“Our ads on Reddit have gotten a lot of traction and puts a big smile on people’s faces,” says 1-800 Flowers CEO Chris McCann. “That’s what we’re trying to do is just make sure we’re relevant and create that cognitive speed bump when people think about our company. They see something different and I’m thrilled with the creative team for coming up with something like that.”
Reddit Ad That Went Viral for 1-800-Flowers.com
As usual, some opinionated Redditers expressed their thoughts on the ads:
1-800 Flowers CEO discusses the company’s growth that was accelerated by the pandemic:
Ecommerce Growth Accelerated During Pandemic
What we’ve seen is an acceleration of growth in our company that began back in 2018 and really then accelerated even further in 2020 with the pandemic. It’s driven by the need for us as people to connect and express ourselves. As a company whose vision is to inspire more human expression, connection, and celebration, and as an ecommerce leader, we’re well-positioned in the trends that we see coming out of this pandemic. We think these trends are sustainable going forward.
We started out as one flower shop many years ago. What we’ve done is created this e-commerce platform for growth, a platform for expression, connection, and celebration. It starts with this all-star family of brands that we have led by Harry & David, 1-800-Flowers, Cheryl’s Cookies, Shari’s Berries, and our recent acquisition just this past August of Personalization Mall. You see us now as a company in the expression and connection business with a leadership position in floral, a leadership position in gourmet food gifting, and certainly now leadership and position in expressions and personalized items which is a fast-growing market.
You’ll continue to continue to see us grow by organic product development of products that help customers express and connect. And as we’ve done through acquisition, adding to that platform and leveraging that platform that we’ve built.
Need To Express and Connect Is a Lasting Trend
Hopefully, the vaccines accelerate and we turn to some sense of normalcy sooner rather than later. As we look at our business, the momentum we saw began in 2018 and 2019 and then accelerated with the pandemic. We’ve been on a good momentum growth even before the pandemic and we really see ourselves now as a bigger stronger company than we were prior to it. We’ve acquired Personalization Mall just this past August and by putting it on our platform and leveraging our digital marketing expertise we accelerated the growth of that company. It grew by 50 percent this last quarter.
A year ago August we acquired Shari’s Berries and took a business that was stagnant and losing money to now one that’s got a nice growth rate and is generating a nice contribution margin as well. If we just keep our focus on what the consumer is looking for to help express and connect then we’ll be continuing to see double-digit growth for some time to come. That trend that we’ve all learned from being isolated, our need to express and connect is a lasting trend coming out of this pandemic along with the shift from offline to online.
1-800 Flowers Ecommerce Growth Accelerated During Pandemic
“We’re forecasting that ecommerce spending this year will be somewhere between $850 billion and $930 billion,” says John Copeland, Vice President of Marketing Science and Customer Insights at Adobe. This would be a 14 percent increase over last year. That would be more typical of what we see year over year in the ecommerce channel.”
John Copeland of Adobe, predicts that ecommerce spending could be $930 billion, or just under $1 trillion, in 2021:
COVID was a catalyst to the ecommerce channel last year. What we saw when you look at the full calendar year of 2020 was $813 billion dollars in ecommerce spending, 42 percent growth over 2019. That’s like combining two years’ worth of growth into a single year. Consumers have really embraced the online channel to meet their needs during these challenging times.
We’re all kind of wondering what (the vaccine rollout) is going to do in terms of ecommerce. We’re forecasting this year somewhere between $850 billion, only a 5 percent over last year, and up to $930 billion, which would be a 14 percent increase over last year. The 5 percent increase would be if everybody gets vaccinated and rushes out and we see kind of a slowdown. The $930 billion, 14 percent increase, would be more typical of what we see year over year in the ecommerce channel.
Buy Now Pay Later Up 215 Percent Over Last Year
Buy Now Pay Later is very much good for retailers. In fact, what we’ve seen in February this year relative to February 2020, which is kind of on the cusp of the pandemic, is a 215 percent increase year over year in buy now pay later orders. In terms of retailers, it comes along with larger average order values. What we’re seeing is 18 percent larger orders when customers are using that service. Unlike layaway, with buy now pay later you actually get the goods upfront, you don’t have to wait until the payment’s done.
Another trend is Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store, also known as BOPUS. In February of this year, we’re already seeing it growing 67 percent year on year. It’s always been huge and growing during the holiday season but now people are clearly working it in as part of their fulfillment options. Picking up in the store gives consumers the ability to schedule it according to their availability and knowing that stock will be there for them when they want to pick it up.
Ecommerce Nearing $1 Trillion, Says John Copeland of Adobe
Facebook has reached a deal to acquire Kustomer, the maker of a “customer service CRM platform built for today.”
The deal, rumored to be worth at least $1 billion, would be a departure from Facebook’s traditional acquisitions. The company usually buys companies aligned with its consumer-oriented focus, whereas Kustomer’s software is aimed at businesses.
The move demonstrates Facebook’s interest in monetizing some of its existing businesses, specifically WhatsApp. The company looked at integrating ads in the platform before abandoning the idea due to backlash. Instead, the company has focused on providing businesses with a way to communicate and support their customers via the platform.
Executives Dan Levy, Facebook VP of Ads and Business Products, and Matt Idema, COO, WhatsApp, made it clear Kustomer is integral to those goals:
As businesses adjust to an evolving digital environment, they’re seeking solutions that place people at the center, especially when it comes to communication. Any business knows that when the phone rings, they need to answer it. Increasingly, texts and messages have become just as important as that phone call — and businesses need to adapt.
Kustomer’s platform will help businesses better support and engage with their customers:
Kustomer is an omnichannel CRM platform that brings customer conversations from various channels together into a single-screen view. It helps businesses automate repetitive tasks so their agents can maximize the time and quality of interactions with customers. Facebook plans to support Kustomer’s operations by providing the resources it needs to scale its business, improve and innovate its product offering, and delight its customers. That way, more people will benefit from customer service that is faster, richer and available whenever and however they need it, whether it’s phone, email, web chat or messaging.
Facebook is already under scrutiny over antitrust concerns. It remains to be seen if there will be any obstacles to Facebook’s latest acquisition, especially with the incoming Biden/Harris administration.
“The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is not going to be a live event but it’s all going to be filmed live,” says Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette. “It’s going to be filmed over a two-day window. It’s got the floats, it’s got the balloons, but the talent is different. We are really excited about having a great Thanksgiving Day Parade for America this year. It’s just going to be different but it will be going without a hitch.”
Jeff Gennette, Chairman and CEO of Macy’s, says that the iconic 2020 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be happening over two days but without a live audience:
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Is Happening
When you think about Macy’s you think about we’re pillars of the communities that we are a part of. We take great pride in that. That’s in our DNA. When you look at what we do to give back and what we’re doing with all of our donations, what we’re doing for meals on wheels with food instability right now, those are things that we’re really proud of. We’re in that with our customers raising millions of dollars for communities in need. If there ever was a time where we need to give thanks it is right now.
For Thanksgiving, we had kind of a dress rehearsal where we did the fireworks. We did the fireworks and we did it in a way that was safe for people who are living in New York City. Expect the same thing with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s not going to be a live event but it’s all going to be filmed live. It’s going to be filmed over a two-day window. It’s got the floats, it’s got the balloons, but the talent is different. All the people that were ready to come, the marching bands, the cheer squads that were coming in for 2020, we’ve given them a pass and they’re coming back for 2021. We’re backfilling with other entertainment.
