1. © dunnhumby 2015
2020 CONSUMER TRENDS SERIES
Quick, Easy
and Simple
FRICTIONLESS
By Susan Dorward and Semal Luthra

2. © dunnhumby 20152
More than ever before, today’s consumers are looking for quick and simple
solutions that make day-to-day life easier. Worldwide trends such as increasing
numbers of women in the workplace, urbanisation and the growth in mobile
technology are all driving this shift towards ‘frictionless’ solutions as time-poor
consumers search out stress-free options that can maximise their leisure time.
There are a multitude of ways that retailers and CPGs can seek to augment this
trend, which we will explore in detail in this paper.
INTRODUCTION
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF
FINDINGS & IMPLICATIONS
With ever-increasing pressures on
time, the continual rise of dual income
households and the cult of ‘now’ born
out of the mobile era, it is important
to note that the very essence of what
customers consider ‘frictionless’ (or
‘convenient’) is constantly evolving.
For example, at one time grocery
convenience provided something quick
to prepare, instead of traditional home
cooking; this surfaced with the growth
of ready meals and microwaveable
options. As lives become busier and
more complicated, consumers are
now demanding retail experiences
• Frictionless relates to all aspects
of the shopping trip, not just
products or stores
• Consumers are looking for quick
and simple solutions that make
day-to-day life easier and maximise
leisure time
• Increasing numbers of women in
the workplace, changing household
structures, urbanisation and the
growth in mobile technology are all
driving the frictionless trend
• Winning propositions will deliver a
frictionless experience across the
entire shopping trip, from planning
to use, and start to cut across the
traditional CPG / Retailer silos
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY FRICTIONLESS?
that are quick, easy and simple, to
alleviate pressures on their time.
However, solely providing efficiency
is no longer enough: consumers
expect superior experiences which
simultaneously combat stress whilst
providing new kinds of value — an
example being convenient solutions
to prepare healthy meals. Successful
organisations will need to be able
to deliver these superior experiences
seamlessly through all channels
across all stages of the shopping
journey.

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By combining data relating to each of our 4 key
drivers, we can see the current importance and
future potential in different markets. Most of the
western countries along with Korea and Japan
are pioneering the frictionless trend, developing
innovative convenience solutions which could
be adapted in new markets and industries.
This trend has particularly high potential in
Brazil, where urbanisation is at 91%, growing
numbers of women are joining the workforce
and single parent families are on the rise. With
increasing pressures on their work and family life,
combined with a hyper-connected lifestyle, these
consumers are demanding more from brands
than ever before. To survive the race and stay top
of mind, brands will need to provide innovative
solutions to help these time-starved Brazilian
consumers.
In India, the majority of the population still live in
rural areas where technology and infrastructure
to support the frictionless trend still have some
way to develop. However, this is masking the
potential for frictionless convenience solutions
in the over-populated cities with ever-increasing
populations.
WHAT IS DRIVING THIS TREND?
Although there are many contributory factors to the growth in the
frictionless trend, it can principally be attributed to 4 drivers:
1
2
3
4
An increasing number of
women in the workplace
Changing household
structures
Rising worldwide
urbanisation
Rapid growth in the use
of mobile technology
FRICTIONLESS TRENDS:
CURRENT (2015) & POTENTIAL
CURRENT
POTENTIAL
BRA
JPN
ESP
CZE
HUN
GBR
FRA
CAN
NORDEU
NLD
SWE
KOR
IDN
CHL
RUSUSA
DNK
IND
ZAF
THAIRL
TUR
MEX
COL
CHN
MYS
ITA
POL
SVK
BRA
CAN
CHL
CHN
COL
CZE
DNK
FRA
DEU
HUN
IND
IDN
IRL
ITA
JPN
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Korea, Republic of
Malaysia
Mexico
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Russian Federation
Slovakia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Thailand
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
KOR
MYS
MEX
NLD
NOR
POL
RUS
SVK
ZAF
ESP
SWE
THA
TUR
GBR
USA

