Love Generation is Voyado's flagship event, this time hosted in Stockholm, Sweden, in September 2023. Did you miss out? We have you covered - keep on reading as we recap the juiciest bits from the presentations held by leading experts such as Felix Kruth at Voyado, Eva Karlsson, CEO at Houdini Sportswear, Bank Bergström, CEO at Nordic Nest, Carl Ögren, Chief Customer Experience Officer and Juha Andersson, Chief Technology Officer at CAIA Cosmetics and Arvid Axland, Founder of Pool Kommunikationsbyrå.
The company strategy of Nordic Nest is based on three corner stones.
These cornerstones are:
The corporate culture that builds profitability
These cornerstones also contribute to building a culture of happy customers and employees. Values, vision, and mission must guide tough decisions — otherwise, they serve no purpose. Every new initiative and project must aim to fulfill one of the first two cornerstones, or else it will not be prioritized.
Setting ambitious goals for the team and giving them the freedom and resources to achieve these goals is imperative. Psychological safety, setting challenging goals, and celebrating successes, regardless of size, also have an important role in establishing a motivating corporate culture.
It’s evident why Nordic Nest has become a leading player in its industry. With a clear vision, strong values, and a culture that puts both the customer and employee first, they have laid the foundation for long-term success—despite selling items that aren’t strictly necessary.
Circular design has a significant role in today’s consumer society. It also permeats Houdini’s mission and design principles. Circular design can be defined as an ecosystem, a continuous flow of raw materials and products designed to last over time.
But it’s not just about products. A circular flow also includes sharing knowledge and insights, adding a deeper dimension to the concept.
For Houdini, this concept can be grouped into three main categories:
With alarming statistics, we are already in the danger zone in six critical areas out of nine. Many of the conveniences we take for granted today depend on a stable and well-being planet. Yet, 60% of all products produced end up in landfills within their first year. This “take-make-waste” model is unsustainable.
In light of this development, Houdini strives to work in harmony with nature, considering it a collective journey. Eva believes in a shift “from transactions to relationships” in the business world. This means that instead of just selling products, we should build lasting relationships with customers and inspire them towards a sustainable lifestyle – one not dependent on fleeting trends. Houdini’s circular business models include second-hand sales, rentals, and new products based on customer conditions.
A reminder for all of us – the world is filled with design mistakes, some simple and others more complex. But with the right mindset, we can correct them and build a more sustainable future.
Carl Ögren and Juha Andersson from CAIA Cosmetics shared how the company has redefined their CRM and loyalty efforts to serve their customers better.
But first, let’s go back to the start: CAIA had both engaging customers and excellent products, but needed a robust database and a dedicated CRM department. They needed to move away from the “spray and pray” method in favor of a strategy that is both scalable and fast. The goal? To be hyper-relevant and create the best possible customer experience.
A key component in this transformation was the shift to “performance-based spending,” which meant a greater focus on measurable results. But this change came with its challenges.
Among the most prominent challenges were:
Since then, CAIA has introduced several data-driven solutions to their ways of working, with a clear distinction between paid and owned channels in their platform strategy. When it comes to technical aspects, some crucial steps to solving challenges were a serverless architecture for scalability, real-time results and insights, and the ability to push out data quickly.
Some of CAIA’s keys to success:
Arvid Axland spoke about how today’s consumers crave meaningful experiences.
There is a clear correlation between unique experiences and willingness to pay among today’s consumers. A raw material can become a product, which becomes a service, and then further evolves into an experience. The primary product can be the same, but as a consumer, you’re willing to pay a significantly higher price if the product comes with a unique experience.
According to Arvid, consumers only care about price when you, as a provider, have yet to give them anything else to focus on. It’s all about finding your unique position and daring to be different to deliver memorable customer experiences.
He believes there are ten basic principles to find the right path: thereamong being authentic, taking green responsibility, and creating space for interactivity.
One of the biggest takeaways from this session? What we say is just as important as what we don’t say. What we do is as important as what we don’t do. Whether you want to or not, the customer always gets an experience, so taking control of the experience and involving the entire organization to deliver every time is essential.
Arvid encourages everyone to create an experience platform where the value of the experience influences the company’s customers, employees, and society.
Several macro trends have influenced product development and prioritization the past years. As a result, working with loyalty is no longer a nice-to-have – it is a need-to-have. The current economic situation affects consumer behavior, making customers more drawn to discounts. Generally, we buy fewer items at higher prices, indicating a shift in consumer priorities.
Consumers also have higher expectations regarding sustainability and want to make sustainable choices. For Gen Z, 70% consider it a hygiene factor for retailers to provide sustainable alternatives. However, businesses face challenges such as green washing and green shaming. A focal question for Voyado is how we, together with retailers, can approach sustainable commerce with a focus on meaningful changes.
Consumers have become accustomed to relevant and personalized shopping experiences. On the other hand, we see increasing changes in terms of privacy and that the era of cookie death truly is here. First-party data is essential to succeed in being relevant and delivering personalized experiences. And at the same time, technology has reached a turning point where AI addresses real problems – AI is here to stay. Many people talk about AI just for the sake of it, but it becomes truly exciting when it now can solve real problems.
What does all of this mean? It’s time to put our loyalty-building efforts in the center, with the help of AI – beyond the customer and member clubs. There are many reasons for retailers to focus on loyalty. Customers respond to various aspects of loyalty efforts such as rational reasons, emotional reasons, functional reasons and last but not least, joyful reasons. To respond to this development, Voyado is launching new functionality to support retailers.
Upcoming and new functionality in Voyado Engage:
Upcoming and new functionality in Voyado Engage and Elevate:
With this new functionality, Voyado hopes to assist our customers in personalizing across all channels, ensuring that the customer always has a relevant experience and thereby creating loyal fans.
We love all things customer and product data, and would love to chat about your brand’s individual challenges, and how our solutions can help.