We are really excited about having a great Thanksgiving Day Parade for America this year. It’s just going to be different but it will be going without a hitch.
Being An Omnichannel Retailer Gives Us An Advantage
Is back to school shopping a prequel to how holiday shopping will be? We’re all looking at how’s the traffic going to be between Thanksgiving and Christmas or Hanukkah? How should we expect that? We’re all looking for whatever comes our way. We’ve all got A-B-C. alternatives. We call it the 2020 options because whatever comes our way we have to have flexibility. What I’m expecting is that holiday traffic is going to start much earlier. More than ever, customers want to have a great gift that they either put under the tree or they give in a treasured box.
To make sure that we have that ready for customers no matter when they want to shop we’re pulling the calendar to start addressing those great values at the beginning of November. We’re going to be ready for the customer, for those that want to shop after Thanksgiving. Being an omnichannel retailer, we’re going to have a great advantage to be able to deliver it the day before Christmas by same-day delivery or them coming to a store and through the safety of curbside being able to pick up that great value.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade For TV Only, Says CEO Jeff Gennette
Walmart launches Walmart+ a subscription service that competes directly with Amazon Prime and costs only $98 a year or optionally $12.95 a month. Walmart’s membership option is now available to customers across the country. Membership includes free 15-day trial period.
“We can’t wait for customers to use Walmart+ as a way to keep more time on their calendars and money in their pockets,” said Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer, Walmart. “We designed Walmart+ to be the ultimate life hack for customers, pulling together benefits they told us would be most helpful to them today and in the future. Its usefulness will only grow from here.”
The initial list of Walmart+ benefits is below. The company says that the list of benefits will continue to grow over time:
Unlimited free delivery: In-store prices as fast as same-day on more than 160,000 items from fresh produce, to milk, eggs and bread to tech and toys to household essentials. This service was previously known as Delivery Unlimited – a subscription service that allows customers to place an unlimited number of grocery deliveries for a low, flat yearly or monthly fee. Current subscribers will automatically become Walmart+ members.
Scan & Go: Unlock Scan & Go in the Walmart app – a fast way to shop in-store. Using the Walmart app, customers can scan their items as they shop and pay using Walmart Pay for a quick, easy, touch-free payment experience.
Fuel discounts: Fill up and save up to 5 cents a gallon at nearly 2,000 Walmart, Murphy USA and Murphy Express fuel stations. Sam’s Club fuel stations will soon be added to this lineup.
Bill Simon, former CEO of Walmart, discusses the launch of Walmart+ designed to take on Amazon by combining free delivery of groceries and general merchandise within a paid subscription service:
Walmart+ Goes Head To Head With Amazon
Walmart has long coveted a subscription service to go head to head with Amazon. They tried three or four times but this one is different. Walmart+ combines both their grocery and their general merchandise strength which is really trying to recreate the supercenter online through a subscription service. If they can use the frequency of their food business to also help sell their general merchandise line they can mix it out better and hopefully get to profitability sooner.
Retail has actually been better (this last quarter) than most people have expected. It’s not been even. There have been categories and retailers who have struggled. By and large, its help up pretty well. The pandemic accelerated digital ecommerce development by five to ten years. If you were not up to speed on that or didn’t get up to speed very quickly you would be behind. As we head into the fall it will be really interesting to see how it goes.
Holiday Selling Season Uncertain
Typically, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, that weekend has been really critical to the selling season. If you missed that it would be very difficult to have a really good holiday selling season. With the delayed openings now and Thanksgiving not on the line, the focus is going to be online and there won’t be as many in-person Black Friday deals. It’s going to be difficult for retailers to make up all that volume online. The holiday selling season is going to be a bit uncertain.
I’m really speaking from the consumer perspective when I say that digital ecommerce accelerated by five to ten years in the last six months. It accelerated at that pace and people had to head in that direction. That is likely where retail is going to head but it is going to still be a mix. The vast majority of retail will remain brick and mortar but ecommerce will take a larger role in the facilitation by online pickup in store. Customers are now completely blending the omnichannel retail experience.
The Amazon Effect: Digital Sales Rule!
There’s also been really a change from an investment standpoint. This has been really more the Amazon effect than anything I can think of. Five years ago, it used to be, grow your profit faster than your sales and your share price would move forward. Now, if you’re not growing digital sales at a hyperactive rate it’s really hard to get a good valuation on your company. Walmart is a great example of a retailer employing this strategy.
They’ve invested a ton of money, almost a third of their operating income they’ve given up in order to build an ecommerce business. Yet, investors have rewarded them by buying their stock. It’s near historic highs.
Walmart is getting in on the TikTok action, joining Microsoft’s bid to purchase the beleaguered social media platform.
TikTok has gone from one privacy and security scandal to the next, culminating in the Trump administration instituting a ban that will go into effect on September 15, unless a buyer can be found. Microsoft has emerged as a frontrunner, although Oracle has also expressed interest.
Now it appears that Walmart is joining Microsoft in its bid, seeing a unique e-commerce opportunity.
“The way TikTok has integrated e-commerce and advertising capabilities in other markets is a clear benefit to creators and users in those markets,” reads the company’s statement. “We believe a potential relationship with TikTok U.S. in partnership with Microsoft could add this key functionality and provide Walmart with an important way for us to reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace and advertising businesses. We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of U.S. TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of U.S. government regulators.”
It will be interesting to see what Microsoft and Walmart can make of TikTok, should a sale be successful.
“We had to learn to work in different ways to become more digital and to put data to work in different ways,” says Walmart CEO Doug McMillon as he reflected on the release of their blowout financial results. “Basically, to create a seamless experience for customers. We don’t want them to sense any difference as it relates to our brand whether they are shopping inside a store, picking it up, or having it delivered. All of those differences and channels that we might have thought about in the past need to be erased and taken away.”
Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, discusses how the company has changed to become more digital over the last couple of quarters in response to the pandemic:
Ecommerce Was Very Strong
I would like to say thank you to all of our associates around the world and here in the US. They did a great job. You can imagine how challenging it is in this environment to go to work everyday and serve customers and keep the supply chain moving. Whether it’s in our stores, our Sam’s Club’s, or our distribution centers they have done a great job.
Customers have been responding in waves as we’ve gone through the first and second quarters. Not surprisingly, they got really focused on things they needed to stock up to be at home for a long time at first. Over time, as we got through the second quarter and stimulus checks came in to play and people were at home, we certainly saw them buy things like laptops and tablets and fishing equipment and bicycles. Things that were related to home decor as they were at home thinking about their environment inside and outside the house we certainly saw them respond with what they were buying. Ecommerce, in particular, was very strong.
Technology Phenomena Happening Around the World
I’ve been in retail for almost 30 years and it’s really exciting when so many things can be done using technology. We can save customers time and expose them to so much more choice than we could previously. Our ecommerce assortments are broader as retailers and that’s certainly true at Walmart. We sell first-party owned inventory as well as through our marketplace. Now they can pick up their phone or be at home and open up their laptop and shop in so many different ways and have access to so many different things. It’s a lot of fun to be able to try and serve them in that way. That phenomena is happening around the world.