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Research on US households
shows that women control
73% of household spending;
catering to their changing
needs is therefore vital.
Google Trends
chart shows recent
increase in popularity
of simplified meal
solutions.
HELLO FRESH & BLUE APRON
INTEREST COMPARED OVER TIME,
2004–2015
2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015
Average: 5
Average: 7
AN INCREASING NUMBER OF
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE
More and more women are entering
the workforce globally, in both part-time
and full-time roles, leading to greater
financial independence. However,
it is also creating time pressures as
they juggle both families and careers.
Although many households now have
two working parents, the majority of
1
women still carry most of the familial
load and remain the primary shoppers.
Research on US households shows
that women control 73% of household
spending; catering to their changing
needs is therefore vital.1
With leisure time more limited than
ever before, carrying out household
tasks such as grocery shopping can be
seen as an infringement on valuable
free time. A greater willingness to
search out more expensive, non-
traditional solutions to de-complicate
life may also be driven by the growing
number of dual-income households
likely to have more disposable income.
For example, Hello Fresh (in Australia
and the UK) and Blue Apron (in the
US) are becoming increasingly popular
despite their high price points. These
solutions deliver fresh, pre-measured
ingredients to the doorstep reducing
the time required to plan, buy and cook
a meal to 30 minutes.
CHANGING HOUSEHOLD
STRUCTURES
Globally the number of households
is increasing, but the size of these
households decreasing as numbers
of single-parent and single-person
households continue to grow. In Britain,
a quarter of all families with dependent
children have a lone parent and in
Japan, single parent households will
grow up to 22% between 2000 and
2030. With the majority of single parent
households being headed by a mother,
the strain on women in terms of both
time and money continues to rise.2
2
1
The Futures Company (2013); Women 2020:
How women’s actions and expectations are
changing the future
2
The Futures Company (2013); The Future
Shopper: How changing shopper attitudes and
technology are reshaping retail

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GROWTH IN MOBILE
TECHNOLOGY
The growth in mobile technology has
the capability to both save us time
and to consume it. We are becoming
an increasingly mobile workforce,
expected to be flexible in terms of time
and be available 24/7, instead of the
traditional 9–5 working day.
Mobile technology is also shifting the
notion of convenience away from the
traditional convenience store concept
to one that meets the “need-it-now”
shopper. This includes using mobile
phones to scan-as-you-shop or to pay,
virtual stores on commuter routes, or
screens and tablets in stores to allow
customers to search and order from the
retailer’s entire catalogue.
To put the potential of this change in
perspective, over the last 12 months:
4
INCREASING WORLDWIDE
URBANISATION
The global shift towards living in
cities is having a profound impact on
consumers’ lives. On one hand, living
in over-populated cities has made
living spaces smaller, costs higher
and environments unhealthier, but on
the other hand this has meant access
to new opportunities in the form of
products, services, experiences and
social connections3
. With chaotic
lifestyles and endless options, urban
consumers have become more
demanding, sophisticated, try-out
prone and choice-saturated. They
hunger for new solutions tailored to
their always-on lifestyles that feed into
their ongoing desire to cram more into
every moment.
3
• The number of unique mobile users
has increased by 5%
• 46% of consumers in Asia Pacific
use their mobile for buying goods
and services (27% in Europe and
17% in North America)
• 42% of Asia Pacific customers who
already use their mobile to buy
goods and services want to do it
more (24% in Europe and 15% in
North America).4
This is a huge potential customer base
that still has room to expand and by
providing technological solutions such
as apps, both retailers and brands can
delight their customers in their search
and acquisition of their products
and services.
3
Trendwatching (2014); Maximum Cities:
Asia trends
4
SAP (2013), The mobile consumer
Over the last 12 months:
The number of unique mobile
users has increased by 5%.4

