Mindshare Rolls Out Retail Data Unit Shop+

WPP division Mindshare is rolling out its Shop+ real-time retail data unit globally. The unit works with a range of methods from beacons in physical stores to real-time response technologies used by online retailers.

The Shop+ team currently numbers a dozen execs, led from New York by Joe Migliozzi, MD, Mindshare North America, with support from Emma-Jane Steele and Charlotte Day-Lewin in the worldwide team based in London and Narayan Ivaturi in APAC. Launch partners are mobile coupon app Checkout 51, mobile shopper marketing specialist InMarket, and enterprise awareness (beacons) platform provider Footmarks - with more set to join in the coming months.

The unit has been soft-launched in North America and is now spreading worldwide, with plans for expansion soon into China.

Migliozzi says of the launch: 'Digital technology continues to dramatically change retail, from online to mobile to in-store. Despite all these separate evolving channels, the consumer doesn't see a distinction between online and offline shopping. It is one experience and brands must integrate all brand and shopper media across all channels to communicate a strong and consistent message from awareness all the way to conversion'.

Norm Johnston, Chief Digital and Strategy Officer of Mindshare Worldwide says the launch aims to do for retail what the recent unveiling of Life+ will do for brands' role in the emerging Internet of Things, adding: 'we intend to help our clients be at the forefront of digital and data innovation in both offline and online shopping'.

Group web site: www.mindshareworld.com .