

ahead of the curve in

terms of shopping over

multiple devices, with

49% shopping on a tablet

and 51% on a smartphone.

2 Forbes, April 11, 2013, Jeremy Greenfield, “Ebook Growth Slows in 2012 to ‘Only’ 41%.”

An enhanced and consistent experience across all devices Online shoppers are slowly but surely embracing a range of devices to shop—and latent functionality issues must be addressed.


As for individual territories, China continues to be in a class of its own in terms of its adopting different devices for online shopping. Perhaps that’s not surprising given the country’s demographics. As of June 2013, Internet penetration in China had reached 44%, and the country boasted 591 million Internet users, a user base far larger than the entire US population. In terms of our survey, Chinese shoppers led the way in using new devices, with

49% shopping on a tablet and 51% shopping on a smartphone at least once a month, compared with 22% and 21%, respectively, for our global respondents.

Other countries, albeit with much smaller bases, are following this trend. In France, for example, 25% of our respondents said they shopped with a smartphone or a tablet in 2013 versus 16% in 2012.

Figure 10: Top regions for mobile phone shopping

Q: Do you buy products using a mobile phone/smartphone?

China

77%

23%

Middle East

58%

42%

India

31%

Globalaverage

43%

57%

Yes NoBase: 15,080 (Global), 900 (China), 1,006 (India), 1,000 (Middle East)Source: PwC Global Total Retail Survey 2013

69%

PwC24

Russian consumers like to use both smartphones and tablets for shopping, a trend that is rapidly

growing. In 2012, 28% of Russian respondents shopped via smartphone; in 2013 this figure was already 41%. Similar trends can be seen in tablet usage: 31% shopped via tablet in 2012 and 44% did so in 2013. Also noteworthy, and indicative of further opportunity for Russian retailers, is that smartphone ownership does not appear to be a barrier to the spread of mobile shopping. While 20% of respondents globally answered that they don’t use smartphones for shopping because they don’t own one, in Russia only 4% chose this answer.

If we compare Moscow to the Russian regions, it’s not surprising to find that shopping via mobile devices is more widespread in Moscow. For example, in 2013 57% of Moscow shoppers bought items online using tablets and 52% shopped using smartphones, while in the Southern Federal District the same figures were 24% and 30% of respondents, respectively.

For retailers this means they need to adapt not just the user interface to different devices, but also the content. While being at home behind PC shoppers will tend to do more research and will therefore expect a lot of information and media content about the offering, somewhere on their way using mobile device, they will be more keen to receive location-based tips and special deals, relevant for that moment.

Figure 11: Russian consumers like to use both smartphones and tablets for shopping with smartphone ownership representing no barrier to the spread of mobile shopping

Q: How often do you buy products using the following shopping channels?

Figure 12: Use of smartphones and tablets for shopping varies across Russian Regions

Q: How often do you buy products using the following shopping channels?

2013 2012

31%

28%

44%

41%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Through tablets

Through smartphones

4%

20%

Russia

Global

0% 10% 20% 30%

Don’t own a smartphoneRussia

Don’t own a smartphone

30%

31%

52%

24%

33%

57%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Southern Federal District

Urals Federal District

Moscow

through tablets

through smartphones

With Russian consumers

increasingly using

tablets and smartphones

for shopping, they expect

retailers to provide

a consistent shopping

experience across

all devices.

Q: Why don’t you use your mobile/smartphone for shopping?


Business model implication: Technical agility across all devices

While the percentage of global shoppers

using a mobile phone or smartphone to make

purchases still is very small, it would be a

mistake for retailers to ignore the increasing

use of these devices from a business model

point of view. First, with just a few territory

exceptions, this growth is not happening at

the expense of more traditional shopping

such as in-store shopping or online shopping

via the PC. The pie is growing, and it makes

perfect sense to prepare to take part in this

growth.

Second, some of the handicaps that the

mobile phone currently suffers from will be

addressed in the next few years, simply

due to the evolution of the product and its

accompanying services. Among our global

sample who didn’t use their mobile phone

or smartphone for shopping, for instance,

41% said the screen was too small, 39%

were worried about security, 20% didn’t own

a smartphone, 16% didn’t have a data plan,

and 13% said they had a slow connection.

Does anyone really believe that five years

from now, a significant portion of any online

user group will have a slow connection? As

screen size gets bigger, speed and graphics

improve, and people get better data plans

and faster Internet connections, the move

to mobile shopping likely will accelerate.

The only truly difficult long-term obstacle

to tremendous growth in mobile shopping

may be the security issue. But even that

can be overcome over time; for example,

some of the territories in our survey with the

most long-time online shoppers (UK, US,

Netherlands) also have a lower percentage

of online users worried about mobile security

than the global 39% number.

To prepare for customers who, no doubt, will

want the same shopping experience whether

they are shopping via the PC, tablet, or

mobile phone, a Total Retailer

will need to have the technical agility to

provide a shopping experience that is appro-

priate to the device but still allows customers

to be able to access as much information

as they could using other means. Digital

marketing offers must be consistent across

devices. The ability to interact with individual

stores and corporate management should be

intuitive across devices. Customer informa-

tion must “travel” with the device and still be

secure. The architecture must be in place to

track customer interactions at every conceiv-

able point in the purchase journey, whether

customers are sending an email inquiry via

their PC, commenting about a negative store

experience on a social media site on their

smartphone, or physically returning an order.

Perhaps most important, agile technology

implies an ability to adapt to devices coming

out in the next month or year.