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A WORLDWIDE VIEW OF FRICTIONLESS:
The Frictionless Trend in Europe and America is well developed, with
47,294 Convenience stores in the UK alone.1
Within these regions, we
are seeing 5 main areas of growth:
“FOR NOW / ON THE GO”
FOOD OFFERINGS
In the business district in the City of
London, Tesco Express is enhancing
the in-store experience by completely
refocussing their range around
delivering food-to-go for breakfast,
lunch and dinner, with wider grocery
ranges having been stripped out to
cater to the area’s large workforce and
low residential levels. Store opening
times have been adapted to reflect the
working day and commuting times of
the workforce (06:30–20:00 during the
week). Busy workers can even order
and pay for their sandwich online and
then just pop into the store to pick
it up.
For city workers in the US and Canada,
GoMoBo are providing a text message
service where customers are able to
place their order from a choice of
local restaurants by text and have
the meal delivered to them. Simple
techniques are also being used
worldwide to convert existing product
offerings into convenient food-to-go
experiences, e.g. changes to product
packaging of yoghurt pots to contain
spoons, portion size packets and even
re-sealable wrappers.
1
MOBILE TECHNOLOGY TO
ENHANCE THE IN-STORE AND
OUT-OF-STORE EXPERIENCE
HEALTHY FRICTIONLESS
SOLUTIONS
The whole customer experience is
becoming more straightforward and
seamless with the help of mobile
technology. Starbucks have embraced
this by offering a fully integrated app
to help users find their nearest store,
pay, maintain their loyalty rewards and
even view their transaction history.
Retailers are also further enhancing
the checkout process itself, providing
options to scan-as-you-shop and pay
at a terminal (Albert Heijn to Go in
the Netherlands) and H&M in New
York allows customers to checkout in
the changing room and walk out of
the store in the outfit they have just
purchased to save time.
Dreamdinners and Shortcut Chef
(Wholefoods) in the US are also
focussing on providing superior
experiences via fresh, healthy,
easy-to-prepare in-store meal assembly
concepts; Scrummy Mummies have
extended this further to provide
on-site crèches to provide additional
convenience for mothers. This trend
is not only seen across Europe and
America, but is growing worldwide with
companies such as Ripe and Circle K
focussing on high quality fresh
food-to-go options in the UAE.
2 3
THE FRICTIONLESS TREND IN EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS
1
IGD (2015), UK Convenience Snapshot,
February 2015
H&M in New York allows
customers to checkout in
the changing room and walk
out of the store in the outfit
they have just purchased to
save time.

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CLICK AND COLLECT /
DELIVERY SOLUTIONS
Click-and-collect solutions are
proving successful as an alternative
way to obtain e-commerce goods.
In particular, collection lockers at
transport hubs are proving successful
with Asda in the UK providing tube
station pick-ups for grocery deliveries
and in Helsinki airport, S Group
and Foodie.fm have installed chilled
collection lockers. Not only does this
make it easy for customers to pick up
goods at a place that is convenient,
but can also take place outside of a
retailer’s standard store opening hours.
Pioneering retailers are also using
subscription-based services to provide
hassle-free, reliable and simplified
solutions. Harina Pan, in Brazil, offer
a freshly-baked bread subscription
service, where customers can have
a wholewheat, organic bread loaf
delivered to their home each week on a
day of their choice.
4
SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
Convenience can also be added at the
post-purchase part of the shopping
trip. Many CPGs are using social media
channels to enhance their customer
service platforms. With speed being
of the essence, social media provides
a real-time channel for brands to
communicate directly with consumers
at a lower cost and with a higher reach.
Amazing customer service by
CitibikeNYC transformed a user’s
negative experience by responding
quickly to his tweet about falling off a
Citibike and making his day. Positive
brand experiences shared via social
media help companies gain advocacy
and improve customer satisfaction,
driving loyalty and growth.
Additional services could include those
provided by Hellman’s mayonnaise,
who have run social media campaigns
inviting fans to suggest recipes for
how their products can be used,
saving customers time and effort in
considering how to cook them.
5
How to Deliver Outstanding Customer Service
With Social Media, Rebekah Radice, 2014,
www.socialmediaexaminer.com/customer-service-
on-social-media

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The Frictionless wave in Asia has high growth potential in many areas
including mobile commerce, one-stop-shop convenience stores, and
24 hour deliveries.
M-COMMERCE
Asian consumers are leading the global
m-commerce trend. In many Asian
cities mobile penetration exceeds
access to traditional banking services
with three-times more mobile phones
than bank cards in China. As mobile
payment methods offer reliable,
convenient and secure alternatives to
traditional cash transactions we can
expect this trend to grow even further,
setting a precedent for other countries
to follow.
SingTel has launched a cashless
payment service with Visa enabling
users to pay via their mobile phone
at one of the 12,000 payment points
installed across Singapore, enabling
participating retailers to attract
technologically savvy shoppers.
1
THE FRICTIONLESS TREND IN ASIA
CONVENIENCE STORES
BECOMING COMMUNITY
CENTRES
Thailand and China are in the middle
of a Frictionless boom, with 7-Eleven
opening hundreds of new small stores
in the countries each year and Tesco
Lotus in Thailand rapidly expanding
their Express format offering. These
stores provide more than just products;
urban Asian consumers are used
to excellent services with everything
from bill payments, mobile phone
2
24-HOUR HOME DELIVERIES
To cater to the long-working hours
of the increasing number of urban
dwellers in cities across Asia,
McDonalds has started a 24 hour
home delivery service in many Asian
cities such as Tokyo, Singapore
and Hong Kong.
3
top-ups, travel tickets and dry cleaning
being available from these locations.
This is evident in the Indonesian
7-Eleven stores where traditional
offerings are combined with dining and
entertainment services, such as free
wi-fi, sport and film screenings as well
as food-to-go. These innovations are
enhancing the shopping experience by
creating community hubs rather than
standalone stores.
In the Middle East, the Frictionless
trend is also apparent, with specialists
such as 7-Eleven due to open their first
store there and Circle K planning 55
new store openings in 2015. Mobile
solutions are just as popular in this
region, with 80% of Hellofood’s orders
in Saudi Arabia coming from mobiles1
and Beam Wallet (another Mobile
payment solution) being accepted at
over 1,100 locations in UAE.1
MOBILE COMMERCE
JANUARY 2015
Percentage of the population who bought something
online via a phone in the past month (survey-based)
We are Social (2015), Digital, Social & Mobile in 2015, p45, http://www.warc.
com/PDFFilesTmp/295407ce-2d5f-40c0-984c-c866c90d0cbc.PDF
1
IGD (2014) Middle East: Regional Expansion
and Mobile Focus

