Ocado has recently revealed it is launching a new service called Instant Order which generates a shopping list based on customers’ purchase history. Shoppers can now go online, tweak the recommended shopping order as required and have their shopping done in under 5 minutes.
 
Amazon and iTunes boast their own customer order memory features which suggest thematically related titles that may be of interest (“if you like this then you may like…”) however it seems unlikely that this benefit is as relevant to grocery items (“if you like broccoli then you may like…?”) 
 
It seems that Ocado expects the key customer benefit to be a reduction in time spent shopping online, but does the online shopper perceive the current time taken to really be too long?
 
Perhaps Instant Order will work well as a ‘hand holder’ for customers overwhelmed by the amount of choice they face when buying groceries. If the feature will help in simplifying the process, then it may well be worth its salt. Where Instant Order will really add value is by remembering how frequently items are required, for instance less regular purchases such as tin foil will be included on a monthly basis as opposed to weekly purchases such as bread and milk.

Shoppers who haven’t previously used the online order service may be tempted to give it a go in light of the reduced time and complexity that Instant Order facilitates whilst doing their weekly shop. If the feature really does reduce time and make grocery shopping easier then it could very well raise the bar for the big four’s online shopping services. Perhaps analogous services will replicate the feature and trigger a trend of hyperquick online order experiences.
 
The actual time saved shopping online is likely to be less important to the consumer than the increased personalisation of the service. In a time where search engines and social networking sites display ads that target users’ interests, consumers are beginning to expect to be treated as individuals and to have their tastes and specifications recognised. Online services that do not endeavour to do this will soon be the exception and consumers may begin to vote with their clicks.
 
I, personally however, will reserve the same level of scepticism that I hold for all online grocery shopping and resist the urge to click my way down the aisles until I believe that they will select only the decent sized, unbruised fruit as I myself would do in store.

Just a couple of days ago the Tories were calling the government extravagant because of the 3D innovation centres that had been set up, using taxpayers’ money and “living a fantasy world”, in Second Life. Whether the government has been extravagant or not, it’s not only governmental departments, but also non-profitable organisations, well-known universities and blue-chip companies who are using such technologies. Creating platforms inside virtual worlds for innovation and co-creation (with consumers), research & development, and corporate training.

IBM, for instance, set up a virtual world to let employees use chat, instant messaging and voice communication programs while also connecting to user-generated content in the public spaces of Second Life. Several retailers – including banks like ING and Wells Fargo – opened up virtual branches inside these virtual communities to offer their financial products. Coca Cola has also been exploring virtual worlds with consumers from Coke Studios, to World of Warcraft, to Habbo Hotel and Second Life. In 2007, Coca Cola launched a Second Life contest inviting consumers to design a new Coke dispensing machine.

Why all this hype?  Well, in just 6-7 years, virtual worlds have registered approximately 300 million people, of which hundreds of thousands are supposed to be active users. Some experts, or speculators, are estimating that if virtual worlds’ population continues growing at the same speed seen in the last couple of years, there will be one billion residents by 2025.

The other interesting thing about virtual worlds is that not only computing game enthusiasts and computer geeks are using them. Some researchers claim that a sizeable proportion of users are male and female in their mid 30s. Furthermore, it is estimated that the average use per person in virtual worlds is 22 hours per week, which means that people are spending more than 3 hours of their daily time navigating, playing, doing business, or just hanging out in virtual worlds.

Virtual worlds also offer the chance to users, ordinary people and companies, to keep IP rights for the ideas and products they create. Hence, it’s unsurprising that many companies and organisations want to be present there. They seem to be the perfect places to connect actively with consumers to test new ideas, get some collaborative work, and perhaps build long-term relationships with them.

How all of this is affecting us, marketers and brand strategists? Well, reflecting on the changes of consumers’ behaviours and perceptions with regards to brands as result of their interactions in virtual worlds. We should also be thinking of how to use these virtual spaces to effectively design and implement brand strategies that create sustainable value for our brands, products and companies in virtual worlds; as well as in the ‘real’ world.

I noticed that research company Forrester reported this week that, whilst the wheels are falling off the high street, online retailing is set to buck the downwards trend.

As consumer confidence is increasingly battered by the tempest of recession, redundancies and beloved brands vanishing from the high street it is perhaps hardly surprising that shoppers are becoming more and more price sensitive, and will increasingly turn to the internet to price check and transact.

With a staggering ‘over 50%’ of the UK population still not shopping online there is still a real opportunity for manufacturers and retailers to turn the downturn into an opportunity and to maximise online sales, but there are real challenges along the way.

1) There is major uncertainty. This will be the first recession in which online retail will play a wide and significant role

2) Few segmentation models and consumer insights adequately understand how different segments are going to respond

3) More high street names are going to topple. Some manufacturers are going to see key partners vanish

So, challenging but exciting times. I am certain that increasing price sensitivity will push not only greater numbers of consumers, but a higher share of people’s spend, through online channels. What will be fascinating to see will be how the late majority and the laggard consumers embrace online retail, and how the online space evolves to accommodate and exploit their needs.

In particular, many brands may now get the opportunity to engage with existing loyalist consumers in a new environment, providing not just a helping-hand in the downtimes but also the possibility to build even stronger relationships with them.