As media coverage begins to expose online retailers’ use of product and
price personalization software, shoppers may feel they are not being
treated fairly. Some call it price discrimination. Retailers, online
marketplaces, and airlines are reluctant to talk about their use of
software developed by firms like [24]7 and RichRelevance, but this Economist article suggests the money being made by using it is worth the risk of upsetting a few shoppers – at least for now. more
Competitive pressure is building as Amazon moves closer and closer to
same-day delivery. The online giant is transforming “sales tax lemons” into
lemonade by locating hyper-efficient distribution centers in areas it
once avoided for US sales tax reasons – specifically near large population
centers. Shoppers in some areas are already being delighted by faster
than expected delivery. more
It was fascinating to read this quote in a profile of Groupon’s CEO that posted in Bloomberg/Businessweek on Friday: “The CEO’s focus now is on building what [Andrew] Mason calls the
‘operating system for local commerce’ – a suite of software and
technology services that would embed Groupon into every facet of every
transaction on Main Street.” We started following this idea back in April when we saw a blog
by Andrew Stein at Steinvox.com. An expert in platforms technology and
strategy, Stein spun a scenario in which Groupon could use its customer and
merchant data to build a platform capable of monitoring and reporting on
retail activity in real time. more
BMC Black Belt Dave Lubert gently reminded us that it was too early
to pass judgement on Groupon's fledgling plans for an operating system
for commerce when we sent him the Bloomberg/Businessweek profile of
Andrew Mason. Then he said this, which made us sit up and pay attention because we talk a lot about how important it is to listen to the customer: "It
is admirable that Mr. Mason is doing a self-immersion study into how a
local restaruant must operate to sustain itself, but I think it would be
insightful for him to understand how much time the local merchant has
to understand the data that is produced by the systems they have in
place, such as POS or their transaction system."
more
Mashable ran a blog recently titled “Supermarkets are so 20th
Century,” that does a good job summarizing the many new ways shoppers
can purchase food -- from Tesco's virtual stores in Korean train
stations to Peapod's billboard stores in Philly (see photo at left) to Fresh Direct in NY and SPUD in West coast markets. (The
acronym stands for sustainable produce, urban
delivery.) At the end,
twenty-something author Lauren Drell poses the question that many
digitally-connected shoppers consider an obvious one:
“Do you order groceries online? If not, what’s stopping
you?” more
IBM is testing an augmented reality app for grocery
shopping. With it, shoppers can input criteria like “whole grains” or “gluten
free” and preferences like “biodegradable packaging.” Then, when the shopper
uses the video function in their smartphone to “view” products while standing
in the aisle, they’ll see a “mosaic” of information about the product based on
those criteria. A number of our Black Belts like the concept, but think it might be a
little off the mark in terms when it comes to shopping behavior. more
Sometimes too much service works to the disadvantage of traditional
retailers. Clinique has been shifting to an “open sale” environment that
combines hands-on product displays (including one for “best sellers”)
with digital tablets and easy to find price lists. Sales are up, so
delivering a more personalized shopping experience, but less one-on-one
service is evidently what today’s high-end cosmetics shopper is looking
for. The message for retailers? Improving the experience for shoppers
today is about providing service – but not the same kind of service
people were looking for 15 years ago. Backing off can be exactly the
customer wants. more
From Black Belt
Leigh Sparks in Scotland: Food retailer Tesco bought digital music seller We7 recently
as reported in this Guardian article. Tesco also bought online movie renter
Blinkbox earlier in the year. And Sainsbury’s, another UK-based food retailer,
has purchased a 64% stake in digital book retailer Anobii. It’s interesting to
see leading retailers (of food and other products) looking for content to extend
their operations, broaden their offer, and grow by giving their current
customers the opportunity to buy more from them – via the web. more
Pharmacists are one of the most accessible professionals in the
healthcare industry, and they have been actively widening their role
with patients over the past several years by increasingly advising,
counseling and interacting with their customers. Some are even making
recommendations to physicians on behalf of their patients. Compliance
has been an important focus of their efforts – encouraging patients not
just to take their medicines as scheduled, but also to fully complete
the prescribed regimen. more
We're noticing more and more shopping apps that combine local mapping with news
