VIDEO: Ian Millner, CEO of iris Worldwide, on retail trends and best practices

On trend spotting, Millner says that the future of retail might be linked to the past where certain fundamentals will always exist; marketers and retailers therefore would do well to manage and assist these fundamentals.

Millner further lists four basic principles including “streamlining – when a consumer is in the shop, make it easy for them to convert. Do whatever you can to make whatever it is that they want available.”

The second principle is elaboration – “when a consumer is using retail to absorb time, to create interest for entertainment, retailers need to be flexible enough to be able to provide that,” says Millner.

Thirdly, retailers need to look at the “long-tail” by “blending the physical retail with the technical retail, so that consumers are able to access mass market goods at the best possible price, but also able to select niche goods that are of high interest and value but not readily available. Best retail is a blending of these two and they’re not mutually exclusive”.

The last piece of advice from Millner is “about integrated consumer journeys” where brands and retailers need to think about the purchase journey of a consumer from sofa to sale.

Millner talks about all the forms of media that brands can leverage profitably to deliver execution, "from digital to mobile to experiential to in-shop and staff”.

He also touches on the best practices of some retailers and highlights how duty-free shops have struck the right balance of leading and sophisticated display solutions coupled with trialing and sampling solutions.