You can use your app to do pickup and our stores. You can use your app to have the product brought straight to your house. Obviously, you can come in the store and we are learning how to use technology inside the stores in different ways to save you time. It boils down to access to assortment and an ease of shopping here in the US and around the world that people haven’t experienced before. That’s happening in Mexico, Canada, China, India, and all over the world.
We Had To Become More Digital
There have been a lot of changes inside the company. We had to learn to work in different ways to become more digital and to put data to work in different ways. Basically, to create a seamless experience for customers. We don’t want them to sense any difference as it relates to our brand whether they are shopping inside a store, picking it up, or having it delivered. All of those differences and channels that we might have thought about in the past need to be erased and taken away. Our teams have been doing a great job doing that.
The outcome of that is this ease of shopping that’s unique and different. In our case, we’ve got so many stores so close to customers around the country it gives us a big advantage especially in being able to deliver quickly. We’ve got an express delivery system here in the United States that commits to delivering orders from our stores in less than two hours. That’s now in more than 2,000 stores and coming to stores all over the country. We are actually delivering a lot faster than two hours so far. That’s a great experience.
We believe that this is something that we can build on along with having great stores where you want to come in from time to time, stock up, and experience what’s new. Really, we think that this omni world of retail is what will end up being the winning strategy over time.
Scale Can Sometimes Be A Disadvantage
Scale can sometimes be an advantage and sometimes it’s a disadvantage. Speed also matters a lot. Creativity matters a lot. What I’m proud of is how our team is responding to create new solutions for customers. Ultimately, whether Walmart grows or not is all up to them. We are serving families, moms and dads, and customers that have a lot of different choices. Even during the pandemic period with ecommerce and all the chains that were open there was still a lot of choice.
We’ve got to compete to earn their business everyday and that’s the approach we take. Our team has really stepped up during this period and even before the pandemic to drive change and to create more solutions for customers.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon: We Had To Become More Digital
Dell Technologies has agreed to sell RSA to Symphony Technology Group, in an effort to streamline its business portfolio and strategy.
The Symphony Technology Group consortium, which includes the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) and AlpInvest Partners (AlpInvest), agreed to an all-cash deal of $2.075 billion. The deal includes RSA Archer, RSA NetWitness Platform, RSA SecurID, RSA Fraud and Risk Intelligence and RSA Conference, and should be completed in the next six to nine months.
RSA currently has 12,500 customers and provides “risk, security and fraud teams with the ability to holistically manage digital risk, including threat detection and response, identity and access management, integrated risk management and omnichannel fraud prevention.”
Dell is looking at the deal as a way of focusing its business and better aligning its portfolio with its long-term strategy.
“This is the right long-term strategy for Dell, RSA and our collective customers and partners,” said Jeff Clarke, Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman, Dell Technologies. “The transaction will further simplify our business and product portfolio. It also allows Dell Technologies to focus on our strategy to build automated and intelligent security into infrastructure, platforms and devices to keep data safe, protected and resilient.”
“We’ve learned this past year that the tracking system we have with the NFL is actually considered to be the best by the broadcasters, coaches, and the fans,” says Zebra Technologies CEO Anders Gustafsson. “Our type of technology works particularly well with football but it would also work for basketball, ice hockey, and soccer. With ice hockey, the challenge is the puck. How do you track the puck and put the tag inside the puck? We can do it but it’s more costly. With basketball, they have been more focused on the ball than the players.”
Anders Gustafsson, CEO of Zebra Technologies, discusses how their tracking technology is being integrated deeply within sports and business in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:
Our Tracking Technology Works Particularly Well With Football
We’ve learned now this past year that the tracking system we have with the NFL is actually considered to be the best by the broadcasters, coaches, and the fans. The NFL owns the data so we can’t give (fantasy players) access to the data. I think they give access to some of the data but not all the data. Then you would have all the information you could possibly want to have about every player on all of the teams.
Our type of technology works particularly well with football but it would also work for basketball, ice hockey, and soccer. With ice hockey, the challenge is the puck. How do you track the puck and put the tag inside the puck? We can do it but it’s more costly. With basketball, they have been more focused on the ball than the players.
Zebra Tracking Technology Works Particularly Well With Football
We Are Becoming An Essential Part of Retailers’ Strategies
Savannah is our data platform. We can connect all sorts of devices or sensors on the south side and on the north side we can have APIs to all sorts of other applications. We can provide a lot of analytics around what’s happening there. We integrate with a lot of independent software vendors. If you look at large companies like Oracle, SAP, Manhattan, and JDA, they’re all partners of ours. We exchange data with them and we provide data that they use for their operations. We also have our own software capabilities. We bought a company called Profitect. It does any predictive analytics. This is a good example of this but we have other software capabilities also.
We are now becoming an essential part of retailers’ strategies for building omnichannel and ecommerce capabilities. Historically, we were probably viewed a bit more as a tactical device supplier. Today we’re much more of an integral part of enabling them to execute on their strategy. We moved ourselves up the solution stack to be able to deliver more value to them.
Companies are now tracking employees, patients, assets
Today, more and more things are being tracked and there are more and more efficiencies out of this. Companies are now tracking employees, patients, assets, all of these things. We said we provide the performance edge to the front line of business by having every employee, device, and technical thing being connected and optimally utilized and visible to the network.
Tableau (a company recently bought by Salesforce) would more than likely integrate our data. We could be a source for data insight analytics for them. We aspire to get those kinds of valuations (and the higher multiples that Tableau got when they sold to Salesforce). We also overlap (with Honeywell) in a number of areas but we do quite a few different things also. We have our own strengths and we compete with them but not everywhere.
Zebra Tech Tracking Technology Integrating Deep Into Sports and Business – CEO Anders Gustafsson
Levi Strauss began trading on the New York Stock Exchange this morning under the ticker symbol ‘LEVI.’ By mid-afternoon, the stock was at $22.66, substantially higher than the price offered to institutional investors. It’s clear that investors believe that Levi’s can leverage technology and innovation to successfully compete online and in brick and mortar stores.
Levi Strauss Soars in NYSE Debut
Charles Bergh, CEO of Levi Strauss, discusses how technology and innovation are driving increased sales and market share in an interview with CNBC coinciding with their IPO:
We Are Denim and We’re the Market Leader Globally
We are denim and we’re the market leader globally. A lot of people as we were doing the (IPO) roadshow said aren’t you guys just riding the denim wave? We’re creating the denim wave. We’ve been driving the category with innovation across our men’s business and our women’s business. We’ve expanded to other categories. Last year we finished with 14 percent growth coming off of 8 percent growth the prior year. The business is really humming right now.
I believe this is sustainable for the long term. Maybe not double digits forever. But we’ve got clear runway for growth across the categories that we’re competing in. We’re building share in our core categories and expanding to new categories. Last fiscal year, when we finished the year our growth was really broad-based. If you looked at it in the categories where we competed we grew every single category. If you looked at it by geography we grew every single geography. If you look at it by channel we grew across wholesale, including US wholesale, which is a little bit of a melting iceberg right now. We grew in our own brick-and-mortar and ecommerce. It was very broad-based growth last year and we’re confident we can continue that.