Notice that no one is saying the experiences

have to be identical. Mobile shoppers still

will love to receive personalized coupons,

PC users always will expect more bells and

whistles than the mobile shopping site or app,

and in-store shoppers, no doubt, will appre-

ciate tablet toting associates who can provide

product advice or a different idea for a product

that might suit better. For that day in the future

when retail sales are relatively equally spread

among physical store sales, PC sales, tablet

sales and mobile phone sales, retailers will

be happy that they planned ahead to enhance

each of the different avenues that customers

take to buying products.

Traditional Turkish bazaars like the one above likely will remain an important part of the retail scene in Turkey. For Turkish consumers who didn’t shop online, the primary reason was that they liked to touch or try the product.

PwC26

In some quarters, in-store technology has long been seen as the Holy Grail of retail. That’s never been truer than in our current age of in-store technology support and teens paying for coffees with their smartphone. From virtual dressing rooms that enable shoppers to digitally “try on” outfits (which then, no doubt, are shared on social media), to QR tags on products that connect to videos on that product, to sales associates armed with tablets, the prevailing belief is that consumers never can get enough technology.

Interestingly, our survey research doesn’t fully support this notion. When we gave our survey participants an array of different options for a ques-tion asking which in-store technolo-gies would make for a better shopping experience, 20% chose “none of the above.” That’s a significant group of shoppers who either can’t get excited by the in-store experience anymore—remember that our survey sample is composed of online shoppers—or simply want to be left alone when they do choose to shop at a physical store. An issue for another day is whether retailers are pushing unwanted tech-nology options into stores or whether it’s consumers driving the technology discussion through direct appeals to retailers via social media and other communications.

This question delivered a raft of additional customer expectations in the making, depending on the geography of the survey participant. For instance, our data shows that Brazilian consumers, next to Indian consumers, desire new, cutting-edge in-store technologies.

In each category of in-store technologies, consumers from both these countries wanted these technologies at a higher rate than every other country in the survey. In particular, two technologies stood out as being desirable in Brazil as opposed to the global average: “sales associates with tablets to show you alternative products,” and “sales associ-ates who can take payment without going to the cash register.” PwC, in fact, is working with a global technology company to help Brazilian retailers meet these demands, using a model that combines virtual catalog solutions with a mobile payment platform.

Our survey participants stated a clear desire for one particular featureOf our respondents who did choose a number of technologies, the most popular choice by far was, the “ability to check other store or online stock quickly,” at 46%; followed by in-store WiFi with a fast, simple login, at 31%; and sales associates who can take payment without going to the cash register, at 27% (see Figure 13).

With all the reams of data that customers provide retailers through point-of-sale data, social media activity, location-tagging technology, and searches for products on the retailer’s website, perhaps it should be expected that consumers want to turn the tables on retailers and demand actionable inventory information. But pinpointing inventory throughout a store network, right down to the pallet, store, and shelf, is hard enough for retailers to do as part of their own supply chain

Transparency, real time, into a retailer’s inventory Turning the tables, consumers want to benefit from retailers’ Big Data capabilities.


management, much less in real time for actual in-store customers. Although Big Data offers many ways the front office can customize marketing and sales, the back office of most retailers still faces a serious challenge in managing an increasingly complex supply chain.

In fact, it’s debatable that retailers would even want to offer customers this kind of power. What if a long-time customer checks a store kiosk for an out-of-stock item and sees it in another store 12 miles away, journeys to pick it up, and then finds that someone else just bought the last one? The retailer is left with a very unhappy, very aggra-vated, very motivated customer. Some of the customer expectations in this report brought up very sticky issues for retailers, and this is one of them. In this case, retailers would have to weigh whether it’s worth the effort to make their supply chain, distribution

network, and product replenishment processes visible.

The answer is that it might be. Because by searching for these products in-store at whatever computer kiosk or computer station retailers conjure up, customers would be contributing yet more data about their buying preferences. Various industry studies have estimated that retailers would see significant margin improvements if they could capture all the customer data they theoretically could access.

The more information about customer buying habits, the more retailers know who their customers are, what they want, when they want it, and where they want it. So while customers rightly think they are getting a service from the retailer, real-time customer requests into inventory actually are another data point for the retailer.

“In-store technology

will become increasingly

important in making

the shopping experience

consumer friendly.”

Sergio Alexandre, PwC Brazil partner

Figure 13: Consumers value inventory transparency over other types of in-store technology

Q: Which of the following in-store technologies would make your shopping experience better?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Base: 15,080Source: PwC Global Total Retail Survey 2013

Ability to check other store or online stock quickly

In-store WiFi with fast, simple, login

Sales associates who can take paymentwithout going to the cash register

Sales associates with tablets toshow you alternative products

Using your mobile phone topay for your shopping

Pay for an item through the store's app

None of the above

46%

31%

21%

27%

23%

20%

20%

PwC28

Russians shoppers embrace the use of in-store technology to a higher degree than their

global peers, on average, and especially when compared to shoppers in mature markets. Looking at the percentage of respondents who don’t think any of the listed in-store technologies would make their shopping experience better, we see that only 10% of Russians chose this answer, compared to the global average of 20%. In this respect, Russian shoppers are much more similar to their Chinese peers than to shoppers in more mature markets, such as the United States or Great Britain, who appear more sceptical regarding the use of in-store technologies.