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The African retail market is commercially appealing however it is also
diverse and offerings that work in one area, e.g. South Africa, do not
work in other countries within sub-Saharan Africa. The prevalence
of informal trading and the lack of urbanisation mean that providing
wide-scale frictionless services to customers can be challenging for
retailers and CPGs alike. However, there are success stories; DHL
have driven impressive growth by partnering with local businesses
and even fuel stations (such as Engen), to provide readily available
services to communities across the continent.
Two areas where the Frictionless trend is growing are:
MOBILE BANKING
Less developed retail markets often
‘skip over’ developments that shaped
others. Like Asia, many African
households do not have traditional
banking facilities, resulting in many
consumers moving straight from cash-
based payments to mobile banking and
mobile payments. Concentrating on
solutions which develop this tendency
will likely reap rewards for retailers.
M-Pesa is an SMS-based mobile
banking platform provided by Vodafone
across markets as widespread as
Kenya, South Africa, Afghanistan and
India, which supports making cashless
purchases, settling bills, deposits and
withdrawals.
1
ON-DEMAND AND
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
On-demand services are also becoming
increasingly popular in urban areas,
with Cape Town based WumDrop
providing on-demand courier services
and Washist delivering on-demand
laundry services in Lagos for a monthly
subscription fee. As African consumers
start adopting these services on a wider
scale, the expectation for convenient
solutions will increase and this trend
will continue to grow.
2
THE FRICTIONLESS TREND IN AFRICA
As African consumers start
adopting these services on a
wider scale, the expectation
for frictionless solutions will
increase and this trend will
continue to grow.

10. © dunnhumby 201510
INSPIRATION, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
So what does all this mean for Retailers and CPGs and how they can
best respond to consumers’ growing needs for frictionless solutions?
Consumers will embrace products and
services which provide added value
for minimal effort, but will be put off by
barriers to standard customer service.
Before investing in ‘surprise and
delight’ frictionless initiatives, retailers
need to ensure basic ‘hygiene factors’
are in place. For example, make sure
Express check-out lanes in-store are
genuinely fast and sufficiently staffed to
deal with the volume of shoppers. Don’t
let internal organisational structures
become a blocker. A return & refund
process that involves too much effort
creates a level of inconvenience
intolerable to many customers,
ultimately driving them to competitor
RETAILERS
outlets. Through our dunnhumby
loyalty drivers, we can establish where
retailers will see the biggest return from
improving the customer experience.
While quick, easy and simple is
especially attractive for routine tasks,
this is not always exclusively true. By
introducing Customer Questions &
Answers Amazon has demonstrated
they have understood one of the
barriers to buying online vs. in-
store. Their Q&A feature has enabled
customers to easily find out more
about a product while in the discovery
phase of the shopping trip. Once the
fundamentals are in place, investing
SHOWROOMING VS. WEBROOMING
USING A SMARTPHONE
39%
34%
32%
46%
29%
43%
18%
30%
Generation Z
Ages 18–24
Generation Y
Ages 25–34
Generation X
Ages 35–49
Boomers
Ages 50–68
Percentage reporting behaviour in past six months
in inventive solutions to make tasks
easier and more enjoyable is likely
to drive a better return. For example,
using consumer data, retailers
can personalise products through
subscriptions, offers, style and recipe
suggestions to individual consumers
and deliver them in real-time via the
most relevant channel.
As consumers continue embracing
“showrooming” and “webrooming”,
retailers will need to evolve their
multichannel mind-set to provide
integrated, frictionless solutions when
online and offline channels converge
in the customer’s shopping journey.
Retailers can exploit this trend by
developing digital loyalty solutions and
loyalty apps that allow consumers to
browse online whilst shopping in-
store. Technological solutions can be
used to inspire customers, enhance
awareness, save time and reduce
frustration. For example, Nike in
London use motion-sensitive mirrors to
display footage of local runners wearing
Nike-gear as customers walk past and
Bloomingdales in the US provide digital
mirrors allowing customers to virtually
try on clothes. Primark’s ‘wear, share,
inspire’ is another example that not
only enables customers to easily get
style ideas, but also taps into their need
for recognition and social interaction.
Warc.com Toolkit 2015, Shopper marketing in
2015: Total Retail

