June 11th , 2012 MARKETING NEWS Facebook Impressions Don’t Influence Most Users to Purchase ...... 1 Many Mobile Users Keep Print Newspapers Subscriptions ...... 2 Offline Ads Drive Mobile Response ...... 3 QR Code Adoption by Merchants Booms ...... 4 Sprint Pushes the Envelope to Reduce Its Environmental Footprint ...... 6

PUBLISHING NEWS Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Licenses Living Books ...... 8 J. V. Rockwell Publishing Acquires the GossRSVP Business from Goss ...... 8 MPA's Nina Link to Step Down...... 8 PDF to EPUB Conversion Tools Score Low on Accuracy in VIGC Test ...... 10

RETAIL NEWS AEO rolls out Shopkick loyalty program to all stores ...... 11 America’s “General” store maintains momentum ...... 11 Customers Like Personalization In-Store More Than Online ...... 11 Organized retail crime continues to rise ...... 13 Walmart taps augmented reality to engage in-store customers ...... 14

ECONOMIC UPDATE GDP: 1.9% in Q1 2012 Unemployment Rate: Unemployment was essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent Consumer Confidence: which had declined slightly in April, fell further in May. The Index now stands at 64.9, down from 68.7 in April.

MARKETING NEWS Facebook Impressions Don’t Influence Most Users to Purchase Staff , Marketing Charts . 6/6/2012

Facebook impressions don’t actually make much of an impression on users, according to a Reuters and Ipsos poll released in June 2012. Only 1 in 5 American Facebook users say they have ever bought a product or service due to advertising or comments they saw on Facebook. This research comes on the heels of AP-CNBC survey results released in May which found that 83% of users rarely if ever click on ads or sponsored content on the site. On a more encouraging note, though, 18-34-year-olds are 40% more likely than the average to have been influenced by a Facebook impression to make a purchase. Data from a new Inside Network Research report indicates that this demographic makes up 44% of Facebook’s US audience.

1 in 3 Recommend Brands Followed on SocNets

Facebook impressions may not yet be leading to purchases, but a significant proportion of brands’ fans indicate a willingness to recommend them to others. According to a separate Ipsos survey also released in June, 35% of US respondents have recommended a brand they either like or follow on a social network. While age is once again a factor - 48% of those under 35 1

have recommended a brand they are a fan of - a gender dynamic is also at play. In fact, women are 41.4% more likely than men in the US to have recommended a brand they are fan of (41% vs. 29%). Coincidentally, the Inside Network Research report finds that demand for the female consumer in the US has driven female ad rates 8% higher than for males on Facebook.

The importance of social recommendations was recently highlighted in a Sociable Labs survey, which found that 1 in 4 online shoppers, who shop at least quarterly online and login to their Facebook account at least monthly, have made a purchase based on a social recommendation.

Facebook Engagement Drops

Further data from the Ipsos and Reuters poll reveals that more than one-third of US Facebook users are spending less time on Facebook compared to 6 months ago. The primary reasons given for this drop in engagement are finding the site boring, not relevant or not useful (27%), a lack of time (25%), and concerns about privacy (24%).

Privacy concerns certainly appear to be prevalent among social network users. According to MiMedia survey results released in June, 71% of American consumers are concerned about the security and privacy of their personal information on Facebook. And these consumers are ready to act, too: 4 in 5 would stop using a social media site if they found out their privacy was violated.

Other Findings:

 Data from the Ipsos and Reuters poll indicates that 60% of 18-34-year-old Americans use Facebook every day, and a further 16% use the social network at least weekly.  The 18-34 set has the most favorable opinions of Facebook. Two-thirds say they have either a very or somewhat favorable opinion of the social network, compared to 48% of 35-54-year-olds and just 31% of those over 55.  44% of users said that what they have heard about the Facebook IPO has made them less favorable to Facebook.  Ipsos survey respondents in Turkey (64%) were the most likely to say they had recommended a brand they like or follow on a social network. Respondents in Japan (18%) were the least likely to have done so.

About the Data: The Ipsos/Reuters data is based on an online survey of 1,032 Americans conducted from May 31 - June 4, 2012. The Ipsos brand recommendation data is based on a poll of 12,000 consumers across 24 countries, including 500 in the US. The MiMedia data points are from an online survey of 315 American adults aged 18 and older, conducted in March 2012.

