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For those that cannot justify forking out £1000 just for a new phone, there’s a new line of consumer products in the not luxury but luxury arena.

Luxury Lite is a phrase we’re going to be hearing a lot of but what the poodle does it mean?

Luxury Lite refers to the segment of commercial products available to those of us that aspire to being able to afford so called luxury items such as a Gucci watch, a bottle of Chanel perfume or even a de GRISOGONO watch, but simply don’t have the means.
In their place are attainable goods like artisan pizza, private jet hire and celebrity dress rentals.

What luxury brands require is a place at the top of the food chain, what we, the regular punters, can have are luxury lites, a Starbucks coffee or some shredded pork carnitas.
Luxury Lite – the illusion of buying into a luxury or premium lifestyle, but at an affordable price.

You’ll also find terms like ‘preferred’, ‘signature’ or ‘collection’ in use today – and the clever marketeers could also add an air of exclusivity by using the age old ‘limited edition’ label as well.
Some online stores are even relating to the base instinct of labelling some products as ‘last one available’ or telling us that ’27 people just bought …’ therefore creating the illusion of FOMO.

An obvious downside to this is that a brand then becomes diluted. In a recent case, The luxury British brand Burberry burnt just under £29 million worth of goods, including around £11 million of beauty paraphernalia to counteract this possibility.
Apparently, Louis Vuitton is considered a “brand for secretaries” by many wealthy Chinese.

The current social media obsessed world we live in pushes us more and more into a sense that we are entitled to luxury.
If you’d rather go for something ephemeral, hire a jet and a few models for a couple of hours, bring some mates and you too can live the Instagram lifestyle. You won’t even need your passport as we’ll not be leaving the ground.

There’s also the move to provide a more personal retail experience. Essentially this is nothing new, up until a few years ago you could walk into a store and be attended to by knowledgeable, aware and interested sales staff – the salesperson would take an interest in you, not just your wallet, your purchases would be hand wrapped, not just chucked in a plastic bag, the doorman would hold the door open and wish you a good day.
These days you can still find this type of service, but it’s rare which then also leads to the feeling of something special or ‘luxury’ when it does happen.

What we term as ‘luxury’ has always been generally available but its interpretation has changed over time.
Up until recently an outside toilet was the norm, so having one indoors was considered a luxury. Of course, having an outside toilet today is called ‘glamping’!

To me what counts is having a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in and food in my belly. Anything above this, to me, is a luxury – lite or not.

When it comes to traditional brick businesses growing an audience, a dedicated band of brand ambassadors trumps all other forms of advertising hands down.
Building trust and hype around your products is key to winning over the current and future stack of customers, and in this social media aware world, Instagram is a top location.

But why?
Talk is cheap, and posting to Instagram even cheaper.
Social media can help a business sink or swim in an instant and if you’re not using it by default, your competition are … and beating you.

Make your customers your word-of-mouth champions, your ambassadors – you serve a delicious meal, it looks beautiful, I need to tell all my friends about it – whip out the phone (presuming it’s not already in hand), and BAM! – it’s on Instagram – location, positive message and hashtags.
Your business gets the social clicks it needs, your staff, if selfies are allowed, get to be a star and your customers get to boast and revel in the superb experience they just documented tidily giving their followers FOMO.

But when?
Yesterday.
If you didn’t start yesterday, you’ve already lost but, all can be improved upon fairly easily.
Businesses have the opportunity to create future retail spaces, today, allowing them to be as proficient at selling experiences as they are at selling their goods and services.

But How?
The buck stops with you the business owner – it’s up to you to ensure your customers experience the place to ‘gram. It’s no good serving up quality produce if your venue looks like it’s about to be condemned, if your staff or having a bad day or even if the lighting is bad.
Run through the whole experience of making a purchase, from the moment you walk in the door, to the moment you leave. Was it something you would want to impress your friends with? If not, it needs to be, otherwise you’ll end up with negative reviews, low customers and letters from the lawyers.