We Have Built a Very Big Platform for Big Data
First of all, to be successful it does come down to strong brands. Consumers at the end of the day love an emotional attachment with their brand. We’ve recreated that that love for Levi’s. We have built a very big platform for big data. In fact just a couple of weeks ago we announced that we’ve hired a head of advanced analytics and machine learning who will sit on the executive team and report directly to me. We are mining the data that we do collect and really turning it into revenue.
Our strategies are working and one of the key strategic choices that we made seven years ago, shortly after I joined, was to become a leading world-class omnichannel retailer and it is working. The mix has shifted to omnichannel. When I joined the company it was about 20 percent of our business. Today, it’s almost a third. It is faster growing than our wholesale business and we’re continuing to invest in it. Most of our capital investment is going into retail and ecommerce and knitting that seamless consumer experience together.
Implemented New Instance of SAP and Investing in RFID
It (IPO funds) is going to go into continued investment in building out our omnichannel. So both brick-and-mortar retail as well as our ecommerce business and then knitting it together with technology. For example, we’re implementing a new instance of SAP and investing in RFID (radio frequency identification). We’ve implemented RFID across our business in the US and UK and that’s actually really turning into money. Every one of the products in our store is tagged with RFID.
I’ve actually had this experience happen to me myself in our new Times Square store. There was an item I wanted to buy and they didn’t have it in my size. A stylist came over and scanned the tag and she could see that my size was available in the back room. Just two minutes later I was in the dressing room trying it on. A year ago before our RFID that would have been a lost sale. That just wouldn’t have happened. It gives us instant clear visibility to the inventory in our store, both in front of house as well as back of house.
Levi’s Driving Market Share Through Product Innovation
Back in 2013 and 2014, the headlines were the death of denim. It was all about athletic tights and Lululemon tights. It became a throwdown moment for us as a company. We have an innovation center a couple of blocks from our office. We brought our suppliers, the mills that make denim for us, into that innovation center. We understood what women were really telling us by wearing tights. That used to be a denim occasion. They wanted soft stretchy comfortable material that made them look great and gave them confidence. That was what was driving that conversion. So we innovated around soft stretchy comfortable denim which we can now do. We developed proprietary four-way stretch so that women don’t get baggy knees, which is their biggest dissatisfier.
We relaunched our business in the middle of 2015 and we’ve grown 14 quarters in a row and in the last eight quarters at double-digit rates. It has been a huge part of our growth. We were under $800 million just on women’s bottoms about three years ago. We’re over a billion dollars today. We are number one globally with a nine percent market share, but we’re not number one in a number of markets including right here in the US. So I really do believe we can continue to grow at an accelerated rate on our women’s business. There are lots of what I like to call share donors out there for us to build share while we’re building the category.
We haven’t seen any (backlash to being an American brand). This brand stands for everything good about America. Freedom, democracy, and allowing people to express themselves. Authentic self-expression is what the Levi’s brand is all about. We’ve not seen any backlash. None. We think there are lots of opportunities still for us. I am not worried at all about denim. We are denim and we’ll continue to drive this category through great innovation and marketing that connects with consumers and sends them into our stores.
Technology and Innovation Powering Levi Strauss Growth Strategy
Self-made marketing expert Neil Patel released a video titled, How Digital Marketing Will Change in 2019. Patel outlines 7 Trends that all businesses and content producers should embrace for successful digital marketing in 2019:
“Digital marketing is going to change in 2019,” says NeilPatel. “What’s been working for the last few years is not anymore. Here’s how digital marketing is changing in 2019 and what you need to do to thrive and succeed.”
Tip 1: Embrace Omnichannel Approach to Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is moving to an omnichannel approach. You used to be able to build a business with just one channel. For example, Facebook grew by just telling everyone, hey invite your friends. They would take your address book and invite all your friends automatically even without your permission. That’s changed and those tactics don’t work as well as they used to. I’m not saying they don’t work at all, they just don’t work as well as they used to.
Marketing has moved to an omnichannel approach where you now have to use tactics like growth hacking, pay-per-click, SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, and banner ads. The list is never-ending and the more channels you use the better off you’re going to be. Most of these channels are crowded because there are so many online businesses. If you don’t use all of them you just won’t do as well in 2019.
Tip 2: Leverage Voice Search
Most of you will not like this but search is moving to voice search. By 2020 Comscore estimates that half the searches on Google will be through voice search. Right now, two out of every five adults are using voice search. Yes, that means kids aren’t using it as much but still by 2020 they’re saying half of all searches, not just from adults, but half of all searches are going to be via voice search. So if you want to do well in 2019 you need to be leveraging voice search.
The way you do this is one, make sure your site is HTTPS because most of the sites that are at the top are HTTPS these days. And two, your site needs to load fast. If it doesn’t load fast you’re not going to do as well with voice search. Three, when people are typing in questions, they’re typically typing in longer-term phrases. So your questions, and especially your answers need to be short and to the point. If your answers are a paragraph long you’re not going to do as well compared to if your answer was one sentence long.
Tip 3: The Only Way to Compete is Through Conversion Optimization
The third tip I have for you is conversion optimization. Advertising is getting more and more expensive over time and that’s not going to change. The only way you’re going to be able to compete and stay ahead is through conversion optimization. The more you optimize your landing page for conversions the better off you’re going to be. Make sure you’re using tools like Crazy Egg which allows you to do A/B testing so you can squeeze more conversions from the traffic you’re getting.
Also, make sure you’re using tools like Hellow Bar which encourages email collection. Again, this will help you get more revenue from the users and visitors that you do have. If you don’t do this as the years go on you’re going to get drowned out by the competitors because they’re going to spend more money than you and they’re going to crush you. So focus on conversion optimization even though it’s not sexy and most people don’t like talking about it in marketing.
Tip 4: Leverage Marketing Funnels
The fourth tactic I have for you is leverage funnels. Marketing funnels are going to be more popular than ever in 2019. Before, people used to just optimize their campaigns to, hey I’m buying ads, how many sales am I getting? Now you need a look at up-sells, down-sells, cross-sells, lifetime value of a customer, and churn.
Whether you have a physical product, digital product, or you’re doing lead generation, you need to track everything from a visitor all the way to a conversion point. That’s revenue for them to keep buying and that’s why funnels are really important. If you don’t know how to create a funnel go check out tools like ClickFunnels.
Tip 5: Content Marketing Only Works if You Create Amazing Unique Content
Content marketing just won’t work as well. Think about it, anytime you do a search most of the articles that are at the top are content marketing. Blogging is so popular and so played out that everyone is regurgitating the same information over and over again. Unless you’re creating amazing new information that people haven’t heard before, you’re not going to do well. Content marking just won’t work to get links or social shares unless you’re creating amazing content that’s new and that people haven’t seen before.
Tip 6: You Need to be Leveraging Video
My number six tip is creating video content. Video content is the future. You see me here in this video and you’re engaging with me. If you’re not, leave a comment and I’ll show you. I’ll respond back. Video content is the future. People want to engage through video. Facebook gives you more views if it’s video. YouTube gives you a ton of views and Linkedin does as well. You need to be leveraging video. You can’t take it for granted.
