Retail update: Holland & Barrett eyes beacon potential; Reebok’s underdog strategy; John Lewis’ French faux-pas; Ucas’ student and e-commerce research

High on the list of tech to try were iBeacons through which the retailer has said it will aim to target customers individually based on a profile they have set for themselves.

Holland & Barrett has become the latest brand to eye the opportunities beacon technology offers – most recently House of Fraser, Hawes & Curtis and Bentalls eagerly threw themselves into trials across a number of stores, John Lewis invested £100k in a beacons start-up, and BA rolled out beacon tech at Heathrow Airport.

It is a trend which has shown no sign of slowing.

However, Holland & Barratt has been cautious, as CMO Lysa Hardy told The Drum that the trials will take place within a concept store before they begin to think about a wider roll out.

Hardy also revealed that as part of drive to turn Holland & Barrett into a true omnichannel retailer, it will launch a loyalty app, which will mean its customers will be able to directly receive coupons to their phone, and then redeem them in store.

Reebok

Reebok may have been founded over 100 years ago (1895 to be exact) but it considers itself to be “the best kept secret” in the sport industry.

“We are on the path to being transformed. It’s not like we’re in the finals of the championship game. But we are primed in terms of being the destination for people who want to use fitness to be their best selves,” David Oksman, who has been the US marketing director for little over two months, told The Drum.

Key to this transformation has been its strategy of attaching itself to sporting movements. It is in the middle of a 10-year deal with CrossFit, a fitness craze sweeping the world (and social media), which has not only focused its target demographic to people interested in “fitness” rather than competitive sports but turned the competitor set on its head. Where Reebok has previously rivalled Nike and Under Armour, Oksman said it now keeps an eye on what brands like Lululemon are doing.

John Lewis

Andy Street, the John Lewis boss, made a bit of a faux pas this week; describing the our neighbours across the Channel as “hopeless and downbeat” in a country where "nothing works and worse, nobody cares about it.".

Oops – not least because John Lewis just launched its first French-language website.

The comments were made in jest by Street after an awards-do, a fact that 10 Yetis founder Andy Barr said in a blog post for The Drum makes the PR job a lot easier.

However, Barr's concern is not with how John Lewis recovers – it is the “jewel in the British business crown” – but that an eager reporter running with these off the cuff comments will cause John Lewis to resist talking about itself in public at all.

“My main fear is that John Lewis, a company that for many years has been shrouded in a smidge of mystery and not that forthcoming in terms of controversial campaigns, will now batten down the hatches and withdraw from the business scene in terms of talking about itself in public.

“John Lewis has plenty to shout about and plenty that someone like me, a guy with his finger on the pulse of the British business scene, can learn a lot from. I want it to speak openly and freely without fear that some scamp will snitch it up.”

Read the full blog post here.

Ucas

Finally, this week Ucas found that students are far more likely to buy clothes on the high street (69.8 per cent) than online (22.6 per cent).

However, the poll of 18,440 students from the 2013/14 academic year, also discovered that while they eschew online clothes shopping online, they do head online to enjoy entertainment.

Nearly three-quarters (73.4 per cent) buy music online, compared to just 9.5 per cent on the high street while 40.5 per cent stream video, with 8.9 per cent watching Netflix at least once a week.