On this special episode a pickup of a livestream presentation of the Leger WOW brand results for 2021. This seminal research looks across formats and sectors within the retail landscape through the lens of the consumer and highlights both important trends and relative brand performance.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
On this special episode a pickup of a livestream presentation of the Leger WOW brand results for 2021. This seminal research looks across formats and sectors within the retail landscape through the lens of the consumer and highlights both important trends and relative brand performance.
I’m joined by Christian Bourque, Executive Vice-President and Senior Partner at Leger in Montreal and Luc Dumont Vice President CPG at Léger based in Toronto. Together Christian and Luc present their study and the winners in each category.
Let’s jump in now as I kick off the livestream with an overview of retail trends followed by a live and interactive discussion on what makes a retail brand remarkable in the modern retail age.
Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven’t already, be sure and click subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week, and check out my other retail industry media properties; the Remarkable Retail podcast, the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, and the Food Professor podcast. Last but not least, if you are into BBQ, check out my all new YouTube barbecue show, Last Request Barbeque, with new episodes each and every week!
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company & Maven Media, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co! Have a safe week everyone!
About Christian
Christian has been with Leger since 1999. He is an executive vice-president and partner and manages the Montreal team of close to thirty researchers.
Christian has over 25 years of experience in public opinion and market research in both quantitative and qualitative research. Throughout his career, he has also been an expert witness in front of numerous courts of law where survey evidence is presented. Christian can seamlessly work, moderate, present and engage audiences in both official languages.
As a media spokesperson for Leger, he can often be heard commenting on Canadian politics and society. He is also very present on the speaker tour as a captivating storyteller who brings data to life. Christian is also a consumer trend analyst for the CBC and still teaches research methodology at the Université de Montréal.
In addition, Christian is a Certified Analytics and Intelligence Professional (CAIP).
About Luc
Luc, Vice-President, CPG, has been part of the Leger team since 2006.
He has more than 25 years of experience in quantitative and qualitative market research, notably in customer experience, usability, product development and innovation studies. Luc is a seasoned focus group moderator and, throughout his long career, has been called upon to conduct qualitative research in several countries.
His mission is to help Leger clients create and adapt experiential strategies to build customer loyalty and strengthen brand attachment.
Luc is also a media spokesperson at Leger for a multitude of topics, including customer journeys, new product research, market studies, brand image and positioning and qualitative research.
About Michael
Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated on thought leadership panels worldwide. Michael was recently added to ReThink Retail’s prestigious Top 100 Global Retail Influencers for a second year in 2022.
Michael is also the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts, including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus the Remarkable Retail with author Steve Dennis, Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Most recently, Michael launched Conversations with CommerceNext, a podcast focussed on retail eCommerce, digital marketing and retail careers - all available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and all major podcast platforms. Michael is also the producer and host of the “Last Request Barbeque” channel on YouTube where he cooks meals to die for and influencer riches.
Michael LeBlanc 00:04
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
Michael LeBlanc 00:10
On this special episode of pickup of a January live stream presentation of the Leger WOW brand results for 2021. This seminal research looks across formats and sectors within the retail landscape through the lens of the consumer, and highlights both important trends and relative brand performance.
Michael LeBlanc 00:27
I'm joined by Christian Bourque, Executive Vice President and Senior Partner at Leger in Montreal and Luc Dumont, Vice President, CPG at Leger based here in Toronto. Together Christian and Luc present their study and the winners in each category.
Michael LeBlanc 00:40
Let's jump right in now as I kick off a live stream with an overview of retail trends, followed by a live and interactive discussion on what makes a retail brand remarkable in the modern retail age.
Michael LeBlanc 00:51
So, (inaudible), all right, so you know, I just wanted to start off, kick us off as I as I've actually had would love to do, you know, thanks to the fact that I, I talked to a lot of retailers on both sides of the border, I author for Retail Council of Canada a quarterly report, where we talk on a quarterly basis with C-level executives, and try to distill what is happening. Of course we can all see around us what's happening, you're experiencing it firsthand.
Michael LeBlanc 01:13
I mean, a couple of things that come out, of course, supply chain issues, I've been talking about it, we've been talking about it since the beginning of COVID. They're not getting any better. Unfortunately, and you know, when I talk to retailers, it's hard to find anyone who thinks it's going to get tremendously better before the second half of this year. So, we're experiencing that, of course, we're experiencing what we are today, with the variant and the challenges it's causing, again, in the supply chain. We've got a little more friction at the border now starting last weekend, I suspect that will cause continued experience and continued challenges.
I have such great respect and, and such great, you know, I hold in high regard the supply chain people in your various organizations, they are champions, they deal with stuff, and they move around so, I've got ultimate confidence that we're going to keep the nation fed and, and put the right things on the shelves. But consumers are going to have to start, as they have been, making choices.
Michael LeBlanc 02:07
And you know, we're in this period of this, this strange dickinsonian period, the best of times, the worst of times, you know, some retailer, depending, you know, where you are the products, you sell the categories you're in, the impact of the, of the latest variant on things like travel and where people work and how people play. You know, it's a very, it's a very dynamic time to say the least and I think we'll see some of that reflected in the study.
Michael LeBlanc 02:30
I think what we see reflected in the study is through all of this, the amazing work that you're all doing in stores and online, in terms of experience. So, I think this is a real testament, you know, the result is a real testament to the, the dynamism and the, and the fluidity of the market.
Michael LeBlanc 02:44
Other things I'm hearing in terms of trends, I'm always asked, you know, what are you hearing, I think we're about to enter a bit of a super cycle of investment and innovation. We've had a couple of years, but we are almost in the third year of the COVID era where it's just like, let's just get the operate, you know, it's hard enough just to run the operations. You know, we stood up, retail has stood up to, you know, 70, 70 plus percent growth in eCommerce, have stood up curbside, done all the things that you've been doing to, to you know, modify and adapt and do all these things.
