Pacific Magazines CEO Gereurd Roberts and Pacific’s general manager – homes and food Wendy Moore welcomed guests to their Sydney HQ recently to share insights from research they have done into the retail landscape.
Pacific attracted an audience of advertisers and media agency buyers.
“At Pacific, we are retailers ourselves,” Roberts told his guests. “We are observing and taking part in the shifts taking place and we are also navigating the shifts taking place. We realise the competitive and rapidly changing retail sphere and the need to respond quickly and intelligently to consumer trends. We are interested and invested as you are.
“As a business, Pacific has long had consumer understanding at its core. Customer intimacy has been fundamental to what we do. Today it’s not just part of our business – it is at the forefront of our business.
“For the past year we have been re-engineering our company, creating a business that is built on data and insights. It is our front line, not a supporting structure – a company where an understanding of consumer behaviour permeates every area, department and every action. Today it not only drives our retail strategy and our commercial strategy, but our audience, marketing and loyalty strategies… and importantly our product strategy.
“We are re-imagining our trusted brands. We no longer want to be just in front of our consumers as magazines, mobile sites or social feeds, or even just on the TV screen. We want to surround our consumers to re-imagine the role we play in their lives.
“We are basing what we build today on what we know they want.”
Roberts used what he called the Pacific “superbrand” Women’s Health as an example of the new Pacific. The company held a Women’s Health mentoring event last week with experienced sportswomen, businesswomen and other experts meeting up-and-coming female athletes to help them on their journey. “Soon you are likely to see those athletes wearing Women’s Health active wear, eating Women’s Health meals and leading Women’s Health weekends away.”
Amongst the investment in the future of Pacific is a spend on new technology.
“To refocus the entire business is not easy. It takes time and it costs a lot of money.
“Fuelling the change is a purpose-built data and insights engine which has powered our ability to capture, organise, analyse and action data. It not only services our loyal audiences with new products and service opportunities, but our commercial partners as well.”
Pacific commercial director Nicole Bence with Dr Ross Honeywill
Roberts flagged that under the new commercial leadership of Nicole Bence, Pacific will be presenting a series of signature research studies.
Pacific commercial director Bence then presented some of the highlights of the retail trends research, which the company has branded “Re-Tale: A new story”.
Bence told her agency and client guests: “Today’s connected shopper no longer thinks in terms of physical, online or mobile. They simply want to shop with their preferred store or brand how and when they want.
“They want the best possible experience when they do. They want curated, personalised experiences. Fast.
“Blended retail is a single channel vision that mixes real world experience with dynamic data to allow retailers and brand to connect with the needs of the customer – and it will ultimately drive sales.”
Bence added that to support Pacific’s investment in supercharging its data capabilities it was launching a new division – Seventh Sense.
“A consumer insight division, Seventh Sense’s core purpose is to unlock the value of data to drive business growth.”
Pacific also engaged Dr Ross Honeywill as a keynote speaker at the event and he was followed by a panel that featured The Daily Edited co-founder Alyce Tran, Officeworks marketing chief Karl Winther, Stylerunner co-founder Julie Stevanja and L’Oréal media director Lyndall Campher.
Pacific Magazines has also revealed that future research studies include The Future Shapers (a study about influencers) and Culinary Compass (exploring grocery shopping and cooking behaviours).
Top photo: Pacific CEO Gereurd Roberts