What Shoppers Demand of Mobile

Shopping has become a mobile affair and today’s shoppers demand a lot from mobile to meet their needs. Shoppers are looking for information, recommendations and price comparisons, but those are just the basics. As technology becomes more savvy, so do shoppers. It’s similar to car shopping really, you buy for the function but the amenities and added features are what draw you in and seal the deal. Mobile has to meet that same need today, as shoppers look for it to meet them wherever they are in whatever stage they’re at. Hence  the birth of showrooming as one of the newest trends, where shoppers engage their mobile to compare prices on the same product at different retailers. Retailers are increasingly fighting to keep shoppers in stores and engaged in immediate point of purchase endeavors. A local Oregon car dealership, Dick’s Mackenzie Ford, tells shoppers in its commercial to check online and then come to their dealership. They claim that if you make the trip, they’ll make the deal. Attempts like this to directly combat showrooming are not unusual.

Target is now taking on competitors like Amazon in offering a price match guarantee
http://bit.ly/XQrbK1
. Geared towards assuring shoppers that they are getting the best deal around, the process offers hope. However, utilizing it is not the most user-friendly process around. Customers must bring in a purchase with proof of current price or the original Target receipt and proof of current price to the guest services department. What’s wrong with this scenario? The last thing people want to do is wait in line and that’s exactly what they’ll be doing here. If Target’s going to combat the effects of mobile it’s also got to learn to utilize mobile. Customers are increasingly looking for added features with mobile, and turning this process into a mobile process would satisfy that urge. Just as virtual checkout has caught on, Target customers should be able to scan their purchase or receipt barcode and provide a link as proof of current price. Then the guest services team could virtually approve or deny these claims through email or through a store app. With mobile, convenience is going to win the day.

This has already been proven in a study by Latitude called Next-Gen Retail: Mobile & Beyond
http://bit.ly/ZTprlD
. Smartphone users ages 20-59  from the U.S. and U.K. were included in this study, with 65% of them being dual owners (also owning a tablet). The study found that 20-29 year-olds prefer smartphones to laptops for transactions. It also noted that shoppers are increasingly expecting mobile to meet them with real-time offers. Location-aware communications make it more likely they’ll visit a store’s website or physical location soon, with 1 in 5 saying they’re more likely to make a purchase or a pit-stop at the store that day. As mobile rises to meet this, more demands come into view. 79% are interested in receiving digital content delivered to their mobile while shopping, 79% also want the option to virtually try on clothes while shopping and 86% want their mobile to alert them when they are near a store that’s selling recommended or sought-after items. 80% would also be interested in a digital wallet (which would also be great for virtual coupon delivery).

The largest current demand for mobile apps is access to coupons and comparison shopping, but that’s not going to last forever. There are places where mobile and retailers are falling short of customer expectations. Those who want to control the market and become what Facebook is to social media, but within the mobile shopping realm, need to take notice. It’s not enough to deliver mobile shopping apps that offer just the basics anymore. As needs expand you have to rise to meet those needs. The ones that start now will gain and retain more customers, not to mention set the bar for others.  It’s time to get motivated and step up your game.

Email Marketing to Make Profits Ring

Hear that? No, it’s not bells jingling. It’s cash registers ringing. What’s going to help put you in the black this holiday season? Not Black Friday, that’s over, now it’s all about email marketing. This is the big push, customers are on second screens now and to catch them you have to do more than land a clever jingle on the radio or a catchy commercial on the air. So how do you go about this and what does the essential email marketing piece need? Let’s find out.

First, the core of your email (or its tone) should utilize emotion, education and/or trust. These are proven psychological marketing tools that do a lot of the selling for you if you use them correctly. Here’s the breakdown of what they are and why they work. Julie Robert writes that emotional selling is the easiest way to entice people to buy your products or services
http://bit.ly/11YgJUt
. Emotional selling is about inspiration, whether through stories or ideas, that leads to action (buying). Education is another tactic, by empowering your customers with knowledge they are enticed and excited to buy. A decision based on knowledge also appeals to the more rational thinker. With education you’re giving them new information that demonstrates what your product or service can do for them and this is one of the most persuasive appeals. Then there’s trust, whether it’s 24-hour customer service, positioning yourself as an expert or promoting yourself through industry endorsements. Anything that a customer can rely on inspires trust and a more personal kind of trust builds long-lasting customers.

