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  • Amazon is Destined to Fail, Says Company CEO Jeff Bezos

    Amazon is Destined to Fail, Says Company CEO Jeff Bezos

    Amazon will fail. That is the surprising admission that Jeff Bezos made to his employees last week during an all-hands meeting. However, Amazon’s CEO isn’t ready to see that happening anytime soon.

    In a recording that CNBC was privy too, 54-year-old business mogul Bezos said that “Amazon is not too big to fail.” He even made a prediction that his company will inevitably fail after an employee asked about his thoughts on the Sears bankruptcy.

    “Amazon will go bankrupt,” Bezos said. “If you look at large companies, their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years.”

    It’s a little hard to imagine Amazon going under, especially when you consider that it’s valued at almost $3 trillion. However, retail history is against the company. One investor posited that all retailers would eventually go bankrupt. And while certain companies become popular, they would eventually fail to adapt, causing the business to decline and fold. Retailers that have been able to adjust and change with the times are considered exceptions.

    Amazon has so far shown its adaptability. It has given consumers what they wanted by effectively utilizing logistics and technology. But as it exceeds its revenue threshold, it will have a harder time finding alternative profit sources. At this point, there aren’t enough people or subscribers left to double their Prime membership. It has to find other avenues that it can bring online instead, like grocery or banking.

    Don’t expect Bezos to throw in the towel anytime soon, though. The investor said that Amazon’s goal now is to put off that failure for as long as possible by focusing on the consumers. According to Bezos, if the company starts to “focus on ourselves, instead of focusing on our customers, that will be the beginning of the end.”

    But customer focus is the least of Amazon’s worries, as the company is renowned for their obsession with keeping their clients happy. However, possible antitrust violations and government regulations are fast becoming a concern for Amazon.

    Bezos understands this but acknowledges that with Amazon’s size, it’s reasonable to expect that it will be closely scrutinized.

    Despite the scrutiny, Amazon’s expansion still continues. The company recently announced the two new locations it has chosen for secondary headquarters. The new “H2s,” as people have dubbed it, will be built in Queens, NY, and in Arlington, VA, with Amazon expected to hire about 50,000 employees.

    [Featured image via YouTube]

  • Booster Brings On-Demand Business Model to Gasoline

    Booster Brings On-Demand Business Model to Gasoline

    Imagine just clicking a button on an app and having your cars gas tank filled while you are working at the office. That’s what Booster Fuels is currently doing. Booster has brought the on-demand business model to fuel and it’s extremely popular in its launch markets of SF Bay, San Diego, and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. Booster Fuels co-founder and CEO Frank Maycroft says that they are selling over $180,000 per day in just those three markets and have plans to expand nationwide.

    Frank Maycroft, CEO and co-founder of Booster Fuels, talked about the companies business model and technology on CNBC:

    Push a Button for Same-Day Free Delivery Gasoline

    Amazon set a new expectation for retail. People want to push a button and get same-day free delivery. What we are able to do now is the same thing for gasoline. When you think about a gas station it hasn’t changed much in 50 years. The concept is really taking the old-world industry and leveraging mobile technology, machine learning technology to allow us to deliver gas to people without any of the inconvenience.

    We are the only company quietly roaming through parking lots looking for cars. The truck that does that has to fit within a single parking spot, has to maneuver as well as a small car, has to be connected to the cloud and communicating with all of the other mobile distributed gas stations in the Booster fleet.

    A Million Deliveries and $180,000 a Day in Revenue

    We’ve done more than a million deliveries company-wide and we will do about $180,000 of revenue in a single day. Anybody can make it so that you can push a button and get gas, but doing that in a way that doesn’t cost more than the gas station is incredibly hard. We didn’t want to have to build a subscription service. We didn’t want to have to charge fees. Our belief is service everyone by charging the same price and focus on where cars go all the time, parking lots.

    To really be inventive today you have to start from scratch with the context of what would this have looked like if you started it in the 21st Century? It’s hardware with embedded systems with software that’s communicating to the cloud, it’s procurement of fuel, it’s pricing to customers. When it all comes together that’s where the magic is.

    People Spend More on Gasoline Than They Do For All of Ecommerce.

    We like to be realists that when you look out your window there are gas-powered vehicles and that’s going to be here for a very long time. Let’s make them 3-5 percent better by improving the supply chain, reducing emissions, and reducing miles traveled.

    People spend more on gasoline than they do for all of ecommerce. People spend almost as much on gasoline as they do on groceries as a category. At the same time, we do look at alternative energy solutions. Nothing stops us from doing the same service for electric vehicles or other alternatives. It’s all based on the same technology investment, software, routing, logistics, that works for fuel.

    Nine out of ten Americans still drive to work and are either going to or coming from suburbs. Imagine ten years from now not having to think about gasoline or energy in general or things in general just getting to you where it’s most convenient for us to deliver to, most convenient for you to get it, and most cost-effective for the entire ecosystem. I think that is the way that the world is moving.

    How Booster Works:

  • Former Saks CEO: What’s Fascinating is the Convergence of Online and Stores

    Former Saks CEO: What’s Fascinating is the Convergence of Online and Stores

    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.

  • Nike Makes the Integration of Digital and Physical Retail a Reality

    Nike Makes the Integration of Digital and Physical Retail a Reality

    Nike has created an amazing store in New York City that truly integrates the digital experience with physical retail. The worlds of physical and digital are not really separated for consumers the way we may have thought says Heidi O’Neil, the President Nike Direct. Clearly, brick and mortar retail is not dead, it’s just changing and Nike is showing the world how it can be done.

