Welcome to NRF Expo Series

With this article, I am starting a series of reports inspired by visiting NRF 2019 retail’s big show which took place on January 13-15^th in NYC. As noted by the organizers, NRF is the world’s largest retail conference and expo which gathers the biggest retail players from 99 countries. So, it is a splendid opportunity to learn about trends and innovations, find new partners and clear out prospects.

My first day was majorly devoted to deepening into the transformations small retailers are facing today with the increasing impact of digitization. While everybody’s eyes are justly turned to the marvels of such erupted online giants as Amazon, Alibaba or eBay, do so-called mom and pop stores really stand a chance to survive in this brave new digital world? Here are some insights from the leaders of the industry.

Can Mom and Pop Shops Stay on a Roll?

Mom and pop stores are small, mostly family-run businesses with a small amount of business volume and single location. Most of them are struggling hard today to stand up to large international retailers. But the experts promise the situation can be improved due to technical innovations and improvements in customer experience.

50170609_745827345788250_4594996415465259008_n — A good example from my own home town Ålesund, where Sponland is ready to take on their journey into the future. Store Manager Marit Brunstad says: “It is a new and exiting future, a disruption we must take seriously; but we are prepared and motivated to meet our customers in new channels and on new terms”

Being not burdened by large operating expenses, staffing, and warehousing, small stores have more chances to benefit from flexibility and clear customer focus. On the contrast to multivendor marketplaces, they can succeed in a vertical dimension, that is, in exploiting narrow, really specialized niches and competently addressing their target audience. But most important, it is easier for them to develop and maintain relevant corporate culture and staff involvement.

Next Step to Staff Efficiency

There is a close link between the customer experience and employee experience, states Jami Blake, a voice of customer director in Tiffany & Co. Today’s customers differ considerably from the previous generations. They have much more knowledge about the product yet before they enter your store – and expect a consultant not just provide adequate and detailed information (which itself demands from employees to be better informed and enthusiastic). What is more important is the message the company beams, the narrative behind the product, the inspiration it brings to people’s lives. To be competitive, modern companies want (and need) to be the part of customers’ lives.

But to inspire clients and to deliver the company’s promise properly, employees need to be inspired first. Here are some recommendations from the members of the senior executive panel discussion on how to drive enterprise profit and performance. The participants included executives with 50+ year experience in retail from such companies as Finish Line, Shopko, Macy’s, and Chico’s. The following statements from their discussion drew my attention:

do forget about multitasking, instead, keep all members of your staff concentrated on one task and delivering one message,
keep in mind the limitations of any technology, remember that technology should inspire your staff and make work easier, not become a burden,
encourage employees to ask questions and keep them involved,
create success stories not only for customers but for employees,
and, what is most important, while introducing any innovations into the processes, remember that any changes take time and avoid staff’s fatigue.

To make a long story short, educate your staff, create corporate culture and connections and remember that staff dissatisfaction may cost too much since most often, it leads to customer dissatisfaction.

Customers Engaged

One of the ways to unburden your employees and though strange it may sound, to enhance customer loyalty is to shift more responsibility in the process of decision making and purchase on clients. Modern technologies make it simple and easy and it is a great opportunity for both big and small businesses.

We all live half-virtual life today staying connected most of the time. According to forecasts, each household is believed to have up to 50 connected devices by 2020, and mobile commerce is to capture 49% of online retail sales by that time reaching from $ 250 to $ 300 billion in transaction. Even today, companies which wisely use mobile apps are one step ahead of their competitors.

Turning your eyes on mobile technologies allows you to reach your customers where and when THEY want to shop. It encourages purchases through quicker and easier access to information about the product. It gives your customers more power and brings them into decision-making. It delights them through more personalized and seamless experiences. And it makes your employees less burdened.

Try It Online: State-of-the-Art Demos and Showrooms

Another perk modern technologies bring into commerce is opportunities offered by virtual and augmented reality. Even today, using headsets or other applicable technology, users can try on items and see holograms or 3-D views of the products. In the future, people will be able to visually shop in their local mom and pop store using VR or AR and have orders delivered to them.

