Part Two: Store As a Media: How Can Brands and Retailers Truly Engage Shoppers?

In the second part of “Store as a Media: How can brands and retailers truly engage shoppers?” host Maroun Ishac, Director of Business Development at Intel’s Internet of Things Group, talked with David Roth, CEO of The Store WPP and Chairman of the BAV Group, and Jay Hutton, CEO of VSBLTY. The Store tracks emerging technologies, purchase platforms, and physical formats that are changing shopping rituals around the globe. VSBLTY offers state-of-the-art software driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning. Together, the trio explored the concept of stores as media and the many and diverse partners and abilities it will take to make that concept a reality.

More and more retailers and store owners are taking an omnichannel approach that reimagines the in-store experience by harnessing the capabilities of multiple partners to engage shoppers. David Roth refers to these partnerships as a consortium. “When we bring a consortium of people with different perspectives and skillsets together, then things can be done very fast and at scale. But there isn’t one particular organization that has the skills and ability to pull all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. It takes a collective of skills and disciplines to really make this technology work.”

Jay Hutton agrees saying, “There are a lot of players. It takes leadership – technology leadership, but more importantly concept leadership.” The overall take away of the conversation centers around the importance of what David Roth calls, ecosystem brands.

“Each element in the ecosystem plays a vital role in ensuring that the customer proposition is developed and delivered well,” says Roth. Equally importantly, however, is the need for an ecosystem to have a center of gravity around which all the partners can revolve and find balance. “I think Intel provides that center of gravity so that the ecosystem can then move around in what should be perfect equilibrium,” Roth concludes.

The center of gravity is a great way to describe the role for Intel,” Hutton says. “But I have a point of view that suggests that new ecosystems are most quickly advanced by small companies that are agile and innovative aligning with big companies. That’s what we have on our hands now. I think Intel plays a critical role in the creation and delivery of thought leadership.”

Connect with Maroun Ishac, David Roth and Jay Hutton on LinkedIn

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