Many Mobile Users Keep Print Newspapers Subscriptions Staff , Print In The Mix . 6/6/2012

According to a survey conducted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri, despite two- thirds of U.S. adults using at least one mobile media device in their daily lives, users of these mobile devices "are not abandoning print media at a faster rate than non-users of mobile devices."

Examining smartphones, tablets, and e-reader use, the study, The 2012 RJI Mobile Media News Consumption Survey, finds that nearly equal percentages of mobile media device users (39.8%) and non-users (40.2%) subscribe to at least one newspaper or newsmagazine.

 76% subscribed to a local daily or Sunday newspaper  31% subscribed to a newsmagazine  29% subscribed to a weekly community newspaper  17% subscribed to a national newspaper

“The increased use of mobile devices does not yet appear to have accelerated the switch from print to digital news consumption as earlier surveys suggested,” Roger Fidler, the program director for digital publishing at 2

RJI and the study’s author is quoted as saying. “Forty percent of mobile device users indicated in our survey that they still subscribe to printed newspapers and news magazines. This percentage was almost identical for non-users of mobile devices.”

Additional findings:

 More than half of adults surveyed use a smartphone daily, and smartphone users make up 85% of all mobile media device users.

 Among uses of mobile media devices news consumption ranks fourth (63%) behind interpersonal communications (85%), entertainment (73%), and web surfing for information not provided by news organizations.

 Smartphones and large media tablets are the two most popular devices for consuming news.

 The most popular device category after smartphones is large media tablets, and the overwhelming majority of device owners in this category (88%) use an Apple iPad.

 Individuals between the ages of 18 and 34 make up almost half of mobile media device users.

 More than half of non-mobile devices users are 55 or older.

 Mobile media device users tend to have a higher income and more education than non-users.

About: 1,015 randomly selected participants completed the survey between Jan. 17-Mar. 25, 2012. Ages ranged from 18 to 88 with an average age of 44; Gender: 56% Men, 44% Women; 57% only own a cell phone; 26% a cell phone and landline phone; 17% only a landline telephone; 67% own at least one mobile media device.

Offline Ads Drive Mobile Response Google, in partnership with Ipsos MediaCT, interviewed 1,000 U.S. online adults (18-64 years of age) who identified themselves as using a smartphone to access the Internet.

Select findings from Google's Our Mobile Planet:

 U.S. smartphone penetration has risen to 44%.

 Smartphone owners are becoming increasingly reliant on their devices with 66% reporting they access the Internet every day on their smartphone and 80% saying they never leave home without their device.

 Smartphones are changing the way consumers shop -- 96% of owners have researched a product or service on their device.

 35% of respondents have made a purchase on their phone -- 68% have bought a service or product via their device in the last month.

 Offline ad exposure leads to mobile search:

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Source: eMarketer

More than four out of 10 (43%) smartphone owners used their device to search in response to television ads at least monthly. Nearly as many, 40%, searched in response to ads they saw in stores, followed by magazine ads (31%), and poster advertisements (24%).

About: In partnership with Ipsos MediaCT, Google interviewed a total of 1,000 US online adults (18-64 years of age) who identified themselves as using a smartphone to access the Internet. Sampling: 51% female, 49% male. Ages 18-24 (16%), 25-34 (33%), 35-44 (24%), 45-54 (20%), 55+ (7%). Interviews were conducted in Q1 2012.

QR Code Adoption by Merchants Booms Staff Writer , Marketing Charts . 6/7/2012

Merchants are integrating QR codes into their marketing strategies at a far greater rate this year than last, finds Multichannel Merchant survey released in June 2012. Fully 47% of respondents this year said they are using QR codes, a dramatic increase 4

from just 8% a year ago. A further 15% aren’t yet using QR codes as part of their marketing strategies but are considering doing so. All told, 38% are not using QR codes and aren’t considering them, down significantly from 72% last year. Merchants aren’t the only ones making greater use of QR codes: a recent report from ScanLife found that consumer QR code scans were up 157% year-over-year in Q1 2012.

Most Use QR Codes in Print Catalogs

While last year, merchants were divided on the best use of QR codes, this year, a clear hierarchy has emerged. 63.2% are using them in their print catalogs, while 47.4% are using them in postcards and/or other non-catalog mail pieces. About 2 in 5 merchants are using them as part of their marketing collateral (signs, bags, etc.), with 15.8% saying they have found other uses.

Last year, 35% were using QR codes in each of the specific ways identified, with 15% finding other uses.