Where’s your brand?
Are you displaying your branding loud and proud? If you aren’t displaying your logo, how can people see it?
Tell me your story, not only when I’m in your store but before I even know about it.
Engage, enthral, invite.

Dress the venue accordingly.
Visually merch the place up, but not too much, just the right amount of shareability. If you have space, install a big screen and hook it up to your hashtagged feed displaying the latest, highly visual posts from your customers – people will wet themselves to see their name on that screen!

Encourage postings with a special offer, make a big deal of your hashtag and even teach your staff how to take a great photo for your customers.

Make it personable, make it shareable.

It all boils down to something I’ve been banging on about for ages. Retail needs to move from somewhere consumers consume to a place where consumers experience and Instagram provides both businesses and their customers that level playing field.

If you would like more information or general help with your on and offline presence, get in touch today.

One of the best reasons to use a CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress is the ability to add to it as you go along, and as you build and grow your business.
WordPress plugins make the platform a big favourite and is one of the major factors in making WordPress a global choice for around 32% of businesses of all sizes and types.

Wait! What is a plugin?
A plugin is a piece of software containing a set of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites like SEO, ecommerce or security for example.

OK, carry on …

But with plugins come a few warnings – sorry to get all serious.
Plugins can bring problems as well as benefits. Plugins can help hackers, upset your visitors, and cost you money.

But let’s start with the positives.

Plugins save you a ton of time and money
One of the greatest benefits of WordPress plugins is the ability to make your site do and run whatever you like. From payments to downloads and cool sliders and pop-ups, plugins give you the power to customise your site from a simple off-the-shelf theme into a bespoke website that does exactly what you want it to do.

Unless you’re an experienced website developer you’re not going to be able to create the best user experience without some help and guidance. But if you want to update, amend, or add a new feature to your site then plugins are the simplest way to do it.

Plugins help you create a great website and empower you to go your own way without having to employ someone … If you choose the right ones and know how to use them among other variables that help maximise your online presence.

Go premium on your WordPress plugins to get support
Many of the plugins you’ll come across will be free. Now, here’s a warning about plugins. As in any business transaction, you get what you pay for and if you pay nothing, you’ll most likely get nothing. Or not very much.

Most of the time, free plugins might work reasonably well, and you’ll be alright. But what if one day your site goes down and you work out it’s a plugin issue? Do you think you’ll get the same level of support that the paid users get? Nope.

Premium plugins get more support for your buck and we always recommend that you go the extra mile here. Who wants to risk your site being down for days or weeks with nowhere for you to turn to?

Premium WordPress plugins come with added trust
Trust is vital. If you’re going to add a chunk of website code to your beloved website, you need to trust the person who built it, don’t you? When you add a plugin to your website you’re adding code, and that code can affect it negatively as well as positively.

Going premium can, (but not always), ensure that you get a better piece of web development rather than a have-a-go-hero-coder (they’re out there, you know!).

Although due diligence is still needed, plugins purchased from reputable sources can be trusted and are less likely to upset your site and cause you issues in the future. Also the guys and girls who get paid are more likely to build good plugins as they have paying customers to keep happy.

Premium WordPress plugins have cleaner code
Anyone can code. Well OK, not anyone, but on the open source market you’d think so.

Some of the free plugins are a little questionable and the code can be an issue for your site. Again, from a reliable source you can be happy the plugin code would comply with required practices and therefore help your site rather than hinder it. You don’t want it to slow your speed down so that users won’t stay around to look, do you?

A plugin needs to work with your site not against it. You’ll want your plugins to be updated to fix bugs and hacks. And it needs to work with the most up-to-date WordPress theme as you’ll be updating that each time it comes out. (You will, won’t you? Here’s why you should).

Premium plugins will most likely have people working to improve them and will issue new versions frequently. This is a huge benefit and a good way to keep your site safe. Clean and up-to-date code is imperative if you want a good, solid, fast, and reliable site.

