Online retailers are turning to "chat" to engage you & close sales
In our last blog "The Power of How," we discussed a major difference between ecommerce and retailer stores. Online retail is very effective and efficient IF you know WHAT you want and need. A tremendous advantage of retail stores is the Associate, who both can ask "How" they can help and showcase ways how they can create a personal solution for you. What if online websites could provide personal assistance if you get "stuck", or just need more information to make a decision. There are online retailers that are doing just that by making a "digital Associate" available to you through a "chat" dialog box. It sounds great to have someone accessible at your fingertips! Does it work? What are the risks?
Showrooming is not a fait accompli … or the death of bricks and mortar
The term "showrooming" is the new buzzword in the dictionary of retail. It refers to the act of consumers literally shopping on their smartphones while in the aisle of a retailer. Consumers using mobile devices to shop in aisle has been noted as particularly impacting consumer electronics retailers like Best Buy. In fact, it has been portrayed that bricks and mortar retailers have become "helpless has beens". But, Best Buy and others are fighting back. There are 5 ways that retailers can beat showrooming by changing the consumer experience.
US Moms are the leading edge of behavioral shift to mobile devices
There has been a lot of research on "crossing the chasm"and how technology moves from early adopters to mainstream consumers. With previous technology devices like PCs, much of the migration has been influenced by business and work at home adoption. In the case of mobile devices, it appears that multi-tasking moms are the leading edge of driving smartphone usage.As I watched the mother of my twin granddaughters managing three kids less than 3 years, there is no question why moms lead. What does this trend mean for mobile marketers and retailers?
Bettina Siegel is the poster child for what a blog can do!
Social media gets a lot of hype, but how much power does it really have to change things? If you don’t know Bettina Elias Siegel, you are probably in good company. Ms. Siegel is the author of a small blog that popularized the term “pink slime”. Her blog could be a case study in the power of “viral branding,” which impacted an entire industry. Now, if she would just take on “meat glue”.
Ability to sustain traffic will be a critical success factor
You don’t need to look very far to see another article on the growth of online retailing. The phenomenon of online shopping is truly worldwide. While Amazon grabs the headlines with record profits in the west, Alibaba dominates China. Consumers are voting. The biggest threat to traditional bricks and mortar stores is not the loss of just sales, but the ability to drive future traffic. Two recent tests offer a crystal ball of new challenges traditional big box stores will face in maintaining consumer traffic.
When you are in a client service business, the focus is rightfully on the clients. And, when you work with some the largest Fortune 500 companies, there never seems to quite enough time to work on your “own stuff”. The classic saying is that the “shoemaker’s kids are barefoot and have no shoes.” Well, 2012 became our year to get new look and a new name.
#1 Challenge of retailing today - It ain’t what it used to be
As I’m preparing for teaching a Retail University class in Singapore next week, I asked myself the question I always get asked: What is the #1 challenge in retail today? The answer use to be different by region. But today, retail has become a multi-channel reality worldwide. An interesting study by Gartner predicts that by 2015, 80% of retailers will fall flat in a multi-channel world. What will retailers and suppliers need to do differently worldwide in order to succeed in retail by 2015?
A quick update on smartphones & mobile price checking
Normally we strive to post something weekly about an emerging trend or retail topic. Since our post yesterday, we have seen a bunch of posts and tweets on the emerging trend and retail store threat of consumers doing price shopping in aisle with their smartphones. We ran across this infographic with some amazing stats that was just too good to pass up.
The war over smartphone price checks is heating up
It happened rather innocently the last couple of years as consumers started surfing the web while shopping in retail stores. But, the battle for price conscious consumers reached a fever pitch last holiday season. Amazon poured salt in the wounds of retailers by offering an additional $5 off if consumers used their Price Check app to scan bar codes in a retail store. Will it be an Amazon world, or can big box retailers fight back?
In reading my “Morning News Beat”, I ran across a great post by Mark Sansolo entitled: “Snapshot of the Future”. While his case examples are about the technology of photography, Sansolo does a great job of capturing the essence of change and why companies must continue to evolve, at an even more rapid pace to remain competitive. Kodak is a snapshot of the past … and Lytro could well be the picture of the future.