This certainly presents an opportunity for Russian retailers, and early adopters are likely to enjoy significant first-mover advantages in this area. At the moment, several retailers are introducing various in-store technologies, particularly ones that allow consumers to check product availability at other stores or online. Such technologies are helping make the Total Retail concept a reality; in Russia most successful “total retailers” now offer such them to their customers.

7%

10%

29%

33%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

China

Russia

UK

US

None of the listed

Shoppers believe that

in-store technologies

can significantly improve

the in-store shopping

experience, thus presenting

an opportunity for retailers

to differentiate.

Figure 14: Russians shoppers embrace the use of in-store technology to a higher degree than their global peers

Q: Which of the following in-store technologies would make your shopping experience better?


Business model implication: The back office needs to move at the speed of the customer

Until now, the technical agility we’ve been talking about relates to the front-end

technology of online coupons, real-time mobile offers and speed of web

transactions. But this particular expectation raises a completely different

challenge: the back office working real time with the customer. For many retailers,

this will mean a serious upgrade in the technology of how products are tracked,

warehoused, and distributed across a retail network.

On the plus side of making such an

investment, if a retailer actually can

fulfill this customer expectation for

quickly checking the latest physical

store and online stock levels, it likely

has developed an architecture that

can lead to better and faster decision

making across the whole supply chain.

Take returns, for example. In many

of our survey territories, returns are

a huge concern. For example, in

the fashion industry, return rates of

more than 50% are common practice

in Germany. These problematic

customers and their habits need

to be tracked somehow. The same

capabilities that can help customers

find what they want in a network of

stores also would help identify such

customers.

In other words, robust inventory management systems can not only find items on

the demand end, they can also help promote effective and accurate supply chain

processes and efficient distribution networks.

PwC30

Today, consumers are perpetually connected via various devices rather than sporadically tethered to a home or work computer. With consumers “always-on,” that also means that retailers need to present their brand story across every channel, 24/7. But “always-on” means more than just open stores or an operational website, it means that the retailer is always “on its game” and open for engage-ment and interaction in every way the consumer is—social, email, online shopping, telephone, and in-store visits.

Consumers quickly fill the vacuum Given this imperative for increased engagement, it’s worth investigating what happens when companies actively disengage with consumers in one very specific way: when a favorite retailer closes down a local store. True, phys-ical stores remain popular because consumers can get the product imme-diately, touch and try the merchandise, and be more certain about the suitability of the product. These are the top three reasons that this year’s survey partici-pants buy in-store instead of online.

But the reality is that retailers’ future brick-and-mortar stores likely will be fewer and smaller, carrying a more targeted assortment of goods. For example, in the Netherlands, even as the retail e-commerce market has exploded over the last five years to an estimated 10 billion Euros in 2013, 6% of all Dutch retail locations sit empty, and in some cities up to 20%. Retailers in the Netherlands and elsewhere likely will continue to close stores in the future as the search for the right mix of e-commerce and physical stores continues.

So what happens when business circumstances dictate that a retailer close down a local store? Given a chance to choose as many as six options, 59% of our global sample said they would find the retailer’s next nearest physical store, 44% would order more from the compa-ny’s website, and 42% said they would turn to an alternative retailer’s website and start buying similar products there. Fewer than 10% of our respondents said a physical store closing would result in them generally spending less on a product. One of our most intriguing pieces of data is that 11% of our global sample said they would go onto social media and join a discussion about the store closure.

Clearly, the message from our survey participants was that since they assume retailers are everywhere and always connected like themselves, shoppers will find that retailer’s next physical store enough or, failing that, there’s always the store website. For retailers perhaps worried that they may one day have to downscale their physical store footprint, it’s good news that the two most popular options have customers staying loyal to that retailer.

Favorite retailers are everywhere An “always-on,” 24/7 experience.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%


Find its next nearestphysical store and go there

Start/increase ordering from its website

Find an alternative retailer’s local store selling similar products

Find an alternative online retailer’swebsite selling similar products

Go onto social media and joindiscussion about store closure

Generally spend less on this type of product

59%

42%

44%

21%

11%

9%

Figure 15: When faced with a local store closure, most shoppers decide to stay with the brand

Q: What would you do if your favorite retailer closed down your local store?

After a store closure,

consumers look to that

retailer’s next closest

physical store—and then

go to the website.


In Russia, the online channel is especially relevant for three product categories: 1) consumer

electronics; 2) books, music, movies and video games; and 3) household appliances. Around two-thirds of Internet users prefer to research those categories online and around half prefer to buy such products online as well. Of course the preference for buying products on-line does not necessarily transfer to actual behaviour. For example, around 30% of our respondents answered they bought at least half of their purchases in consumer electronics category on-line last year. This difference presents a significant potential for expansion of on-line trade. For retailers this means possibility to target new customer segments and to increase spend of existing customers, who are usually spending more if they shop through multiple channels with the same retailer.

Russian Internet users still like to visit physical stores, with 80% doing so at least monthly. By comparison, in the Netherlands only 57% of respondents answered that they do so, and in France 56% do so. Thus, we cannot claim that Russian consumers are deserting physical stores, but they are increasingly using multiple channels during their shopping journey. The level to which Russian retailers have adapted to this varies significantly among categories, with electronics category leading the way. But there are also significant differences within the

categories. More than half of the customers of Russia’s most advanced electronics retailers report that they bought goods from such retailers through at least two channels in 2013, while this figure was around 30% for some other retailers in the same category.