Don’t be cheap – be premium!
We’re not saying that all free plugins are an issue or that you’ll experience problems, but we do believe that with premium themes and plugins you get what you pay for.

Support, trust, and clean code are really important to your website and we think your website is important enough to care about that. Right? Check the plugin’s reviews and number of downloads for some sensible due diligence.

If you do need help with choosing the right plugins for your website then feel free to get in touch.

Savvy business owners know that in online marketing there are two huge tried and tested areas they can use.

These are:
– List building
– And authority building

Why list building is important
An email list is yours. You own it. In the aftermath of #GDPR this is still true and in the wake of Facebook updating their buttons and knobs for their algorithms and ruining free reach forever (drama!), oh so much more important.

Growing a list is powerful and you should do it because you own your list. You don’t own likes or followers or even web visitors. If Facebook closed tomorrow you could still contact those people on your list any time you want. Social media can’t be controlled. Search Engine Optimisation changes so much that you could easily fall down Google’s rankings with no prior warning.

Did you also know that email subscribers are more likely to buy from you? If someone subscribes to your list they’re agreeing to be contacted by you so it’s up to you to make sure you’re sending them something interesting/ valuable/ entertaining so you can build an effective relationship with them.

Why building authority is vital
Authority isn’t a thing created for marketing – it’s a powerful psychological tool that helps people to trust you and buy from you. Experts work hard for many years to prove they know their stuff! Strong marketers write and share content including white papers, articles, blogs, webinars, podcasts and books. When you create strong content you also create a group of fans who want to consume what you create. It’s the difference between sending out a marketing message saying you’re good at what you do, and just creating content that proves it.

So what do these two areas have to do with cheat sheets?

EVERYTHING.

When you write a cheat sheet it shows you know your stuff whilst helping you to gather emails to add to your list (in exchange for email addresses).

Share some great content – some cheats/ tips/ advice/ help – in a PDF document and send it to people who request it. To do this you’ll need their email address, which you add to your list so you can contact them again.

With so many cheat sheets, guides, checklists, and downloads available, we’d like to give you some advice on creating a valuable cheat sheet to help you in these two solid areas of your marketing.

Here are five steps on publishing a cheat sheet.
1, Give it away.
People like FREE. Actually, they LOVE FREE. And they love things that help them with their problems.

So, give them something free first of all.

Building trust takes time and although someone giving you some dosh is a great show of trust, it’s rarely the first step. So, get some great tips that you have for your area of expertise and create a short piece explaining them.

“Five ways to polish your car like a pro.”

“The five secret ways to sell your house that the experts don’t want you to know.”

“Five ways to grow your email list without being a spammy douchebag.”
(Ok, the last one was tongue in cheek, but you get the idea.)

Get some ‘good’ quality content and create a mini article and then turn it into a PDF that you can give away. It’s a great conversation starter. Even if you don’t go down the route of landing page opt-ins and email gathering you could still send it to people you meet at networking events to help them out.

2, Establish authority on your chosen subject.
The simple fact is: if you’re not a car valeter, then creating a cheat sheet on ‘polishing your car like a pro’ is kinda pointless!

– What do your potential customers need help with?
– What area are you building authority in?
– How can you prove that you can help?

Establish your authority in a particular area and then deploy your cheat sheet. You’ll get more traction and trust this way, especially if you’re building your list with the tips and advice you’re giving away. You can offer it in Facebook groups, or places like Quora and Reddit, as well as your standard social media channels.

3, Five bullet points are a nice easy read.
This doesn’t need to be War and Peace, thankfully. People want a simple read, quick and actionable tips, and something that can be implemented to help them with their life or business.

Giving away hours and hours of free content is best left to the ‘gooroos’ with their complicated funnels and systems. It doesn’t need to be that technical unless you want it to be.