    Heidi O’Neil, President of Nike Direct and Sean Madden, Senior Director of Product at Nike Direct were interviewed about Nike’s New NYC technologically enhanced flagship store by Katherine Schwab of Fast Company. You can watch the full video below:

    Physical and Digital Together Create an Incredible Consumer Experience

    “It’s interesting with all of the medium crests around the death of retail, what we found, at least with our Nike consumers, is over 80 percent of consumers actually want a physical experience as part of their shopping experience,” says Heidi O’Neil, President of Nike Direct. “The worlds of physical and digital are not really separated for consumers the way we may have thought about it when we were thinking about the death of retail. In fact, they can really support each other to make an incredible consumer experience.”

    Get Every Item on a Mannequin Head-To-Toe Digitally

    “When you come in you’ll be welcome to Nike New York,” explained Sean Madden, Senior Director of Product, Nike Direct. “On the smartphone screen is what we call Retail Home. We found based on a lot of research that consumers really love mannequins, but they get really frustrated when they can’t find the product that’s on the mannequin. Is it in your size? Is it in your color?

    “We’ve built a system where the consumer can simply scan a QR code and they’ll get every item that a mannequin is dressed in from head-to-toe digitally,” said Madden. “We’ve also enabled consumers to build a virtual Try-On List. They can then choose their size and have it sent right to their fitting room.”

    Smart Fitting Rooms Offer Lighting Options

    “Not only will the product will be waiting for you in the fitting room we’ve also introduced the ability for you to customize the look with lighting so you can see how the product looks on you and will perform in different lighting conditions,” he said. “We want consumers to understand how the product will look in different conditions, especially the New Yorker who is going from their house to sport to work to life and they want a product that can flex with them. They also take a lot of selfies in fitting rooms so good light and an interesting room really helps with that.”

    Data Powers the New Nike Speed Shop

    “We use data to inform the assortment with New Yorkers favorites in the Speed Shop,” said O’Neil. “Then what we’re also able to do from a data perspective is we’re able to take all the selling information and all the data from what’s happening in the five other floors of the store to have a trendy now experience in the Speed Shop. So as a New Yorker you don’t have to spend half the day here, a couple hours there, you can just go and say I’m getting the absolute best of this store curated for me and refreshed in the day, in the hour.”

  • Instagram Rolls Out New ‘Shopping Collection’ Feature

    Instagram Rolls Out New ‘Shopping Collection’ Feature

    Instagram has just unveiled three new functions guaranteed to please both retailers and shoppers this holiday season.

    The photo and video sharing platform just announced three ways that consumers can find new products, buy from their favorite brands, and even keep track of all their purchases. These new features will also go a long way in helping online retailers push their products.

    According to the Facebook-owned company, users can now build a “shopping collection” and save to it. They will also be able to shop on a company’s business profile as well as on feed videos.

    Shopping Collection

    Shoppers who have come across an item that captured their interest in their Feed or on Stories can now save it to their Shopping collection. To do this, they just tap on the product tag and then tap on the Save icon. It’s a fast way of making a wish list and storing gift ideas in preparation for the holidays.

    Shop on Business Profiles

    Instagram announced that it’s also working on revamping the Shop tab found on business profiles. The new design will reportedly allow retailers to quickly showcase all their products. Users who visit a brand’s profile can tap on the Shop button and see the items, along with key information like the item’s name, the post showing the item, and the price. It’s a quick way to browse a brand’s best items in one place.

    Shop in Video Feeds

    Online businesses will now have another reason to use video marketing on Instagram. The platform’s new feature will let the consumer learn more about a brand’s featured product. If a video on their Feed catches their eye, they can tap on the shopping tag to find the products being featured by the brand and get more information.

    The launch comes on the heels of Instagram’s introduction of its product stickers last September. The social channel also launched a shopping segment in Explore, a space dedicated to brands that are either new or the ones the account holder is following.

    Instagram is certainly working hard to capture an even larger slice of the sales pie, especially with the looming holiday shopping season. These new features make it easier for retailers to show shoppers what they have to offer while also helping customers save their picks.

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • How to Turn Seasonal Shoppers Into Year-Round Customers

    How to Turn Seasonal Shoppers Into Year-Round Customers

    The outlook is pretty rosy for retailers this year. The high consumer confidence and low unemployment rates mean that people have more money to burn. Deloitte’s yearly forecast for the holiday shopping season also showed that retail sales are expected to grow from 5 percent to 5.6 percent from last year. Sales could even hit $1.10 trillion.

    While the numbers look good, companies should consider that many of those shoppers are seasonal ones—people who won’t make another purchase from them for months (or ever). That is a massive missed opportunity as it costs more to catch the eye of a new customer than retaining the interest of an existing one. So make sure you take advantage of this upcoming holiday season to try and turn a seasonal shopper into a loyal customer.

    After all, a strong and loyal customer base means continued profit for your business. You have to think in terms of your client’s lifetime value (LTV). This is how much the customer will invest or spend in your store for his or her entire life. You should know how to calculate a customer’s LTV to ensure that you’re spending money on the right demographic and marketing strategy.

    There are also other ways to turn seasonal shoppers into year-round ones. Here’s how:

    Email is Still King

    Email marketing remains a very powerful marketing tool. It’s easy to use, convenient, and affordable. It also has a better response rate than direct mail and banner ads. And if used correctly, you can start developing loyalty in a seasonal shopper.

    • Send Your Thanks with an Incentive: A thank you email is one of the best ways to improve your conversion rates. Improve your open rate odds by including an incentive that will make a seasonal shopper want to visit your site again. Add a discount coupon or a freebie.
    • Add Value by Cross-selling: Use your knowledge of the shopper’s purchase history to upsell or cross-sell products. Suggest items that complement their previous purchase to start establishing a relationship with them.
    • Request Feedback: Ask your customer for their opinions on your product and service. This tells them that you value their thoughts. Plus, you can also use these feedback as social proof for future customers.