Michael LeBlanc 03:14
But now I'm hearing from retailers from coast to coast of all formats, now is the time to invest. When I asked retailers, you know, as I do each year, because it's kind of an indicator, how's your capital spending forecast for the year to come? Almost all of the 80% would say we're increasing capital spending. And what's interesting, and, and this is kind of, again, you would all know this, but you know, it's not just about eCommerce, right?
Michael LeBlanc 03:36
I think there's a renaissance, a revitalization of, of stores and stores are going to play an increasingly important role. And not just in terms of, you know, micro distribution centers for eCommerce, their click and collect or curbside, but in terms of customer acquisition. We're seeing a lot of thinking happening in North America, in fact, around the world of the role of stores and I think you see again, some of that reflected in the survey. And I think when we meet together again, in person, I'm convinced of that, we'll be together again in person this time next year. We'll, we'll see the implications of that. And I'm very excited to see all of the things that happened.
Michael LeBlanc 04:12
So, once again, if you got any questions after the presentation, or even during the presentation that should come up, throw them in and I'll moderate and I'll throw them in.
Michael LeBlanc 04:20
But for now, let's talk about the WOW survey. This is the 11th edition of the WOW Survey. An annual study created by Leger WOW is a specialist in measuring in-store customer experience in Ontario, online as well, it identifies strengths and weaknesses of each retailer, the major irritants encountered by its consumers and so much more.
Michael LeBlanc 04:39
This year's edition includes a special feature on the drivers of a sense of belonging- interesting, we'll hear more about that, the in-store experience, the dimension that has the greatest impact on recommending a retailer. And now, this study is available for purchase you get a lot more information.
Michael LeBlanc 04:56
So, we invite all of you to contact Leger for any questions about purchasing the full length of the survey. You'll all get an email after this with relevant information. Recording of this presentation again, it will be a bonus episode on The Voice of Retail. So, once again, let's, let's, without further ado, let's kick it off.
Michael LeBlanc 05:15
We have Christian Bourque, Executive Vice President of Leger and Luc Dumont, Vice President of Leger. Welcome, gentlemen. So, great to see you both.
Christian Bourque 05:22
Great to be here.
Luc Dumont 05:25
Good to see you too.
Michael LeBlanc 05:27
Fantastic, fantastic. And listen, without, as I said, without further ado, let me hand it over to you, Luc, and kick us off.
Luc Dumont 05:34
Thank you so much, Michael. It's really good to be here with both of you today, to reveal the results of the 11th WOW study of the best retailers in Ontario. We revealed the best retailers in Quebec this morning at 9am. And we're also going to talk about the best in class in terms of the WOW Digital experience across Canada.
Luc Dumont 05:53
So, the WOW study is made up of multiple components. The first of which is the one that we're going to be talking about today, the WOW in-store experience. We also will be talking about the WOW Digital but there are other two, another two components to the study that are important to note.
Luc Dumont 06:12
One of which is the WOW contact, which measures your, the consumers experience with your after sales or customer support, customer service initiatives and in multiple ways. So, phone support, email, online chat, social media, all of those things that help the consumer once they've made a purchase, or once they've had an interaction with you.
Luc Dumont 06:35
We also have our CX division, which is part of the, the ecosystem of the WOW study. And they provide operational and strategic consulting services that basically help you take the insights and operationalize them and make them, turn them into concrete actions that, that can help your organization design sort of the best experience for, for your needs.
Luc Dumont 06:59
They also provide consulting services and consulting around deployment of the Voice of the Customer programs that help you measure continuously the experience so that you can see if you, you know, once you've got the insights, once you've operationalized them, are the initiatives having the desired impact on, on the different measures.
Luc Dumont 07:15
So, let's go to the methodology of the WOW. Because it's, it's, it's a very, it's a huge study. We interviewed over 13,000 Ontarians, aged 15 years, or older, 153 retailers are evaluated. So, that means each retailer is assessed by about 300, plus or minus 300 respondents who have visited the retailer store recently. Now, recently might mean in the past month, in the past six months, in the past year, depending on the category and of course the typical sort of frequency for your category.
Luc Dumont 07:59
This year as in other years, the data collection took place from October 6 to November 24. And as we always do, we weighted the results according to gender, age and region to make sure that the, the, the analysis is based on a representative sample of your, of your, of the retailers, recent (inaudible). And of course, the survey was conducted online using Leger's own LEO Panel of about half a million consumers.
Luc Dumont 08:29
So, let's move on to the model. So, the model is something that has remained the same for the last 11 years, and we measure things that relate to the product. So, what you offer the consumer, the different types of products, how much variety you have, whether they make new discoveries, that sort of the product chunk of that. Ob-, obviously, we talk about competitive pricing and promotional activities as well. Those are two things that sort of shape the, the perception of price for a retailer.
Luc Dumont 09:01
A very important section is the service aspect which where we talk about staff courtesy, competency, attentiveness, efficiency at checkout, and the importance that's given to the customers. We talked about the store. So, the ambience, the layout, the signage, and the information that's provided for finding product or discovering products. We also talked about customization. So, the sense of belonging, which we'll talk about in more detail a bit later. And any loy-, loyalty measures that help your consumer feel more attached to, to your store.
Luc Dumont 09:36
There are other dimensions that we talked about, there are four, which are not part of the calculation of the WOW Index. And that's because these dimensions were added over time and we wanted to make sure that the WOW Index was comparable over time. So, these four are not included in the calculation, but they're, they're included, obviously in, in the, in the measures and in the way that we interpret the data and that's proximity to the store, of the store customer recognition whether your employees recognize and, and know, their, their clients, the stores curb appeal and the integration of contact points Omni-Channel stuff that we talked about as well.
Luc Dumont 10:17
But this year, the thing that we're most excited about is a special section, which is the section on exploring the sense of belonging. We've had this statement or this dimension in the WOW study for years. And we realized with our, with experience, and what we know of retail, and our expertise and our analysis of the, of the results, that this is the dimension that has the largest impact on NPS, which in, in turn has a big impact on the WOW Index and how it's calculated.