Merchants Increasingly Target Shopping Cart Abandoners

Further data from the “MCM Outlook 2012-2013″ report reveals that adoption of QR codes isn’t the only marketing strategy that is capturing the attention of a greater amount of merchants. This year, just 38.3% said they are not marketing to people who have abandoned carts, marking a significant drop from 60.9% of merchants last year who were ignoring these potential customers. Indeed, this year, merchants rated this strategy as much more valuable to their online efforts than they did last year.

Aside from email reminders, the most common ways of marketing to shopping cart abandoners this year are by special offers via email (37.4%) and remarketing ads on other websites (29.9%). The latter in particular has become more popular, almost tripling from 11.3% of merchants a year ago.

Other Findings:

■38% of merchants are using live chat on their sites this year, up from 17% last year.

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■The most popular rich media techniques used by merchants are video (64.3%), alternative views (45.5%), and zoom (42%).

■52.7% are now using some element of mobile commerce, double the 25.9% from last year. The most common mobile commerce strategies are a mobile commerce site (29.5%), mobile applications (16.1%), mobile search ads (15.2%), and acceptance of mobile payments (15.2%).

■45.9% of merchants, including 44.3% of B2C sellers, are not selling in marketplaces. 41.3% of the overall respondents are selling in Amazon, and 23.9% in Ebay.

■65% of merchants’ sites include a trustmark of approval from a third-party company, relatively unchanged from 63% last year.

■The most common site search functions offered are the ability to refine results (70.5%) and thumbnail images with results (54.7%).

■PayPal is the most popular type of alternative payment option provided (50.9%). The proportion not providing an alternative option has dropped from 53.8% in 2011 to 35.5% this year.

About the Data: The Multichannel Merchant data is based on an online survey fielded between April 19 and May 21, 2012. When the survey closed on May 21, there were 952 respondents. Of those, 654 (69%) indicated that their company was an online merchant, retailer, manufacturer, publisher/media or a wholesale distributor. Those active respondents formed the basis of the survey results.

Sprint Pushes the Envelope to Reduce Its Environmental Footprint Staff Writer , Printing Impressions . 6/7/2012

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At the Sustainable Brands Conference, Sprint Nextel unveiled how it will help change the face of customer invoicing and direct mail with an inventive two-in-one reusable envelope. The new ecoEnvelope allows customers to receive and remit payment using the same envelope—making bill payment easier, minimizing mail costs, reducing paper use, and lowering environmental impact.

The new envelope means customers reduce paper waste and conserve natural resources. In just over a year, Sprint estimates the new envelope format will save just under a half million dollars in operational costs and the equivalent of:

 447 tons of paper,

 1,669 tons of wood (11,565 trees),

 9,931,834 gallons of water,

 859,047 pounds of solid waste (31 loaded garbage trucks), and

 2,692,185 pounds of CO² (244 cars off the road/year).

“Sprint is the first wireless carrier and only one of a few select retailers to offer the ecoEnvelope to their customers,” said Scott Rice, vice president-Care and Billing Services, Sprint. “While more than 30 percent of Sprint accounts currently use a paperless billing option, many customers prefer to receive a paper invoice.

“The new bill format not only gives our customers a convenient method to remit payment but it will reduce paper waste, conserve natural resources, and lower paper consumption for Sprint. As part of our commitment to environmental sustainability, using paper responsibly to reduce our footprint is an important part of our overall commitment,” Rice added.

The shift to ecoEnvelope was part of Sprint’s broader commitment to responsibly procure printing paper as reflected in its recently updated Paper & Print Procurement Policy. The policy highlights Sprint’s commitment to support sustainable forest management, work with environmentally and socially responsible suppliers, purchase paper with more recycled content, and optimize its paper use.

Sprint’s policy was updated with support from environmental not-for-profit Canopy, which specializes in collaborating with large-scale forest product customers to ensure sustainable supply chains. The results of this collaboration include Sprint's commitment to raise its goal for use of recycled content to 25 percent by 2017, support innovation by encouraging development of alternative paper fiber sources, such as residue from agricultural crops, and reduce the toxic chlorine in bleaching.

The new policy also includes commitments to pursue supplier assessments with Canopy using Chain of Custody forms to ensure Sprint paper products do not come from endangered forests and other controversial sources, and to work with Canopy to encourage progress on global forest conservation initiatives.

“Sprint and Canopy share the belief businesses can lead environmental change, and together we have created a policy which ensures Sprint continues to do that,” said Rice. “With Canopy’s support we are making purchasing decisions that will sustain both our business and the environment.”

