Trust, safety and transparency.

Those qualities are top-of-mind for many consumers as U.S. markets re-open in the new normal, Jefferies Senior Analyst Stephanie Wissink said during a “screenside chat” with Licensing International President Maura Regan during last week’s webinar on “Adapting to a Reopened Consumer and Retail Environment.” (Licensing International members can access a full recording of the session at https://licensinginternational.org/webinar/

Safety is paramount
Well-known brands are topping consumer shopping lists these days due largely to, in some cases, trust they’ve built and their ability to convey a sense of safety.

“It’s a great opportunity for brands to connect in a new way. People are feeling vulnerable, scared and uncertain, and this is an opportunity where brands can be that new point of shelter,” Wissink said. “There is a greater emphasis on brands with a trust value and this is a moment where brands can re-engage with consumers because you have an opportunity to connect in a new way.”
Other points made:

• Brand Purpose. For some brands a sense of purpose is embedded in their DNA, but others understandably have adapted their marketing messages to convey empathy and responsibility during the pandemic.   “At this moment everything seems purpose-driven,” Wissink said. “But once we get to the back side of this you will see a separation between authentically purpose driven brands and those that are momentarily purpose driven.”  
• Transparency from the factory floor to store shelf. “The idea of allowing consumers access to understand your supply chain process is going to part of the new normal,” Wissink said.  “Consumers were already asking about it pre-coronavirus, and now… it’s something that is going to be more routine.”
• Revamping retail.  Brick-and-mortar retailers had embarked on redesigning the shopping experience pre-coronavirus as they fought to remain relevant. But in a new retail world where safety tops consumer concerns, a new experience is emerging with visible usage of sanitizers by store personnel, installation of protective screens and social distancing. Retailers also will have an opportunity to find new ways to reach consumers via mobile devices with coupons and other promotions while they wait in their cars or on lines to enter a store or pick up a mobile order.
  “With the idea of retail being sensory and experiential, it will be a question of reconnecting with the consumer,” Wissink said. “The new challenge is ‘how do you create that drama?’ Retail is about entertainment and drama.  There is a component that is needs-driven, but the vast majority of it is based on emotion,  so I think there are going to ways to re-engage” with consumers such as small invitation-only events for micro-targeted groups.
• Sampling. Beauty companies whose businesses are built on a foundation of demonstration are faced with the challenge of “How do you apply makeup [to an in-store shopper] without touching?” Wissink assumes they’ll have to develop small size samples for take-home, or “maybe some subscription models around sampling will begin to re-emerge.” For instore activations involving toys, it’s possible that vendors and retailers will have to have 20 samples on hand instead of two, so they can be quickly rotated out and sanitized after each use. The cleaning “will need to be done in front of the consumer because there is going to be a period of time where that trust burden is going to be pushed back to the retailer executing the experience,” Wissink said.