Get to the point, give value, and build trust.

This method works two-fold:
Your audience gets something simple and effective, fast.
And you don’t have to take a flight to a retreat to get your head down to write a book to give away for free when a letter would be fine!

4, Always include a Call To Action.
What’s next? Seriously, don’t give away free content in exchange for emails and leave it there.
You got their attention – now make the most of it. So many cheat sheets stop right there when they could have been part of a successful sales process.

At the end of your helpful guide add a CTA (Call To Action). A good CTA might be for people to join a free Facebook group, make a small purchase or simply an #InboxMeHun offer.

Getting conversations is seriously underrated. Get a call, get a message, get some human contact! Emails are great, and you have that now if you exchanged the guide for an email, but try to move them to the next step in the relationship.

5, Always include a ‘bonus’ point.
Under promise; over deliver. Tell them you have five tips and give them six. Offer them ‘five ways to bake’ and then give them the top-secret recipe for your favourite cakes.

This goes a long way. It keeps them reading and it shows you’re the type of person who goes all out … and you didn’t even go to a retreat and write the War and Peace of baking!

Giving added value, even after only giving a small amount of promised value, will really help you and your CTA, brand and relationships.

BONUS: (Here’s our added bonus) Make the bonus point a ‘super secret they don’t want you to know’

People love some inside sneaky peakys and leaking some ‘hidden secrets’ or ‘the tips no one else is willing to tell you’ makes you look super valuable as well as really open.

If you’re a magician, share something the magic circle would hate, if you’re a TV expert, tell us what Richard Maddeley wears under his suit, if you’re a fashion designer tell us how to get the most up-to-date look for under a tenner, and tell us that other experts are chasing you down the street while you write it and trying to stop you sharing it.

You get the idea?

People love this stuff and you can share it. No one is going to chase you down!

Don’t cheat yourself with your cheat sheet
Gathering emails and authority works but make sure you don’t spend hours making a huge document when something simple will do. Make it easy to read, give extra value, and try to start that conversation or at least tell them what’s next or how they can work with you.

Here’s a cheat sheet we created earlier (oh… and it doesn’t have to be called a cheat sheet, either).

British Airways, the iconic airline trusted by millions of business commuters and luxury travellers, slipped up recently. They had to admit that over 380,000 customers had their data stolen.

Think this is a rare story? Not at all.
Think it won’t happen to your business? Think again.

When talking about the attack, cyber-security expert Professor at the University of Surrey, Alan Woodward, said:
“It looks very much like the details were nabbed at the point of entry – someone managed to get a script on to the website.”

This means that at the point of entry, the card details were taken. Using an online booking system or card payment solution? Then you’re potentially at risk too!

What can you learn from this?
Quite a lot, actually. If you’re running your own site and especially if you’re using theme on WordPress, (other less popular Content Management Systems (CMS) are available), website, you are at risk of a potential hack.

What do you need to do? Here’s our quick advice.
1. Get updated
It’s fairly straightforward to update your site, especially in WordPress.
Note that we thoroughly recommend running a backup before you do though, just in case the worst happens.
Why should you update when the site seems to be functioning fine and there’s a small risk that the update could break something?

Well the simple fact is, WordPress, and other CMS platforms, are very popular and very tempting to hackers. Working out the flaws in the code and the holes in the chainmail is an exciting prospect for spammers and hackers. With the freely available downloads and access to themes, it doesn’t take a genius to see why hackers will try their luck.

In the past Apple Macs weren’t considered to be hackable, but this is purely because hackers weren’t trying to hack them because more people had a PC. Now? Now Macs are very popular and the hackers go where the numbers are.

So update your core files and themes regularly. Check in once a week and keep everything watertight. Updates are created for a reason and it’s mostly to fix a problem in the structure of the CMS to protect you. But back up before you do. Just in case.