Luc Dumont 10:48
So, you know, the sense of belonging that the store is made for me, that it's made for people like me, is not only something is not only something that has an impact on NPS, but it has an impact on other measures as well. So, people who feel the store is, again, may prefer people like me, tend to view other things about the store and about the experience through, you know, rose tinted glasses. So, there's, there's a bit of a halo effect that happens, which further explains why this was so important to, to explore in more detail.
Luc Dumont 11:24
So, you know, just, just to lay the foundation for how we got to this point, of course, we all know user experience is something we've been measuring for years, which is really the interaction between the con-, your, your client and the product or service that you offer, in a very sort of functional way.
Luc Dumont 11:42
We also measure customer experience in this context. So, that's the, the relationship that the consumer has with your employees, so the customer/employee relationship, but we felt, given what I've said, what I've said up till now that the emotional connection was something that was even more important, and becoming more important, as the years go by.
Luc Dumont 12:04
So, you know, we wanted to take this a step further, and really focus on the fact that yes, consumers are human beings, right? They're- and not only consumers, but retailers as well, and what and what retailers are, so their employees, their, their suppliers, their business partners. And we just wanted to better understand that. So, we look at concepts that are, that, that are closely relate-, related to empathy, personalization of service, values, and beliefs and things of that nature. So, and of course, again, even, even more importantly, through time, social and environmental sort of engagement, honesty, transparency, and things of that nature.
Luc Dumont 12:42
So, what we did, our retail experts came together with our CX experts and our advanced analytics experts, and create, wanted to create this new level of insight for the WOW study, we wanted to further explain what this all means in a more granular way, which in turn helps you take action on these things to increase that overall sense of belonging. We identified 13 important lever, levers, the first of which is does the store contribute to my quality of life?
Luc Dumont 13:14
So, quality of life can mean a number of things, it can mean does this, does this retailer help me solve a problem? Does it provide products or services that make me feel better about myself? Does it relieve stress? Does it save me time? Are they flexible? So, things again, that make your quality of life better.
Luc Dumont 13:33
Second most important one is the one I alluded to earlier is, does this store align with what I believe to be important with my values and beliefs, right? So, does the store reflect what's important to me in terms of the impact on, on society, impact on other people? So, do they, are their production methods in line with what I believe they should be? Is the packaging excessive? Is the packaging eco-friendly? Thing, things of that nature are becoming more and more important.
Luc Dumont 14:03
And it's closely related to the third important lever which is, is the store useful and relevant in our society? Does it have a purpose? Now, think of this in terms of, think of this with, you know, COVID in mind, right. There, there's been a shift there in terms of you know, who is viewed as useful and relevant to our society versus not so much in the context of what we've been going through.
Luc Dumont 14:26
As I mentioned earlier the, and its fourth most important a-, attribute to this whole concept, is the store transparent and honest? So, I won't read through, through all of them. Suffice it to say that it is a, again, a really good way for the retailer to ask themselves, am I delivering on these sort of micro-elements of the sense of belonging?
Luc Dumont 14:50
I mean, if you look at the fifth most important lever, which is, I feel like I'm being treated like a human being, right. That's super important. I'm not a number. I'm not being sold a product, maybe I'm being sold a solution to one of my problems, maybe I'm being sold again, something that will increase my, my quality of life.
Luc Dumont 15:09
The sixth one is all about environmental protection, energy saving and eco responsibility. Again, sort of, tied to the my values and beliefs, how important that is. And one to me, that's really, that's really interesting is the perception of how employees are treated, are they happy? Are they engaged? Do they love their product? Do they live and breathe the product? That does have an impact on whether I feel like I belong in the store, in, at that retailer.
Michael LeBlanc 15:39
You know, Luc, what I love about these, these 13 things is you know, you get to sit and try to think, in your context, the difference between table stakes and differentiators. And this is a very good roadmap for that, right. Because some of these things, and of course, that moves on any given day, what's a table stake and what's a differentiator. You know, 10 years ago, same day delivery five years ago, same day delivery was, was the differentiator that's becoming less so, right. So, it I, it I expect, as this happens, that people reflect on these, which is a great roadmap and think in that context, yeah?
Luc Dumont 16:13
Yeah, I mean, th-, this has a, a huge impact on, on how you, how you, as a retailer, interact not only with your consumer, but with your, your immediate environment. So, your employees, your managers, your district managers, your, again, your suppliers, your business partners, right. It, it really does have an impact and it does create, we see that it does help create, if you, if you fire on all, on all cylinders, for all these things that you will, you will give the consumer the sense that yes, this store is really for me, it does align, align with my values and beliefs.
Luc Dumont 16:47
Now, this, this analysis that we're, that we're seeing of the 13 levers are, that's for all categories all put together. So, you can imagine that for different categories, these will move, right. But we saw in that analysis that the five sectors that have the highest scores in sense of belonging are beauty, cannabis, men's clothing, pharmacy and specialty boutiques. Not, not a huge surprise, right?
Luc Dumont 17:16
Beauty is something that's highly personal, you and again, it's for, for many people, it's about solving a problem. It's about creating a sense of makes me feel good about myself. It, it, it, it gives me something other than just a thing or a product, other categories for very similar reasons. And if we think about solving a problem, for example, or relieving stress, pharmacy would be one of them, right? It would be something that you, that you go down that path. And as I mentioned, (crossover talk), -
Michael LeBlanc 17:45
We might actually imagine these, these change over the years, right? I mean, perhaps pharmacy is a big point of our lives right now, always an important part of our life, but maybe it's emphasis, a sense of belonging may-, or any of these, cannabis or whatever may change over time. Some, some look like they'll stick around others, you know, would come and go, yeah?
Luc Dumont 18:03
Absolutely. Yeah. And, and as different players come in, come into these different categories that might also affect, -
Michael LeBlanc 18:09
Very important.
Luc Dumont 18:10
Change, right? So, as I mentioned, before, different categories have, will have different scores on the on these different attributes. So, we sort of we, we picked out two examples for each of these dimensions, where we have, you know, like two, or maybe three in some, in some cases, two retailers that sort of are the best at, at this-, this thing.