    Inspire Loyalty with Great Service

    Make customer service a priority in your business and you have a higher chance of getting that seasonal shopper to come back. Show them that you care by personalizing their shopping experience. Recommend products based on what they have viewed or placed in their carts. A 24/7 live chat is also a worthwhile option since it provides them with the customer support they need without the hassle of calling or waiting for a reply.

    Great service also means taking positive action and making amends when mistakes happen. The best brand takes care of every customer all the time, and when things go wrong, they want to see that you’re taking steps to address it. The way Starbucks handled the controversy when two of their guests were arrested is a good example. The company quickly posted a statement apologizing for what happened and stated what they’re doing to correct their policies.

    Offer Exclusive Deals or Loyalty Programs

    A loyalty program can also turn seasonal shoppers into year-round customers. It helps to engage customers and keep their attention through freebies and discounts. Design a program that will keep your customer active and in the loop. For instance, award points for every purchase made. Once they reach a certain number of points, they can redeem them for a reward or a discount. To make your brand stand out more, offer a 15 percent discount instead of the standard 10 percent.

    Reach Out to Your Customers Again

    Don’t relax just because you already made a sale. Retargeting seasonal shoppers will get them back in your shop. Remember that people are busier than usual at this time of year so you might need to remind them of the wonderful experience they’ve had with you. Send them a reminder to restock on the supplies they bought after a few months. Or email an exclusive offer to try out a new product they might like based on their past purchase.

    You can transform seasonal shoppers into regular ones. Convince them to return to your store. Send them incentives via email and enroll them in a loyalty program. Reach out to them and show that you value them. In turn, they will value and be loyal to your brand. And if you do your job well, they could even become your best brand evangelists.

    [Featured image via Pexels]

  • John Malone says Disney Needs What Apple and Amazon Have… Massive Direct Consumer Relationships

    John Malone says Disney Needs What Apple and Amazon Have… Massive Direct Consumer Relationships

    Liberty Media Chairman and legendary entrepreneur and investor John Malone says that although Disney has a great brand, what they don’t have is a massive number of direct consumer relationships.

    John Malone, Liberty Media Chairman discussed Disney with CNBC’s David Faber:

    Disney Doesn’t Have Massive Direct Consumer Relationships

    Disney has a great brand, there’s no question, and they really know the entertainment business. What they don’t have is a massive number of global credit cards. They don’t have massive direct consumer relationships at this point, and those are not easy to come by. If you look at the other people in the space, Amazon because of their retailing businesses and the creation of Prime has been able to tie into consumer interest pretty globally. It’s very easy for Amazon to sell an incremental service.

    Apple Has 650 to 700 Million Direct Consumer Relationships

    You have Apple wanting to be in this space. Apple is the big gorilla. Apple is wanting to develop a direct consumer entertainment relationship beyond music. Let’s call it into video. We’re estimating that Apple has probably 650 to 700 million direct consumer relationships in which Apple has a credit card, a lot of information about the consumer. They’ve started to put money into original content and they’re certainly having lots of discussions in and around the content industry to figure this out. They want to drive their consumer interface technology, their ecosystem, into the video space in the living room more heavily than Apple TV has so far.

    Jeff Bezos is on a Roll with his Fire Stick, Prime, and Content

    Jeff (Bezos) is on a roll with his Fire Stick and his Prime and his content, so he’s in the living room and Alexa is a is a voice-activated interface that works well, is well thought-through, well-engineered, interfaces with Netflix. I mean well engineered. So the technology side, if Disney has a problem I believe it’s going to be those two things. It’s going to be the technology platform and it’s going to be establishing those one-to-one consumer relationships.

  • How to Leverage Testimonials From Social Media to Make More Sales

    How to Leverage Testimonials From Social Media to Make More Sales

    Getting new customers to buy from you is a challenge you’ll likely have to deal with for as long as you own your business. However, a good testimonial goes a long way in swaying a person’s opinion about a product. People feel more confident buying from a brand if they see that other consumers purchased similar items and were satisfied with them.

    Research by Nielsen showed that 92 percent of consumers will trust a recommendation given by a peer and that 70 percent of shoppers trust a recommendation or review even if it’s from a stranger. Amazon and eBay understand this phenomenon well. The two online retailers have built their entire platform around customer testimonials and reviews.

    Why are Testimonials Effective

    The smart marketer understands that the most effective sales messages come from happy customers. Here’s why:

    Provides Social Proof

    Every shopper is a skeptic. They wonder whether your product really works or if other companies have already worked with you. Testimonials let satisfied customers answer the shopper’s questions. They have less doubt when they know that other people enjoyed doing business with you. This is “social proof” and it’s very powerful. It’s why advertisers use messages like “9 out of 10 doctors trust this brand.”

    Connects With Customers Emotionally

    Testimonials also help connect you with your target market on an emotional level. This is crucial as studies have shown that most shoppers make buying decisions based on their feelings. If a review or testimonial made a prospective client laugh or teary-eyed, you can bet they will remember that brand and be more open to buying it.

    Tells a Good Story 

    Testimonials are essentially stories, with the customer as the main character; the search for what they want or need is the conflict and your product or service as the resolution. A well-written review or testimonial is like a story with a happy ending; people really love happy endings. 

    5 Ways to Leverage Testimonials From Social Media

    1. Highlight Positive Testimonials on Your Website

    Put your testimonials to good use by highlighting them on your website’s service or product pages. They can help create leads and drive conversions. Prospective buyers will be more amenable to making a purchase if they see testimonials from satisfied clients while browsing through your products.

    You can actually integrate reviews and testimonials on any page, like the home page, About and Contact pages. But make sure that the testimonial you’ll feature is relevant. For instance, a testimonial applauding your team is better suited in the About page than the landing page.