Regarding delivery, Russian consumers, similar to their global peers, on average, value free shipping the most, with 71% of respondents choosing this answer when asked about the most relevant delivery options when shopping online. The second most relevant delivery option is the ability to pick up goods at a convenient location, for example a local convenience store, which is much more preferable to picking up goods at a post office or courier service office. Also very relevant for Russians is the option of agreeing on a specific delivery timeframe, although there are significant differences among regions in this respect, with shoppers in Moscow and St Petersburg placing much greater value on this option compared to other regions of Russia. Similarly, Russia’s big-city shoppers value same-day delivery much more. For retailers, this means they should segment their delivery options. While big-city shoppers are becoming increasingly demanding, expecting free, same-day delivery and in a convenient timeframe, their peers in more distant regions are more willing to wait and adapt, but do, however, also highly value free delivery.

Russian shoppers are

still avid visitors of

physical stores, but are

also increasingly using

the Internet during their

purchase journeys.

PwC32

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

BUYING

Grocery

Jewellery/watches

Furniture and home ware Do-it-yourself/home improvement

Sports equipment/outdoor

Clothing and footwear (incl. sportswear, kids and babies)

Toys

Health & beauty (cosmetics)

Household appliances

Books, music, movies and video games

Consumer electronics and computers

RESEARCHING

Very high impact of on-line for both researching and purchasing

Low impact of on-line

High impact of on-line for researching, medium for purchasing

Figure 16: In Russia, the online channel is especially relevant for electronics, books, music, movies, video games, and household appliances

Q: Which method do you most prefer for researching and buying your purchases?

Rising expectations of customers in respect of delivery options and speed of delivery bring

challenges for retailers in the area of inventory management. They need to strike the right balance between trying to satisfy the customers expectations and having inventory at optimal number of locations in optimal quantities. Failing to do so means either increase in cost to serve (in form of warehousing, transportation and stock holding costs) or reducing

service levels (availability, speed and convenience of delivery), causing lost revenue. This is a difficult task, as customer demand depends on a variety of factors. To address this, the most advanced retailers use complex predictive analytics models, which support the fulfilment decisions in real time and drive the whole supply chain management. Our experience in working with them shows that the benefits in form of both lower cost to serve and higher revenue, are significant


Business model implication: Store portfolio management needs to be elevated into strategic discussions

While it might be tempting to leap to the conclusion, based on the survey data above,

that a Total Retail model can succeed with far fewer physical stores, it should be

sobering to retailers that more than four in 10 of our survey participants were willing

to consider turning to a competitor when confronted by the closure of a local store.

The lesson in store-closing scenarios may be that if the next nearest physical store

is not near enough, or if the website is not attractive or useful enough, customers then

go to competitors.

And the larger lesson is that store portfolio

management needs to have

a seat at the strategy table. Closing a

store, or opening one for that matter,

is the kind of decision that clearly impacts

customers, makes headlines, and

reverberates throughout an organization.

In order to accurately assess whether

or not a physical store should close,

rather than just using store sales and

local demographic data, why not look at

online sales data as well? What does the

e-commerce data for that region indicate?

If there is very little, perhaps keeping an

underperforming store still is the way to

go. If there are heavy e-commerce sales,

perhaps opening a new store will only

cannibalize that digital business. “Most

retailers are taking a mono-channel view

of portfolio management,” said Matthew

Tod, a PwC UK partner who specializes

in digital transformation at retail and

consumer products companies. “They have to merge it with online data.” In fact,

some forward-thinking retailers largely have discarded focusing on individual store

profitability in favor of overall regional profitability, as that measure provides better

context into the contribution of individual stores.

Beyond brick-and-mortar store openings or closings, other related issues include

upgrading and improving technology in core stores and examining brick-and-mortar

alternatives such as pop-up shops—all very important to customers and the brand.

Another way a retailer can integrate “being everywhere” into a business model is to

actually expand beyond retail. Take health care in the US as an example. A fledgling

alternative health system is growing up alongside the current, inefficient, fee-for-service

system. Over time, this new health economy, led by non-traditional players—including

some retailers—will grab a significant market share of the health care industry. Walmart

and other grocery retailers moved into clinical medical services by building on their

pharmacy businesses.

Another example is insurance, an equally unfamiliar product to the traditional retail

landscape. Some retailers, such as Tesco in the UK and HEMA in the Netherlands, sell

travel, auto, and health insurance policies from local stores across the country, backed

by an insurance company. Whatever the service, the real point here is that powerful

brands, such as Walmart and Tesco, can leverage their brand to sell many seemingly

unrelated products.

Almost six out of 10 shoppers still want to shop in physical stores to see and touch products, but is that enough reason to keep physical stores open?

PwC34

Earlier in this report, we discussed the increasing year-over-year penetration of mobile shopping among our survey participants. In this year’s survey, we also devoted an entire section of the questionnaire to those respondents who already were shopping on mobile devices, and what we found bodes well for the future of mobile shopping.

Figure 17: Online shoppers are evenly split in their preference for mobile browsers versus apps

Q: How often do you use either an app or mobile browser on your mobile/ smartphone for shopping?


App Mobile browser

Daily

Weekly

Monthly

A few timesa year

Once a year

Never

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

16%17%

21%22%

21%21%

12%8%

7%7%

23%24%

To maximize the value of mobile shopping, both store apps and mobile sites must improve App versus browser? Right now, a split decision.

21% indicated they did so with an app, and 22% with a browser. Barely more than one-fifth of our mobile shopper sample chose the option “a few times a year” for either an app or mobile browser, meaning that once people make the transition to mobile shopping, the convenience turns them into consistent customers.