The rest of your email should include some or all of the following. According to Jordan Cohen, countdown clocks, embedded email location maps, showing how inventory’s dwindling and leveraging social media are potentially your best friends
http://bit.ly/Up6J2a
. Countdown clocks in emails showcase the days, hours, minutes and maybe even seconds left and make special sales more compelling. Embedding email location maps that show the nearest location from where your customer is currently at, rather than their home zip code, inspires more immediate action and nets you more customers and more sales. Showcasing a limited quantity of a hot item is sure to have customers coming to you quickly to reserve or purchase theirs before you run out. Leveraging social media is more than social media links now, streaming social media comments and tweets is sure to be much more effective. Customers gravitate to real-time logistics.

Finally, here are the other ways to stand out and make yourself more accessible. Have a mobile site, more people are accessing you from their phone and there’s nothing more discouraging than not being able to view a web page. Chad White agrees that smartphone and tablet viewing of emails is necessary, especially on active tech shopping days
http://bit.ly/TGEIFP
. Experimenting with Pinterest is something he also advises. Link to your Pinterest content and promote it in your emails, promote a Pinterest contest and include a Pin It button at the bottom of your email so your special deals can be shared. Finally, offer a competitive shipping edge. It’s not enough to offer free shipping anymore, most offer that in some form now and it’s seen as expected (not a bonus). For this you have to tap into a little something extra, free hassle-free returns, free return shipping, etc. If you go above and beyond the amount of customers you have will exceed your expectations.

Alright, those are the tricks of the trade. Now the only challenge is can you use them more effectively, more timely, and with more of an edge than your competitors. It’s time to find out.

Deck the Halls with Tech Black Friday

Get out your smartphone or iPad and set that alarm…it’s time for the Black Friday edition of this blog! This year Black Friday is all about smartphones and other technology. Not just online sales through these or even shopping apps, this year it’s about getting customers to engage with smartphones and other technology to enhance and streamline the purchase process. Here are a few that you might see this year (if you’re a shopper) or think about for next year (if you’re a retailer).

Mobile checkout: No more cash registers? That’s right. Some stores are phasing out cash registers in favor of customers making mobile purchases from anywhere in the store. According to Hadley Malcolm, Finish Line will deploy this tactic in time for the holidays while stores like JC Penney and Nordstrom phase out cash registers in favor of the same
http://usat.ly/Y5jOCD
. How does this work? Well it’s already a reality for one store. C. Wonder is a women’s apparel and accessories shop. All stores have a concierge desk in the center, which include cash drawers, but the majority of checkouts happen at smaller mobile checkout units around the store. In fact all employees carry around mobile checkout devices.  Depending on store size, 15 to 30 mobile checkout units can be in effect. The smaller mobile checkout units have gift wrap, bags and receipt printers. This kind of technology is sure to be met with more buyers. If there’s anything Americans value it’s convenience, and this will allow more shoppers to be met at their point of purchase decision than ever before.

QR Codes: According to Mark Walsh, Target has 20 top toys located in the main aisles of its stores that have QR codes on them
http://bit.ly/Tdu59X
. In order to purchase these toys, all the customer has to do is scan the toy’s QR code and it will be shipped free within the U.S. Free shipping and no lines? Yes. I hear more sales. Do you? This could also be a rebranding and reintroduction of sorts for QR codes, which have been slow to take off under their current uses. If customers learn to scan a QR code to purchase an item, they will be more willing to scan one in the future. QR codes could come to have a whole new meaning. Whether that happens or not, what better way to build awareness and more use value into QR codes? It might be just what they need.