    2. Incorporate Testimonials into Your Blog

    Every visitor to your blog is a prospective customer. Incorporating testimonials within the content can capture the reader’s interest. However, they should be placed where they won’t detract from what the visitor is reading, like in the sidebar. In their own way, testimonials also add content to your site. They also make your brand appear more trustworthy and valuable to first-time site visitors.

    3. Utilize a Variety of Formats

    There’s no law stating that testimonials should only be written. Audio or video testimonials are considered to be more effective since they feel more personal and real.

    Don’t be afraid of asking a loyal and satisfied customer to record a review or shoot a small video. You can even join them and make it appear like an interview. But regardless of whether it’s a sound clip or video, make sure you coordinate with the client so they know what to expect and prepare accordingly. The testimonial should also be short and concise.

    4. Add them to Printed Material

    Print marketing still carries a lot of punch today, and one study explains that this is because printed material feels “more real to the brain.” Handling something solid, like flyers or brochures, involve deeper emotional processing, which is vital for brand associations. Including client testimonials to your print marketing materials will add more weight to them.

    5. Have a Testimonial Page

    Even if you have included testimonials on your website, blog, and social media posts, it’s still a good idea to have a separate testimonials page where you can place the most positive reviews. Prospective clients will see these are further evidence that they are making the right choice in choosing you.

    Testimonials are a powerful marketing tool that you should not be afraid to use. Ask your customers to vouch for you. Satisfied clients are only too happy to provide a good word for a brand that they like. Integrate these testimonials in your different marketing strategies so more people will see why they should choose your brand.

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • Former Walmart CEO says Amazon is “Predatory” Almost by Definition

    Former Walmart CEO says Amazon is “Predatory” Almost by Definition

    Former Walmart CEO Bill Simon says that Amazon has been “predatory” by selling goods below cost subsidized by profits from their cloud and advertising businesses. Simon says that this strategy put major competitors like Circuit City and Toys R Us out of business allowing Walmart to then raise the price of Prime without losing their customers.

    Bill Simon, a former Walmart CEO, discussed Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba in an interview on Fox Business which can be watched below:

    Amazon Behavior Has Been Predatory by Definition

    I’ve not been an advocate of breaking Amazon up. I’ve been an advocate of really looking at them hard and maybe having them report more details in segment reporting. They just sort of smush everything up into one number and report and I don’t think that gives clarity to the investor. If you really think about it their behavior has been predatory almost by definition. In 2014 they took the price of Prime up right after Circuit City and some others went out of business. They took another price increase to $129 for Prime and Toys R Us is gone.

    The consumer loves them, it’s awesome, I use them all the time, it’s really great to have the stuff delivered. But you see them putting people out of business and raising their price, and then again putting people out of business and raising their price, and that’s just not right.

    Didn’t Walmart Put Competitors Out of Business? Walmart did it for years and years by being a good retailer, not by selling below cost and subsidizing it from income from the cloud and from advertising. Walmart just bought well, moved it well, shipped it well, sold it well, and did it better than anybody else. That’s a different play. It’s sort of like if Exxon decided to get into the restaurant business and used oil revenue to drive restaurant companies out of business.

    How Does Alibaba Compare to Amazon? I love Alibaba. I’ve been in their stock for a while and it is just a terrific business. They’ve got a little bit of a different business model than Amazon. They built it differently because they have much more population density across their key markets than Amazon does other than the main metro’s in the US. I think they have a better opportunity to move the product and eventually, one day make money. I don’t think Amazon has that.

    Walmart Successfully Went After Digital Business

    Walmart stated a couple of years ago that they were really going to go after the digital business and they’ve done that. They have done it really well. They bought Jet, they just invested in Flipkart, they bought Bonobos, and they’ve bought a lot of other things. It sort of puts some juice back in the business.

    On the other hand, three years ago they delivered $29 billion in operating income, last year they delivered $20 billion, and they have already sort of warned that they are going to be below that this year. It’s come at a really steep price but they are doing exactly what they said they are going to do and if you are an investor who likes that strategy you’re buying.

    People Don’t Want Their Groceries Delivered

    Grocery is hard, it’s really hard. It took Walmart 20-25 years to get average at it, nevermind good. When Amazon bought Whole Foods, they not only bought a grocer, they bought a premium fresh grocer. That’s really hard to deliver and to deliver consistently and I think they are finding that out. Part of the problem is that people generally don’t want to have their groceries delivered.

    Most cities, other than New York and San Francisco and older cities, were built in and around the time and grew with the interstate highway system. So people in Dallas commute to and from work and they pass 20 grocery stores. They don’t need it delivered to them. They don’t want it sitting on their doorstep but it would be really nice if they could pick it up on their way home and not have to shop for it. That’s the theory behind Click and Collect and I think that’s a winner.

  • UNCS CEO: It’s an Amazing Time To Be a Consumer… Every Day is Black Friday

    UNCS CEO: It’s an Amazing Time To Be a Consumer… Every Day is Black Friday

    The CEO of United National Consumer Suppliers, Brett Rose, says that it’s an amazing time to be a consumer because every day is Black Friday. Rose predicts that this is going to possibly be the biggest Q4 in our history.

    Brett Rose, CEO of United National Consumer Suppliers, discussed Amazon and ecommerce in an interview on Fox Business:

    Amazon Has Huge Competitive Advantage

    All things considered, consumers want free shipping, not quick shipping. However, if all levels are equal with Amazon, Target, and Walmart, the one competitive advantage that Amazon has, that Target and Walmart can’t, is that Amazon has millions of these third-party resellers constantly filling their coffers with products. Target and Walmart are limited to what they have in stock that’s ready to go.

    There is no denying that Walmart has made some massive strides. But to come after Amazon is hefty. Like I said Amazon has a constant supply of products where their not just limited to what they’re curating on their own. They’re limitless in regards to what everybody is sending to them to go right to the consumer.