“Sprint is already well-known as an environmental leader among the Fortune 100, and recent updates to their Paper & Print Procurement Policy further distinguishes the company from its competitors in this area,” said Amanda Carr, campaigns director, Canopy. “And today they have acted on that policy with this major step in reducing their paper use.”

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PUBLISHING NEWS

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Licenses Living Books Press Release , Digital Book World . 6/6/2012

Wanderful, a new Bay Area-based technology firm, has secured licensing rights to global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s library of Living Books titles.

The beloved Living Books series, introduced by Broderbund Software in the early 1990s (and expanded through a joint venture with Random House at that time), defined the interactive storybook category, won numerous high-profile awards, and was a hit with parents, educators and students.

“Living Books has such an amazing legacy, remembered by children, trusted by parents and embraced by the educational community,” said Mickey W. Mantle, president and CEO, Wanderful. “The content of the Living Books series, as well as unmatched production values allowed us to create elegant, interactive-rich storybook applications for Mac and Windows computers that are still in use by teachers today, and we’re thrilled to have acquired the exclusive rights to this franchise from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.”

Wanderful, founded by technology veteran Mickey W. Mantle, delivers imaginative, engaging and easy-to-access experiences on the latest tablets, mobile phones and computers for young readers and pre-readers, inspiring them to explore the magical world of language. Mantle has a 40+ year track record of success in the software industry at companies including Evans & Sutherland (E&S), Pixar and Gracenote. His work includes notable achievements, such as managing development at Pixar of the Pixar Image Computer and RenderMan, the gold standard of 3D photorealistic rendering software that has been used on every Visual Effects Academy Award Winner for the past 15 years. In 1991, Mickey joined Broderbund Software as Vice President of Engineering/CTO where he managed the company’s vast development organization that produced numerous award-winning PC and Mac games, such as Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Kid Pix, Myst and Living Books.

J. V. Rockwell Publishing Acquires the GossRSVP Business from Goss Press Release , Printing Impressions . 6/6/2012

J V Rockwell Publishing has reached an agreement with Goss International to acquire GossRSVP, a leading print-to- mobile messaging platform. GossRSVP will be further developed, marketed and supported by Cumulus Interactive Technologies Group, the software development division of J. V. Rockwell.

In announcing the agreement, Mark Rockwell, vice president of J. V. Rockwell, said, “We believe GossRSVP is a tremendous addition to our lineup of multimedia advertising products. We have been using it for more than three years as part of our ADapproval multimedia advertising suite and see this as an opportunity to fully integrate it into our systems and expand its user community.

Toby Clarke, vice president at Goss, added, “We are delighted to have J V Rockwell and the CumulusITG team add GossRSVP to its product portfolio. We have worked with their team for quite some time. Their resources and their focus on premium multimedia advertising solutions that encompass print, Web and mobile puts them in a strong position to invest in and continue to expand the program. I am sure that GossRSVP and its customers will be in good hands.”

MPA's Nina Link to Step Down Press Releas , MPA . 6/7/2012

Nina Link, President & CEO, MPA – the Association of Magazine Media, announced today that she will step down from her position at the end of 2012. Ms. Link informed the MPA Executive Committee this morning of her decision. Michael Clinton,

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Chairman of the MPA Board of Directors, and President, Marketing & Publishing Director, Hearst Magazines, said that MPA has retained the executive recruiting firm of Blinkhorn, L.L.C, to conduct a search for a successor to Ms. Link.

“Nina Link’s extraordinary vision and thought leadership have guided the magazine industry throughout her 13-year tenure as President and CEO of MPA,” said Clinton. “She’s been tireless in her efforts championing the strengths and vitality of magazines to the advertising, technology and financial communities as well as the press.”

Clinton added, “The fact that almost every major consumer magazine publishing company in the United States is an MPA member and that the organization remains fiscally sound especially after the recent recession speaks to Nina’s exceptional skills as a manager and a unifying force in a competitive industry with so many disparate interests.”

“MPA has worked effectively over the past two years to reposition itself and the industry,” said Link. “We rebranded and refocused the mission and priorities of MPA. We changed our management team. We changed how we engaged with our members. Because of the successful transformation of MPA, I decided that this was the ideal time to reestablish my consulting and product development firm.”

Under Link’s leadership, MPA undertook numerous successful initiatives including:

• Strengthened MPA’s influence in Washington to address print and digital issues in the areas of copyright, privacy, First Amendment and consumer protection. MPA has also been at the forefront in the battle to contain postal rate increases and a strong advocate for the passage of postal reform.