2. Avoid poor plugins
If you’re one of the 75M people running a WordPress based website then you’ll be well aware of the brilliant plugins that you can add and install to your site. It’s so simple and it’s easy to see why website owners love them.

But that does mean people can be careless when choosing plugins. Not only are many of these plugins simply too bloated and slow your site down, but many of them are easy to break into, giving hackers a way of gaining access to areas of your site.

It’s not as rare as you might think. Be careful which plugins you use. Updates are released for a reason, so please update them regularly. Recently Carphone Warehouse was hacked and data was stolen purely because of an out-of-date WordPress install and some questionable plugin maintenance.

3. Be GDPR compliant
Look, we know it’s annoying and it’s another task on your list, but you need to think about GDPR and your responsibilities to your customers. Sensitive customer financial information in the wrong hands can cause huge issues. If you’re using a third party to store data then be transparent about that and list all your data storage in your privacy policy. The benefit to you is two-fold: you’re compliant (when you get an expert to help you set it up) and you’ll have a concise list of all the places you need to check and fix if you ever do get hacked.

4. Back everything up
This one’s simple. Back up your data and your website. Don’t just rely on the cloud either; get it backed up somewhere else and get a back up of the back up, just for good measure. You don’t want to be a statistic of a business that lost time, money, credibility, customers etc. because you didn’t have anything in place. We know of businesses which have been unable to keep trading after losing data.

(Get a backup plan in place or check out our WordPress Maintenance Packages.)

What would you do right now if your site was hacked and messed about with? Malicious attackers could change anything on your site. With a backup we can quickly roll back time and fix your site and get rid of that headache. Without a backup it’s a lot more messy. A LOT MORE. Why would you do that to yourself?

5. Make sure your password isn’t ‘Password123’
The most popular password in the world in 2017 according to Wikipedia was 123456 and the second was ‘password’. Don’t be that party pooper! Seriously. If you have any respect for your business or your customers just don’t do that.

Also don’t use ‘12345678’ either, or ‘qwerty’ or your maiden name, dog’s name, or your Twitter handle. Never use simple to hack or easy to guess passwords. In fact, don’t use a password at all, and use a ‘pass phrase’ instead.

Be sensible. Most people are leaving the keys in the door … oh and please never use ‘admin’ as your username.

You think that BA is a potentially more interesting target for hackers than your business. It’s easy to sit there and think “It’ll never happen to me” but 70% of information breaches happen against companies with fewer than 100 employees.

Because small businesses don’t tend to invest as much effort in monitoring and security hackers who attack are less likely to get caught. Small businesses are also more vulnerable to phishing attacks.

Why do they do it? From pr0n sites trying to sell stuff, to dodgy link building SEOs, to ransomware, they have the motivation. Hackers can also take information and sell it on the black market, making it a source of income for other criminals.

We can help you make sure this doesn’t happen to you.
Our WordPress Maintenance Packages are cost-effective and there for you when you need them most.

Don’t get headaches – get the support your business website needs, now.

In case you hadn’t noticed, online video is big, and getting bigger, but, as usual people are generally sticking with the big boys, YouTube, Vimeo etc.
As the internet is global, so are the platforms for sharing your stuff, especially when it comes to video, that are off the beaten track.

When choosing where to post your latest video, you need to also consider more targetted, relevant platforms.
Compiled below is an alternative A to Z of video social media platforms.
You might not have heard of some of these but they all provide a product or service that can be used in your video social media campaigns alongside, or instead of, the usual suspects.

A – Archive.org: Surprisingly brilliant archive of tons of stuff, including video old and new.

B – Buzznet: Buzznet is a social media platform allowing members participating in communities that are created around ideas, events and interests, most predominantly music, celebrities, and the media.

C – Coub: Coub provides a platform for looped video up to 10 seconds long.

D – Daily Motion: Dailymotion is one of the top video social media platforms in the world where you’ll find outstanding video content from all corners of the world.