    Every Day is Black Friday

    Interesting times with tariffs. If you read everything that came out Chinese imports are up 15 percent over the same time last year. They’ve all front-loaded in preparations for the President’s tariffs which are now in full effect. All of these retailers pushed up orders in what might have otherwise taken months. It’s yet to be determined, but consumers still need goods. There’s always going to be a need, the price is just going to fluctuate.

    If numbers are indicative, everything these retailers are curating and everything the street is saying, it’s going to be one of if not the biggest Q4 in our history. Even if you look at Black Friday announcements, Black Friday is out already. Amazon has released their Black Friday items. BlackFriday.com, Macy’s, went live the other day with their sales. Retailers are vamping up to stay competitive. You go online now and you can figure out what retailers are selling for Black Friday.

    It’s an amazing time to be a consumer. Every day is Black Friday. Right now it really is. They’ve already released what the doorbusters are going to be.

    Still a Major Value in Having a Physical Presence

    There’s always going to be the consumer that likes to go to the store, likes to feel it, touch it, get the treasure hunt, but now with real-time shipping, free shipping, real-time inventory, it’s a great time to be a consumer. It’s certainly competitive. While Amazon is making strides they are still going after brick & mortar. Buying Whole Foods and some of the other retailers they are looking at, says there is still a major value in having that physical presence.

  • How eCommerce Businesses Can Prevent Fraud in 2018 Holiday Season

    How eCommerce Businesses Can Prevent Fraud in 2018 Holiday Season

    Given the dynamic nature of the internet, it’s not surprising to also see frequent changes in consumer buying behavior, which online retailers try to predict and cater to on various digital platforms. Convenience and revenue growth of eCommerce businesses, however, come with a price in the form of fraud.

    Sales transactions from online merchants are on an uptrend, but attacks on eCommerce businesses have alarmingly increased as well. Based on the first-quarter report by ThreatMetrix, 210 million cyber attacks were prevented in real time from January to March 2018 – up by 62 percent from prior year. Some of these attacks have cost the eCommerce industry a whopping $58 billion in losses in 2017, according to the Global Fraud Report done by PYMNTS and Signifyd.

    Image result for threatmetrix fraud report

    Image source: ThreatMatrix (2017 Cybercrime Report)

    With the upcoming holiday season, incidents of digital fraud are expected to further rise in the eCommerce industry. Avoid the pitfalls of fraud by proactively taking steps to detect its forms and prevent them from hurting your bottom line, which can be significant for some eCommerce businesses. Fraudulent purchases can translate to chargebacks from affected online retailers, resulting in financial losses.

    Pay particular attention to these three kinds of eCommerce fraud:

    Types of eCommerce Fraud

    1. Identity Theft

    Among the most common type of fraud, identity theft has been a long-running scheme of cybercriminals. Identities, along with credit card information and addresses, are stolen using the latest techniques on data hacking, malware, and theft of mobile devices, which are then used to purchase from online merchants. Aside from stolen identities of actual individuals, fraudsters can also fabricate fictitious or manipulated personalities and use these instead during transactions.

    2. Friendly Fraud

    Sometimes called “chargeback fraud,” friendly fraud happens when customers call their credit card issuer and dispute the charge. While some fraud incidents are due to misunderstanding, others are done with malicious intent. Dishonest consumers will claim that they never received the item, heavily damaged, or not as described, requesting refunds from the online retailer after getting the package.

    3. Phishing

    This type of fraud is rampant and requires technical capability, as fraudsters pretend to be a company or eCommerce platform to trick customers into typing in personal information on a rigged form. Phishing emails often contain a warning to customers that their accounts have been compromised and need to input details like user ID, password, and personal information as proof of their identity. Armed with an individual’s stolen details, fraudsters can use these to make online purchases or transfer money to another account.

    How Online Merchants Can Protect Against Fraud

    To minimize the increasing risk for eCommerce fraud, there are a few things that you, as a business owner, can do. A proactive approach, rather than a reactive one, is more effective in preventing fraud from happening and taking a cut of your profits, especially during the holiday rush.

    1. Have a good fraud protection system in place.

    Before the buying frenzy of the holidays begins, ensure that your business has fraud prevention and chargeback protection systems set up. There are numerous tools available on the market, so choose one that fits your business needs. It’s a cost-effective solution that’s well worth the investment in the long run.

    2. Use a prevention system that combines human and artificial intelligence.

    While machine learning can effectively analyze patterns of fraud based on millions of transactional data, it still takes human intelligence to know something is off with a transaction.

    3. Take advantage of the verification process as well.

    To mitigate eCommerce fraud, make use of a good address verification system. This will confirm whether the bill-to and ship-to addresses are similar, along with email address and location as part of a customer’s identity verification when the transaction happened. An extra layer of protection helps by employing the card verification value to ensure that the customer holds or has access to the actual credit card.

    Image result for ecommerce fraud 2018

    Image source: Amasty

    4. Use email authentication.

    Even though email fraud is a far-too-common occurrence, you still need a good authentication system for your business. Authentication systems with Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance will give you a heads up if an email contains dubious links or potential threats. Aside from protecting your eCommerce business against fraud, email authentication assures your customers that what you send is trustworthy.

    5. Determine transaction origins.

    Each electronic device has a particular fraud profile and depending on what was used for the transaction, you can gauge and screen for potential eCommerce fraud. Device assessment assists online merchants in identifying transactions made by bots, flagging anomalous purchases through account takeovers, and highlighting malicious intents. 

     

    When consumer spending picks up during the holiday season, it is expected that eCommerce fraud will gain momentum as well. Ensure that your business is not losing money from fraudulent transactions by beefing up your prevention and authentication systems and keeping them updated with the latest patches. 

