Fireside chat | Less is more: How leading brands are growing though strategic focus

Summary

Joseph Russell, Strategy Director at JH, discusses the challenges and strategies for businesses amidst economic fluctuations. He reflects on the past year's focus on resilience against inflation and introduces Hugo, Head of EC and Digital Experience at Big Bus Tours, to share insights on their company's strategic pivot towards experiences beyond traditional bus tours. They delve into data-driven decision-making, leveraging APIs for dynamic customer experiences, and the bold plan to eliminate the checkout basket to streamline purchases and enhance customer relationships.

Takeaways

• 😀 Joseph Russell, the Strategy Director at JH, has been with the company for nearly 12 years, progressing from design and front-end roles to leading client strategies and research.
• 💡 Last year's conference panel focused on facing down inflation and building resilience strategies, predicting challenges for the next 12 months.
• 📉 Despite some positive signs like a slight drop in inflation and customers having more money to spend at Christmas, the UK economy entered a technical recession with 0% growth reported for April.
• 🛒 A report from retail economics highlighted the 34.4 billion cost of abandoned baskets in the UK, indicating consumers are feeling the pinch due to high costs and prices.
• 🏆 Brands in certain verticals like Health, Beauty, and Home wear have been thriving, while others have faced significant drops in year-over-year performance.
• 🚌 Big Bus Tours, the world's largest operator of open-top sightseeing buses, is shifting its focus from being just a bus tour company to offering the number one experience in every city.
• 🌟 Hugo, the head of EC and digital experience at Big Bus Tours, has a 20-year track record in customer experience and is working on enhancing the company's digital strategy.
• 📈 Big Bus Tours has been focusing on increasing the average order value per transaction by improving how they merchandise and present their products to customers.
• 📊 The company is data-driven, conducting 8 to 10 concurrent tests monthly to optimize conversions and is considering implementing dynamic merchandising to present the best ticket options to customers at any given time.
• 🔧 Big Bus Tours uses a simple tech stack with Magento for their web platform and a bespoke CMS for their app, all integrated with Ventrata for ticketing and booking management.
• 🛒 The concept of a traditional 'basket' in e-commerce is being reconsidered, with Big Bus Tours looking to streamline the checkout process and focus on post-purchase customer engagement and value addition.

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