Maureen Johnson, CEO, The Store, WPP Retail Practice
"You have to have a control over the in-store environment if you want to grow as a retail brand and if you have to give benefits to clients. What we are seeing in quite a few places today is that money is being taken quickly from advertisers but not necessarily in an integrated way."
Maureen Johnson has specialised in the retail sector since the early 80s and has published articles extensively on retail and marketing. She provides a touchstone on shopper behaviour and insights. Johnson handles WPP's global retail outfit called The Store that provides shopping insights and solutions in retail media.
In this interview with exchange4media’s Noor Fathima Warsia, Johnson speaks on what the future of retail can be and the steps that need to be taken to ensure structured growth of retail brands in India. Excerpts:
Q. From your experience, have you seen retail solutions really help advertisers -- or manufacturers as you call them -- generate more revenue from sales?
I have been in the retail 'solutions' area for a long time but it is really in the last decade that the clients have started looking at retail, and that has accelerated in the last three to four years. The reason for that is the increase in the fragmentation of media. Manufacturers are more conscious now about making attempts to connect with the consumers since they are not getting the reach with conventional media as they used to. Retail has picked up more due to such reasons.
Q. How do you view India? Is retail showing benefits to clients here?
It does and it would show a lot more going forward also. Retail in India is in a very nascent stage but India is leapfrogging like crazy and recognising and adopting the best practices in the world. Some of the best retail brands are seeing opportunities of taking media space here and hijacking that in new ways. Technology is contributing to this growth and what you would see is a big explosion.
I think it would be very interesting to see what India does in retail. It needs to control the environment for it to grow. India should build a retail brand as opposed to just creating the marketplace -- you want to control the environment. I am very interested to see what happens with retail brands like Shopper’s Stop and so on and how are they going to control their brand environment.
Q. Finally, we have seen you travel a lot this year - from Europe to Asia. How do you balance work life and personal life?
With difficulty! It really wears me out and it is very, very exhausting. But at the end of it all, it is worth it.
Q. What are the pitfalls that you have witnessed in retail's as an advertising medium?
What is seen is that advertisers are investing money in the in-store opportunities but it is not necessary that they are seeing results; and manufacturers realise that spending in the store may not be done in a way that complements what they are doing in their communication. It is not necessary to own the space -- bags of money are being spent on that and to have huge displays. Manufacturers have realised that they have to work on spending that money better.
Q. What is the 'better'?
Better way is a controlled way, as is done in the West. For manufactures of course they would want to do what they want to do, and you should allow that. However, you have to have a control over the in-store environment if you want to grow as a retail brand and if you have to give benefits to clients. What we are seeing in quite a few places today is that money is being taken quickly from advertisers but not necessarily in an integrated way. In China, there are enormous structures erected in the middle of the store, which is not allowed.
Q. What are your expectations?
The ones that want to be true brands in the retail space will do what the West has done. If Tesco was to come in the space, it would own the space and control the space, and wouldn’t allow manufacturers in, and I think some of your better brands will do that. They would want to control the space. Even when manufactures would be allowed to do what they want to in terms of display, it would be done in a more controlled way. You need to have a differentiation in retail.
Q. Tell us more about The Store and the benefits that it brings.
The Store is there to add value to WPP companies and their clients. We have two offices, one at London and another Chicago, and we create access for WPP around the world for retail opportunities, and also be a portal to our agencies and identify best practices. We observe people who are doing great things and bring those learnings back. That works for India as well. Last April we had an event in Mumbai and another in Delhi, where we shared best practices and information.
Q. You have been working on the retail sector for many years now. What led to this interest in this sector?
Many years ago I was doing a project on how retail is perceived by manufacturers or advertisers. I interviewed this manufacturer who had done a lot on the retail front -- it was supposed to be a half-hour interview, and I ended up being there for an hour and a half -- I was so fascinated. This is back in 1976 and that was the turning point of my career. I wanted to know and do more, and I have been indulged by my employers to let me do what I wanted to do.
I was given some businesses some years back when I was working with Research International, which is owned by Unilever, which included retail practices and price checking. I was the MD on these businesses, and that was when I got really close to retail.