Luc Dumont 18:36
So, let's look at quality of life, to begin with. Here we have Remedy's Rx, we-, pretty, pretty self-explanatory and Saje. Which is really interesting, because, again, that's more about the product is something that you experience rather than use. And that's, that's, that's a distinction there. If we look at everything about the store aligns with my values and beliefs, we have Lush and we have Yves Rocher. So, they are very vocal and very transparent and honest about how they make their products, where they get them from. I believe at Lush you can taste some of the products too, so that they can prove that it's super-natural. Like they're not, supernatural, but very natural. So, you know, you see there that those perform really well on those, on those, on the, on that attribute.
Luc Dumont 19:24
So, useful and relevant to our society. Again, not a huge surprise, and to your point, Michael, this is something that may change post-pandemic, right? When or, or if there's something else that happens is, that, that impacts retail in, in, in a similar way. Right now, it's, it is stores that provide you with solutions to very current problems and provide, and provide us in general really, with, with things that we need on an ongoing basis for our own health, for our own well-being. So, again, not a surprise there.
Luc Dumont 19:57
Feeling like you're part of the family, another important attribute. So, here we have Tweed and we have Public Mobile. In terms o-, in terms of the stores history, right. So, knowing about where the stores, that the store comes from, how it was founded, where it was founded, what they, how they've changed over time. In this case, we have Roots and Lee Valley. Again, not a huge surprise. Two retailers that have a very sort of strong sense of their history again, so, so and, and it permeates sort of it continues to permeate who they are and how they represent themselves to Canadian consumers. So, that's, that's an important one.
Luc Dumont 20:44
I love going to this store, even if I don't have anything to buy, Lego and Chapters Indigo. Again, sort of that, that and it's, it's an entertainment thing to go, it's, it's sort of a fun thing to go, even if you're not looking for something specifically. That's, to me, that's one of again, one of the most important things about understanding that the, the sense of belonging and, and this dimension within that. It's, if you if people are wanting to go to your store, just because, you-, you've got a pretty captive audience to you know, sell them something when they get there, even if they weren't looking for anything.
Luc Dumont 21:20
Personalization of services, again, not a surprise, we have MAC and we have Nespresso. Two retailers that go above and beyond in making people feel like what they provide, when they provide it, is just for the person standing in front of them.
Michael LeBlanc 21:38
You know Luc, what- what's I find interesting, a lot of interesting things on this chart, but it you know, both Tweed and Public Mobile are very new retailers, right. They're very, you know, both the category, of course, is new in cannabis, yet still factor into your rankings, right. So, I think it is, it's not about how long you've been doing it. It's, it's about what you're doing. And, you know, to create in 18 months or 24 months, that feeling that you're part of a family, it's a really interesting case study, a really interesting use case on you know, what you can do in and it doesn't mean you can't, you got to wait for five years, you can actually mobilize and, and do some things. Fascinating.
Luc Dumont 22:18
Yeah, and in, and in my opinion, it's one of the things that is most easily lost. If you don't measure and, and look at this year over year, you really have to keep your eye on the ball for the-, for these types of things, because they can easily sort of slip by the wayside and then someone else comes in and steals your thunder.
Christian Bourque 22:43
Yep- the evidence (inaudible), right? Yeah, thank you. I, I, I think that this, th-, th-, this thing about sense of belonging is something we've looked at over time. And we believe that now, as we are sort of slowly creeping out of this pandemic will become extremely important. You know, there's a lot of talk about brand storytelling and, and telling people who you are, why you exist a-, and in this era, where you can buy anything, anytime, at any price, at any store.
Michael LeBlanc 23:11
Yeah.
Christian Bourque 23:12
Why would they come to you? They, they, give them a reason. They-, it-, it's sort of this dimension, where would people wear my T-shirts? Give them a reason. So, I, I think this, this element of sense of belonging and, and out of a human experience will become extremely important moving forward. And specifically important for Gen Y, and Gen Z as well, which I think should be a sort of a major focus moving forward. But now let's move into our winners.
Michael LeBlanc 23:36
I actually have a, I actually have a question from the audience. So, thank you. Our first question from the audience, the first is actually two questions from the audience was the music was really too loud at the beginning. Sorry about that. So, apologies for that. But a question from the audience. And thank you again. So, I'll just throw it in now because it's right about just what we were looking at. It's interesting that the men's clothing was in that category, if you view page back one, but women's was not. Any thoughts on that? You know, generally, when I think of men's clothing, maybe I think of less engagement than more engagement but what do you guys have to say about it?
Christian Bourque 24:10
Oh, my initial thought when I saw it, there is it shows how men are changing as shoppers. I would have said 10/15 years ago, men had a very probably very functional relationship with, with clothing. Sort of in the hunter gatherer or men were hunters when it came to clothing in and out of the store as quickly as possible. Do these fit? Yes, I'll-, you know, I, I'm, I'm buying them.
I think today though, that relationship is changing. I think if you see the explosion in men's beauty and, and skincare products right now, it is amazing. Far surpassing what's happening on the women's side. And I believe it is something that is definitely changing in terms of how men behave towards how they feel and, and how they look. So, so, I was kind of happy to see it there because it means that you cannot address, you cannot address guys today like you would 10-15 years ago. To your point, Michael, this, this is and will be ever changing moving forward too.
Michael LeBlanc 25:17
Thank you for that.
Christian Bourque 25:18
If we move into our, our winners, now the people that we will feature now or the stores that we will feature now, are those who got a score of 90 or more out of 100. Basically in university that gets you an A plus. So, out of the 150 odd retailers that we measured in Ontario, we'll see the ones that actually make it up there. It's not a top 10, it's basically if you get an A plus, you're in the list of winners that we see now.
Christian Bourque 25:44
So, let's start with our number nine. Actually, there's only nine of them this year. Lego, of course, Lego has to feature in sort of the in-store experience, experiencing the product, seeing the product, feeling that you are actually having sort of a, a playful experience with the store as much as you are with the product later. So, Lego in the top 10. In terms not in the top 10. But in the top retailers in Ontario. Not their first time in that sort of shortlist of winners, as well.