Does it mean that traditional brick-and-mortar stores will sink into oblivion? Most likely, not, since there is a kind of the shopper’s delight no virtual store can give – that of keeping a thing in hands, touching it, feeling its smell – you know, all those sensations which induce us to spontaneous purchases. But it is quite predictable that most of the shops of the future will need to turn to BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick up in Store) concept. No wonder one of the panels of this year NRF conference was totally devoted to the future of the BOPIS model.

What small retailers should take into account first and foremost when intending to introduce this model into their business? Remember that to start BOPIS, you need to have full control of your inventory. Your store is expected to have agility and ability to act rapidly. Do think of autonomous supply chain. And remember that no matter what model you choose, a scientific, data-driven approach is a must-have for commerce today.

Conclusion: Modernized, not Historized

To survive in a modern competitive world, the company does not necessarily need to be a big conglomerate like Amazon or eBay. Small mom and pop stores have all chances to stay afloat and even prosper provided they benefit from modern technologies and innovative marketing strategies, such as developing in narrow specialized niches, staff optimization and education, creating a strong company culture, encouraging customer involvement, and store decentralization.

If you are interested in hearing more about the future of retail, feel free to contact me at bjorn.nostdahl@gunnebo.com 🙂

Commercial, Recruitment, Software Development Insights

Happy Holidays from Bjørn T.

December 24, 2018February 13, 2019 Bjørn T. Nøstdahl

Dear Friends and Collegues,

The holiday season is upon us once more. Families are celebrating Thanksgiving, Mawlid, Yule, Christmas and New Year. All of these holidays cumulate up to the most exiting event of the year: The fiscal year end. It’s a time to reflect on the past year, add up the cost and the revenue and make plans for the upcoming year. Accountants and controllers are pushing for the latest numbers, and managers spend late evenings planning the budgets for the next year.

Here at Gunnebo Business Solutions we have been planning 2019. I have spent time with my development and operational teams planning for the future, looking at the the high level backlog and discussing our main focus for the first quarter of the next year.

Now I am finally back home with my family in Ålesund, and tonight wa are having Norwegian Pinnekjøtt, traditionally eaten on the West coast of the country. Pinnekjøtt is lamb ribs that have been salted and dried to preserve them. The result is a delicious piece of lamb – quite unlike anything else, and very, very tasty. As side dishes, we eat mash from rutabaga, carrots and potatoes, and traditional pork sausages.

I want to take this time to wish my family and friends, as well as customers and partners, all the best, happy holidays and a prosperous forthcoming year. I hope to see you all soon!

Commercial, Software Development Insights

InnoTown Ålesund 2018 – Day 2

May 30, 2018May 30, 2018 Bjørn T. Nøstdahl

Breaking Bad Habits

Freek Vermeulen, an associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School, is already known to InnoTown attendees. In 2013, his InnoTown talk became one of the highest rated. This time he introduced some amazing ideas from his book “Breaking Bad Habits”. And by these bad habits, he implies blind following widespread practices, superannuated a long time ago.

Such outdated norms become harmful to business and should be defied, he states. And he proves his position by fascinating real-life examples of organizations who introduced innovations and unlocked their hidden potential.

Freek used the UK company HMV as a sample of the rise and fall of a niche business that failed to catch sight of a turn from niche stores to retail and from offline to online. He then drew parallels to the rise of iPhone and the fall of Nokia and Blackberry.

He also mentioned a positive example of Citizen M, whose concept is to offer a great hotel experience at a low cost by eliminating all the costly extras and focusing on what the specific customer group needs. Their approach is based on the identification of the customer group, eliminating things this group doesn’t care about and introducing the alternative the customers will enjoy.

Freek reminded the audience that strategy is not only about looking forward but also about reacting to change and making decisions based on this.

The second part of his report was devoted to the ‘safety in numbers’ hypothesis. According to it, by being part of a large physical group or mass, an individual is less likely to be the victim of a mishap. This is an important thing we should keep in mind when dealing with our staff and customers. Help your employees grasp the impact of their work. Let them know that their work is noticed and appreciated. And try to reduce the anonymity between the customers and the workers.

