Stumbled across this succinct presentation from Ashley Ringrose from BannerBlog, on The 6 Foundations Of Great Digital Creative. It was presented at the AdAge Digital Conference a couple of years ago but still acts as a useful reminder to anyone who spends their working day trying to come up with engaging banner ads!
via digitalbuzz
Virtual stores are nothing new. When you think about it any branded website which replicates the shop environment through interactive visuals or e-commerce functionality could be classified as a virtual store. But what I find interesting is the emerging trend of extending this concept into other digital, mobile and social spaces. In a lot of ways it makes perfect sense to take your shop to where your customers are rather than wait for them to find you.
But simply replicating e-commerce in different platforms doesn’t necessarily cut it. In fact, the WSJ reviewed a report by Forrester recently which warns brands not to rush out and add ecommerce functionality onto their social platforms as the ROI is still questionable. Their study suggests that early adopters of shopping carts on Facebook had seen only modest results, and in most cases not until after they’d established a loyal-fan following. But there does seem to be an emerging opportunity here for brands to explore, whether that’s incorporating e-commerce or replicating the store experience in some other way. So here’s my pick of the bunch which I feel work brilliantly.
#1 – Asos Facebook page
Asos claimed to be the first in Europe to open a virtual store on Facebook where fans could buy their merchandise without even leaving the site. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know but it’s clearly paying dividends for Asos who now boast almost 1 million fans already. The e-commerce app they developed has the same functionality as that used on their main website including add-to-basket, edit cart contents, check out and order-tracking features. But now they can tap into all the benefits of building a fanbase on Asos at the same time. 
#2 – Amazon mobile app
I have the Amazon app on my iPhone and have to say I absolutely love it. It’s so simple to use and brings all the benefits and convenience you’ve come to expect from Amazon directly into the palm of your hand – so you can effectively browse the whole Amazon store without even getting off the sofa (or the loo for that matter). But for me the best function is the barcode scanner. I used this the other day when I was buying a flat screen TV. I popped into various stores on the high street to review the latest products. I checked them all for picture and sound quality and prices. I even spoke to the friendly salesmen for advice. Once I’d decided on the one I liked the most, I simply scanned the barcode using the Amazon app and found the exact same model on Amazon. Not only was it £100 cheaper but I could also check all the consumer reviews to give me the social validation to go ahead with the sale. I completed the transaction with a couple of clicks on my mobile (whilst in the other store) and had the TV delivered the very next day.
I must admit I did feel slightly guilty about abusing the high street retail system but since they didn’t have the one I wanted in stock that was their look out. Also at least I paid something for my TV, which is more can be said for the London looters!
#3 – O2 Guru TV
If you haven’t seen it yet, you really should check out O2 Guru TV – they’ve delivered a fabulously engaging virtual store experience by creating a custom channel on YouTube. It’s not a virtual shop which uses ecommerce as such but rather a portal for handling customer service queries. So customers can go there to find videos on a range of topics from the latest handset reviews to how to reduce your mobile tariff when travelling abroad. It’s a a video rich resource which is not only social and interactive but also excellent for driving awareness through video search optimisation. I’ve heard it’s had a positive impact on reducing call centre volumes too.
#4 – BMW on eBay
It’s easy to think of virtual stores within the retail sector but what about other industries like automotive. Well, if you’re a BMW owner, the prospect of driving to your BMW dealer to pick up a spare part or accessory could be a thing of the past. Nowadays you can simply visit their virtual store on eBay – BMW Direct.
#5 – Ocado on the Go
The Ocado on the Go app is available on the iphone and android. As you’d expect you can browse and buy all your groceries, as well as book a delivery slot directly from your phone. Very impressive functionality. I probably wouldn’t do a complete weekly shop on it as it’s quite a protracted process – not sure my iphone battery would last that long – but I do occasionally amend existing orders or do a mid-week top up shop when I’ve forgotten something. According to econsultancy, they have 10,000 users registering every month and 4,000 checkouts a day. In fact, mobile transactions now account for 12% of Ocado purchases.
#6 – First Direct iphone app
I guess First Direct’s whole raison d’etre is around the virtual store proposition – after all if it wasn’t for telephony or online banking they wouldn’t exist. But their latest app is a natural extension of the virtual store. It only has limited functionality at this stage – so all you can do is check your balances and make payments/transfers directly from the app. But for checking things on the fly, it’s perfect.
#7 – M & S mobile site
M & S recognised the importance of virtual shopping or ‘mobile retailing’ a while ago and launched their mobile ecommerce site in May last year. Since then, their site has received nothing but praise due to its simple usability experience and seemless ecommerce integration. In fact, according to eDigital Research which publishes the mCommerce Benchmarking Study 2011, the M & S mobile site came out on top.
#8 YouTique by French Connection
French Connection have created a well designed custom channel on YouTube called YouTique. It hosts a range of video including anything from fashion tips to more leftfield content to keep things interesting. They have incorporated video annotation too to guide visitors through the channel.
#9 – Google shopping
If you can’t run to the cost of producing your own virtual store, there’s always Google Shopping. A search on Google Shopping will collate all the products within your vicinity so you can see at a glance what’s the cheapest. You can then go on to buy online with just a few clicks.
#10 – Tesco Homeplus & John Lewis
Tesco in Korea came up with an innovative idea recently where they decided to bring the store to the people. By creating a virtual store on the underground platform, commuters could shop by scanning the QR code with their smartphone which would then add the item to their shopping basket. Neat.
Funnily enough, John Lewis have recently come up with a similar execution in Brighton where they’ve converted a window display from one of their Waitrose stores into an interactive shopping experience using QR codes.
#11 – Virtual Facebook
Perhaps saving the best till last. Here’s an exciting idea by Shaker who have created a virtual world within your social network. The video is a bit corny but if you jump towards the end of the clip you’ll get the idea. Who knows it might catch on.
This isn’t an exhaustive list so if you know any other virtual stores, whether that’s ecommerce based or simply replicating the store experience on other digital or social platforms, please share them below.
'If only we'd thought of that' 