Christian Bourque 26:19
In eighth place Ren's Pets. We haven't mentioned that so far, but when we look at this element of sense of belonging, pet stores are actually not that far behind. I mean, this is we're, we're going in there to take care of the health of our, of our pets so, we want that emotional connection, because that's the connection we have with our, with our animal at home. So, the fact that pet stores can actually sort of play on that variable that we're going there to treat our favorite non-human. I think it's something that they should actually work with and, and sort of work into how they offer in-store experience that is, is at the level that people would expect.
Christian Bourque 27:00
In seventh place, M&M Food Market. They went through a dramatic change in terms of, of how the store looks and feels, and, and what is offered in there in, in late 2019, just before the pandemic. And that transformation saw them in that year’s WOW, move into the top 10. They still are there today. So, they obviously did something right, in terms of their in-store experience.
Christian Bourque 27:26
Yves Rocher, we've seen them before in that sort of shortlist, that highly personalized service. We mentioned the, the element of quality of life. The contribution that they directly make, the fact that they've shown that they're useful to us. Also, the fact that in terms of promotional and royalty initiatives, they always score very well. So, combine all of those together, Yves Rocher is at the very top.
Christian Bourque 27:51
Lee Valley Tools in fifth place. This is interesting because for a period of the pandemic, they actually decided to close their stores for a longer period than was required by government. And one of the reasons why they did that is they wanted the in-store experience to be up to their sort of standards. We know that online, they always do well. I basically said if they killed something that I'll show later in terms of them, you know, part of the or, or one of the stores that will be in the top 10 for the online experience as well. But they sort of decided to go back to their core business, which is catalog that moved to online retailing during that period. But again, people in terms of Lee Valley, talking about would you wear the T-shirt, Lee Valley, visitors would tell you they would.
Christian Bourque 28:42
Nespresso is in fourth place again, very sort of wanting to be experiential. The store looks good, tastes good, highly personalized service. They'll toss in the nice little chocolate they'll offer you a coffee while you wait. So, they're basically are giving you that reason to stop by even though their core business is buying, is selling coffee online. They wanted their stores to represent what their brand stands for that, talk about this element of, of telling a story about why you exist.
Christian Bourque 29:17
Purdy’s actually in third place, again, sort of a I'm, I'm in here to treat myself, I deserve it. This sort of indulge mentality at Purdy’s is something that at least new visitors to the store are saying you delivered on that promise. And so, so good on them for being able to deliver that experience in store as well.
Christian Bourque 29:39
Saje, Luc alluded to that as well, there's part of it is lifestyle and other part of it is taking care of myself. And again, sort of Saje is there to provide that solution to be part of sort of this unwind, take a break and sort of center on yourself. They've actually done very well. And, and now number two.
Christian Bourque 30:02
And our winner, even though this is not about declaring one winner, there's no prize except for you know, an endless round of high fives in the office and in the store after this, but Lush, is actually number one. For different reasons. I believe in terms of, of, and, and we, we talked about this multi-channel experience at Lush, has been great throughout the pandemic, they are now delivering online to the level that they're delivering in-store. And people went once the, the, the safety measures were sort of pushed aside and we could go back into the store, those people that used to love going at Lush, just wanted to go back. They wanted that treat, again, sort of that pause in a busy day that that sort of retail-tainment component that Lush has always offered and good on them for being number one in these turbulent times, to say the least. So,-
Michael LeBlanc 31:03
Yeah, congrat-, congratulations to, to all the winners, as you say, you know, it's a fantastic number one, Lush, but anyone on this page, congratulations. I do have a question from the audience. It's actually, I'll, I'll throw it in now and maybe Luc, it's more for you. It's a little bit about the process because and I've had this question of this survey. You've outlined the metrics, but I guess it's, we want to make sure that people understand that each store is, is ranked individually as opposed to compared to each other. So, talk a little bit, it's not like people are sent a survey that says, can you think of a great store? So, a little bit about the process of how people rank these if you would?
Luc Dumont 31:43
It's really, I mean, one thing that's really important to mention above and beyond that is that this study is, doesn't really, doesn't measure at all. It's not a study about foot traffic, popularity, sales volume, it's really just a recent visitor to your store evaluates their, their experience at that store. It as you said, if they evaluate multiple stores, in some cases, maybe two or three, they will not be comparing them. They're really talking about that singular experience in the store at that time.
Michael LeBlanc 32:17
Right Christian, (crossover talk), how do you how do you find those people? But so how do you, how do your people who respond participate in the survey from the other side? How do they get, (crossover talk).
Christian Bourque 32:27
When they get into the, the survey, we basically ask, where have you shopped recently? And we have the business sectors that we look at, and then there's the competitor. So, if I say okay, well, over the weekend, I went to Metro for my groceries. Last week, I went to Lush. And so, you'll basically click on the retailers you visited recently. And then we randomly select five of those stores that you have included in the ones that you visited recently to say, okay, now, let's go back to your visit to Lush. How did you find, and then we go through this the 20 dimensions that are measured in the WOW. So, it's really recent shoppers evaluating their store experience, none of the comparative fashion as Luc, has, has mentioned, and it's certainly not a popularity contest, if not Canadian Tire would be first. This is really about sort of focusing on that recent visit and, and how you evaluated and how that retailer performed on, on those 20 metrics.
Michael LeBlanc 33:23
Perfect. Thank you. And thanks for the question in the audience keep them coming.
Christian Bourque 33:27
Absolutely, now we'll look by, by sector because of course to be in sort of that top nine where you're 90 plus in terms of overall score. We saw that there's tends to be a focus on specialty stores, because that's what they're about. That's what they need to deliver to be part of the conversation in their business sector. So, it would be unfair to say that 7-11 competes with Lush in terms of overall customer experience.
Christian Bourque 33:51
So, the whole purpose of the WOW study is to allow for benchmarking between yourselves and your key sort of competitors, direct competitors in your category, this year and then also looking at their past performance over the past few years. So, that's why we go into sort of all of these basic measures, we will go very quickly, I don't have to time to name all of these but just to give you sort of an idea of, of where people are.