E – eBaum’s World: eBaum’s World is an entertainment site consisting mainly of collections of images, memes and viral videos.

F – Funny or Die: Funny or Die is a collective of comedy videos featuring celebrities, comedians and members of the global public started by Will Ferrell.

G – Google Plus was an Internet-based social network owned and operated by Google. Users could set up profiles and post content, including videos to their stream. Now closed.

H – HulkShare is a music platform that allows its users to stream audio and video content to the world.

I – Instagram is the fun way to share your videos, after adding various filters and hashtags, of course, with your followers.

J – Justin.tv was created by Justin Kan, Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel and Kyle Vogt in 2007 to allow anyone to broadcast video online. In February 2014, Twitch.tv’s and Justin.tv’s parent company was rebranded as Twitch Interactive and in August Justin.tv was officially shut down so that the company could focus on Twitch.

K – KakaoTalk was initially a South Korean instant messaging application. As of May 2017, KakaoTalk had 220 million registered and was available in 15 languages allowing users to share content including photos and videos.

L – LiveLeak was a video sharing website that let users post and share videos placing emphasis on current events, politics and reality-based footage such as war scenes from various parts of the world. The site was shut down on 7 May 2021.

M – MySpace: yep, Myspace is still going, if not as strong as it was. Predominantly music based, users can upload content including videos.

N – Niconico is the Japanese video sharing service as well as the Japanese ideophone for smiling. The site won the Japanese Good Design Award in 2007, and an Honorary Mention of the Digital Communities category at Prix Ars Electronica 2008.

O – OV Guide OVGuide has positioned itself as a video search engine, filtering out the noise and indexing only the best online video.

P – Photobucket – Photobucket is an America based image and video hosting online community hosting more than 10 billion images from 100 million registered members.

Q – QQ Tencent QQ (Chinese: 腾讯QQ), also known as QQ, is an instant messaging software service and web portal developed by the Chinese tech giant Tencent offering online games, music, shopping, microblogging, movies, and group and voice chat software.

R – Reddit allows its (roughly 1/2 billion – Feb 2018), members to submit content to the site such as links, text posts, videos and images, which are then voted up or down by other members.

S – Smule is a place to create and discover new music that you can sing, hum, and play along to. Similar sdtyle to Music.ly.

T – Taringa: Taringa is essentially the largest social networking platform in Latin America allowing users to share their experiences, content and more.

U – UOL TV is a Portuguese (Brazilian) portal for videos, allowing users to submit their videos via their “Mais Uol” and is currently the fourth largest free video sharing website in the world, with over 2 million videos (January 2015).

V – VKontakte (VK): VK is one of the largest social networking platforms in Russia along the same lines as Facebook which means, live video as well.

W – WeChat is the main social media platform in China with around 1 billion MAUs in 2018. The platform allows its members the usual stuff but, also incorporates ‘Moments’ where users are able to share pictures and looping videos up to ten seconds.

X – Xiaoyou was launched in 2009 making it Tencent’s first social network which was then, in 2010, replaced with Pengyou. Tencent’s social network Qzone is linked to in the International and native versions of QQ.

Y – YY: YY is a Chinese based video social networking platform that enables group video chats where something like 100,000 members can watch a single stream allowing them to earn cash.

Z – Zing Me is a Vietnamese social network operated by VNG launched in 2009. Zing Me was the first social network in Vietnam that had the properties of a platform allowing user generated content (UGC) like blogs, photos and videos.

So, there you have the exhaustive list and we hope you find something useful.
Of course, if you need a hand getting yourself set up online with video and video communications, get in touch today.

Over the past few years, the #hashtag has become ubiquitous. It’s no longer just Twitter that utilises the trending topic, but Facebook, Instagram and now even LinkedIn all making use of hashtags on their platforms as well. Turn on almost any television show imaginable, from reality TV, to political discussions, and you’ll be invited to join in the conversation via a hashtag. So what’s the appeal, and should you care about it?