• Advanced the industry’s digital expansion through conferences, professional development programs, research, best practices as well as showcased industry digital efforts on the MPA website and the MPA daily e-newsletter.

• Created a coalition of senior magazine executives in 2012 to establish voluntary tablet guidelines and tools to provide understanding and clarity about the measurement of magazine media audiences on tablets for the advertising community.

• Spearheaded a measurement initiative in 2008 to move the magazine industry toward an audience metric that is more timely, more accountable and more comparable to other media.

• Launched a multi-million-dollar three-year marketing and advertising campaign promoting magazines in 2005. The campaign resulted in magazines being the first medium to put forth the powerful concept of “engagement” leading to reader “action.”

Nina Link: A Brief Biography

Nina Link has held the position of MPA President longer than anyone in the organization’s 93-year history. Since joining MPA in late 1999, Ms. Link has led the organization's efforts to promote the vitality of the magazine industry to the advertising, marketing and financial communities as well as the press and the public. She has advanced the interests of magazine media in the areas of government affairs, advertising, consumer marketing and the transformation to digital platforms. Under Ms. Link's leadership, MPA has played a pivotal role in providing digital resources and training to its membership. Ms. Link led the creation of the first e-reading conference for magazines (two weeks before the original iPad went on sale) as well as the industry's first awards program honoring excellence on digital platforms. Prior to joining MPA, Ms. Link served as Group President, Publishing and Interactive for Sesame Workshop, formerly Children's Television Workshop (CTW). Ms. Link also headed her own consulting and product development firm, The Link Group, Inc. Her consultancy worked with a number of companies including the Publishing Division of CTW, and specialized in developing multimedia educational and training systems, programs and materials for industrial, educational, governmental and non-profit institutions. Ms. Link currently serves on the Boards of the Ad Council, New York University's Center for Publishing, and International Federation of Periodical Press (FIPP). She is the recipient of two National Magazine Awards.

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PDF to EPUB Conversion Tools Score Low on Accuracy in VIGC Test Press Release , Printing Impressions . 6/7/2012

Publishers wanting to convert their libraries of books to eBooks may find it problematic, given a test run by the Flemish Innovation Center for Graphic Communication (VIGC) that found tools for converting PDFs to EPUB files scored an average of 30 percent accuracy, with the lowest-performing tool scoring just 10 percent. And even more significant: the four EPUB validation tools that VIGC used produced different results.

“There’s no doubt that the popularity of eBooks is soaring,” says Eddy Hagen, general manager at VIGC. “This trend leaves publishers facing a big challenge—they have to convert their whole back catalog to make them available as eBooks.

“An obvious approach is to take the print-ready PDF files and convert them to EPUB files, the standard file format for ebooks. For printers, this presents a potential new service they can offer their customers. On the internet you can find a lot of tools for converting PDFs to EPUB files—unfortunately, however, it’s not that straightforward.”

Conversion tools struggle to make the grade

The VIGC assessed 13 tools. The test began with a perfect PDF/X-4 file, which was converted via the different tools to an EPUB file. The next step was to validate the EPUB file with four different validation tools, to check if they conformed to the EPUB specifications. Then, all files were checked visually with five different EPUB viewers. In some cases there was a final conversion from EPUB to Amazon Kindle or to Apple iBooks.

“We used a very challenging print-ready test file that contained text and images,” explains Hagen. “And from a typographic point of view, we added all kinds of tricks. Eventually we ended up with a book covering nearly 30 pages. In total, we tested 65 different elements—from a simple italic, to OpenType functions like ligatures, through mathematical formulas. We didn’t expect any tool to register a perfect score, but at the same time we didn’t expect some tools to score as low as 10 percent.”

Ligatures prove a challenge

An important issue highlighted by the VIGC test is the difficulty in converting ligatures. A ligature is a “combined glyph”—two or sometimes three letters that have been joined together for aesthetic reasons.

“A good example is the combination of the letters ‘f’ and ‘I’,” continues Hagen. “In the text we wrote, there were the word profiles where the ‘f’ and ‘i’ were replaced by one glyph, the ligature. But in some EPUB files we found ‘profles’ instead of profiles’—the ‘i’ had been dropped.

“Some conversion tools didn’t recognize the ligature and made an incorrect conversion. The automatic use of ligatures is the default in Adobe InDesign—i.e. InDesign will automatically replace certain combinations with the ligature—so you can imagine how often this happens in a document, and how often this will go wrong with some tools. You need to scan the converted files manually to check for missing letters, which simply isn’t feasible.”