Tip 7: You Need to Create a Podcast
Podcasting is taking over. Did you know that 45 percent of the people who listen to podcasts have a household income above $75,000? That’s a ton, that’s a lot of money, and that means that the people that are listening to your podcast are going to be better buyers than most other marketing channels out there. You need to create a podcast.
Everyone is using their phones these days and everyone is driving to work. Podcasting makes it easy where people can listen to your content on-the-go. It’s such a hectic world out there and you need to have a podcast so people can listen to you while they’re dealing with their hectic life.
The former CEO of Saks, Steve Sadove, says that what’s really fascinating is the convergence that is currently happening with online and brick and mortar stores. You have the Amazon’s of the world adding brick and mortar store options and then you have Walmart and Target and many others growing at 40-50 percent with their online sales.
Steve Sadove, former Saks CEO, discussed the online and physical store convergence on Fox Business:
Brick and Mortar Isn’t Dying
People buy for many reasons and a good part of it is the experience of shopping. About 80 percent plus of shopping is still done in a brick and mortar store. Brick and mortar isn’t dying, people want to touch and they want to feel. Just think about apparel. With apparel, my old company Saks was doing 30-35 percent of the product online but customers still want to touch and feel and meet with the associate and experience it.
What’s Fascinating is the Convergence of Online and Stores
What’s fascinating is this convergence of online and stores. The Amazon’s of the world are now opening up stores. Then you have the brick and mortar guys who are saying buy online and pick up in stores. Walmart is moving much more in the direction of being omnichannel, encouraging online shopping. Amazon is opening up stores. You have the pop-up stores, you have the Warby Parker’s who are online opening up stores.
The Good Retailer Provides the Experience Wherever They Want It
Then you have the brick and mortar people, Target growing 40-50 percent, Walmart growing 40-50 percent with their Internet business. It’s this convergence that really is what the consumer is valuing because they want to buy anytime, anywhere they want to get product. Some of them hate going into a store. Others just want to go into a store. The good retailer is going to provide that experience wherever they want it and they’re going to give them the value that they want.
SAP CEO Bill McDermott, in a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg talked about enterprises moving to the cloud, competing with Oracle’s new autonomous database, competing with Salesforce, and its huge business in China:
SAP Has Taken Over the Enterprise Database Market
Do you have a major move to the cloud? If legacy companies haven’t fully invested themselves in the cloud where they’ve converted their revenue streams more to cloud than on-premise I think you will see them make bold moves to get cloud-ready. No choice, that’s where the customer wants us.
We obviously have taken over the enterprise database market with HANA. HANA has many of the characteristics that you mentioned (referencing Oracle). HANA can take data from any source, everything that is either structured or unstructured and data from any source in the enterprise. HANA is running the biggest enterprises in the world now with 25,000 customers at mass scale. We like our HANA database very much.
It’s All About the Customer Experience
We see a fourth-generation of CRM where we go beyond the current market participants. Basically, they focus on sales, marketing campaigns, things that essentially take money out of the customers pocket. What we want to do is focus on an omnichannel ecommerce world where we connect the demand chain because our customers are social, mobile and on the run. They shop in every channel, direct to consumer, wholesale, retail. We want to connect that demand chain to the supply chain so that we have a complete end-to-end business.
Why is this so important? We are not just talking about CRM, we are talking about customer experience. The way CEOs think about their brand, their products, their human capital, their customers. All of the people inside of the company have to be completely committed to the customers outside the company. This is what we call fourth-generation CRM. It’s all about the customer experience.
We’d Like to See China and the US Cooperate
The most important thing is that we get paid to run businesses and work in an environment where we let government do what government does. All government leaders have to do what’s best for their country and best for their constituents. These tariffs are obviously a serious situation. You have the two largest economies in the world with $30 trillion in combined economic firepower that right now are at a little bit at odds with each other.
It’s good, as we saw in today’s tweet, it was stated that at the G20 President Xi and President Trump will sit down and talk. That’s very encouraging to the market. Markets like certainty. So certainly we would like to see China and the US cooperate. It’s good for supply chain, it’s good for business.
China is Regarded as SAP’s Second Home
Germain engineering is highly regarding in China, as it is in the United States and around the world, but we do particularly well in China. China is our fastest growing market. We think that China is easily regarded as SAP’s second home in terms of market receptivity, ecosystem growth in China, and our long-term prospects. We think China will end up being the biggest market in the world soon.
We have the most sophisticated data privacy in the world. We acquired a company called Gigya where we have billions and billions of customer records. We protect your privacy, we don’t let customers actually engage you unless you agree that you want to opt-in on various offerings from our customers and they serve their customers. We follow the same reference architecture, the same high-security standards and cloud standards in China that we do in Europe, the United States, and every other theater in the world.
We are very confident in China in the way enterprises can serve their customers in China with high-security standards. We recently announced a very important partnership with Alibaba and that is a cloud partnership that will not only impact our growth in one of the fastest growing regions in the world.
We Are Very Diverse and Highly Inclusive
We actually have appointed in the last 12 months two women to our Executive Board, not just because they are women, but because they are great leaders. That would be Adaire Fox-Martin and Jennifer Morgan. If you look at our company we have a third of our workforce that is female and we also have a third of our leaders that are female.
We are very diverse and highly inclusive. One of the things we really enjoy is what we have done with Autism at Work and now we have dedicated one percent of our hiring to autistic folks, at least on the spectrum somewhere, to help our workforce be highly productive and diverse. That extends also to the solutions that we have. If you look at success factors, the number one human capital solution in the world, we have a business without bias mentality.
Computers don’t have bias. In the way we build the algorithms in the software they eliminate bias from the hiring process. The computer doesn’t have a bias. It looks for the best candidates and it fills an algorithm or model that the company is trying to get at. If you want 40 percent of your workforce to be diverse and inclusive, the model is built to do that for you. You don’t leave it up to humans, you let the software do the work and then the human judgment comes in at the final phase of hiring. It’s changing companies everywhere.
Analytics and Optimization Lead at Heathrow Airport, Stuart Irvine, says that email is still the key driver for them in marketing and personalizing the customer experience. Irvine said that Heathrow sends over 6 million emails monthly and that working with Adobe Campain has enabled them to move their opening rates to over 20 percent with 25 percent click-through.
Stuart Irvine, Analytics and Optimization Lead at Heathrow Airport, recently talked about their use of Adobe products and services and how they have driven their evolution in digital marketing:
Engaging 80 Percent of Our Customers Digitally
We have 78 million customers a year and we are targeted with engaging 80 percent of our customers digitally. Certainly, we need to raise pre-awareness of our products and services before someone arrives at the airport.
We have strong commercial targets that we need to hit and the Adobe Experience Cloud allows us to get from acquisition through to activity to after the trip activity. This allows us to tailor messages as someone moves through the airport experience to make sure that we deliver relevant push messages or relevant content throughout their journey.
Email is Still the Key Driver for Us
We work a lot with geolocation where we have over 11,000 beacons around the airport. Tools like Adobe Campaign allow us to move through that journey and keep that contact regular. We implemented Adobe Campaign three years ago with integration partner Acxiom, a long-term data partner. Adobe Campaign, as a truly omnichannel tool, has allowed us to really ramp up activity across channels.