Christian Bourque 34:17
First, is food. Longo’s again, number one in their sector they have been now for a few years and 56 overall. So, number one in terms of grocery and food altogether. But look how just how close the, the Fortinos is right behind them in 58th place, Whole Foods is not that far, Farm Boy. And if you look at the top four, again, this element of experiential marketing I mean the stores look good, feel good. They are you know, they're designed to make you feel hungry in a way and, and people are sort of rating them at the top, or I mean their shoppers are actually given the, exceptionally high marks on that.
Christian Bourque 34:53
In terms of pharmacy Remedies Rx is first then you have The Medicine Shop, and Pharmasave, then IDA. Some of the smaller square footage, pharmacies tend to out-perform larger pharmacies and we've seen that across the country, but also across time in Ontario as well.
Christian Bourque 35:09
Convenience stores, 7-11, in first place. In terms of, of hardware, Home Hardware is number one, followed by the others. For alcohol and cannabis, which is a more recent category, of course, The Wine Shop is actually a number one in the category, and they all rank fairly high. I mean, the top five are in the top 35, in terms of overall ranking of, of consumers. So, that in-store experience is very relevant when it comes to high quality beverages and cannabis as well.
Christian Bourque 35:42
Simons is number one in terms of, of department stores. It's really sort of a huge success nationwide. They do exceptionally well in Alberta as well. Out west now, they're actually sort of growing their footprint, and are number one in Ontario right now, quite a bit in front of (inaudible) and the others. And we'll see that the online performance of Simons also sets them apart later on. Saje Natural Wellness, number one, they're actually number two overall. Lush, number one overall, number one in their category.
Christian Bourque 36:15
But look at this, Yves Rocher is sixth, MAC's is 10th, Kiehl's is 14th. Bath & Body Works is 16th. I mean, this is very steep competition. If you don't deliver on in store experience, you won't be there very long. In terms of culture, leisure, Lee Valley Tools is number one, even though it's a tool shop, it's more of a lifestyle place more than a hardware store. That's why we put them in this category.
Christian Bourque 36:41
And just ahead of, of Lego we saw a minute ago. Kitchen Stuff Plus is number one in, in furniture, and appliance. In Electronics, Samsung actually out performs Apple Store. Which is interesting, because it's the opposite in the province of Quebec. Is there something about how the stores are actually playing their game that is different, but they are in the top two in both places.
In terms of Telco, Public Mobile is number one, followed by Best Buy mobile, and then Telus. So, so, the, the big, the first of the big four is Telus in that ranking. The Running Room is, is actually 12. So, they're doing exceptionally well in terms of how they deliver in-store experience in the sports category. Decathlon now is, has edged MEC, in terms of in-store experience, as well. And as you move down, and some people would say to your point, Luc as well, if it was a popularity contest, probably Sport Chek would be number one. But then we basically look at I, I was at Decathlon over the weekend, how was it? And that's basically how we assess the scores that we're presenting in the report.
Christian Bourque 37:48
Women's clothing, Melanie Lyne is number one. In terms of unisex, it's Banana Republic, in first place. Jack & Jones for men's and Naturalizer for shoe stores outside of, of the strictly sort of sports shoe retailers we saw a minute ago. So, now I'll, I'll turn it back over to Luc to explain a little bit how we go about, because it's different in terms of methodology, how we go about assessing the retailers in the WOW digital.
Luc Dumont 38:19
Yeah, so thanks, Christian, WOW digital is a measure of the experience that your consumer, that customers had with either your website, or your app. In this case, we evaluated 184 different websites or mobile apps via again, an online survey of about 14,000 Canadians, 15 years of age and older. This means that each website or mobile app, in some cases, both because both are available, is evaluated by plus or minus 300 people who have visited the, or have used the app, or visited the website the last year. Data collection October 15 to December 8, and again, same as for the online for the in- store section, we apply weighting to ensure that everything is representative of visitors to, to the websites or apps.
Quick note on apps, again becoming more and more important in terms of not only how they work on their own, but how they work, you know, in relation to the website, in relation to the different products or services that the retailer offers. So, something to keep note of.
Luc Dumont 39:33
Now the WOW Digital Index, of course, because it is a completely different beast, is made up of different, different dimensions. Many of which, many of which are sort of UX dimensions. So, look and feel brand, you know, look and feel browsing, how to search for, for stuff. The payment process, payment transparency, and all of that thing, all that those things that make up the, the experience.
Luc Dumont 40:00
But we also, you know, we also look at things like, again, new discoveries, does it help you find stuff? Does it suggest products, you know, in the way that Amazon sort of does? Is the experience customized if I have to sign in? Am I, do I feel like a member of this website or app? So, these are the dimensions that are included.
Luc Dumont 40:22
There's a couple with asterisks, same, same thing that I mentioned for the retail portion. These are dimensions that are measured, but not necessarily, not used in the WOW Index calculation, because they were added at a later time. So, we talked about the transaction process. So, it you know, how, how easy is it? How comprehensible is it? Is it transparent? And of course, now we look at things we have been, but we, we continue to look at the ordering process, both, you know, completing it on the app or, or the website, but also in terms of what happens after and what it's made up of.
Luc Dumont 41:01
So, shipping fees, delivery options, how long it'll take, do I get tracking or not? How good is that? I mean, what does the product look like when it gets to me? So, I won't mention them all because we don't want to run out of time and we want to leave time for questions. I believe Christian, you will talk about the best in class for this.
Christian Bourque 41:22
I will, thank you. So, in terms of best online experience on all of the dimensions that Luc has just gone through here is our top 10. Sephora, always been sort of in or very close to our top 10 and certainly they have made changes during the pandemic as well to their online experience. Good on them for being in the in the top 10 as well.
Apple Store, the online store out-performs the actual physical store. But again, the context of the pandemic most likely has something to do with that, in the short term.