Tablet Trends: This appeals to the customer’s need for increased interaction and focuses on the psychology of it all. Selling the experience that ultimately results in a purchase. At Aéropostale, iPads in dressing rooms let customers choose their music. At stations throughout the rest of the store customers can use them as ‘look books’. They can look at style guides, build outfits to email to themselves or friends or just surf the store’s website. Throughout Guess and PacSun they are not just ‘look books’, but sources of additional items and an alternative way to purchase items. Tablets might be the way to win online shoppers back to the brick and mortar stores.

Social Shopping: Facebook is anxious to prove that social shopping works. Samantha Murphy notes it has added more retail partnerships, with babyGap, Fab, Brookstone, Lindt and ProFlowers
http://on.mash.to/UUmi0r
. Subscriptions to Hulu Plus, Pandora and Rdio can also be sent. Just in time for Black Friday, Facebook is rolling out a way to measure this impact more effectively. Its new tool will allow businesses to track purchases by those who’ve viewed their ads
http://reut.rs/Qwlcwl
. Marketers will also be able to aim their ads at segments that share attributes with those who have bought similar items in the past. Perhaps a win is possible for social. On the other hand, it could also result in Social Sunday. Then we’d have Black Friday, Small-Business Saturday, Social Sunday and Cyber Monday. As McDonalds used to say, it could happen.

Hopefully now you’re ready for Black Fridays of Christmas present and future. Stay tuned in the following weeks for more holiday-themed posts. This is only the beginning.

Social Shopping is Ramping Up

In a world where shopping is a way of life, and extreme couponers run rampant, social shopping reigns supreme. Shoppers continue to be hit with new developments everywhere they turn. Facebook is drawing closer to finding its way into e-commerce, eBay is targeting fans of Hollywood stars and mobile apps continue their rise with new mall-integrated apps. We are in October, a slower month spending-wise as people recover from the back to school sweep. Most retailers showed increases for the August/September back to school period, which was more promotional and concentrated than last year
http://bit.ly/SLNAXa
. Meanwhile eMarketer predicts holiday-related online sales will hit 54.5 billion this year, up 16.8% over last year. Social shopping is no longer a fad, it’s serious business.

Those who are smart are stepping up to play the game. Facebook is partnering with retailers to test a ‘want’ button
http://trib.in/Y8hEjl
. Still in its testing phase, some will see a ‘want’ button while others will see a button urging them to ‘collect’ or ‘like’ an item. By clicking this button Facebook users can flag images of desired products and build virtual wish lists. In addition to sharing them with friends, Facebook users can click through and buy items when directed to the retailer’s online site through Facebook.  Facebook has named this feature collections, and says it will encourage people to buy things for their friends and shop directly from online sites. For now there’s no fee that Facebook gets, but if or when it becomes public retailers could pay to have products featured on users’ wish lists promoted in their friends’ newsfeeds. Much like its current ad content. If it were to go live by Christmas, Facebook would have a lot to gain from this holiday season. eBay’s OpenSky.com is also getting in the game, launching its first ever ad campaign with 30-second TV ad spots
http://bit.ly/RbG3PI
. The spot’s theme is Join. Shop. Love, and takes viewers on a home tour featuring favorite celebrity products and telling why some of these celebrities bought certain items. Their target? 25-45 year olds with a household income of $70,000 or higher. The campaign’s initial offer of $20 towards the user’s first purchase with free shipping is being shown on networks like TLC, E!, HGTV, Bravo, Style, The Cooking Channel and DIY Network. With 1.5 million members and counting, OpenSky could show some serious clout come holiday season as election ads fade away.

In-mall ad network AdSpace is also making its mark with a new coupon app called Clip’d
http://bit.ly/Y8hWqc
. AdSpace operates a network of digitally connected HD screens within malls that promote the app and are complimentary to the app’s video content. Here’s how it works. Clip’d allows you to pick the nearest mall and serves you coupons and promotions for nearby stores on your mobile phone. The question is will users download Clip’d? Will it get chosen among the avalanche of apps that come their way on a daily basis? Does Clip’d have what it takes to be the most popular app or will it be  just one of many? It’s hard to say, as this is a turf battle that is still being fought. Apps are competing, some are currently more popular than others but none can clearly say they’re the alpha app for social shopping yet. This holiday season is showing promise for social shopping, over and above that of last year. As people seek to avoid the crowds and traffic social shopping becomes even more attractive and its convenience factor beckons users. Some companies and brands hold out on having a mobile site or mobile shopping app, an online shopping presence or even a social media presence. There will always be a place for brick and mortar stores, but social shopping will exist with or without them. It’s not a fad that’s going away, it’s here to stay and worthy of your brand or company’s consideration.