Our survey indicates the broad array of shopping-related activities in which mobile shoppers are engaging. While on the move (not in a physical store), two-thirds of our mobile shopping sample (66%) compared product prices with competitors, 65% researched products, 57% located a store, 44% checked their available funding before purchasing, and 29% used a coupon—all without ever setting foot in a store.

Currently, negligible differences between mobile apps and mobile websitesWith all the investments that retailers are making in apps, we wanted to find out what kind of ROI retailers are getting. As can be seen from Figure 18, our survey respondents did not have a strong preference for either an app or browser for mobile shopping. While apps have a slight advantage in speed over browsers (35% to 29%, respectively), those perceived benefits are more than negated by the fact that mobile shoppers view browsers as more convenient (48% to 37%, respectively), most likely because apps require the sometimes cumbersome downloading process. In the final choice shown below—“easier to use on a smartphone”—the percentage difference was fairly negligible.

Growing enthusiasm for mobile shoppingTake the evident enthusiasm of mobile shoppers. When we asked them how often they used either an app or a mobile browser for shopping on their mobile device, 16% said they shopped via an app daily, and 17% shopped via a browser daily. When it came to weekly shopping via these two mobile options,


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Speed

Convenience

Easier to use on smartphone

35%

37%

28%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Speed

Convenience

Easier to use on smartphone

29%

48%

23%



Our findings echo much of the research being done by consumer research companies like Nielsen and technology companies such as Google. If anything, in fact, mobile apps fare worse in these surveys. A February 2013 Nielsen Mobile Consumer Report, for example, stated that mobile browsers were 20% more popular than apps. It also found that during the 2012 holiday season, retailer mobile sites were twice as popular as apps. A Google survey from April 2013 found that 65% of US smartphone shoppers preferred to use a mobile browser, to just 35% for a mobile app.3

Part of the issue for apps is structural. It makes far more sense for mobile shoppers researching a purchase to read reviews on a third-party website and then go to those retailers’ mobile sites, rather than opening a consecutive series of apps from different retailers. Yet, ever since Apple introduced the App Store in 2008, there has been a market for elegantly designed apps, and that goes for mobile apps as well. When retailers’ mobile apps provide a more customized, intuitive, and immediate experience than their equivalent mobile browser—whether it’s providing more loyalty points or updating traffic patterns on popular street routes to the physical store—the percentages likely will start skewing more toward mobile apps.

Figure 18: Mobile browsers are viewed as more convenient than apps

Q: Why do you prefer an app over a mobile browser?

Q: Why do you prefer a mobile browser over an app?

Globally, penetration of

mobile-Internet services

will reach 54% by year-end

2017 compared with 51%

for fixed broadband.

Source: PwC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook, 2013–2017

3 http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats/e#smartphoneactivities

PwC36

Figure 19: Russian consumers clearly prefer mobile browsers over apps for mobile shopping

Q: How often do you use either an app or mobile browser on your mobile/smartphone for shopping?

Figure 20: Mobile shopping is more widespread in Moscow than in some Russian regions

Q: How often do you use either an app or mobile browser on your mobile/smartphone for shopping?

Russia

7%

9%

25%

28%

19%

11%

19%

7%

23%

24%

16%

11%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Never

Once a year

A few timesa year

Monthly

Weekly

Daily

App Mobile browser

14%

32%

34%

0% 20% 40%

Moscow

Northwestern Federal District

(except St Petersburg)

Siberian Federal District

Never

Russians have a more

positive attitude towards

using retailers’ apps for

shopping, which is a great

opportunity for retailers

to foster loyalty.

Russian Internet users tend to make less frequent use of both apps and mobile browsers for

shopping than the global average. Another divergence from the global average is Russian shoppers’ clear preference for mobile browsers over apps. This is probably a result of the fact that many Russian retailers do not have dedicated apps for shopping. But, of those that do use apps for shopping, 51% state convenience as the main reason for doing so, which differs significantly from the global average, among which mobile browsers were seen as more convenient.

Thus, it seems that while Russian shoppers currently prefer mobile browsers over apps, they obviously

do not see the main obstacles usually noted by global peers regarding retailers’ apps (i.e. the need to download and above all the inability to compare offerings) as an inconvenience. This may mean that retailers should not face much difficulty in getting customers to use their apps. Such apps can serve as a strong loyalty-building tool because once a customer starts using a retailer’s app for shopping, he or she can get personalized offers and tailored communications, and would have less enticement to compare such offers with others. Not surprisingly, mobile shopping is more widespread in Moscow than in some Russian regions. We can expect this to change, however, with better mobile Internet penetration, which should reach 68% by 2017.


Business model implication: If the business can afford it, ramp up apps to improve the experience but make sure the mobile site is optimized

Companies still are testing the waters in terms of how much to invest in mobile

apps. One refrain we have heard from some clients is that since their mobile

web presence is doing the job, they don’t have a major incentive to build out

mobile apps.

From a business model point of view, the answer is that companies need to invest

in both platforms, because they largely appeal to different segments of customers.

Brand loyalists deem it worthwhile to download a retailer’s app because they are

particularly eager for that retailer’s

content, personalized promotions,

speed, and loyalty reward points.

Casual shoppers, on the other hand,

are unlikely to make the effort to

download an app and will shop online

with that store only if the store

website is optimized for their devices.