    [Featured image via Pexels]

  • FedEx CEO Says Amazon’s Own Delivery System Will Take Business From USPS, Not FedEx

    FedEx CEO Says Amazon’s Own Delivery System Will Take Business From USPS, Not FedEx

    Fred Smith, founder, and CEO of FedEx told Bloomberg this morning that they don’t see any negative impact from Amazon doing more of their deliveries themselves. Smith says that the biggest entity that will lose business as Amazon implements its own delivery force is the US Postal Service:

    “I don’t think it (Amazon’s split HQ announcement) has too much to do with FedEx,” said Smith. “You’ve got to remember that Amazon is delivering things from their fulfillment center to customers. We’re picking up, transporting, and delivering things from every person and business in the world to every other business. The biggest single provider of delivery services to the Amazon fulfillment network is not us, it’s the US Postal Service. They’re the ones that Amazon’s proprietary or indigenous delivery system will take the most volume from.”

    “Amazon’s a good customer” Smith added. “We think they will be a bigger customer in the years to come if they continue to grow and they certainly should, but they are going to do some of their deliveries themselves for many reasons. The biggest single entity that will lose traffic as Amazon puts out its contractor delivery force is the US Postal Service.”

    Amazon is actively marketing their Amazon Delivery Service Partner program, seeking independent contractors to deliver packages from their fulfillment centers to customers. They are literally encouraging people to start their own business:

    We are looking for hands-on leaders who are passionate about hiring and coaching great teams. With low startup costs, built-in demand, and access to Amazon’s technology and logistics experience, this is an opportunity to build and grow a successful package delivery business. Join a community of Amazon Delivery Service Partners in one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.

    Amazon is also hiring drivers directly as part of its new last-mile shipping program according to Business Insider:

    For the first time, the company is planning to hire and manage thousands of full-time drivers to transport packages to customers from Amazon delivery outposts across the US, the company confirmed to Business Insider on Monday.

    Amazon will manage these drivers directly, meaning the company will set their wages, provide them delivery vehicles, and schedule their routes. The drivers are seasonal but will have the option to apply to continue their employment with Amazon following the holiday season.

    “Seasonal employees have long been utilized to supplement capacity during peak shopping periods,” an Amazon spokeswoman said. “This holiday, thousands of full-time, seasonal Delivery Associates will deliver to customers during the busy retail shopping season.”

  • Western Union CEO on Amazon Partnership: Buy Globally and Pay Locally

    Western Union CEO on Amazon Partnership: Buy Globally and Pay Locally

    Western Union has partnered with Amazon to white label their cross-border money transfer platform. “Amazon engaged us to use our platform to service their customers in a better way in order to give access to the millions of customers who don’t have an access today to buy online and pay,” said Hikmet Ersek, the CEO of Western Union. “In the future, they will have the capability to buy globally and pay locally.”

    Hikmet Ersek, President, CEO, Western Union, recently discussed the new partnership with Amazon, competition with Zelle and Vinmo, and the overall health of the business:

    Western Union Digital Business is Growing Very Well

    Our digital business is growing very well year over year. We are now in 50 countries with our digital business sending money to over 200 countries. We pretty much cover the world with digital. Our digital growth is very strong. Our retail money transfer business has been stable. In some countries, we have been a little bit slower like in the Middle East, but we had very strong growth in Europe and US outbound business. Our US domestic business has been a little bit slower than we thought. Generally, I would say that we had a very stable solid quarter and we are very excited about the future.

    You Can’t Send Money From Your Mobile

    US to Domestic there has been some competitive environment. Nothing changed like last quarter. We have certain customers that like to pick up cash immediately. Nobody can beat that. You can’t send (cash) money from your mobile. We pay out in cash immediately. There are also competitors like Zelle and Vinmo who have been capturing some market share there with their zero fee environment. That has definitely been US dominated but is only a small part of our business, seven percent of our revenues. We are more focused on the outbound business, global cross-border business. That has been growing very well.

    Western Union is White Labeling Platform to Amazon

    Amazon has engaged us, over the years we have been building a cross-border platform, which is unique. We are moving transactions in 132 currencies globally and we do about 32 transactions every second. We have a network of 550,000 locations. We are reaching out to about 4 billion accounts globally. This is a unique platform where today we serve our customers with this platform.

    Companies like Amazon engaged us to use our platform to service their customers in a better way in order to give access to the millions of customers who don’t have an access today to buy online and pay. In the future, they will have the capability to buy globally and pay locally.

    The Amazon partnership is for us very exciting because now suddenly we are opening our platform to new customer segments, white labeling to other organizations like Amazon. Today, we are serving our existing customers with our branded transactions. In the future, we will be able to serve huge organizations like Amazon, or Amazon will engage us with other organizations, to engage our platform and to use our platform to serve their customers.

    Paying Amazon Has Been a Real Obstacle for Some

    “There are people in the world who want greater access to Amazon’s huge product selection but paying for those purchases has been a real obstacle for many customers,” said Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO of Western Union. “We’re leveraging our money movement platform to make it easier to shop global and pay local. By facilitating the complex foreign exchange and settlement process, we’re opening up more consumer choices and access to online shopping for tens of millions of potential new Amazon customers.”

    Forrester Research estimates that cross-border shopping will make up 20% of e-commerce by 2022, with sales reaching $630 billion. Choice, quality and cost are the main motivations for consumers to shop online from overseas, but there are challenges and concerns about the lack of payment options for consumers who prefer to pay in person or consumers who are not comfortable using online payment methods.

  • SAP CEO: It’s All About the Customer Experience

    SAP CEO: It’s All About the Customer Experience

    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.

  • James Patterson Says He is Releasing New Book ‘The Chef’ on Facebook Messenger

    James Patterson Says He is Releasing New Book ‘The Chef’ on Facebook Messenger

    James Patterson is releasing his next book “The Chef” on Facebook Messenger. It will be a hybrid combining the written word with video and photography in an attempt to appeal to the millions of millennials that are on Facebook and tend not to read literature.