Journalism CPR

911, what is your emergency? Journalism is dying. Wait, that’s not entirely correct. It’s more like journalism has flatlined. Lately there have been lots of articles out there about how journalism appears to be flailing. There are lots of finger pointers and they are all pointing in different directions. One source says that headlines are boring, another blames journalism curriculum and another counters that by challenging students to broaden their own education. Only a few sources even attempt to pose a resolution and those are centered on mobile. However, it’s going to take more than mobile. In order to revive journalism it’s going to take a combination that targets all of these. With that, I give you my problem/solution guide to reviving journalism.

1) Problem: Boring Headlines: Connor Friedersdorf’s article: “Maybe This Is Why Newspapers Are Failing: Boring Headlines” addresses the problem of, well, boring headlines
http://bit.ly/P7H7TQ
. What’s surprising is he doesn’t focus on the writing as the cause. Instead it’s that there are space constraints, uninteresting stories and restrictions imposed by editors.

Solution: Part of it is the writing, whether anyone admits it or not. I highly doubt editors squash and drain all creative efforts. To address the writing, there are many ways to play around with words, similes, metaphors, alliteration, a reference to a work of popular culture such as a song or a movie, etc. I find it hard to believe there’s no room for that to be incorporated and I feel that, combined with sticking to shorter headlines (i.e. six words or less), would greatly help the cause.

2) Problem: Journalism Education: Some argue that universities are to blame for not keeping up with industry changes. Bill Cotterell is of the opinion that anyone can be taught the basics, like the five W’s, in a short amount of time and the rest is learned through trial and error
http://bit.ly/SSbONI
. According to him, all it takes is someone inquisitive and curious with a broad range of knowledge (by that he means, economics, politics, science, business, history and liberal arts). Oh, and a love of reading.

Solution: While this may be true, it all boils down to being responsible for broadening your own education outside of traditional journalism curriculum, which is what Robert Hernandez advocates in his article
http://bit.ly/PHiMH2
. There’s something to be said in any job for having a range of knowledge and skills, and teaching yourself additional skills is viewed as a plus. Journalism could benefit from more journalists approaching the industry this way.

3) Problem: Outdated Format: Stephane Pere points out that mobile could lead the way to a rebirth of print media
http://bit.ly/Qp2MLy
. I tend to agree, in that I see all forms of media as interconnecting (like a Venn diagram) where each leads to the other. All forms work together. Pere cites an eMarketer study that shows that last year adults spent more time with mobile than print media.

Solution: More people are starting to look to mobile for news during their down time and there are opportunities to strengthen news brands (broadcast and print) by always linking from one of their sources to another. For example, a newscaster can give its station’s Twitter name and Facebook link out and prompt people to engage them there, and they can post their on air news times on those sites to connect the circle. A newspaper can  include its site address and can offer a mobile version of that address as well in the paper. Ultimately, print will be read whether it’s on mobile or on paper and each source leads the reader from one to the other.

Journalism is a valuable element of society. It serves to connect its readers, viewers and listeners to the world while connecting the world back to them. There are many forms, but print is the original. You know what they say, you can’t beat the original. The problems and solutions I outlined are the real combination that needs to be addressed. You can’t place sole blame on one aspect of the whole and expect to solve the situation. It’s time to take action and work at reviving journalism from all of these angles. All of this finger-pointing? It just gets us nowhere.

TV’s Second Screen: Connected or Disconnected?