Validation misses the mark

According to Hagen, validation tools pose an even bigger problem. “What amazed us the most was the validation of the EPUB files. Validation was a standard practice in our test, a simple way to partially check the quality of the conversion. We used four different validation tools and got different results.

“Some tools could validate one EPUB file, while another tool couldn’t. And the differences were inconsistent too—it wasn’t a case of one tool always being different from the other three. Based on our results, publishers face a big challenge in ensuring EPUB files—and subsequently the ebooks themselves—have been converted accurately.”

The complete report with detailed test results can be purchased from the VIGC. They will also continue their search for good tools for EPUB-creation, to further support publishers and printers.

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RETAIL NEWS

AEO rolls out Shopkick loyalty program to all stores Gail Hoffer , Retailing Today . 6/6/2012

American Eagle Outfitters has expanded its partnership with Shopkick to reward customers just for walking into one of their American Eagle Outfitters or Aerie stores.

"Shopkick is an ideal partner for AEO as we strive to be an early adopter of technologies that matter to our customers," said Fred Grover, EVP American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. "We are excited to expand our long-time partnership with shopkick to delight customers in all of our stores nationwide."

American Eagle Outfitters takes the rewards program even further by allowing customers to turn their Shopkick "kicks" into Aerewards points.

"The American Eagle Outfitters customer is a barometer for the next generation of shoppers; they use their mobile phones to help them shop, they're tech savvy and social," said Doug Galen, chief revenue officer of Shopkick. "As one of Shopkick's first partners, AEO has demonstrated an early commitment to providing real value to customers through mobile. Offering shopkick at a national level is a tremendous opportunity to introduce shopkick to millions of new users."

America’s “General” store maintains momentum Mike Troy , Retailing Today . 6/5/2012

Surging profits and a 6.7% first quarter same-store sales increase prompted Dollar General to raise its full-year profit forecast by three cents.

Dollar General shows no signs of slowing down this year after posting first-quarter results that saw the company’s total sales increase 13% to nearly $3.5 billion and net income increase 36% to $213 million. The 6.7% comp increase was driven by an increase in customer traffic and average transaction size, according to the company.

“Dollar General is starting off 2012 with strong performance in the first quarter due to excellent same-store sales growth of 6.7%, representing the fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating improvement,” said Rick Dreiling, chairman and CEO. “We are pleased to raise our full year financial outlook to now reflect adjusted (earnings per share) of $2.68 to $2.78. Our first quarter was strong, and we are pleased with our May sales performance.”

The company had previously forecast full-year earnings in the range of $2.65 to $2.75

“I believe we are positioned well to invest in the future of our business as we continue to redefine small-box retailing and reinforce Dollar General’s role as America’s general store,” said Dreiling.

During the quarter, the company opened 128 new stores and remodeled or relocated 224 stores. In addition, a new distribution center in Alabama and a new leased distribution center in California began shipping merchandise to stores.

Customers Like Personalization In-Store More Than Online Staff Writer , Marketing Charts . 6/8/2012

When it comes to personalization techniques used by retailers, customers prefer to be acknowledged in-store rather than via digital channels, at least when shopping for specialty products, per findings [download page] from a RIS News and Cognizant survey of US and Canadian shoppers released in June 2012. On a 5-point scale, consumers indicated that they like special 11

treatment in the store based on loyalty the most (3.4), and personalized mobile offers the least (2.3). Other techniques such as personalized offers delivered in-store and acknowledgment of status as a highly valued customer while in-store (both at 3.2) are preferred to website recommendations based on product searches and personalized emails (both at 2.9).

If a younger consumer is the target, though, the script flips. The report notes that while older shoppers prefer store-based methods, shoppers younger than age 45 prefer digital methods of personalization.

Youth Most Open to Sharing Data for Personalization

In order to facilitate a personalized shopping experience, consumers are most open to having information tracked by a loyalty number, sharing their name, address, and email for a web account, and having their email collected at the point of sale (POS). Across all information-sharing categories, 34-45-year olds and 18-33-year-olds are the most open to sharing information, with shoppers 65 and older the least interested.

Data from an ExactTarget report released in June, which looked at the activities of the 100 fastest-growing US retailers, reveals that only 44% of the retailers with stores asked for a customer’s email address at the POS. Even fewer sought a consumer’s zip code (32%), phone number (27%), and postal address (24%).