11. © dunnhumby 201511
CPGs
Frictionless solutions in the CPG space
have traditionally focused on point
of purchase (easy to carry smaller
pack sizes) and use (e.g. ready-meal
formats, disposable cleaning wipes).
This is still an important aspect and
is particularly valuable for food and
drink companies when considering
how to convert existing product
offerings into ‘food-to-go’ options.
Evolving consumer attitudes around
health and wellbeing, means food is
increasingly linked to image - ‘you are
what you eat’. Understanding these
changing mind-sets could enable
suppliers to revolutionise perceptions
of how their products can be used in
easy, rewarding and healthy cooking
occasions. Whether this is by providing
more ‘meal-kit’ type options or inspiring
consumers to use their products
in different ways, as seen with the
Hellman’s campaign (where Hellman’s
successfully introduced greater
convenience into the meal planning
decision making process).
Subscription-based services can also
be used to provide ways for customers
to experience different products in
their ranges through a convenient
and affordable channel. Large-scale
suppliers could capitalise on their
broad category ranges by providing
personalised subscription services of
everyday essentials and new products
in their range that could surprise
and delight their customers – a great
example being Procter & Gamble.
With the continual erosion of traditional
distinctions between purchase (owned
by the retailer) and use (owned by the
manufacturer), CPGs should consider
their role in introducing frictionless
solutions across the entire shopping trip
and where necessary take the initiative
to connect with their customers directly,
with websites like Cadbury’s providing
a supplementary offering that could
only previously be obtained in
specialist retailers.
Harvard research1
shows consumers
like to tell others when they have
good and bad customer experiences,
highlighting the importance of customer
service as an integral way to improve
a brand’s advocacy. CPGs have the
opportunity to transform their customer
service experience using social
media, advocacy and market research
solutions, such as BzzAgent and
dunnhumby BAR which provide direct
& convenient channels to connect
with customers and understand what
they think, feel and do. Outstanding
customer service has the power to
transform a bad user experience to a
positive one, as seen in the Citibike
example.
Subscription-based services can be used to
provide ways for customers to experience
different products in their ranges through a
convenient and affordable channel.
1
Harvard Business Review (2010), M. Dixon, K.
Freeman and N Teman, “Stop trying to delight
your customers”

12. © dunnhumby 201512
As consumers actively seek ways to
simplify their lives and save them time,
the demand for Frictionless solutions
is a key trend set to grow; however the
essence of what Frictionless means
for customers will constantly evolve.
Competitive advantage will be achieved
by those retailers or brands that
anticipate and adapt to the changing
needs of customers and establish
new Frictionless ‘norms.’ Although
technology is a key driver of this
trend, enabling superior and seamless
multi-channel customer experiences,
consumers expect their personal
CONCLUSIONS
Competitive advantage will be achieved by those retailers or brands
that anticipate and adapt to the changing needs of customers and
establish new Frictionless ‘norms.’
preferences for Frictionless solutions to
be understood and met. In the world of
the ‘need it now’ shopper, the effective
use of consumer data to create
highly relevant, timely and individual
Frictionless experiences is critical.
Immediacy is no longer considered
cutting-edge customer service, but
rather a basic need; a ‘hygiene’ factor.
Retailers and CPGs truly differentiate
when they use real time insight to
offer personalised experiences that
surprise and delight consumers and
evoke an emotional connection with the
organisation/brand.

13. © dunnhumby 201513
THE DUNNHUMBY DIFFERENCE
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