Major networks are gearing up for fall premieres that are just around the corner. Guys eagerly anticipate the start of the NFL football season and women eagerly await the premiere of their favorite sitcom’s new season. Ah yes, fall programming is in the air, and second screens are in viewers hands. For better or worse, the new reality of TV viewing seems to be with smartphone or iPad in hand. Connected TV, as they call it, has a couple of categories, one of which is the device or devices the viewer engages with while watching shows. The second is the device used to watch connected TV.

Kit Eaton discusses the first one, referencing the trend to watch TV with smartphone or iPad in hand
http://bit.ly/OeRwOS
. He cites a Pew survey of 2,200 US adults showing 52% of adult cell phone users incorporate their cell phone into their TV viewing habits. What does this mean? Well the statistics of the survey showed that 6% voted for a reality show result in the last 30 days, 11% checked to see what people online were saying about the show they were viewing, 11% commented online about what they were watching, 22% checked to see if something on TV was true and 23% texted someone they knew watching the same show elsewhere. 20% visited a website they saw on TV and 38% amused themselves with their phone during commercial breaks. As for the iPad, a January 2011 survey shows iPad usage corresponding with prime-time TV slots. Although these show interest gaining, it’s a slow gain, as connected TV is in its infancy. Case in point, these are not high percentages. Yet, connected viewers are connected viewers and its all got to start somewhere.

eMarketer’s article explores the second part of the equation: connected TVs
http://bit.ly/OeRJSf
. Popular consoles being Nintendo’s Wii, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. According to DFC Intelligence, 24 million North American households own a connected TV. In general, viewers have positively engaged with video ads on their connected TV’s. 38% visited a website mentioned in a connected TV ad, 36% considered purchasing a product or service mentioned in a connected TV ad, and 34% went on to look for a mentioned product in a store or online. Also, a survey by Tremor Video had consumers stating they watched 12 hours through their connected device per week. Although these statistics show more promise than the last set, they still leave something to be desired. A study by Adap.tv and DIGIDAY indicate that interest in connected TV by advertisers grew slowly between 2010 and 2012. Now nearly a third of advertisers support the channel, but maybe they’re right to be cautious. Robert Andrews reports, via a Deloitte UK survey of 2,000 people, that nearly half of 16-24-year-olds use email and social networks but only 1 in 10 second-screeners actually browse the Internet for information about shows they’re watching
http://bit.ly/OhPITS
. It may be smart for them not to jump the gun too quickly. However, this kind of viewing is deemed distractive viewing and there’s also a movement towards extensions of viewing like TV Guide’s Watchlist app
http://bit.ly/SCVWUn
.

If anything, it’s advantage is that TV Guide’s already established as something you use while watching TV. Their app is simply a digital extension of what they’re already known for, making it a natural transition for a second-screen viewer. Watchlist includes “New Tonight Trending,” a social hot list based on what TV Guide users are watching, as well as offering better filtering features, social check-ins, video search and more. The app itself allows you to add your shows to a list, and tells you what’s new on TV, OnDemand, Streaming and on DVD with each show. It also shows you how many people are watching them in a screen where you can set reminders that let you know your show is starting. Watchlist definitely makes a good companion to the TV viewing experience if nothing else, and holds the advantage of being something people are already used to using when watching TV. But which will win out? Companion apps or engagement on smartphones and iPads? Will viewers grow more connected, or disconnected? All interesting questions that will be answered in due time. There’s still a lot of speculation and trial and error where connected TV is concerned. The verdict? Connected TV is something to keep an eye on, but don’t get too excited yet.

Foursquare Gets More Interactive

Recent moves by the location-based social network Foursquare have made it an interactive destination and hub of activity. Launched as a service allowing users to see their friends’ whereabouts and check-in at locations they visit, with the most frequent visitors earning ‘mayor’ status, Foursquare has gained lots of data about its users. Everything from gender to visitation frequency and time of day has been documented simply by users interacting with Foursquare, and this makes perfect targeting data for its new developments.

