“With city populations on the rise, living spaces have become increasingly limited,” the company explains. “IKEA believes that no matter how cramped your space, there’s always a solution.” To demonstrate that belief, the company — generally known for its oversized retail spaces — has packed a full store with 2,800 products into the space of a small web banner. Shoppers who visit the diminutive store by hovering their mouse over it can then browse by department, choose what they want, and buy it online. “We targeted people looking for studio flats as well as one/two bedroom apartments by placing our tiny stores in the real estate section of community websites,” IKEA notes. The video below explains the concept in more detail:

Who says there’s no room left for innovation in the retail world? Certainly not us — particularly when that innovation can span the online and offline worlds. Brands around the globe: be inspired!

Website: www.smalleststoreintheworld.com
Contact: www.ikea.com/ms/sv_SE/customer_service/etrack.html

While other furniture companies might actively discourage customers from getting into their showroom beds, Greece-based COCO-MAT is enabling visitors to its outlet in New York City’s SoHo district to spend up to a couple of hours in its mock hotel suite, which features its Californian king-size bed, fresh linen, soothing music and a complimentary glass of juice. The brand also has a policy of ethical manufacturing – its beds are made of natural renewable materials and are produced in a sustainable manner, while the private bedroom is available to customers for free, unlike existing rental options. Speaking to MailOnline, founder Paul Efmorfidis said: “I have no trouble if they misuse [the service]. If you come here with your friends for a handful of naps and don’t buy anything, that’s OK.” His reasoning is that the free sleep service will get customers talking about the store with friends and Mr Efmorfidis believes that the next time they need a mattress, the first place they will think of is COCO-MAT. Customers can book themselves into the sleep suite or walk in if it is vacant. To top it off, every store serves free juice, espresso and Greek food to customers at lunchtimes.

COCO-MAT’s nap room offers free a service (where others charge) at the same time as allowing customers to try out their products. The brand believes this will increase customer engagement even if they don’t intend to buy. Could you adopt similar thinking to change the way customers think about and interact with your business?

Website: www.coco-mat.com
Contact: www.coco-mat.com/?i=coco_us.en.contact

Spotted by: Petz Scholtus

Consumers who realize they need a grocery item at home but can’t make it to the store themselves can send a request to Milk, Please!, which is accessible online as well as via smartphones and special stations in supermarkets. From there, someone who is already at the store or planning to visit it soon can view the request and add the item to their own shopping list, if they so choose. They then drop the item off on their way home, and Milk, Please! handles their compensation. The video below depicts the Milk, Please! premise at work:

Milk, Please! is now accepting requests for invitations to participate in the new service, and details are still scarce as to how it will work, including specifics on compensation for those who run the errands. It sounds, however, like advertisers will have an opportunity to make sponsored product recommendations through the service as well. Grocery brands around the globe: one to get involved in?

Website: www.milkplease.it
Contact: hello@milkplease.it

Spotted by: Gabriella Piergianni

Users begin by explaining to the community the kind of person they are trying to find a gift for. Information such as gender, relationship to the gift-buyer and age, as well as interests, are offered in order to help the community decide. Other users then choose a suitable present idea in order to gain points for each suggestion, as well as praise for their recommendation abilities. The more points a contributor acquires, the higher their position will be on the ‘top gifters’ leaderboard. All of the suggestions are placed into a database, meaning that users do not have to directly ask the community if they don’t wish to, choosing rather to search for a suitable gift based on recommendations made for similar recipients.

No Sweaters seeks to offer a service which provides gift recommendations beyond the usual, while adding a social aspect to the process. An idea to try out on a regional or niche basis?