about what's for sale nearby - sometimes very nearby. Some map store
interiors. Walmart and Meijer supermarkets offer location-based shopping
apps to help customers find products inside the store. Others, like
Snapette, aim to map shopping districts, and will require not just user
buy-in, but also brand/store adoption to succeed. more
Digital marketing used to be thought of as advertising, but it is
increasingly becoming a space where trade spending is used to promote
discounts, etc. This change is going to make digital marketing a more
potent force for two reasons. First, it will interest shoppers because
it contains price information. Second, it also will drive sales because
it contains price information. more
Shoppers are clearly paying more attention to their health, especially
in the area of vitamins and supplements. Their interest is driven by
desire to actively prevent illness, to restore function, and to address
the effects of other medicines/prescriptions. Shoppers want and need
more information to evaluate options and make the best choices for
themselves. more
“There is something that can compete with and beat free-shipping, and that is in-stock, right now, and near me,” said Stephen Gillett,
president of Best Buy Digital, global marketing and strategy at the
company's shareholder meeting last week. The consumer electronics giant,
ground zero in the showdown over showrooming, plans to equip associates
with tablets and training so they can help in-store customers do all the
online research they need in order to make a purchase. more
First Oprah drove books sales, now Dr. Oz is driving health and wellness
sales. As social ambassadors, Oprah and Dr. Oz demonstrate the power of
learning about something new via a trusted mainstream influencer. When
Dr. Oz explains how a product can meet a shopper’s health need,
Facebook and website visits zoom and sales skyrocket. Even in-store "As
seen on Dr. Oz" signage can start conversations with shoppers. more
A recent survey of US big box retail shoppers by Ontario-based
Empathica, Inc, underscores the importance of listening to shopper
feedback: Most shoppers say they would be more loyal to a retailer if
they felt/knew that the retailer would act on their feedback to improve
the customer experience. This write up at Loyality 360 reviews the
study research. We found the following points most compelling for the
BMC space. more
US shoppers seem more concerned about sharing credit card numbers online
than the massive amounts of data companies like Epsilon and Axciom are
collecting on them to sell to marketers. But as press coverage like Natasha Singer's piece
in Sunday's NY Times raises awareness about the world of data mining -
and how much money selling that data generates - European style privacy
regulations may be drawing closer. more
Walmart Goodies, the newest offering in Walmart’s ongoing campaign to
integrate its online and in-store retailing is set to launch next month.
Sign up at Walmart.com for a low-cost subscription sampler, and Walmart will
deliver it to your door each month. Artisan and other food products will
make up the first samplers, but other product categories may follow.
(Birchbark has a similar program for cosmetics.) more
These days, a lot of people are thinking about food the way they think
about fashion, as this USAToday article explains. Shoppers no longer simply seek
nutrition at the supermarket, now they’re also looking for a reflection of their
values, personalities, and priorities – and serving these needs is a lot more
like selling fashion than selling commodities. more
Retailers are wrestling with which way to go - mobile site or mobile app. According to this recent Mashable
blog, recent surveys indicate people are gravitating toward mobile
sites for shopping, searching, and entertainment, and mobile apps for
managing data, navigation, and connecting with others. more
eBay has built a new tool for online shopping around
the idea that shoppers like to consult their friends about what they need to
and/or should buy. “Help Me Shop” makes it possible to clip and collect items
from across the web, organize them into a poll, and ask Facebook friends to
vote (by invitation or by posting to the FB wall). more
One of the Apple announcements that caught our interest was a new way for mobile app developers to track users of their software. We think the net result is that shoppers are going to be asked for permission to use their data more often – and that shoppers’ awareness of the value of their data will grow. more
More shopper education will be needed to encourage healthier eating
choices. Just calling out healthier items on shelf tags and labels isn't
enough. A group of researchers in Arizona wanted to find out
if grocery shoppers who spent 10 minutes with a nutrition educator would make different food
selections than those who did not. Here's what happened. more
More restaurants are using or testing interactive screens at the table (see the Wall Street Journal article "Screens get a place at the table").