Leadership

The Battle Within

Robert Mood is the President of Norwegian Red Cross and a former lieutenant general. His 40-year service record includes leadership positions in the NATO and the United Nations. As Chief of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, Mood was commissioned to assist Kofi Annan in his work as a special envoy of the secretary-general and the Arab League on the Syrian crisis. Apart from this, he is known as an outstanding speaker, writer, and commentator.

His InnoTown speech was dedicated to the issue of leadership. For him, it first and foremost goes about responsibility. The uncertain future demands from the leaders of contemporaneity being accountable, relevant and loyal to the values of society.

A leader should develop people through caring, and combine caring with clear demands. This will motivate people and bring out the very best in them, inspiring them to climb the ladder and move forward.

The first step in delegation is to set clear goals. How will you measure whether the job has been done properly? Clarify for the subordinates what they are expected to achieve, and don’t leave topics in the corner. Also be clear about what they must not do, and what actions they may not take. These instructions may be on a low level, like, “Be sure to keep this customer satisfied” and “do not invoice this customer for overtime”.

You as a leader should also remember about integrity and do as you teach. Don’t show up at work in shorts if you don’t want your team to show up poorly dressed in front the customers.

Be mission-focused, never look back, only look forward, and make the team as complimentary as possible.

Robert also reminded us about the importance of values. The team should define their core values. As well, the leaders should formulate their personal leadership concept. And there is a good practice helping to find out how personalized and internalized this concept is: just try to formulate it on a piece of paper without googling and stealing quotes from other.

Utopia for Realists

The Case for a Universal Basic Income

Rutger Bregman is considered to be one of Europe’s most prominent young thinkers. Bregman is a historian by profession, and an author of four books on history, philosophy, and economics. Apart from this, he is also a regular writer for The Correspondent.

The key issue he investigates is a redistribution of power in the modern world. He gives capitalism its due in developing a stable social base, though, at the same time he points out the need for change in economic and welfare systems. He goes further with presenting universal basic income, a 15-hour workweek, and open borders as key ideas to make his case. This, he believes, will bring humanity to a completely new social structure.

The world has never been better, Rutger states, except for marriages that brake more frequently, high rates of domestic violence (1/3 all murders are domestic), and a top-heavy level of consumerism. What was a utopia in the 19th century, is a reality now, in the 20th century. The real crisis is that we cannot come up with something better—the next iteration—the next huge thing. Now we need the vision, a “new utopia” for the 21st century.

Rutger’s idea for future improvements is that, instead of stimulating bureaucracy, people would be better off with a universal basic income to stimulate them to work shorter hours, grow their own interest and be motivated to contribute to the society. His theory is that UBI would pay itself, as most social security and welfare systems have a huge overhead in management and control.

Personally, I find this idea a little bit doubtful. Won’t UBI remove the incentive to work, affecting adversely the economy and leading to labor and skills shortage? The risk is that kids choose not to take up learning but live on the bare minimum instead and play XBOX all day.

Deep thinking

Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins

Garry Kasparov, the last InnoTown speaker I am happy to introduce in this article, is well-known all over the world as the greatest chess player of all times. Having retired from professional chess, he went on to participate in democratic and human rights protection movement. He is the author of several books and a contributing editor to The Wall Street Journal.

Garry is also famous for being one of the first humans to practically interact with AI. In 2007, Garry played and lost to Deep Blue, a chess computer algorithm. The case was seen as very symbolically significant. Many people considered it a sign that artificial intelligence was catching up to human intelligence. Keep in mind that chess has always been seen as the ultimate intelligence challenge, there are more game-trees of сhess than the number of galaxies, and more openings, defenses, gambits, etc. than the number of quarks in our universe!

No wonder it inspired Garry to deepen into the topic of AI. For many years, he has been exploring the potential of human and machine cognition, competition and collaboration.

Garry devoted his InnoTown talk to the way AI is transforming human behavior and interactions. AI development generates numerous expectations, but at the same time numerous fears, he mentions. And if we want to get most out of this technology, we need to face our fears and conquer them.