Certainly, email is still the key driver for us. We send over 6 million emails every month and Adobe Campaign has allowed us to personalize a lot more emails and make sure we get the right offers to the customers. We’ve worked with Adobe Analytics for 8 years and we now capture all of our online data. That’s all passed to Adobe Audience Manager which allows us to drive personalization at scale and deliver relevant and contextual experiences.
Adobe Professional Services Has Been a Key Advantage
I think the Adobe DAM, obviously with the integrations with Creative Cloud, can offer us huge process improvements. Working with Adobe professional services has actually been one of the key advantages for us. They have the knowledge to make the best value of the integrations between all of the solutions to really deliver experiences at scale we need to have automated processes.
Moving More Towards Personalization
We have a lot of faith in the Adobe Sensei platform and the machine learning there. We’re just opening up our homepage to automated personalization to try and bring through some subcategories of products that we’ll get a much better cut through with our customers. Now we’re moving more and more towards personalization, recommendations being the key focus areas for target.
Adobe Audience Manager has been a key driver behind that. It is really a game changer for Heathrow Airport given our investment in the rest of our tech stack. Audience Manager really brings that all together and allows us to deliver an omnichannel experience.
Open Rates Are Now Above 20 Percent
We’ve seen open rates go from the low teens to above 20 percent, some great results there. We have over 25 percent click-through rates on some of our emails, which is a fantastic number to achieve. We’ve been able to increase average retail spend per passenger from £5 ($6.48) to £8 ($10.38). With our rewards customers, we see that they travel at least five times a year they have an average spend of £140 ($182) per visit. Adobe Campaign has been key to building that relationship.
Our journey with Adobe has been a great experience. We’ve moved through from basically analytics eight years ago, but actually, the development of Adobe’s roadmap has continually evolved and that has driven our evolution in digital marketing as well.
The CIO of Verizon Business Markets, which is Verizon’s small business segment, says that “We have to humanize technology.” What Rajeev Chandrasekharan is talking about is Verizon’s push internally to modernize the customer experience and to make it less frustrating.
The Verizon Business Markets CIO says that they are modernizing and becoming more customer-centric with the help of Salesforce CRM and other tools. Their goal is to ensure that the customer’s concerns and information follow the customer, regardless of who at Verizon the customer is speaking with.
Our industry is seeing a lot of need for transformation and if you really look at it there are three different pillars. One is we’re engineered for scale and not for speed to market. We do something well and we are big and now that whole equation is changing with needing to get to the market quickly with products. The second aspect is we’ve been around for a while and use different kinds of technologies and we need to refresh them so we need to start using some of the cooler capabilities that exist.
Lastly, there’s a lot of pressure on us with all the other industries, the digital unicorns, trying to provide this amazing customer experience and it’s not good enough now just to provide service or be a commodity. The intersection of those three needs is creating a need for a huge digital transformation.
My role here in Verizon Business Markets is while we launch new products try to build digital business and try to leverage all of this technology and customer experience while we penetrate newer customer segments.
Verizon Business Markets in the Midst of a Digital Transformation
Generally, when you do a digital transformation there’s a lot of work and a lot of investment and the question companies always have is how much is it worth to go change everything that I’ve done? Luckily for us since we have multiple business units we pick the small business unit and said we see a tremendous potential here for new products and for penetration of the market so the investment is well justified. So go, do not compromise on things, drive this digital mobile first omnichannel thinking to the extreme and build something that’s like a beacon for all the other business units to follow.
We’ve taken this to a place where revenue is going to be generated and when you have a promise of being able to grow the top-line it’s easy to justify all the work that goes into it. The other aspect is we’ve got a lot of buy-in from the top on trying to do things differently, so we’ve tried to put together a few rules of how we want to operate. We call them the big rules. Then build on that, where we’re trying to make sure the whole organization is saying, don’t fall into the trap of doing things the old way and make sure we focus on these big rules. Culturally and then opportunity wise Verizon Business Markets, the small business segment, becomes a fantastic place to try out this concept and we’re going all-out.
This is a Customer-Centric Digital Transformation
This is a customer-centric digital transformation. We started with the customer, we looked at the product research, we looked at the capabilities and then we decided what platform we wanted and what processes we can change. We also challenged ourselves by saying that we need to break our own rules and do something different. For example, if you’re going to get into a house differently and you can’t get to through the window, you can’t build another door, you can’t break in and you have got to use the key, then different about it? We challenge ourselves to break those rules.
That customer in mindset is what we are struggling with and that’s the one thing I would say that we didn’t have, the digital native aspect, the customer-centric aspect as much. We have that in our service, in our network, and in our products, we have amazing stuff. When we top it off with this we’re going to be in a good place.
We Have to Humanize Technology
I think we have amazing products and services so innovation is constantly going to happen there. The two things that I see is operations are going to become digital with artificial intelligence and those sort of new age technologies, which is very important for you to be competitive in the marketplace or you’re not going to survive against your competition. Then, the most important thing is the way you go to deliver capabilities to a customer.
We have to humanize technology. The customer is basically saying what do you think, what do you say, what do you do, and we then turn it into some garble technology talk. We need to operate as a digital entity and make the customer feel like we as a company are doing one-on-one personal services for you in think, say, and do.
We’re giving you intelligent recommendations, executing your orders, and we are communicating with you effectively. That is going to almost take you back to the olden days of manual stuff which were one-on-one but without the human and instead with technology. That is the sweet spot for us going forward.
Digital marketing is changing and adidas is working to make it integral in connecting with their customers and to really change their lives in a positive way. Joseph Godsey, Head of Digital Brand Commerce at addidas, says that “The beauty is with digital is we can create relationships at scale.”
The company is reaching out and connecting with customers in a personalized way via their app that they launched last year and have recently announced major new features.
Joseph Godsey, Head of Digital Brand Commerce at adidas discusses the company’s new digital marketing strategy at Dreamforce:
Digital Brings the addidas Core Principals to Life
We spend a lot of time really listening to consumers in focus groups and through lots of studies in order to really understand what their needs are and how we can serve them better, particularly using our digital channel. It started really with our core belief as a company that through sport we have the power to change lives.
Then we asked ourselves the question if digital is a focus and clear priority for us how does digital actually bring that core to belief to life? The beauty is with digital we can create relationships at scale. We can really connect with the consumer and match their needs using digital in a way that we could never do before.
Creating a Digital Experience That’s Premium, Connected, and Personalized
When we talk about interacting with the consumer we look at how we can make a difference in their game, in their life, and in their world. We look at how we can hit home on all of those fears and then ultimately in digital create an experience that’s premium, connected, and personalized.
Premium is about inspiring love for the brand and desire for the products. Connected is about taking all the touch points that they can interact with us in a physical or in an online environment, and there are a lot, that we’re actually seamless and really interacting with them in a consistent way. Personalized, because in our brand there are so many sports to talk about, but I need to talk with you about what’s relevant for you, not what’s relevant for someone else.
I can’t just blast out a communication anymore and hope that it’s interesting for you. I need to respect the interactions we’ve had together across any touch point and make sure I bring what’s relevant to you in that particular context but also what’s interesting in terms of your profile. We really want to create that relationship that creates value and meaning that hits home on what’s most interesting for the consumer.