Shoppers want to know that the size

resizes correctly for the screen, the

graphics don’t break up, it’s clear

how to purchase and pay, and one

can make the transaction quickly and

painlessly. In a sense, one could say

that the mobile site is more about

acquiring new and casual customers,

and the app is more about

appealing to loyal online customers.

Most large retailers do offer mobile

apps but, precisely because current

customer sentiment wavers between

apps and the mobile browser, haven’t

invested as much as they otherwise might. Of course, a lack of investment

undermines the various innovations that, in turn, would help drive consumers to

the mobile app. So what is the bottom line? Optimizing the website for mobile

shopping is the first priority, but make sure the store app is world class as well.

For those in our survey who identified themselves as mobile phone shoppers, 89% compared prices on their devices, and 91% researched products.

PwC38

Social media and its effect on society is a subject about which everyone seems to have an opinion, even those who never post on Facebook or get around to tweeting their reaction to the current news stories. With social engagement now a cultural preoccu-pation in many countries, global consumers simply expect their favorite retailers to be active online, ready to interact at any hour.

The thrill of discoveryThis situation might seem a daunting prospect to retailers, but it’s actually an enormous opportunity. Social media enables companies to create meaningful, connected experiences for both long-time and—even more important —would-be customers. For example, 59% of our global sample told us that they discovered a brand on social media in which they subsequently developed an interest (for our survey, we identified “brands” as manufacturers, in order to differentiate

them from retailers in some specific questions).

The fact is, consumer packaged goods companies, generally, are a little further along on the continuum than retailers when it comes to social media engagement. They particularly are good at engaging consumers in ways not necessarily limited to specific products or services. Red Bull’s extreme sports videos on YouTube are a classic example of a brand using an experi-ence to market its products. Another example is Miller Lite’s sponsorship of NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski, whose Twitter activity famously included an in-race tweet when a competition was briefly halted.4 But retailers, too, can engage in this manner. Even century-old retail brands can be new brands to someone, and those discoveries drive business in the form of increased brand awareness, preference, and loyalty.

Two-way social media engagement Modern consumers don’t want to just shop—they want to be heard.

Figure 21: Electronics and apparel top social media shopping categories

Q: Have you researched, browsed, or bought products using social media in any of the following product categories? Select all that apply.



Clothing and footwear



Health and beauty (cosmetics)

Jewelry/watches

Toys

Furniture and homeware

Grocery


Do-it-yourself/home improvement

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

55%

54%

32%

48%

35%

25%

24%

21%

19%

17%

17%

4 GMA/PwC 2013 Financial Performance Report, page 45


In terms of engagement with retailers and brands, social media has arrivedThis year’s survey data illustrates just how engaged our global survey sample is with their favorite brands and retailers via social media. Out of more than 15,000 global online shop-pers, 59% said they followed favorite brands or retailers via social media. When it comes to interacting with those retailers or brands, 51% said they did this. Some of those interac-tions likely were comments about an experience with a product or brand, as 56% of our global sample said they provided such comments. And social media even seems to have gotten trac-tion as a transactional “storefront” of sorts, as 48% of our global sample said they bought products via social media, which is an extraordinary change from our last survey, when just 12% said they purchased products via social media.

But customers can purchase their products in any number of ways; the purchasing aspect of social media really is beside the point. The real point is that enthusiasm for social media is driving consumers to engage, comment, and even effect change at retailers and brands. When we asked our survey participants what attracted them to a particular brand’s website, 15% wanted to provide feedback on an experience with the brand, up from the 11% who answered similarly in our last survey. So while most companies have entered the social media arena, they will discover that launching Facebook pages, opening Twitter accounts, or building a YouTube presence won’t be enough to meet this consumer expectation. Companies must think about their investments in social media as a journey toward increasing internal capability and true consumer engagement.

Instead of simply doing the

minimum when it comes to

social media, retailers need

to invest where they can

make the truest customer

engagement.

Social media is becoming

crucial at all stages of

the purchase journey;

no retailer can afford

to ignore it.

Russian Internet users are active users of social media; and the way they use social media is of

increasing interest to retailers. In 2013, 51% of Russian Internet users followed their favourite brands or retailers on social media, up from 37% in 2012. Around half of them also used social media for interacting with brands and commenting on their brand experiences, as well as buying the brand’s products – a significant increase over the year before.

This means that social media is becoming crucial at all stages of the purchase journey – from creating initial awareness to after sales – and thus Russian retailers will have to focus on systematically addressing social media management.

PwC40

Figure 22: The relevance of social media varies among product categories

Q: Have you researched, browsed or bought products using social media in any of the following product categories?

Figure 23: Social media is becoming crucial at all stages of the purchase journey in Russia

Q: Which of the following have you done using social media?

15%

19%

22%

22%

24%

31%

34%

36%

43%

48%

60%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Grocery




Jewellery/watches


Toys





2013 2012

0% 30% 60%

Bought products

51%

20%

37%

43%17%

56%31%

48%

Follow favourite brands�or retailers via social media

Interacting with favourite retailers �or brands

Comments about an experience with a product or brand

The relevance of social media varies among product categories, however, with clothing

and footwear topping the ranking in Russia (which differs from the global average), followed by consumer electronics, and books, music, movies and video games. As relatively few online users actually buy apparel online, we can assume that they rely on social media mainly for browsing and researching clothing products and probably sharing their experiences with peers. Therefore, fashion blog editors and other opinion leaders in the fashion industry, who are active in social media, seem to have a particularly important role and retailers should make a concerted effort to engage them.