Garry told about three different levels of computing algorithms, where A is the brute force approach, B is artificial intelligence and C is self-learning computers. He believes that what is waiting for us in the future is Augmented Intelligence instead of Artifical Intelligence—that is, humans and machines complimenting each other.

It is really instructively that instead of disassociating himself from AI and chess computers after the defeat, Garry embraced the new technology and is working on combining the computing power of modern algorithms with human imagination, insight, and ideas.

Read more about InnoTown here: InnoTown
Read more about Ålesund here: Visit Norway

Commercial, Software Development Insights

InnoTown Ålesund 2018

May 30, 2018May 30, 2018 Bjørn T. Nøstdahl

For the 15^th time, the InnoTown Innovation Conference inspires the audience with motivational talks and practical business cases. As always, it gathers brilliant speakers who share their personal success stories and enrich the listeners with cutting-edge ideas.

InnoTown’ 2018 was kicked off with a short but thought-provoking session from a cross-cultural expert, speaker, and communications consultant Pellegrino Riccardi. Born and raised in an Italian family in Great Britain, he spent over 30 years of his adult life traveling around the world. It gave him a deep understanding of cultural specificities and, together with various professions which Pellegrino mastered, made him an invaluable expert in cross-cultural business communication.

Pellegrino touched on a thought-provoking topic, “What is love in business?”, and I think this is quite interesting. We all want our customers to be satisfied, and both personal and professional relationships require from us honesty and benevolence to both our professional contacts and our loved ones.

Contagious; Why Things Catch On

Jonah Berger, a professor of marketing from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, is well-known in academic circles as the author of many high-ranked publications and a teacher of Wharton’s online course. New York Times and Harvard Business Review also often cover his activities both as an academician and a business consultant. But his most popular work is a bestseller Contagious: Why Things Catch On and Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior, which resulted from 15 years of studying the mechanisms of social influence.

In his talk, Jonah revealed the secrets of content virality. He took the audience through the six key STEPPS to emotional contagion: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotions, Public, Practical Value, and Story.

That is, to attract people to your product or idea, you need to build communication in such a way that people feel like insiders, are triggered by your message, involved emotionally and understand the practical value of your proposal. Wrap it in a beautiful story which people want to replicate—and turn your customers into your advocates.

Jonah used a really vivid metaphor, having compared content with a Trojan Horse which secretly carries your ideas wherever you want.

The future beholds; Nanotechnology

Swedish physicist Maria Strömme, Head of Department of nanotechnology and functional materials at Uppsala University, introduced to InnoTown attendees the nanotechnological breakthrough called “algae battery”. This environment-friendly battery can charge at exceptionally high speeds due to manipulation at the atomic and molecular levels. Maria stressed that there are multiple applications of nanotechnology which open up a world of opportunities.

One of the most important issues we face today is finding sustainable energy supplies. Currently, North America spends as much electricity on cooling buildings as Africa spends altogether. We utilize only a fraction of the energy available from the sun due to inefficient silicon technology. Maria is convinced that this problem can be solved by harvesting solar energy more efficiently with the help of nanotechnology. In addition, we have just started to explore micro energy sources, like body movements, sweating etc. Much is yet to come.

Earth is facing accelerating urbanization. As a result, affordable and adaptable materials are needed. Hewlett-Packard has recently presented a 4D printer able to print material which can adapt and change shape based on external impact like pressure change.

Another sphere in which nanotechnology is already adopted and has a great future is healthcare. Most likely, the world will soon reach “Peak Child” stage, meaning that the maximum amount of children in the world is now at its highest. The average age of the worlds’ population is and will continue rising, and we need to keep our bodies young and healthy, and it can be done with nanotechnology.

Last but not least, Maria talked about sustainable and smart packaging which helps to reduce pollution and replace plastic with organic and recyclable materials. The oceans are filling up with plastic debris, and we do not want this to be the heritage we leave for our children.