First up is Foursquare’s “local updates”, a free service launched within the last few weeks
http://bit.ly/OgiPKq
. This tool allows businesses to place updates, specials and events directly into the activity streams of a pool of users chosen by Foursquare’s algorithm, which is based on frequency and recency of check-ins and businesses those users have ”liked” (the last made possible by Foursquare’s recent remodel). Basically it targets those who visit and spend money at your store the most, a type of targeting every business wants to have. Users only see updates when in the same city or general area as the business, and the closest location (of a brand with multiple locations) will be the message originator. Keeping users engaged and boosting local business are the main priorities here. Keeping business owners engaged on top of that is a bonus.

Foursquare’s newest, and most exciting initiative, is it’s “promoted updates”, which uses its “Explore” app, a recommendation service for users
http://bit.ly/N7Z2cn
. When the app is launched promoted updates from nearby businesses in the area appear, but only similar businesses to ones they’ve visited, liked, interacted with or that their friends have interacted with at some point. Good for business and business owners, as they can select the locations they want to promote and schedule updates. However, they must trust Foursquare do the targeting. Promoted ads also feature a way to attach a message, a space for special deals and promotions, and last for several months
http://dthin.gs/QslnIg
. A big plus. Why else is this a win-win for Foursquare? It builds upon their current model, in that users already turn to Foursquare for nearby places and activities happening, and it gives business owners more options and control while paying on a cost-per-action model.

Although Foursquare is anything but traditional, it also strengthens traditional advertising and boasts tie-in opportunities
http://bit.ly/NFeIZA
. For instance, “The Great Baltimore Check-in”, a contest-based geo-social game launched by Foursquare in partnership with Urbanite magazine and WTMD radio. Drawing 1,500 participants last year, the game involves Foursquare users who’ve registered online to play racing to meet the challenge to check-in at 89 different commercial and public landmark locations. A three-month long contest, July – September, the one with the most check-ins at the end wins a 2012 Vespa scooter while 2nd place wins a new Fender guitar. Yet again, something that works out in everyone’s best interests and then some. Participants utilize Foursquare and populate local businesses as part of the game, increasing business. Businesses gain exposure and a boost to business, as well as plugs in print, radio and online (which themselves gain from the marriage of traditional and non-traditional media). Why is this contest not something every city is doing? This should be a nationwide event.

All of these new ventures show that Foursquare is raising the bar on what it means to be interactive. They’re more interactive with users via the “local updates” service, they’re more interactive with businesses via “promoted updates” and they bolster traditional media through their ability to join forces for package promotions. Foursquare is proving its status as an innovator, and serving up a challenge at the same time. In making the leap and expanding their basic services like this, they show themselves to be versatile and ahead of the game. For others looking to contend? I wish you luck.

Mobility: The New Age of News

In simpler times news came from three sources: print, broadcast and radio. You either read a newspaper or magazine, watched a TV newscast or listened to a news program on the radio. That was it. Now there’s a wide variety of ways to get news and it’s reshaping the news industry as we know it. The umbrella term for all of this? Mobility. As news formats have grown so have the ways it’s consumed. At the onset of digital, convenience and information at your fingertips was the name of the game. As social media came into play, it was that plus social connectivity. Then came mobility, which David Armano says “means information, convenience and social all served up on the go, across a variety of screen sizes and formats”
http://bit.ly/QvvdIh
.

Facebook and Twitter accounts are common for posting up-to-the-minute news, yet news groups are also using crossover mediums to add dimension and reach more news consumers. Sang Ngo refers to this as “recasting the newscast” and discusses how newspapers are launching video news channels
http://bit.ly/OVPyQH
. The New York Times has TimesCast and Business Day Live, Reuters has ReutersTV, The Boston Globe has Boston Sports Live and The Washington Post has Post Sports Live. The Wall Street Journal has WSJ Live, Asia Today and DC Bureau. The Huffington Post has Planet Daily and will launch Huffington Post Live this summer. What’s unique about these? Their focus and their format.

The Times’ TimesCast is a daily webcast of top stories and edited news staffer conversations while Business Live is a morning business newscast. Even though these are traditional video format, The Times is also experimenting with Google+ Hangouts featuring interactive chats with public figures moderated by columnists. ReutersTV is a YouTube channel with news, interviews and commentary in several daily video segments. The Guardian, one not mentioned above, produces original lifestyle content for tablet users. The Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Live is iPad-optimized video, Asia Today is early morning business and finance news for the region and DC Bureau is a weekly politics show. First we had print, broadcast and radio, now we also have tablet, smartphone and Web.