Face-to-Face Service Preferred

Meanwhile, when it comes to accessing customer service, consumers display a clear preference for face-to-face interaction, and this holds true across gender and age groups. Overall, respondents to the RIS News survey said that going to an in-store customer service desk was their preferred way of accessing customer service while shopping, with a rating of 3.8 on a 5-point scale of preference. Calling customer service was next (3.1), with online chat (2.3) and social media page (2.0) trailing. Mobile text message (1.9) and mobile chat (1.8) also don’t appear to be high on customers’ preferences, with video chat (1.7) the least favored.

Inefficiencies, Distracted Cashiers Rile Customers at Checkout

A fast and easy checkout is of relatively high importance to in-store shoppers, and further results from RIS News and Cognizant’s “2012 Shopper Experience Study” identify the aspects of the checkout process that are most likely to frustrate customers. Chief among those are an inefficient or inaccurate process and a cashier being either not available or distracted, with each of these factors scoring a rating of 4.2 on a 5-point scale, with 5 representing most disliked. Other checkout aspects that seem to unnerve customers include discounts and credits not being quickly processed (3.9) and cashiers trying to sell them more products (3.8).

Interestingly, despite December 2011 research from Motorola Solutions indicating that a majority of shoppers believe that self- checkout lanes improve their in-store experience, the absence of a self-checkout (2.5) is easily the least disliked aspect among the RIS News survey respondents.

Out-of-Stock Products Worst Element of In-Store Shopping

For in-store retailers looking to improve their shoppers’ experience, making sure that inventory levels are kept up-to-date might be the first place to focus. According to the RIS News survey, shoppers said that products they want being out of stock is their most disliked experience when shopping in-store for both specialty items and consumables. Closely following, prices, promotions, and discounts not being clearly marked frustrates shoppers, as does difficulty finding the product they want.

According to December 2011 survey results from Oracle, if an item is not in-store, one-quarter of shoppers will leave the store and find it online.

Other Findings:

 Results from the RIS News survey show that the preferred payment methods for in-store purchases are a bank-issued credit card, cash, and a debit card. A digital wallet via a personal mobile device is the least-preferred. Even so, twice as

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many high-income shoppers ($150k+) as lower-income shoppers (less than $25k) would use a digital wallet via mobile phone.  Debit cards are the preferred payment method for 18-33-year-olds.  If available, the digital wallet solution most likely to be used by customers is PayPal. According to a June 2012 study [pdf] from Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group (CGC), if PayPal offered a mobile wallet, 4 in 5 consumers would be open to using it.

About the Data:

The RIS News/Cognizant data is based on an online survey of 2,122 shoppers in the US and Canada conducted in April 2012. The respondent pool was 70% female and 30% male. The age group breakdown is as follows: 18-33 (30%); 46-64 (29%); 34-45 (20%); and 65+ (20%).

The ExactTarget fastest-growing US retailers are based on the list contained in the National Retail Federation’s STORES 2011 Hot 100 Retailers Report. To gather the data, ExactTarget’s research team visited the websites and, where applicable, at least one physical store of each of the Hot 100 Retailers in March 2012.

Organized retail crime continues to rise Katherine Field Boccaccio , Chain Store Age . 6/5/2012

The number of retailers that fell victim to organized retail crime groups increased in the past, according to the National Retail Federation’s Organized Retail Crime Survey.

Of the 125 retail companies surveyed for NRF’s eighth annual survey, a record-setting (96%) said their company has been the victim of organized retail crime in the past year, up from 94.5% last year. Another 87.7% said ORC activity in the United States has grown over the past three years.

"What this tells us is that as retailers and law enforcement become more aware of and more proactive in pursuing organized retail crime gangs, criminals have become more desperate and brazen in their efforts, stopping at nothing to get their hands on large quantities of merchandise,” said NRF VP loss prevention Rich Mellor.

On a more positive note, the survey found that more retailers believe law enforcement is aware of and understands the severity and complexity of the issue (40% this year versus 32.3% in 2011). More than half (54.4%) said top management at their company is aware of the problems associated with organized retail crime.

Increases in violence and cargo theft were both found to pose problems for retailers as well. According to the survey, on average, 52.1% of companies have been victims of cargo theft in the past 12 months, up from 49.6% last year. A significantly higher percent of companies this year said cargo theft occurs mostly en route from the distribution center to the store (68.1% versus 57.4% last year). Four in 10 (43.5%) say these incidents also occur en route from manufacturer to distribution center and 15.9% say they happen at the distribution center.