Lee Valley Tools, I mean, they went from catalog to online to in-store, and, and certainly i-, in the care they, they, they take in terms of displaying information about their products is something that's very unique in the retail space and I think it, they do deserve a visit just to see how good they are at delivering that.
Jack & Jones in seventh place, in the men's apparel as well doing extremely well online.
The SAQ which is the equivalent of the LCBO in Quebec. Mind you in, in the province here, they have what is rated as the number one loyalty program in the business. And when it comes to delivering an online experience, of course, as you redeem your points and basically go through all of that they have all of your history in terms of what you like, what you shop, what you bought. I mean, the, the whole online experience is something that the SAQ has delivered extremely well. And it features again, what Luc was saying, these are recent visitors to, to websites of retailers, most of the retailers over the, over the past. So, the fact that this is a Quebec only retailer doesn't really matter in how we measure it, it's because its recent visitors evaluating that website.
Nespresso is in fifth place used to be a pure play online retailer and so they still deliver well on the online experience.
Number four is DAVIDsTEA, doing very well online.
Simons is number three. So, in the top 10, both for in-store, and online. So, Simons is doing something right, obviously.
The second place is Lush, also in the top five for both rankings. And Lush has been able to transpose online the whole sort of playful experience that, that people have with the products in store has been able to do that online in a very efficient way. So, great on them.
Christian Bourque 43:55
Number one will surprise you. Number one is a,- is a local retailer, that is number one for online experience and it goes back to our sense of belonging again. The people that actually shop there would wear the T-shirt. It's basically a small local retailer that offers urban rooftop, greenhouse vegetables and fruits that are delivered to your door. It's called Lufa Farms. Anybody in Montreal knows about Lufa Farms. And some would argue well, my website looks as good as theirs or my, but they do deliver that I understand their purpose. My 25-year-old son is a shopper there and I always tell him well you could pay less for your fruits and vegetables if you went to this store. And but he said that, that doesn't matter because he's bought into sort of the concept of what they deliver in terms of the whole sustainability aspect of their product offering. So, congratulations to Lufa for making it up there and all of the people that appear here because it's certainly not an easy, an easy feat.
If you actually look now, oh don't, please, please Michael, go ahead.
Michael LeBlanc 45:10
Yeah, congratulations to everyone I mean it's, it's so interesting at that these Quebec based would rank in Ontario that also speaks to their, their presence of mind and in Ottawa and places like that. A question from the audience, is optical a category or does it factor in somewhere the, the optical category retail?
Christian Bourque 45:29
Yes, we'll, we'll see in a second. We, we went very quickly through the whole sector but it is part of the, of the both the in-store and online. So, we'll see results for them in a couple of minutes because of course it is highly important. As well just like, just like at-, at our (inaudible) Michael and I.
Christian Bourque 45:48
In terms of food, Lufa is number one, and you see all of their. And we did for some of the groceries as well, evaluate their online platforms as well as their corporate websites. For example, My Online Groceries by Metro is, is a measured separately from Metro, the corporate website. Same as Voila by Sobeys as well. If you look in, in detail.
Christian Bourque 46:10
For pharmacy, you've got the lineup there starting with well.ca, which does extremely well. For alcohol and cannabis we saw SAQ, a bit later on. And look at the difference between for example a SAQ and LCBO. So, what is one doing better? How is one out-performing the others that's where the, the WOW data becomes interesting as well.
Christian Bourque 46:31
Simons is number one for department stores. Lush we saw a minute ago, a very competitive sector beauty for online presence as well. Specialty boutiques the same. For pet stores, Mondou, which is a, a Quebec based retailer is number one. Also a highly ranked loyalty program at Mondou, which partly explains their ranking. Lee Valley as well.
Christian Bourque 46:53
And here in terms of the eyewear, Clearly is number one, followed by BonLook, which, which are primarily sort of online players. And some of the others that you see here. If we move over to furniture Bouclair is number one for their online presence. Apple Store, in electronics. Canac which is a-, a local Quebec based hardware store, high sense of belonging to as well very much sort of a rural Quebec retailer that people love. In terms of sports, Lululemon, number 12. Always been good in terms of building a store experience now exceptional in terms of delivering online experience as well in front of Nike, Under Armour and then again, we see our Decathlon who was number one for ,for in-store experience earlier on.
Christian Bourque 47:43
Jack & Jones does well as well. Steve Madden, number one. Loto-Quebec doing slightly better than OLG, in terms of lotteries. We have also meal delivery, which is not sort of a retailer but that's part of our ranking. For telecommunications Fizz, which is a sort of a smaller Quebec based player does better than some of the other people you might know here in the charts. In terms of finance, in terms of retail banking, Tangerine is one. Desjardins Insurance is number one in the insurance sector. Real estate is DuProprio is a local real estate company in Quebec as well. And Amazon in terms of the pure play on major online sites, as well. So, it's not only retail, but primarily retail that we evaluate as part of the of the WOW online. So, I guess we'll end it there because we only have about 10 minutes left until the end of the lunch break for our visitors. I'll turn it back over to you, Michael.
Michael LeBlanc 48:45
Well, thank you great presentation. And, and it's always so interesting to look at the results and looking at that kind of how people look at things. A little clarification on the I saw eye, the optical category and online is the optical category in the study in the physical stores. I'm not sure, (Crossover talk), -
Christian Bourque 49:03
Yes, it is, absolutely.
Michael LeBlanc 49:05
All right. Perfect. Question for you, you mentioned a couple of times that I think it was different stores that rank differently in different provinces that there was some swapping of the rankings going back and forth. Is there any ones that you would call out that are meaningfully different in different parts? You guys have a good scan across different provinces, you've mentioned Alberta, is there any, anything stands out as you do these surveys that it makes a meaningful difference for, you know, for retailers who are operating in different provinces to be aware of? How do you think about that?
Christian Bourque 49:37
Well, in terms of delivering in-store experience, out of, sort of, again, it's not a top 10 but let's say the 90 plus a lot of similarities between stores that ranked well in Quebec versus Ontario. The only difference is that some of the stores evaluated in Quebec that made it into that top 10 only operate in Quebec.
