Shopping Apps: Helpful or Hinderance?

Ah the holidays are coming, and as holiday shopping ramps up new apps are in the air…and of course in consumers’ smartphones. According to “Amazon Price Comparison App Aims At Brick-and-Mortar Stores” by Mark Walsh http://bit.ly/g1JQHb Target, Best Buy, JCPenney and Nordstrom have all released their own apps for smartphones, as have Ebay and Amazon. More smartphone shoppers compare prices and view product details and reviews on their smartphones during in-store shopping than ever before. A Harris Interactive poll, discussed in “Will Stores Become Obsolete” http://bit.ly/9HikeG indicates that this trend is growing the most among the 18-34 age group. However, it also shows that online shopping has increased across the board. So what does this mean for stores? Well, just like an earlier blog post about the future of print, there is always someone who says that something spells doom and death for something else. A little extreme? I think so. My thought is that there is a way for both to coexist. Perhaps the best way is found in the apps that stores develop for themselves, giving them a direct connection to their consumers.

Chris Harnick’s “Macy’s, Nordstrom, Buckle, Charlotte Russe and Bon-Ton Put Gift Guides on iPhone” states that store apps for the holidays feature gift guides and pair retailers with gift guides from popular magazines http://bit.ly/gTvzzo. When items sell out, changes are then reflected within the app. Similar apps like this during the rest of the year could be the competitive edge that stores need to maintain profit. Of course, there will always be the bargain hunters. Those are the ones who will gravitate towards apps like Ebay’s popular Red Laser, which compares a product’s price across several online and physical retail options, and Amazon’s Price Check, which compares a product’s in-store price to the Amazon price and offers the option to purchase and ship it directly through the app if the consumer goes with Amazon. Essentially, the answer to the question what will this do to stores really lies in the psychological aspect. Will a consumer, given the choice, delay the immediate gratification of purchasing an item in the store they are physically in to save money? The results could be decidedly split. Certain types of these apps may steal some stores’ thunder, but I do not see a future without stores. Consumers need stores. Shopping online is a very solitary experience and many enjoy the camaraderie of shopping with friends. Also,the tangible aspect is a factor; especially where clothes are concerned. Perhaps some of these apps pose a threat, but if stores harness the power and potential of their store apps I think that these can serve a helpful purpose and any threat can be greatly limited and/or contained.

Key to Effective Campaign: Employees, Consumers, or Both?

This week’s article is inspired by perhaps one of the most important concepts of creating an effective campaign: know your audience. Now this sounds like I am talking about market research, demographics, etc. What I am really getting at is that there is so much more behind this statement. Knowing your audience also has to do with how best to relate to your audience. If you know how to relate to and engage your audience, then you are creating a successful brand with lifetime brand ambassadors. Two articles that captivated my attention this week were one that talked about the importance of utilizing employees to help spread the message, ”Employees No Longer Baggage, but Blessing” by Beth Snyder Bulik http://bit.ly/bgeIJM and another that focused strictly on consumer involvement “Toyota Turns to Consumers for ‘Ideas’” by Stuart Elliot http://nyti.ms/9GHNDD. Granted the latter probably chose this approach because it happens to be Toyota and they happen to be repairing their image (which means customer approval is priority #1, and thus so is their involvement in the brand’s resurgence). My point is that rather than advocating one over the other, I am instead arguing that both are very important.

First you have employees, the insiders and perhaps the front line when it comes to being the connector between the company or brand and the consumer public. Second you have the consumers themselves, a diverse group composed of those who can sway others with their approval or disapproval of your brand. One is more of an indirect connection, but, at the same time, more of a direct connection because consumers trust people who are more like themselves. Case in point, recently I did a coffee maker demo as part of one of my part-time jobs. Do you think people would have connected more if a representative was doing it, or someone that works at the store who makes it look easy and has never used a coffee machine beforehand? Lends a different perspective don’t you think? Employees are important because they are consumers, if you sell them on it they can sell others on it (people can relate and connect easier), when they  are front and center delivering the message it is even more crucial that they are involved and on the same page and they have ideas and a fresh perspective that can be beneficial. Consumers need to buy your brand for it to be successful, which makes them important too. Get the right people engaged and other people will join in too. Bottom line, when people can relate to the proponents of the brand, be they employees or other consumers, a strong and successful campaign and brand are born.