The survey also indicates a growing trend in the level of violence retailers see when organized criminal gangs are apprehended (15% of incidents versus 13% in 2011). Retailers grappling with these violent acts also report that they believe more ORC offenders are engaged in drug activity. Nearly half (49%) of respondents estimate drugs and drug activity are linked to organized retail crime incidents.

When asked what new trends in organized retail crime they have noticed in the past year, retailers cited familiar issues involving the economy, returned stolen merchandise, gift card fraud, and increases in violent activity upon apprehension. However, new to the list of trends this year were specific references to digital receipt fraud; increased smash and grab incidents; and collusion with street gangs.

“Though retailers continue to make great strides in their fight against organized retail crime, sophisticated criminals with unending opportunities and anonymous outlets to sell their stolen merchandise are proving to be quite challenging for both 13

retailers and law enforcement agencies working to combat this issue,” said NRF senior asset protection advisor Joe LaRocca. “With the types of organized retail crimes changing in severity and scope every day, and cargo theft and violent instances becoming more troubling, retailers are constantly on high alert.”

Walmart taps augmented reality to engage in-store customers Chantal Tode , Mobile Marketer . 6/8/2012

In the latest example of how Walmart is using mobile as a key part of its promotional strategy for summer blockbuster films, the retailer has launched the Web Slinger augmented reality app, featuring Spider-Man and enabling customers to interact with in-store displays to access exclusive content.

Walmart’s first effort to tie mobile and film promotions together was an augmented reality app for The Avengers film, which was introduced in April and enabled customers to turn an in-store shopping experience into a scavenger hunt. The latest app is in support of the retailer’s promotional efforts for the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man.

“We think as the use of mobile technology continues to grow with consumers that it is a great way to engage them,” said Brent Duwe, director of entertainment property merchandising at Walmart, Bentonville, AR.

“This is a massive program that we’ve put together to provide added value to consumers and to provide additional access,” he said.

“The augmented reality app really ties the whole thing together.”

Exclusive content

With the Web Slinger app, customers can take photos with a life-size Spider-Man and unlock content by interacting with displays in the store. Fans can also engage in the augmented reality experience during the “Secrets Unmasked Tour” truck tour, making Spider-Man and another character from the film come to life on top of a truck.

The Web Slinger app is available now but is not fully activated yet. Right now, users can view toy demos and play a Spider Man game.

The app will be updated on June 15 will two more elements. One will be the ability to point the app at a Spider-Man special edition comic book available in-store to trigger a fight sequence.

Users will also be able to trigger an augmented reality experience by pointing the app at the in-store display where the comic book and an accompanying DVD will be available. Doing so will trigger a full-size Spider-Man to appear in the store.

Users will be able to make Spider-Man jump into their screen or shoot a web at them. They can also stand next to him and have a picture taken with him that can be posted to Facebook and shared via email.

Added excitement

The app will be updated again on June 26, when a new game mode will become active.

In the game, Spider-Man’s web shooters have been broken and players have to go into Walmart and interact with four displays in various departments around the store to repair them. The displays include Kellogg’s Cheez-It and Pop-Tarts displays in grocery, the Straight Talk Wireless section in electronics as well as signage in the toys and boys’ apparel departments.

Once users have unlocked the content in-store, they will be able to play the game anywhere.

“One of the key learnings we had from The Avengers app was that people were really engaged with the social element, posting pictures on Facebook and interacting with friends because of it,” Mr. Duwe said.

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“Another learning we had from The Avengers app is that we have to be much more direct about what we want users to do with the display,” he said. “There is messaging in the app but we also found that we needed to reinforce this at the sign itself.”

Walmart partnered with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment for the wide-reaching promotion which also includes an in-store screening of never-before-seen footage from the movie. The retailer is stocking a wide array of The Amazing Spider-Man licensed merchandise, including action figures and t-shirts to video games and home decor.

Walmart is using mobile to give customers Spider-Man content that they cannot access on their own or from any other retailer.

“We know that Walmart customers respond very favorably to Spider-Man and other entertainment properties,” Mr. Duwe said. “When we have a film or DVD release, we want to provide value and access to the customer that they couldn’t get otherwise.

“That’s what we tried to do with the mobile program for The Avengers and found it is a really exciting way to engage customers,” he said.

“As we learn more, it is something that we will be looking again for future programs.”

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