Christian Bourque 49:57
But if you look at those who operate in both regions, they tend to perform relatively the same in both jurisdictions. So, there, there's something about sort of a, it says something about off-, offering some form of uniformity across, you know, the terms of service delivery across all of your stores.
Christian Bourque 50:16
But I, I think once you got the recipe down right, the likelihood is that it will work well in other regions of the country, as well. So, it, it's interesting, but look at the top one or two in each category, once you take out the only sort of the, the, the, the regional players, the national players tend to perform in pretty much the same sort of rank order in both major provinces.
Michael LeBlanc 50:44
Right on, right on. And a reminder to everyone watch-, a watching and, and listening, we got a few minutes left, so pop your questions in. And I'll ask them. Then you know, as you were describing these inter-provincial differences, there's a spanner in the works, right. If I think it's 2021, with government regulations opening and closing, you know, that's where I was coming from, like, maybe you're in a province where there's restricted entry, or the stores were closed, like 2021 such a bananas year, from one perspective, and it'll be interesting to see as we go forward, how it all settles out from these distorting elements of, of experience, right. We know how distorting you know, your clo-, store is closed or limited. And it feels like, you know, if I was to add a dimension, if I was to be so bold, it's almost like we need to start thinking about things like safety, as unfortunately as a, as an indicator of confidence, right. Did you see any, any sense of that, as you kind of looked through the data or spoke to participants?
Christian Bourque 51:38
Yeah, we actually measured it last year in the WOW, in terms of all the safety measures put in place. And largely what we saw is, is a sort of a fairly sizable correlation between overall experience and how safe people felt in your store. So, it's sort of like the chicken and the egg. So, if you're doing well, you'll do well at that, too. But it also said that, even though you had a good in-store experience, you could not under-deliver on, on the safety measures.
Christian Bourque 51:42
But I think to, to your point, though, something that I think is comforting, and probably shows all of the work that's been done by, by retailers over the past 18 months, is that just for online experience, out of the 180 retailers that we measured, only 11 of them did not see an increase in their scores this year. So, that means 170, or, or there-abouts perform better this year compared to last.
Christian Bourque 52:33
So, they've made changes to how they deliver their service online, they have improved. But the other thing too, as well is that consumers have improved in terms of how they interact with the online platforms. Last year, a lot of people actually bought clothes on-line for the very first time in their lives, and probably struggled with it because they were not really good at doing it beyond how the websites were able to deliver. But I think the, the, the, a lot of work must have been put in for 17 out of 18 stores to do better this year than last.
Christian Bourque 53:05
In terms of the actual physical sort of in-store brick and mortar customer experience, again, the widest majority of, of retailers has better scores this year compared to last and it's most striking in those that were directly impacted even more by the pandemic, which is grocery, pharmacy, hardware, and the ones that you needed to go to and line up to get into, are the ones that were hardest hit, but they actually are bouncing back. So, I think it's the good news for retailers in all of this, both in terms of online and, and in-store is, is that customers actually feel better about them than they did 12 months ago, which, which is, -
Michael LeBlanc 53:47
Well, if, if, if, it's a testament to the resilience and innovation of all of you listening and in the retail sector. I mean, you know, the, when I think of online, I think of this baptism by fire, 70% increase year over year, you know, you're going to have to, you're going to have to act quick. And I guess the upside to that, so to speak is, is for some that reaches a critical mass where, you know, sometimes I've, I've said volume solves some sins, right?
Michael LeBlanc 53:48
So, that increase in demand has led to an increase of resources, sophistication, certainly went through a lot of worries. And I think, I think you're also seeing customers, I think their standards were always high online, but I think you're now seeing both this, you know, the retailers, many of whom, you know, we're kind of had a toe in the water even, even this far in stepping up because the volume is there. And then you know, the volume drives a lot of investment in what needs to happen. And I, I predict, and I've talked to retailers who said, well, we got, we did what we could to get to that volume from a systems and a process and a technology.
Michael LeBlanc 54:45
But now the investment starts because that volume the water line has gone up right, we're not seeing 70% growth year over year, but the water line has not receded right. That volume, many would say grocery furniture as you say, apparel that, that volume seems to have certainly sustained.
Michael LeBlanc 55:01
Well listen, no more questions from the audience. But thank you for those who asked a question. And of course, both of these fine gentlemen, always available, email or LinkedIn, anyone from Leger. So, Christian, Luc, always a pleasure, a treat to be with you and listen to these results. As I said, it's always my favorite day of the year, my favorite virtual day of the year so far, I guess we could say.
Michael LeBlanc 55:21
So, thank you both as well and on behalf of RCC, and Leger, thank you for attending this webinar. Again, you'll receive an email very shortly following the webinar with information about both how to purchase the study, and how to get in touch with Leger, their thought leadership. It's quite comprehensive, I have to congratulate Leger, both of you. You've done an amazing job of keeping us informed over the past couple of years, always. But over the past couple of years looking at all kinds of things related to COVID. Here, I don't know how we would have made it without your insights. So, thank you for that. And thank you for your ongoing partnership.
Michael LeBlanc 55:55
And again, for everyone, thanks for joining us, and I look forward to seeing you IRL next year "In Real Life". Let's all hope for that together. But for now. Bye-bye, everyone.
Christian Bourque 56:05
Bye, everyone.
Luc Dumont 56:06
Bye.
Michael LeBlanc 56:07
Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail and if you haven't already, be sure and click and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week.
And check out my other retail industry media properties the Remarkable Retail podcast, Conversations with CommerceNext podcast and The Food Professor podcast with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.
Last but not least, if you're into barbecue, check out my all new YouTube barbecue show Last Request Barbecue with new episodes each and every week. I'm your host, Michael LeBlanc, president of M.E. LeBlanc & Company and Maven Media. And if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co. Have a safe week everyone.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
store, retailers, terms, line, people, retail, Lush, Leger, consumers, Quebec, belonging, Luc, important, experience, year, measure, category, product, pandemic