The “a la carte menu” of functions includes ordering, paying, viewing
food, drink and dessert pictures, and even playing games to pass the
time. We get it that the small screens can improve service sometimes
(people love bypassing the wait for a server when it’s time to pay), but
we’ve also got questions. more
The Mobile Age is young yet. The platform hasn’t reached critical mass, experimentation is still the rule rather than the exception, and
shoppers’ options are different depending on the equipment they use (Blackberry, Apple, or Android). It’s way too early to sum up what
Mobile means for retail. Check out this Cognizant infographic, published in a recent Forbes blog. more
In a recent AdAge Digital blog, B.L. Ochman
lists ten reasons why Twitter will be huge for
business - and bigger than Facebook. We want to hightlight three
where Twitter really shines for shoppers (and retailers, too). more
View By Segment
As media coverage begins to expose online retailers’ use of product and
price personalization software, shoppers may feel they are not being
treated fairly. Some call it price discrimination. Retailers, online
marketplaces, and airlines are reluctant to talk about their use of
software developed by firms like [24]7 and RichRelevance, but this Economist article suggests the money being made by using it is worth the risk of upsetting a few shoppers – at least for now. more
Competitive pressure is building as Amazon moves closer and closer to
same-day delivery. The online giant is transforming “sales tax lemons” into
lemonade by locating hyper-efficient distribution centers in areas it
once avoided for US sales tax reasons – specifically near large population
centers. Shoppers in some areas are already being delighted by faster
than expected delivery. more
It was fascinating to read this quote in a profile of Groupon’s CEO that posted in Bloomberg/Businessweek on Friday: “The CEO’s focus now is on building what [Andrew] Mason calls the
‘operating system for local commerce’ – a suite of software and
technology services that would embed Groupon into every facet of every
transaction on Main Street.” We started following this idea back in April when we saw a blog
by Andrew Stein at Steinvox.com. An expert in platforms technology and
strategy, Stein spun a scenario in which Groupon could use its customer and
merchant data to build a platform capable of monitoring and reporting on
retail activity in real time. more
BMC Black Belt Dave Lubert gently reminded us that it was too early
to pass judgement on Groupon's fledgling plans for an operating system
for commerce when we sent him the Bloomberg/Businessweek profile of
Andrew Mason. Then he said this, which made us sit up and pay attention because we talk a lot about how important it is to listen to the customer: "It
is admirable that Mr. Mason is doing a self-immersion study into how a
local restaruant must operate to sustain itself, but I think it would be
insightful for him to understand how much time the local merchant has
to understand the data that is produced by the systems they have in
place, such as POS or their transaction system."
more
Mashable ran a blog recently titled “Supermarkets are so 20th
Century,” that does a good job summarizing the many new ways shoppers
can purchase food -- from Tesco's virtual stores in Korean train
stations to Peapod's billboard stores in Philly (see photo at left) to Fresh Direct in NY and SPUD in West coast markets. (The
acronym stands for sustainable produce, urban
delivery.) At the end,
twenty-something author Lauren Drell poses the question that many
digitally-connected shoppers consider an obvious one:
“Do you order groceries online? If not, what’s stopping
you?” more
IBM is testing an augmented reality app for grocery
shopping. With it, shoppers can input criteria like “whole grains” or “gluten
free” and preferences like “biodegradable packaging.” Then, when the shopper
uses the video function in their smartphone to “view” products while standing
in the aisle, they’ll see a “mosaic” of information about the product based on
those criteria. A number of our Black Belts like the concept, but think it might be a
little off the mark in terms when it comes to shopping behavior. more
Sometimes too much service works to the disadvantage of traditional
retailers. Clinique has been shifting to an “open sale” environment that
combines hands-on product displays (including one for “best sellers”)
with digital tablets and easy to find price lists. Sales are up, so
delivering a more personalized shopping experience, but less one-on-one
service is evidently what today’s high-end cosmetics shopper is looking
for. The message for retailers? Improving the experience for shoppers
today is about providing service – but not the same kind of service
people were looking for 15 years ago. Backing off can be exactly the
customer wants. more
From Black Belt
Leigh Sparks in Scotland: Food retailer Tesco bought digital music seller We7 recently
as reported in this Guardian article. Tesco also bought online movie renter
Blinkbox earlier in the year. And Sainsbury’s, another UK-based food retailer,
has purchased a 64% stake in digital book retailer Anobii. It’s interesting to
see leading retailers (of food and other products) looking for content to extend
their operations, broaden their offer, and grow by giving their current
customers the opportunity to buy more from them – via the web. more
Pharmacists are one of the most accessible professionals in the
healthcare industry, and they have been actively widening their role
with patients over the past several years by increasingly advising,
counseling and interacting with their customers. Some are even making
recommendations to physicians on behalf of their patients. Compliance
has been an important focus of their efforts – encouraging patients not
just to take their medicines as scheduled, but also to fully complete
the prescribed regimen. more
We're noticing more and more shopping apps that combine local mapping with news