Website: www.nosweaters.com
Contact: feedback@nosweaters.com

Conceived by ad agency Robert/Boison & Like-minded, the project featured a temporary outlet in Denmark – open for one day only – which labeled each of its products with a task the consumer must perform in order to ‘buy’ the chocolate. Designed to spread generosity, the tasks typically included a good deed to someone else, such as ‘Serve breakfast in bed to your loved one’ or ‘Help clean a friend’s house’. Cashiers were replaced by staff carrying iPads, where chocolate-buyers could log into their Facebook accounts and pledge to carry out the favor via a branded post on their wall. Anthon Berg was able to view the results of the promises when visitors to the store then posted pictures and comments on the company Facebook Page. The video below features footage from the pop-up shop:

The Generous Store’s innovative payment system, while only employed for one day, helped to portray Anthon Berg as a generous and socially-minded brand. An idea to adapt for your own projects, possibly over a longer period of time or in conjunction with a pay-what-you-want pricing system?

Website: www.anthonberg.com
Contact: www.anthonberg.com/Home/Contact.aspx

According to the Japanese company, barcodes can sometimes fail to register with scanners in supermarkets, leading to longer waiting times for customers and requiring checkout assistants to enter the code by hand. DigInfo report that the Toshiba Tec scanner, which is still in development, uses alternative technology which scans items based on their appearance, doing away with the need for barcodes altogether. This is particularly useful for fresh produce, where barcodes are often absent. The firm says the device processes items based on color and pattern and is nuanced enough to tell the difference between two types of apples. It can rapidly separate the object from its surroundings and can scan items when they are in motion. The video below from DigInfo offers a demonstration of the device in action:

Toshiba Tec is currently collating a database of items to ship with the scanner when it becomes available. Retailers, one to get on board with early?

Website: www.toshibatec.co.jp
Contact: www.toshibatec.co.jp/tecfiles/sslhtdocs/contacts/ir/form.html

Spotted by: Eric Tan

The promotion is being launched by Malaysian retailer Shoes Shoes Shoes in collaboration with dating site Lunch Actually and women’s radio station Capital FM. Men signed up to Lunch Actually are encouraged to select from a list of 20 shoe makes they would like their potential partner to wear. They also pick a percentage of the sale price they are willing to pay in return for a date, from 10 percent or more. When women purchase footwear from Shoes Shoes Shoes, they are matched with the men who selected their chosen pair and receive the promised discount after the first date.

The shoe retailer has apparently already received success stories from the promotion, and has certainly added extra excitement to the shopping process. One to emulate in your part of the world?

Website: www.facebook.com/shoedating
Contact: info@shoesshoesshoes.com.my

Spotted by: Daniel Comar

While sites such as Kickstarter provide a popular platform for small startups to get their ideas heard about and funded, the group behind TinyLightbulbs suggests that once those startups reach their target, they no longer have the backing of a frequently visited site to support and market their products. Acting as a marketplace for those independent businesses that have completed their fundraising drives, the website aims to promote new products, sell them, and offer advice to small businesses. The site features video reviews of new merchandise and is hoping to build a community for startups. This short motion graphic explains some of the ideas behind the site:

Crowdfunding has proved how valuable it can be helping startups get their feet off the ground, but as regular readers of our Wise Words series will be all too aware, that’s often only the first of many hurdles. Time to set up a marketplace like TinyLightBulbs in your area or for a particular niche?

Website: www.tinylightbulbs.com
Contact: www.tinylightbulbs.com/contacts

Spotted by: Matthew McLachlan

Developed by Signature Labs Inc, the app can be downloaded for free from the App Store. Customers can then select to “opt-in” to participate in the service, and a sensor at a Neiman Marcus store will detect when they walk through the door and launch the app. NM Service will provide information on new products and future events taking place at the outlet, as well as listing the sales staff currently instore. Those sales assistants can also have a version of the app tailored to them, alerting them when a participating customer enters the store. Sales assistants will also be presented with information on the customer’s previous purchases at Neiman Marcus outlets and their online shopping history, and the app will display an image from the customer’s Facebook page so that they can be easily identified. Both customers and sales associates are able to send messages to each other.