    James Patterson, author of “The Chef” discussed this novel marketing strategy of releasing a hybrid book with video in an interview on CNBC:

    It’s About Drawing Attention to Books

    This is about just drawing attention to publishing to books. Books don’t get as much so we’re trying new things. What this is and what’s exciting about it to me is you read the book and then it goes to film and you read the book and it goes to film and you read the book and it goes to film. It’s kind of like a bookie, a book meets a movie, and it’s free on Facebook Messenger.

    Why did I do that? Why would I give away a book for free? It just draws more attention to books which I think publishers need to do more of that. It’s a good story and you’ve never ever seen anything like it. It’s just so different.

    Combining Film, Photography, Books, and Text

    I think that a lot of people go out to Messenger and it’s about a three-hour experience, the whole thing, and that’ll be a success. We’re gonna put it out in book form in February and it will be longer and available at a regular price.

    Literally, you’re reading text and then all of a sudden you see film of what you were reading about. Then it’ll come back and then it might go to photography the next thing and then it might go to newspaper headlines, so it’s just different. This just goes on for about three hours and you can watch it on your phone obviously or on your computer.

    I love that idea of combining film, photography, books, and text. We went to Facebook and they said, yeah we’re in. They thought it was an exciting thing to do and different and they need content obviously. Well, I shouldn’t say what they need, that’s for Mark and Sheryl and I don’t know, but I think they need content, so here we are.

    We Need Publishers That Are Willing to Experiment

    I think it’s a mixed bag. I think independent bookstores are doing better. The whole retail business is in flux, obviously, because so much is done online. So hopefully, Barnes & Noble will rebound and I think they will. We miss Borders.

    Maybe 20 years from now, who knows, maybe it’ll all be done online, but for the moment in this country we really need literature and that can’t be done online right now. We need good publishers that are willing to experiment and do things that are unusual.

    Amazon Has Lightened Up Which is Great

    I think Amazon has lightened up which I think is great. They’re in a position to do a lot of good. Initially, the sort of back and forth between them and publishers I didn’t think was healthy. I do think we need strong publishers and I think we need bookstores out in the world right now. As they say, that may change.

    I’ve changed my tune a little bit. I think they’re doing a better job now, there isn’t that back and forth thing that they were having with publishers. I like that Jeff is giving away a lot of money, I think that’s good.

    Facebook Messenger… Yay.

  • Ethan Allen CEO: Brick and Mortar by Itself is Not Relevant

    Ethan Allen CEO: Brick and Mortar by Itself is Not Relevant

    Ethan Allen CEO Farooq Kathwari made a bold point for a furniture retailer in a recent interview, following their quarterly earnings announcement: Brick and mortar by itself is not relevant.

    “Today we know that brick and mortar by itself is not relevant unless you are in a position to provide service,” Kathwari said. “Providing an interior design service is a great advantage and that’s what we are focused on.”

    Kathwari says the key is to use online not just for sales but also for customer outreach.

    Farooq Kathwari, chairman, president, and chief executive officer at Ethan Allen talks about how the company has made brick and mortar relevant again:

    Brick and Mortar by Itself is Not Relevant

    I discussed in our earnings call about the fact that today you have to differentiate yourself. You have to be in a position to be relevant. We have at Ethan Allen 1,200 interior designers that work for us in North America and about 500 internationally. We have 200 design centers. These 200 design centers are like brick and mortar.

    Today we know that brick and mortar by itself is not relevant unless you are in a position to provide service. Providing an interior design service is a great advantage and that’s what we are focused on.

    Less than 5 Percent of Sales are Online

    We absolutely are trying to appeal to millennials online. However, our online strategy is a bit different. We have today over 600 of our interior designers chatting online. So we are online. Our designers are working with clients and then bringing them into the design centers because we want them to see the product. We want them to experience it because this is not selling small stuff or toys, this is a serious purchase. Our online is very active and we are bringing people in.

    Our advertising is more in the traditional mediums and the digital mediums. We spend a fair amount on direct mail to about 2 million households a month. Digital mediums are strong. A combination of the two is very relevant. One has to do that.

  • Heathrow Airport: How We Achieved a 20% Email Open Rate and 25% Click Through via Adobe

    Heathrow Airport: How We Achieved a 20% Email Open Rate and 25% Click Through via Adobe

    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.

  • Pinterest’s Latest ‘Product Pin’ Feature Gives Sellers 40% More Clicks

    Pinterest’s Latest ‘Product Pin’ Feature Gives Sellers 40% More Clicks

    Pinterest is doing everything it can to make shopping even better for its users. The visual sharing platform recently introduced Product Pins, Shopping Recommendations, and a new shortcut. These new features aim to provide its 250 million active Pinners with a more intuitive and streamlined shopping experience.

    The first of these features is the Shopping Recommendations area in the women’s fashion and home décor categories. Pinners who view a pin in these groupings will see a new section showing “products like this.” The company states the recommended pins are visually similar to the items the customer is interested in. Each of these recommended pins will be called Product Pins.

    An enhanced version of the Buyable Pins, the Product Pin shows users the item’s current price and stock availability. The update is also designed to keep the users inside the platform. A lot of Pinners have expressed their frustration of going to an item’s product page only to find out that it’s out of stock. Product Pins will do away with that frustration. Pinners who tap on the pin will see a shopping tag icon. Hitting that tag will automatically send the user to the retailer’s checkout page. They then simply add the item to the card and finish the purchase. Less clicks, less frustration, more sales.

    Pinterest is reportedly phasing out its Buyer Pin program in favor of these new features. According to Tim Weingarten, Pinterest’s head of shopping product, not only are Product Pins “more personable,” but consumers also prefer to purchase pinned products directly from the merchant’s website.