As if that weren’t enough there’s also an app for that. Armano points out that apps like Flipboard and Pulse foretell the coming of news “appregation” or using one app to aggregate (combine) many sources of content
http://bit.ly/QvvdIh
. What do I envision from this? All-inclusive apps from news teams that feature a host of targeted channels accessed from their one main app. This would offer the greatest diversity of content to the widest diversity of people all purchasing the app. All-inclusive apps would be like a YouTube channel for your mobile and should be, if they aren’t already, part of the next platform in news app development. From print, broadcast and radio to tablet, smartphone and Web, there are many ways to get news. Add in Facebook, Twitter, Google+ Hangouts, YouTube and apps in distributing roles and a new news mainframe emerges with room for growth. With so many ways to access and view news content, and the need for news on the go, mobility is a concept that will become a permanent fixture of the way we consume news. The new stage is mobility and mobility is the new age of news.

Becoming a Retail Survivalist

It’s a common sight. Customers scanning items in stores to find the bigger, better deal. Especially now, it seems everyone’s looking to get quality items for the lowest price around. With smartphones being so ubiquitous, it’s almost like your business is flying out the door. It’s a jungle out there and it’s all about survival of the fittest. How do you turn the situation around? What’s going to keep business in your store? Let’s explore.

1) Challenge Showrooming: Chuck Martin refers to customers shopping, scanning and then ordering online or from lower-priced retailers as showrooming
http://bit.ly/M444cR
. There are two ways to tackle this. Counter-showrooming, or customer service, and reverse showrooming. Even before mobile phones, there were always situations where you had to regain control of the sale. It’s not much different now. Customer service, or paying attention to customers and going the extra mile, can diffuse a lot of difficult situations and keep money in your pocket. Reverse showrooming is like turning lemons into lemonade, as it turns scanning into money for your store. Basically reverse showrooming is using the showrooms of retailers to sell their products to people who aren’t there. Shop My Label, a consumer-to-consumer online shopping startup, aims to do just that. By partnering with stores, it allows customers to scan merchandise to put in their own virtual stores. Within those virtual stores customers can make outfits from the clothing of multiple retailers, and they receive up to 10% commission on anything they sell. Shop My Label is designed to drive full price sales and free shipping is a part of the deal. A startup like this is something that’d be especially popular with millennials, which is crucial as 75% of them always have their mobile while shopping and 73% of them already make transactions on their mobile
http://bit.ly/Oz32CG
.

2) Take Advantage of Indoor Mapping: IMS analyst Alex West notes that both Google and Microsoft are already mapping indoor spaces, and firms like Aisle 411, Micello and Point Inside are compiling databases of indoor maps
http://bit.ly/PO016t
. Shopping malls and complexes are not immune to this, but they have ways to take advantage of it. Much like reverse showrooming, malls could make use of interactive indoor maps and get customers using their stores’ apps. In fact, an interactive map should display app icons for any stores that have an app and clicking on those icons should connect customers to an immediate download. Having customers utilize apps is sure to drive more foot traffic and build more connections as convenience (ease of finding and purchasing items) would be significantly increased. Just look at Point Inside’s work with Meijer on a Find-It app, with couponing and item ordering features as well as in-store tools for finding items on certain shelves. The app even helps customers locate restrooms and the bottle return. With convenient features like these, interactive mapping and apps have the potential to revitalize and grow retail in a whole new way.