Social Media: The Spread of Ideologies

On average, consumers “like” or “follow” 4.6 companies (or brands) on Facebook according to Tonya Garcia’s ”Research: Social Media Users Follow Few Brands on Average” http://bit.ly/axCkMJ. This means that it is very important to connect and push through the thousands and millions of brand and company pages to make sure yours are part of that 4.6. A good place to start is with Brian Solis’ “Three C’s of Social Content: Consumption, Curation, Creation” http://bit.ly/aUQ0sW. In his blog post he positions people into categories, the main ones being the creators, the curators and spectators. The creators are the ones publishing content and influencing a large majority of social conversations. Curators are those who function as collectors, and in the Forrester’s The Social Technographics Ladder are the ones who use RSS feeds, vote for websites online and add tags to photos and web pages. Those that consume are the spectators. Sounding familiar? He goes on to mention how Forrester groups social catalysts into two categories: Mass Mavens and Mass Connectors. Immediately Malcolm Gladwell’s ”The Tipping Point” comes to mind and his discussion of mavens and connectors as being two of three groups necessary for the spread and acceptance of ideas to happen.

Mavens are those who accumulate knowledge and connectors are those who know a lot of people. Mavens communicate their information to connectors who spread the idea (and in Gladwell’s book Salesmen are those who convince non believers and get them to follow and join in too). Ideas are really ideologies, and social media is thus the spread of ideologies. Ideologies being doctrines, etc. on which a particular political or social system is based according to Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus. Social media already uses this in basic ways and now Facebook is adding a ‘Mention’ feature that makes use of it in a new way (see Oliver Chiang’s “Facebook Testing New ‘Mention’ Feature on News Feeds”http://bit.ly/9ftNLF). Acting as a Connector, Facebook’s ‘Mention’ feature collects certain phrases within feeds and combines them into one story. Basically if two of your friends comment on the same thing (person, place, etc.), Facebook will relate that to you in your feed with their updates shown below. A very interesting play on this basic idea. The social realm is a whole new dimension for the spread of ideologies. As they say, the possibilities are endless.

Personalization and Localization

A very interesting trend is afoot, one that could spread and become the norm if its success continues. It all originates from personalization and localization of mobile media. For example, take Starbucks, who is now tempting customers with more than just delicious coffee and tea (not that they don’t already). Starbucks unveiled its revamped landing page, a digital mecca of sorts geared directly towards its customer base. A very smart move. Caroline McCarthy’s article “How Starbucks is Trying to Change the Media” http://bit.ly/cx1NKq discusses the content of the ‘Starbucks Digital Network’ and references a quote by Adam Brotman, senior vice president of digital ventures, which pens it as “the digital version of the community corkboard.” A very interesting reinterpretation for sure, with its offerings of free local information, downloadable music and quick bites of news and video. All of this content is geared towards a very specific customer in a very specific place. Now take this concept and spread it to other stores, restaurants, hotels, vacation destinations. You walk into an Albertsons and you have access to information on the originating source of any food product in the store, or you have a special network composed of recipes made from items all available within the store. Then you take a vacation to Hawaii, and you get instant access to visitor guides and food, entertainment and activity sites where you can just as instantaneously book your reservation.

A similar concept is an expansion on cause marketing that ties in the importance of place. Building on the success of Foursquare and those checking in, groups like Earthjustice have made it possible for people at transit stations where their ads are posted to check in. Every time they check in an Earthjustice donor donates $10 to protect endangered species. That is the premise of Todd Woody’s “Ads That Let You Check in At Your Favorite Billboard” http://bit.ly/cWagOf. Take this concept one step further and you have stores tied to causes. Using Starbucks again, their RED program makes a contribution to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa every time a customer buys a Starbucks RED product or uses their Starbucks RED card. Customers could check in at a Starbucks RED ad in Starbucks and a contribution could be made. There are many companies that have ties to a particular cause, why not tie that in with an ad that adds to and strengthens their contribution from check in’s too, all while in that particular store? Possibilities abound when you focus on personalization and localization.