Empathy in the age of AI

With the rapid development of new technologies, such as robotics, quantum computing, IoT, AI, and VR, the alarming questions are what risks for the human society these innovations might bring and how to avoid them. Today, when these new technologies blur the lines between physical, digital and biological domains, we need a new, deeper understanding of what it means to be human. Rapid technological development challenges our efficiency as social beings.

Anita Nowak, a talented educator and an expert on empathy and social impact, investigates skills and practices necessary for humans to survive and thrive into the future we can barely imagine so far. She is convinced that empathy is all the rage these days and the cornerstone for the development of a new human society.

While tech-geeks like myself embrace Artificial Intelligence, it is quite refreshing to listen to Anita and try to grasp the potential consequences of the fourth industrial revolution in case we don’t implement it in the correct way. We need to be even more cautious keeping in mind that our children crave for new technologies, which results in less direct interaction with friends and family compared to the way we grew up.

Still, I choose to look at the bright side, hoping and believing that we will find an augmented approach where humans will be more emphatic and machines will handle cognitive tasks.

Read more about InnoTown here: InnoTown
Read more about Ålesund here: Visit Norway

Commercial, Gunnebo Retail Solution, Software Development Insights

Microsoft Retail Inspiration Day

April 30, 2018February 13, 2019 Bjørn T. Nøstdahl

The digital transformation and customers’ new behaviors give you, as Retailers, both new opportunities and challenges.

On April 26th Gunnebo participated in the Microsoft Retail Inspiration Day where we spent an exciting day of focusing on retail. During the day, we explored the industry experience and inspired participants with solutions from Microsoft and partners to showcase new opportunities that the technology may imply.

I had the chance to listen it to some of the keynotes and found it very interesting. Focus og the day was to share insights about retailing, with practical demonstrations, Microsofts own and partners (Gunnebo GBS being one) solutions:

Engage Your Customers – Here we will look at solutions for creating a personalized and relevant customer experience throughout the purchase and all channels.
Strengthen your employees – How can your employees be better informed, become more productive to provide better and more personalized service to your customers.
Intelligent Processes – How can data help ensure the right products are in the right place at the right time and create intelligent business processes.

Of course we attended with our container, showing how making your store more efficient is the key to being a more competitive business. By becoming a connected store, the retailer not only simplify their operations, but you also improve the customer experience and increase security.

Gunnebo Retail Solutions is a software service that connects all your store’s technical and administrative support systems onto one open platform, accessible anytime and anywhere. The system automates manual processes, and via an easy-to-use app, real-time information is transmitted from store systems to the shop floor for an overview of daily operations.

Actionable Data

Get a quick overview of your business using the dashboard. Actionable data like conversion rate, is easily accessible anytime, anywhere, so you can make quick and business-aligned decisions.

Staff Optimisation

The right staff at the right time in the right place. Not as easy as it sounds. Gunnebo Retail Solutions interacts with all your store’s systems to make sure everything runs smoothly. If something needs actioning, the software will let the appropriate member of staff know before it becomes an issue. Over time the software can also help you plan your resources according to historical data and upcoming events.

Task Management

Limit manual checklists and breaches of communication, and ensure that tasks are executed on time by the right member of staff. Create tasks on the spot from the shop floor or set daily tasks according to your store policy. Tasks can be assigned to a group as well as an individual, and with a tick in the box you know the task has been completed.

Store Modes

Gunnebo Retail Solutions enables you to run your business smoothly. By separating the store day into phases – such as, pre-open, open, post-open and closed – you can automate processes by phase.

For example, when the store enters pre-open mode the lights are 70% strength and no music is played. Once the store enters open mode the music starts to play and light strength is at maximum. Staff will also be automatically directed to those areas where there are most customers.

Certain stages can also be connected to security rules, such as making the back office accessible during pre-open and post-open only.

Visitor Management & Follow-Up

Monitor visits to your stores and stay on top of who is onsite. By tracking your suppliers’ arrival and departure times, the accumulated time spent on the premises can be compared with received invoices. Self-registration at a touch screen means staff do not have to manage visitors and can focus their attention on the customers