Currently being tested in Neiman Marcus’ Austin, Dallas-NorthPark, San Francisco and Palo Alto stores, NM Service seeks to connect consumers with knowledgeable company employees and make interacting with the firm more sociable. Could this technology work for your brand?

Website: www.neimanmarcus.com/blog/lifestyle/nm-service-app
Contact: general@signaturelabsinc.com

Spotted by: Judy McRae

To participate in Volga Verdi’s Exchange program, shoppers begin by referring to a chart on the site listing the size of the discount it offers for the number of friends or followers they have on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, tumblr, Kohtakte or Lookbook.nu. Twitter users, for example, get a discount of USD 7 if they have between 20 and 200 followers, or USD 15 if they have more. To get the discount, they must follow Volga Verdi on Twitter, tweet a prespecified message about the brand, and then email Volga Verdi to confirm they have taken part. Those on other social networks would need to perform similar actions tailored to the social network they are using. Volga Verdi then proceeds to issue a unique voucher code for the corresponding discount.

We’ve already seen sites that “sell” online content for just a tweet or a Facebook mention — namely, Pay with a Tweet and Social Whispers — but offering discounts based on the shopper’s social clout takes such efforts onto new ground. Other retailers around the globe: how about you?

Website: www.volgaverdi.com/exchange.htm
Contact: peter@volga.la

Online retailers and daily deal sites usually have a limited number of items on sale, curated by the merchant, but the concept behind Handsup.cn is to invite users to submit and vote on the products they would like to see on its virtual shelves. Hoping to create an “infinite” range of available products and services, the site also allows consumers to suggest how much they would like to pay. A greater number of voters for a particular product increases the likelihood of the price being lower.

Launched in December last year, Handsup.cn perhaps goes further than we’ve seen before by handing over stock decisions and pricing guidance to its customers. This is a model to look out for, and try out, around the world!

Website: www.handsup.cn
Contact: contact@handsup.cn

Spotted by: Smith Alan

Edibles, locally illustrated prints and cards, and even the locally derived Brooklyn Cruiser bicycle are available through With Love, From Brooklyn, which aims “to showcase the genius of local food artisans and artists,” in the company’s own words. Featuring in the site’s “Locally Grown” gift package, for instance, are a curated selection of items including locally grown, organic produce such as Saucy by Nature Pumpkin-Ginger sauce, Brooklyn Grange homegrown honey and hot sauce, Anarchy in a Jar Hot Fireman’s Pear jam, and a tea towel designed by local illustrator Claudia Pearson. The works of numerous local artisans are represented, and unique gift sets can be custom-curated as well.

Looking for an e-commerce opportunity of your own? There’s plenty of inspiration to be found in the trades and traditions around you. And of course, as well as adding extra appeal, a locally sourced approach comes with its own logistical advantages as well.

Website: www.withlovefrombrooklyn.com
Contact: withlovefrombk@gmail.com

Spotted by: Kelly Nielsen

24×7 Cultural has actually been selling books through vending machines for years already in São Paulo subway stations and other locations. Spanning a wide range of subjects and interest areas, books in the company’s vending machines are typically priced at BRL 5. In December, however, 24×7 began testing out a program whereby consumers can decide how much they want to pay for the books sold this way. The pilot began in the Anhangabaú and Trianon stations on the São Paulo Metro and will be expanded depending on its success, according to a report in PublishNews. The machines only accept notes as currency, and the smallest denomination commonly found in that form is worth BRL 2, PublishNews points out. According to Brazilian blogger Marcelo Duarte, sales at the promotional machines had already more than doubled within just over a month after the program’s launch, and most purchases are indeed paid with a BRL 2 note.

Do consumers like to have it their own way? Without a doubt — and perhaps more in pricing than anywhere else. One for inspiration!

Website: www.24×7.com.br
Contact: 24×7@24×7.com.br

Spotted by: Denise Kuperman