Business model implication: Most retailers need to reverse their organizational approach to social media

Despite the growing degree of engagement with retailers and brands that we

document in this survey, we believe that retailers, so far, are doing much too

little to take advantage. The typical retail social media strategy today, not

surprisingly, actually mirrors the traditional marketing strategy: broadcast a new

product through social media channels, send out promotions and coupons, gather

data on the relative success of the product launch, and then, last, listen to—and

address—individual customer comments and complaints.

We think retailers should be taking

these actions in the reverse order.

Really using the power of social

media involves listening to customers

commenting on similar brands and

products; transforming portions of

that commentary into actionable data;

using that data to spark product ideas;

reaching out to customers via social

media to see what they think of those

ideas; and, finally, “broadcasting out”

that new product selection. That’s the

end state. To get there, a retailer’s

social media plan should, broadly:

• Support brand objectives but

at a realistic level of investment

to which management can fully

commit. In other words, the entire

marketing team can’t become the

social media team; that’s an over

investment.

• Engage consumers with one, centralized brand voice. At some companies,

both retailers and CPG companies alike, social media management still is

done through multiple, location-based channels.

• Specify which employees in the organization will participate in the online

conversation on behalf of the brand, and then train them in the centralized

brand voice.

• Decide what kind of premium the company will put on responding to both

positive and negative comments. Some retailers engage third parties to track,

monitor, and even respond to social media comments from a carefully crafted,

approved menu of responses.

PwC42

From our data, it’s clear that, in the span of one year, the gray area of overlap between manufacturers and retailers has virtually been extinguished. When it comes to actually making a purchase, consumers make few distinctions between manufacturers and retailers.

Direct-to-consumer comes of ageWhen we asked direct-to-consumer questions in this year’s survey, we explained in our questionnaire that

manufacturing companies “are increas-ingly offering products directly to consumers, bypassing retailers,” so we could be confident that our survey respondents understood the context of our questions. With this back-ground, just 22% of our total global sample told us that they didn’t shop directly from manufacturers. As one country example, last year, 52% of our US survey sample said they made purchases directly from manufacturing brands, while in this survey, 70% of US participants said they did so.

Figure 24: Shoppers increasingly are willing to bypass retailers

Q: Please indicate if you have bought directly from the manufacturer online in each product category. Select all that apply.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%




Books, music, movies, and video games


Health and beauty (cosmetics)

Toys

Jewelry/watches

Grocery




51%

47%

21%

36%

27%

16%

16%

14%

12%

11%

9%

“Brands” act like retailers, and we’ll treat them that way The “last mile” is moving out of the store, and that’s where manufacturing brands are making their pitch.


The reasons our survey participants gave for shopping at brand websites ran the gamut.5 Fifty percent noted the lower prices, 37% said there was more choice, and 29% chose “good stock availability.” A couple of worrisome data points for retailers suggest that some of these direct-to-consumer shoppers did so for intangible, brand-related reasons, with 12% saying “the brand has everything I need” and 11% selecting “love of brand/loyalty.” Why is this worrisome? Because brand is where manufacturers tend to hold

an intrinsic advantage over retailers; after all, the items being shopped for generally are associated with the brands that produce them. If an excellent online shopping customer experience can be developed by manufacturers, retailers potentially face relegation to permanent second-class status.

5 Survey respondents could choose as many of the 11 reasons as they wanted.

Among the reasons Russian

shoppers give for buying

directly, a full product

range or greater choice are

almost equally as important

as low prices.

Russian Internet users are in line with the global average in terms of buying directly from brand

websites, with only 22% saying they don’t do so. This is a highly significant change compared to last year, when 70% of Russian respondents claimed they never buy directly. So, it is clear that “direct-to-customer” is a very significant trend, accelerated by launches of proprietary web-stores by category leaders, such as Zara in fashion or Apple in electronics.

Among the factors driving this behaviour, Russian consumers point to reasons that are similar to the global average, with “full range or more choice” being almost equally as important as “low prices”.

PwC44

Figure 25: Apparel category tops the list for direct shopping in Russia

Q: In each of these product categories, please indicate if you have bought directly from a brand online

10%

11%

11%

12%

14%

19%

25%

26%

28%

45%

49%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%



Grocery

Jewellery/watches


Toys


Household appliances(incl. freezers, microwaves etc.)


Clothing and footwear(incl. sportswear, kids and babies)

Consumer electronics (incl. cameras, TV, DVD players etc.) and computers

Figure 26: In line with the global trend ‘direct-to-consumer’ becomes a significant channel in Russia

Q: Do you shop directly from brand websites?

70%

22%

0% 40% 80%

I do not shop directly from brand websites

Russia

2013 2012

What this means for retailers is that they will increasingly need to identify and communicate

their raison d'être. In an extreme scenario, if everybody is buying products directly from manufacturers, then why would one need retailers at all? This trend is especially visible in the apparel category, which tops the list for direct shopping in Russia as well. Department stores and boutiques, which sell apparel from other producers, are struggling in light of the physical and online expansion of those retailers that also control (or even own) production, such as Inditex, H&M and Uniqlo. As seen from the chart, consumer electronics is moving in the same direction. Retailers need to give shoppers a compelling reason to

continue patronizing them, such as impartial advice in comparing brands, the convenience of “one-stop” shopping, or other aspects of the shopping experience that the producers themselves cannot so easily provide.


Business model implications: While direct-to-consumer is a threat to Total Retail, extending a hand to consumer packaged goods companies may be the smartest move

Retailers are not standing still as brands pursue transactional platforms to sell

directly to consumers. They continue to pursue their own private label brands.