Announcing the Launch of a New addidas Membership Program
We have some exciting news that we’ll talk about during Dreamforce this week which is about a new membership program that we’re launching in the US and then later will expand that in other countries. It gives us the ability to really engage and hit home on what’s most interesting for a consumer. They might be looking for value, they might be looking for experiences, or they might look to actually give back and be part of broader causes. Depending on what’s most interesting to them we can expose that in our ecosystem and reward them for those interactions but also give them the chance to interact as well.
I think to be relevant in today’s world with the proliferation of brands and experiences that are out there we have to have something that’s really meaningful that consumers will come back to again and again. They have to also see how we are represented as a brand and have a way to interact and connect with that as well. We’re looking across all the experience to have something that’s sticky and makes it seamless and easy to use. If you want to buy something you can do it quickly and easily but we also make the experience a positive one.
The App Changed the Paradigm
We launched the app last year and we’ve now rolled it out in 18 countries which is a very small space of time for a massive global rollout but also expanding the features and the capabilities in the app. It’s a great example where we really tried to change the paradigm and how we develop things because when we initially launched the app we put out there a starting point, we had a very clear strategy how the app would enable us to create a connection with the consumer to be even more personalized. For instance, with the newsfeed, they can really surface what’s personally relevant for that consumer where we can talk with them about new releases and new things that are coming.
At the same time, we only launched it as a starting point, so almost like we put out the very first version of a car. We wanted consumers to give us feedback in mass. We did consumer testing to build the app extensively but when you really get it out there and people start using it they tell you what’s really interesting and what they want more of. Through that experience we realized some of the things that we might prioritize in our backlog, actually, we need to elevate some other topics that are more important to the consumer.
The adidas Digital Strategy for the Future
I think for us ultimately with our digital strategy the first part is how do we create that ever-tightening relationship that has meaning and value from a consumer perspective and really hits home on those three pillars of premium, connected, and personalized. How do you really surface that in a meaningful way?
Take something like a product description. How do we really have the product descriptions and offerings so that if you’re interested in sports we will help you find exactly the product that you need for the sport that you’re interested in? We will also educate you and bring you back at different points in time to help you find out what you need when you need it, or with an engagement program. Ultimately, like the membership program, that it has something that’s sticky, that you can give back to something, even more, you can participate in events and experiences.
For us, a lot of it’s really deepening those experiences but also exploring new technologies and new areas. Omnichannel was kind of the original wave which happened and I said it was the freight train that came past us a couple of years ago. Now we’re also looking at what those next freight trains are, whether it’s technologies like blockchain or experiencing picking up a new channel. For example, we’re working extensively with Salesforce on automation, how we can automate consumer experiences. Take something as simple as a consumer service interaction. How do I make it so easy for you, no matter if you talk with us via Messenger, WhatsApp, online, or in the app itself, that we can respond to those questions fast and easy but not have to have thousands of agents all the time on the call?
I would say the interesting complexity but also the opportunity comes from that connected sphere. How do you connect all of those different things that are relevant? If you participate in one of our communities how do we also reward that interaction through a membership program? How do we build that seamlessly into a sales or commercial experience as well? That’s really part of that opportunity and that multi-year journey that we’re on and really expanding.
Digital payments company Square has announced plans to acquire Weebly for approximately $365 million in cash and stock. The purchase was in line with Square’s objective to provide a cohesive solution to entrepreneurs in running their businesses across all channels.
Known for its payment software and hardware, Square has diversified its portfolio to include money transfer, business financing, and customer relationship management software. The company offers flexibility in selecting and integrating third-party solutions that include point of sale, accounting software, and other back-office applications. Weebly, on the other hand, provides an easy to use platform for building and hosting websites. Over the years, it has focused on catering to small businesses and online companies.
With the merger, a start-up company doesn’t have to shop around separately for applications, hardware, and platforms compatible with each other to have a presence online and offline. It is one of the challenges in setting up an eCommerce site, especially for those without the know-how to do so. In astatement, Square CEO Jack Dorsey pointed out that the strategic move aims “to bridge these channels, and we can go even further and faster together.”
Square emphasizes the importance of an omnichannel experience in commerce. It simply means that sellers can reach out to potential customers through both digital and physical storefronts. From brand discovery and purchase to returns and exchanges, the seller can interact with the buyer in-store, online, or even in-app.
“From managing orders, appointments, and payments to building a website, running a business is complex, and entrepreneurs around the world want powerful and intuitive tools,” Alyssa Henry of Square said. “Whether they’re an artist, a winemaker, or a hairdresser, with Square and Weebly sellers will have one cohesive solution to build their business.”
David Rusenko, CEO of Weebly, agreed that entrepreneurs would benefit the most from the merger. Hewrote, “Together, we will support you to build professional websites and powerful commerce experiences — whether online or in real life. This move reinforces our original mission: to help the world’s entrepreneurs succeed. As Square + Weebly, we’ll be able to help you in more powerful ways than ever before.”
He also assured Weebly clients that no major changes are expected to happen. The transaction, however, will boost Square’s customer base and provide a steady revenue stream. With 40 percent of Weebly’s 625,000 paid subscribers based outside the US, the deal is set to expand Square’s global presence.
Until the deal is finalized in the second quarter of 2018 and cleared of regulatory hurdles, Weebly and Square will continue to operate separately.
The year 2018 is poised to be an exciting time in the payments industry as new trends and technologies emerge.
The previous year actually witnessed some major changes in how payments were made. Consumers were introduced to new transfer methods and the PSD2 push as the demand for safer, smarter, and faster transactions reached critical mass.
It actually feels like 2017 was just laying the foundation for some significant changes in the payments process, and this year is when all the promised developments will finally come to fruition. To that end, here are three trends that could change how payments are made this year:
Improved Security and Enhanced Data Protection
Security is even more critical now that more channels have been opened for consumers to pay bills and receive money. Businesses will be paying more attention to cybersecurity, compliance, and fraud prevention in 2018 as any missteps in this area can seriously undermine their business and relationship with their customers.
Due to the massive data breaches that happened in previous years, it’s safe to assume that fraudsters will take advantage of any new personal information they receive about consumers. Because of this, payment tokenization and the rise of “omnichannel tokenization” is expected to become more mainstream this year.
Tokens are unique and their use can be restricted to a particular merchant, device or transaction. This enables merchants to isolate threats and prevent fraud. However, therise of tokenization would also mean that Token Service Providers will also gain greater importance in payment processes.
Rise in Demand for Chinese Wallets
China is slowly making its presence known in the realm of financial technology. Companies like WeChat have already made serious forays in the West in a bid to court more users. China’s social media icon has already rolled out the payment platform WeChat Pay in the UK since last year. It now has plans to put up a headquarters in the country as well. WeChat’s parent company, TenCent, has already established an office in the US as it works to expand its service in the country.
Despite a slow start, digital retail wallets are expected to have an upsurge in popularity this year. More and more consumers will use a merchant payment apps to ensure faster purchases while in brick-and-mortar stores. Digital wallets integrating scan-and-go technology will allow shoppers to scan products using their smartphones, checkout in-app and leave the store, thereby doing away with the frustration of dealing with the checkout line. In cases when checkouts are still required, digital wallets can support different payment technologies, like Bluetooth, NFC, or QR Codes.