The appeal of the hashtag is threefold. Firstly, a simple hashtag allows users to search for other users who are discussing the same content as they are. This works particularly well on Twitter, where often users are seeking out others who are interested in the same subjects, or need a question answered on a specific topic. On Instagram, a similar thing happens, whereby the images that appear will relate to the hashtag you search for. Putting a few relevant hashtags on Instagram can also lead to more likes and follows, increasing your brand visibility. Can’t complain at that!

Secondly, the hashtag allows for a conversation to take place. Word of mouth fuels social media and can fuel the promotion of your brand. If users are chatting about your brand using a specific hashtag, then it brings a sense of community to what would otherwise be a group of strangers. Their common interest is you, the brand, so they’ll probably be talking about you. Free publicity!

Lastly, if the hashtag gets popular it can begin to ‘trend’. This means that your specific phrase or word has gained enough mentions that it has become the most talked about thing in either your country, or even the world. This is great for publicity, as if something trends on Twitter then even more users are likely to click on the hashtag and see what’s being talked about. So remember to make your hashtag a catchy one!

Twitter is one of the best and most effective ways to get your customers involved with your brand. Conversation is free, it raises awareness, and it can be great for business. If you want to bring the conversation to the forefront at your next big event, then get in touch with us for an unforgettable social experience.

Modern consumers crave inter-connectivity in every facet of their lives; with today’s increasingly strong focus on mobile technology and social media, and the high street currently going through a ‘tear down’ phase, it’s time for retailers to hop on board and start innovating if they want to stay ahead of the competition and remain a high street force. In other words, retailers need to provide a social, interactive shopping experience that will excite consumers and keep them coming back for more.

Enhancing the retail experience
A recent online article by Forbes confirms this, noting that consumers of the future will expect shops with more dynamism and interactivity on all fronts. One way of effectively tapping into the technology-centric nature of society to create a shopping environment that is stimulating and engaging is to give customers a chance to share their shopping experience—having live interactive screens like our fully branded and moderated live Twitter Wall featuring tweets throughout the store is a brilliant way of doing this.

First, however, shops must have a fresh, contemporary design and ambience that will make shopping feel less like a chore and more like a day out on the town. According to Forbes, shops will need “sexy, dynamic and club-like atmospheres [that] will captivate and drive traffic”; once this has been achieved, customers will want to tweet and share Instagram posts on their latest purchase or the products they wish they could purchase, just as they would tweet or share photos of a night out.

Retailers need to morph from a place to spend money, to a place to spend time.
They need to create an interactive event, shop/ drop with emphasis on an online purchase, create special invited events, promotional ‘try our new product’ days.
And for the massive stores, a time to reduce floor space and focus on giving rather than simply taking.
No-one really wants to spend all day lugging boxes and bags around – allow us to try and buy stuff in-store, purchase then get it delivered.

Golden opportunity for food retailers
For gourmet or niche food shops in particular, the use of live feeds appearing on screens throughout shops could open retailers up to endless possibilities for social interaction. With the popularity of food-related blogs, Internet users’ love of ‘gastroporn’, and the prevalence of ‘foodies’ now widespread on the Internet and across social networks, there is no limit to the ways of making food shopping social.

Reaching out beyond the High Street
Perhaps the most significant aspect of making retail social is the instantaneous extended reach it gives retailers; when a customer tweets or Facebooks about their positive shopping experience, that post won’t just be seen on moderated screens in-store, but it will also be seen by all the posters followers, raising awareness of your brand and your products. Social shopping also presents a prime opportunity for creative, highly effective interactive promotions using customised hashtags or even getting celebrities involved for live Q&A sessions.

If you’re a retailer, why wait to be at the tail-end of the social retail trend? At Point and Stare, we can help you come up with bold, inventive and impactful ways to implement our live social media feeds in your shop that will blow your customers away and make your shop the place to be on the High Street so get in touch today.