In addition, retailers are also partnering with manufacturers to share consumer

insights and collaborate on category management in order to enlarge the pie and

drive more success for both.

In fact, our data contain indications

that this approach may be working

in some product categories. The

most popular product category in our

survey for buying directly from brand

websites, for example, is clothing

and footwear, at 51%. Since this is

one of the most challenging product

sectors for retailers when it comes

to managing returns and inventory,

it might make sense for brands to

get more involved in selling these

products directly. In a way, the brands

would be doing retailers a favor by

mitigating some of the retailers’ supply

chain logistics issues. High-fashion

items, for example, are notorious for

customer returns.

Another factor to consider for retailers, however, is that manufacturers are not

always keen to bypass retailers. After all, retailers are a manufacturer’s main

customers, and when sales from a retailer are high enough, many manufacturers

would not risk upsetting this relationship for an uncertain foothold in direct-to-

consumer. With a more fragmented retail landscape, it is a different ball game

altogether. Hence, brand manufacturers tend to adapt their direct-to-consumer

strategy by product category, geographic region, and market position.

PwC46

Final thoughts on the next retail business model

In today’s environment, global retailers face many hurdles

to growth, ranging from value-conscious

shoppers to the direct -to-consumer

phenomenon to hard-to-crack emerging

markets. The key is a business model that

yields the most actionable information.

In addition, 80% of retail CEOs said technological advancement was the global trend that would transform their business most over the next five years.

I n PwC’s 17th Annual Global CEO Survey, 91% of retail CEOs said they were “concerned” about shifts in

consumer behaviors, with 28% saying they were “extremely concerned.”


6 “The New Cost Structure of Retail IT,” Q4 2013, EKN

So the recognition of a changing world—and the need to understand how technology affects consumers—is there. The question is whether, in response, retailers have the institutional know-how and willingness to be able to create the next retail business model. For example, in a study published in November 2013, it’s clear that most retailers still are under investing in areas they already know represent the future of their business.6 According to the survey, 50% of retailers said they were not spending enough on web and mobile, while 45% admitted that they also were underspending on business intelligence and analytics.

Why is this? Part of the answer certainly resides in a business model that currently is not aligned with increasingly sophisticated and demanding customers. While we have touched on many aspects of how the retail business needs to be changed, perhaps the changes are best understood in terms of an evolution. Retailers, and for that matter consumer packaged goods companies, have

long focused their business model innovations on process and efficiency such as incremental improvements in procurement or reductions in the cost of overhead. But to succeed today, small innovations and supply chain improvements cannot differentiate a retailer. The retail business model needs to be grounded in the right front-office and back-office technologies: It needs a structure for organizational change and performance measurement and a supply chain that, real time, reflects what customers want and where and when they want it. Last but not least, the model requires a mechanism for getting the most out of the vast ocean of customer analytics that only is going to grow larger every day.

The four building blocks

of the next retail business

model: organizational

change, integrated tech-

nology platforms, customer

analytics, and supply chain

optimization.

PwC48

Gender

Survey methodology

PwC administered a global survey to understand and compare consumer shopping behaviors and the use of different retail channels across 15 territories: Brazil, Canada, China and Hong Kong, France, Germany, India,

Italy, Middle East, Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, and US. PwC conducted 15,080 online interviews during July and August 2013.

Survey panel demographics

50%50%

Note: Turkey has been excluded from the employment status chart as different employment status categories were presented to Turkish respondents. Source: PwC Global Total Retail Survey 2013

Base: 15,080 Base: 14,060 Base: 15,080

Employed part time 25 to 34

Self-employed

Student 55 to 64

Husband/Housewife

65+

Employed full time 18 to 24

Retired 35 to 44

Unemployed 45 to 54Male Female

Age

23%

30% 22%

14%

8%3%

Employment status

46%

14%

5%

8%

8%

7%

12%

Contacts in Russia

Natalia KozlovaPartner, Tax ServicesRetail & Consumer Industry [email protected]: +7 (495) 9676184

Martijn PeetersPartner, ConsultingRetail and consumer [email protected]: +7 (495) 9676144

Ekaterina Terentieva DirectorAssurance services for e-commerce companies+7 (495) 232 573

David KovacicDirector, ConsultingRetail and consumer [email protected]: +7 (495) 2325506

How can PwC help?• Multichannel strategy development

• Digital transformation programs

• Managing Total retail (assortment, pricing, service level)

• Social media strategy and management

• Business planning and monitoring in total retail

• Optimisation of supply chain and logistics

(delivery, warehousing, inventory management)

• IT strategy and architecture

www.pwc.ru/totalretail

PwC Russia (www.pwc.ru) provides industry-focused assurance, tax, legal and advisory services. Over 2,400 professionals working in PwC offices in Moscow, St Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Krasnodar, Voronezh, Novosibirsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Vladikavkaz and Rostov-on-Don share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice for our clients. PwC global network includes over 184,000 employees in 157 countries.

This publication has been prepared for general guidance on matters of interest only, and does not constitute professional advice. You should not act upon the information contained in this publication without obtaining specific professional advice. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this publication, and, to the extent permitted by law, PwC, its members, employees and agents accept no liability, and disclaim all responsibility, for the consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance on the information contained in this publication or for any decision based on it.

© 2014 PwC. All rights reserved. “PwC” refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers Russia B.V. or, as the context requires, other member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity.

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