about what's for sale nearby - sometimes very nearby. Some map store
interiors. Walmart and Meijer supermarkets offer location-based shopping
apps to help customers find products inside the store. Others, like
Snapette, aim to map shopping districts, and will require not just user
buy-in, but also brand/store adoption to succeed. more
Digital marketing used to be thought of as advertising, but it is
increasingly becoming a space where trade spending is used to promote
discounts, etc. This change is going to make digital marketing a more
potent force for two reasons. First, it will interest shoppers because
it contains price information. Second, it also will drive sales because
it contains price information. more
Shoppers are clearly paying more attention to their health, especially
in the area of vitamins and supplements. Their interest is driven by
desire to actively prevent illness, to restore function, and to address
the effects of other medicines/prescriptions. Shoppers want and need
more information to evaluate options and make the best choices for
themselves. more
“There is something that can compete with and beat free-shipping, and that is in-stock, right now, and near me,” said Stephen Gillett,
president of Best Buy Digital, global marketing and strategy at the
company's shareholder meeting last week. The consumer electronics giant,
ground zero in the showdown over showrooming, plans to equip associates
with tablets and training so they can help in-store customers do all the
online research they need in order to make a purchase. more
First Oprah drove books sales, now Dr. Oz is driving health and wellness
sales. As social ambassadors, Oprah and Dr. Oz demonstrate the power of
learning about something new via a trusted mainstream influencer. When
Dr. Oz explains how a product can meet a shopper’s health need,
Facebook and website visits zoom and sales skyrocket. Even in-store "As
seen on Dr. Oz" signage can start conversations with shoppers. more
A recent survey of US big box retail shoppers by Ontario-based
Empathica, Inc, underscores the importance of listening to shopper
feedback: Most shoppers say they would be more loyal to a retailer if
they felt/knew that the retailer would act on their feedback to improve
the customer experience. This write up at Loyality 360 reviews the
study research. We found the following points most compelling for the
BMC space. more
US shoppers seem more concerned about sharing credit card numbers online
than the massive amounts of data companies like Epsilon and Axciom are
collecting on them to sell to marketers. But as press coverage like Natasha Singer's piece
in Sunday's NY Times raises awareness about the world of data mining -
and how much money selling that data generates - European style privacy
regulations may be drawing closer. more
Walmart Goodies, the newest offering in Walmart’s ongoing campaign to
integrate its online and in-store retailing is set to launch next month.
Sign up at Walmart.com for a low-cost subscription sampler, and Walmart will
deliver it to your door each month. Artisan and other food products will
make up the first samplers, but other product categories may follow.
(Birchbark has a similar program for cosmetics.) more
These days, a lot of people are thinking about food the way they think
about fashion, as this USA Today article explains. Shoppers no longer simply seek
nutrition at the supermarket, now they’re also looking for a reflection of their
values, personalities, and priorities – and serving these needs is a lot more
like selling fashion than selling commodities. more
Retailers are wrestling with which way to go - mobile site or mobile app. According to this recent Mashable
blog, recent surveys indicate people are gravitating toward mobile
sites for shopping, searching, and entertainment, and mobile apps for
managing data, navigation, and connecting with others. more
eBay has built a new tool for online shopping around
the idea that shoppers like to consult their friends about what they need to
and/or should buy. “Help Me Shop” makes it possible to clip and collect items
from across the web, organize them into a poll, and ask Facebook friends to
vote (by invitation or by posting to the FB wall). more
One of the Apple announcements that caught our interest was a new way for mobile app developers to track users of their software. We think the net result is that shoppers are going to be asked for permission to use their data more often – and that shoppers’ awareness of the value of their data will grow. more
More shopper education will be needed to encourage healthier eating
choices. Just calling out healthier items on shelf tags and labels isn't
enough. A group of researchers in Arizona wanted to find out
if grocery shoppers who spent 10 minutes with a nutrition educator would make different food
selections than those who did not. Here's what happened. more
More restaurants are using or testing interactive screens at the table (see the Wall Street Journal article "Screens get a place at the table").
The “a la carte menu” of functions includes ordering, paying, viewing
food, drink and dessert pictures, and even playing games to pass the
time. We get it that the small screens can improve service sometimes
(people love bypassing the wait for a server when it’s time to pay), but
we’ve also got questions. more
The Mobile Age is young yet. The platform hasn’t reached critical mass, experimentation is still the rule rather than the exception, and
shoppers’ options are different depending on the equipment they use (Blackberry, Apple, or Android). It’s way too early to sum up what
Mobile means for retail. Check out this Cognizant infographic, published in a recent Forbes blog. more
In a recent AdAge Digital blog, B.L. Ochman
lists ten reasons why Twitter will be huge for
business - and bigger than Facebook. We want to hightlight three
where Twitter really shines for shoppers (and retailers, too). more
