Is your Brand Ready?: Steven Skinner, Cognizant Business Consulting

Today's shopper is more informed, more demanding and more sophisticated. Frictionless information access through online, mobile and social media channels has tilted the balance of power from the brand to the shopper, driving brands to develop new methods of shopper outreach. This new dynamic will drive brands and retailers to rethink their shopper-facing business processes and develop new methods of connecting with shoppers inside and outside the store. The shopper experience of the future is being developed now.

There are four change drivers affecting how brands and retailers will interact with shoppers. First, a tech-savvy new generation of millennials is revamping everything from communication to innovation both inside and outside the store in the shopper-to-brand interaction. Second, virtualized business models are enabling real-time collaboration among teams on a global basis, enabling the free flow of knowledge sharing and creativity to form more vibrant brand experiences. Third, the increasingly global nature of information is allowing for enterprises to rethink what work needs to be executed inside the four walls of the company, outside the four walls, onshore, nearshore or offshore, enabling manufacturers and retailers to create leaner and more cost-effective enterprises and leverage the savings for investments in innovation. Finally, the rise of cloud computing enables a fundamentally different infrastructure that de-couples capital investment requirements from rapid adoption of innovative technologies.

These four forces are reinforcing each other and causing the increasingly rapid adoption of new technologies, platforms and processes. Far more interesting, however, has been the infiltration of millennial attitudes among other generations. Recent research conducted by Cognizant indicates "Emerging Elders" -- those over 65 years old -- are increasingly likely to use mobile coupons or request in-store multi-channel capabilities, such as buying products via mobile devices and having them delivered to the home. The millennial mindset is also causing a fundamental change in brand manufacturer expectations of long-term shopper loyalty. We have long known the millennial generation to be less brand-loyal than all previous generations. As this disloyalty is extended to other generations, brand marketers have to work even harder to maintain market share, requiring unexpected marketing and capability investments to retain their customer base.

Challenges lie everywhere. But where there is change, there is also opportunity for brands and retailers. Brands remain the primary driver of traffic to the store. Brands can use this inflection point to pivot on a new way of working inside the store -- by morphing the Internet and social media experience, mobile experience, brand experience, and store experience in a manner that enriches all channels, satisfies the shopper and retains the relevance of brands well into the future. Understanding the four forces model and its particular shopper relevance will help brand marketers position themselves for future success.