Retailers can also use digital wallets to improve customer relationships and provide meaningful value-added services. The majority of consumers are motivated by VAS, but the challenges of redeeming points or activating coupons can be daunting, resulting in billions of reward currency remaining dormant or unclaimed. Offering simplified VAS in a retail wallet can help drive sales and improve consumer loyalty.
Consumers can expect a vastly different billing and payment experience in 2018. But whether these changes will come in the form of digital wallets or tokens, the theme will remain the same—being able to pay wherever and whenever you want.
Cable TV is on the decline while the number of Amazon Prime subscribers has increased rapidly since last year. One estimate reveals that nearly a quarter of the U.S. population are Amazon Prime subscribers and the numbers are steadily on the rise. However, can it make cable TV obsolete?
The Rise of Amazon
Amazon Prime had 66 million subscribers at the end of 2016 and a whopping 79 million subscribers to date. Meanwhile, the number of households subscribed to cable TV has decreased by nearly 5 million in the last seven years.
The modest decrease in cable TV subscriptions coupled with the increase of Amazon Prime subscriptions paints a rather vivid picture of the future of home television viewing. If this trend continues, Amazon Prime will have more subscribers than cable or satellite TV by next year. The chance of this overhaul happening in the near future is high.
In an attempt to be more accessible to everyone, Amazon is now coaxing lower-income American households with a discounted service. The companyis offering monthly payment options to cater to those who are not willing to fork over $99 for the annual subscription.
Main Reason for Subscribing
Looking at the Amazon Prime’s impressive increase in memberships, it’s easy to conclude that the service will soon render cable TV obsolete. However, it is important to consider the reason behind Amazon Prime’s growing subscriber base.
Business Insiderreports thatAmazon Prime’s video service isn’t the main reason why people are subscribing. The growth in subscriptions is mostly due to the company’s impressive delivery service which is relatively fast and reliable.
That being said, cable TV isn’t directly threatened by a competitor in the same service field. It is likely that a household can subscribe to Amazon Prime while still enjoying the perks of having cable TV.
Other Competition
Although Amazon Prime’s main catch is not home entertainment, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t working on building a subscriber base using that platform in the near future. Currently, Amazon Prime isn’t directly battling with cable TV – or at least, not yet.
The service has to compete with other streaming services including Netflix and Hulu. A recentreport suggests that Amazon Prime is gunning to become a major player in the streaming market and has already spent $4.5 billion on video this year.
“Retail is not the same. Shopify is enabling merchants to do everything, from anywhere.”
– Lynsey Thorton, Shopify Director of User Experience Design at Unite 2017 Conference
Shopify’s newest product announcement by Satish Kanwar, VP of Product, can be described as their certainty of eCommerce and retail becoming one. The Chip & Swipe Reader will boost in-person selling for the eCommerce platform’s over 375,000 partner shopping sites:
“Our product philosophy has always been to provide what most merchants need most of the time, and really rely on our partners and our ecosystem for everything else,” Kanwar explained to Inc. “Over the years of POS growing [since 2013], it became obvious that the credit-card reader was something that everyone needed, all of the time, to get started in retail.” The new device will have no up-front cost, and is available exclusively to users who process transactions through Shopify Payments.
“Looking forward, all small businesses are thinking multi-channel first. If someone is opening a store, whether online or retail, they’re fundamentally thinking about the combined strategy,” Kanwar said. “If I’m opening a retail store, I’m naturally now thinking about how I’m going to be promoting those products online. And if I’m opening an online store, I’m thinking about how I’m going to expand my business over time.”
By contrast, Shopify envisions a future in which “retail” and “ecommerce” aren’t separate endeavors at all reports Inc. “Looking forward, all small businesses are thinking multi-channel first. If someone is opening a store, whether online or retail, they’re fundamentally thinking about the combined strategy,” Kanwar said. “If I’m opening a retail store, I’m naturally now thinking about how I’m going to be promoting those products online. And if I’m opening an online store, I’m thinking about how I’m going to expand my business over time.”
He added, “We most certainly do see, and are excited to invite, businesses that are starting retail-first, because we believe they need an online strategy at the same time. And what Shopify does is give them both out of the box.”
“One of the overall messages we’re trying to push is that Shopify is getting serious about hardware,” said Shopify Prduct Manager David Seal to BetaKit. “We’re bridging the gap from being just a software company to also doing hardware, and we’re very much becoming a technology company. If you look at Google and Apple, who specialize in hardware and software, that’s where we’re headed too.”
Seal told BetaKit that part of the chip and card reader’s value add is that it deeply integrates with a merchant’s Shopify store, and supports over-the-air updates. Most brick-and-mortar merchants have ambitions to sell online eventually, and Shopify’s opportunity is in servicing both segments at a scale that other competitors may not reach. While merchants tend to think first about Square as a payment option, Shopify hopes that this will get more merchants identifying Shopify with payments.
Shopify also sees the device as a way for Shopify Shop owners to easily do business on the go, including pop-stores, city and farmers markets, events, etc.
All in all, it should be a great avenue for retailers and eTailers. Entrepreneurs are continaully looking to maximize every sales channel in today’s ever moving, omni-channel culture. And Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke told the Unite 2017 audience just prior to the product announcement that he’s definitely on it:
"I made every decision based on a simple heuristic: Take the path that leads to more entrepreneurs." @tobi#ShopifyUnite
The recent 2017 Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report from Dimension Data confirmed that CX is critical to executives. But, as bluntly described in the report as “the uncomfortable truth”, while 81% of companies recognize CX as a competitive differentiator, just 13% self-rate their CX delivery at 9 or above on a scale of 10. And to further the misery, a whopping 51% of the companies say they don’t have a digital strategy in place or are at best, in the process of developing one. The report cites disjointed strategies, disparate management and inconsistencies in approach as reasons for the failure to maximize customer experiences.
“The world has formed a digital skin, and business, service, technology and commercial models have changed forever. However, organizations are strategically challenged to keep pace with customer behavior.” said Joe Manuele, Group Executive – Customer Experience and Collaboration at Dimension Data.
Companies report that on average their brands have 9 different channels (online, mobile, app, phone, etc.) to interact and engage with their customers, but less than 10% have all of their channels fully connected. Manuele states that the absence of a connected digital strategy means that even when digital solutions are available, the customer is frequently not even aware of their existence. “The digital dilemma is deepening, and organizations need to choose a path between digital crisis or redemption.”
Based on bottom line results, executives are aware fully aware of CX’s importance. Over 84% of brands reported an uplift in revenue as a result of improved CX, while 79% report cost savings. With that, executives said connected customer journeys via omni-channel solutions is the top technology trend for 2017 while omni-channel solutions and customer analytics, were listed as the top factors to reshape CX capability in the next five years.
China is slowly making its presence known in the realm of financial technology. Companies like WeChat have already made serious forays in the West in a bid to court more users. China’s social media icon has already rolled out the payment platform WeChat Pay in the UK since last year. It now has plans to put up a headquarters in the country as well. WeChat’s parent company, TenCent, has already established an office in the US as it works to expand its service in the country.