3) Utilize Facebook’s ‘Want’ Button: Recently, web developer Tom Waddington discovered a disabled ‘want’ button in Facebook’s Javascript SDK
http://bit.ly/MjuYPS
. When activated, the ‘want’ button will work with Open Graph projects with the tag ‘products’. Open Graph is a new class of apps allowing users to share what they’re doing, and invite others to join, without being overwhelming. It connects other users to the objects of other people’s actions. For example, if your friend were cooking with a new recipe from a website it would link you to that recipe. A ‘want’ button would thus connect other users to the same products that others want, allowing them to declare their want if they want that item too. This feature would give companies the ability to gauge interest in certain products as well as distinguish between likes and wants. It’s a big step that would bring about a whole new set of user data along with more accurately targeted ads. A win for consumer and retailer alike.

Well there you have it, three steps to success. In today’s environment you must have the edge. These up-and-coming tactics are designed to provide that edge and help you become a retail survivalist. Some you can put into effect now, and others you need to watch for and adapt to as they come. Knowing about tactics like these is half the battle, implementing them is the other half. Put both of these halves together and you are on your way to being invincible.

Battle of the Tech Giants?

Foursquare, Google+ Local and Yelp, three services being pitted against each other lately. All of them have different origins. Yelp started out as a reviews site where people could search for businesses, view and post reviews, and socialize within those reviews and forums. Google started out as a search engine for the web and has now morphed into a social networking site as well with Google+. Google+ Local, their newest venture, is focused on reviews. Foursquare started out as a location-based social networking site, and is now touting itself as a recommendation service. Despite different origins, their current status seems to put them in competition with each other. But who’s coming out on top? Is it really that much of a competition? Let’s review.

Foursquare is launching a redesign next week, rebranding itself as a recommendation service
http://tcrn.ch/OdKytg
. Its co-founder, Dennis Crowley, admits that although its seen 2 billion check-ins and over 20 million users since its 2009 launch, users are turning away from check-ins. In fact, he states that most people use Foursquare to see where their friends are, to find things, and as a recommendation service. Thus, Foursquare will reemerge as a self-contained social network with passive location detection, bios added to profile pages, a searchable timeline in a new history page and restaurant recommendations. Users can still check in, it just won’t be the main focus. The main focus will be the “Explore” function of its new app, offering users enhanced map functions. Its maps will show what’s hot and its partnerships with sports venues, concert halls and movie theaters make Google Maps more social. I expect that hovering over a sports venue, concert hall or movie theater will bring up events happening soon, making it a go-to event calendar with reviews of those in addition to restaurants.

Google+ Local is a replacement for Google Pages, as it ties in the company’s September purchase of Zagat
http://bit.ly/Lh1BI3
. Google’s Vice President Marissa Mayer reveals that 20 percent of all Google searches are for local information and that shoots up to 40 percent on mobile devices. Playing on that, Google+ Local is using Zagat reviews to bolster itself as the reviews destination over Yelp. Yet, Google+ traffic has been in a slowing pattern, it has a ways to go before it can truly compete with Yelp in quantity and it alienates users by not giving them a choice (as it does elsewhere) of who sees their reviews. At the same time, Google+ is focused on its own problems with Google Maps being removed from the iPhone and iPad in favor of an internally developed map feature that’s soon to launch
http://bit.ly/LSkB0E
. Being that all that is going on in the background, you have to ask yourself: is this really a competition or more about survival? The same can be said of Yelp.

Yelp is a reviews service that now faces competition from Google+ Local and Foursquare. However, it’s also been facing lawsuits and complaints from restaurant owners over unfair promotion of negative reviews after refusing to advertise on Yelp
http://fxn.ws/Km5CQR
. What Yelp has going for them is simply the fact that they’ve been around longer. The span of Yelp’s reviews is more extensive and since they came first, people think of them first and reviews appear quicker there than they do on other review sites. Yet again though, you have to ask yourself what plagues them more right now, competition with similar services or threats from those who can make or break their service (as restaurants and their reviews are main content)? I would go with the latter.

Basically, although these authors pit Foursquare, Google+ Local and Yelp against each other, I’d say their personal problems weigh heavier than competition. Personal problems like they’re facing threaten their survival, and that’s more crucial than competition any day. Perhaps Google+ Local and Yelp should take a page from Foursquare though. As Madonna shows, reinvention is the key to survival and it seems to be working for Foursquare. Once they survive, then they can battle it out.