    The company is also incorporating a shortcut that will make browsing Product Pins even faster. Users simply tap and hold on a pin to start a shortcut reel. It sends consumers to a page where they can find the relevant information about the item, along with other related products. The reel also includes a shopping tag shortcuts as well as save and send shortcuts.

    Pinterest is building themselves up as the consumer’s personal stylist. Weingarten explained in a blog post that their vision is to give users who see something they like on the platform the capability to buy it or something similar to it. It’s why the upgraded Pinterest “can give you recommendations for products based on your unique taste and what’s trending, and show you a range of visual ideas.”

    The company has commenced testing these new features last quarter, and the clicks on retail products have reportedly increased by as much as 40 percent. This will certainly help Pinterest’s goal of becoming a more “shoppable” platform.

    Pinners around the world can now enjoy Product Pins while Shopping Recommendations are currently limited to the U.S. However, it’s expected to roll out globally soon. The shopping shortcut is now available via an iOS app update but Android users will have to wait for a while.

    [Featured image via Pexels]

  • Why Would I Want My Underpants Connected to the Internet?

    Why Would I Want My Underpants Connected to the Internet?

    There was a session at the recent GeekWire Summit on how the IoT explosion will impact retail stores where underpants were discussed. It’s humous but very illustrative of how every item in every store, electronic or not, will be tracked in order to provide personalized shopping experiences and to bring massive efficiencies to the supply chain.

    Below is a conversation with Hointer CEO Nadia Shouraboura and Impinj CEO Chris Diorio on the importance of all items, even underpants, being eventually connected to the internet:

    Hointer CEO Nadia Shouraboura – What is the Internet of Things?

    The Internet of Things is just one part of the puzzle and many things need to come together to make this puzzle happen. For example, in the retail space, product is very important, price is very important, but experience is very important too, so IOT is just one part of that puzzle.

    Impinj CEO Chris Diorio – Connect Every Item in the World

    Impinj builds products around a certain type of RFID technology called Rain for radio identification. Our vision is to connect every item in your everyday world to the Internet, everything. Every apparel item, every food item, just literally have connectivity for every item in the world. Impinj has connected more than 25 billion items to date and more than seven billion last year alone.

    We connect those items wirelessly and what we’re focused on delivering is for each item is its unique identity, its location, and its authenticity, and in so doing extending the reach of the Internet to everybody and to everyday items. For us, the Internet of Things truly means things, not just connectivity for powered electronic devices, but for everything, and in so doing bring benefits to industries and consumers.

    Impinj CEO Chris Diorio –   Connecting Underpants?

    When you go into the store and you want to find the ones that you want to buy in the right size and the right type if you’re like me you know exactly what you want to buy and when you go in the store you want it to be there. If it’s not there because the supply chain inefficiencies you’re probably not going to buy anything.

    Hointer CEO Nadia Shouraboura – IoT and Underpants

    The importance of IoT to underpants is to measure results and what IoT delivers in terms of results. One thing which is important when you think about Underpants is sex. To me, sex is defined by two metrics which is quantity and quality. What I discovered personally is, for example, IoT lights, beautiful lights.

    The experience is you come in and you’re tired and you don’t want to think about sex and suddenly the whole room turns to your mood in soft blue and it genuinely works. If you measure IoT devices and lights and its correlation with quantity and quality of sex in underpants there is a very strong correlation. That’s an example of the impact of IoT to your underpants.

    Impinj CEO Chris Diorio – Even Your Underpants

    There’s a retailer that we work within France that if you are a consumer and you walk into the store, there’s a kiosk you basically where you decide what you want and when you click the item within 90 seconds the item comes down in a little tube like they used to have in the banks. A little tube comes down with your little capsule with exactly what you want to buy. Just check it out right there just walk out of the store, even if it’s your underpants.

  • Thinking About Using AI to Recruit New Staff? Amazon’s Failed Experiment Might Have You Thinking Twice

    Thinking About Using AI to Recruit New Staff? Amazon’s Failed Experiment Might Have You Thinking Twice

    Companies that are planning to use artificial intelligence for recruitment should think twice before doing that. A new report revealed that Amazon’s AI machine learned gender bias and weeded out women as potential job candidates. The machine even downgraded applicants based on the school they attended.

    A growing number of employers are using AI to boost the efficiency of their hiring process. The machine can be utilized to evaluate resumes, narrow down a list of applicants, and recommend candidates for the right post within a company. It can then pass on its findings to its live counterpart for human assessment. While AI is an effective tool for screening resumes, it has been shown to develop bias, as proven by Amazon’s experiment.

    Reuters reported that the retail giant spent several years developing an AI that would vet job applicants. The machine was trained to look at the resumes that the company received for the past ten years. But as most of these applications were from male applicants, the patterns the AI identified were strongly oriented to that sex. In short, Amazon’s AI learned gender bias.

    For instance, the AI developed a preference for terms like “captured” or “executed,” which were words commonly used by male engineers. The machine also began to penalize applications that included the word “women” or “women’s.” So describing yourself as the head of the “women’s physics club” was a strike against you.

    A source familiar with Amazon’s AI program also admitted that the machine even downgraded applicants who graduated from two all-women’s universities. The names of the universities were not specified in the report.

    The bias shown by the AI’s algorithm became noticeable a year after the project started, and Amazon admittedly tried to correct its AI. The company’s engineers initially edited the system to make it neutral to these specific words. However, there was no way of proving that the machine would not learn another way to sort candidates in a discriminatory manner.

    The project was eventually shelved in 2017 because company executives lost confidence in it. The AI also reportedly failed at providing choices for strong and effective job candidates.

    Fortunately for Amazon, the AI hiring experiment was just a trial run. The machine was never utilized by a larger group and was never used as the main recruiting agent. Nevertheless, the possibility is high that a qualified applicant was weeded out simply because she was a woman and did not think to use a masculine term like “capture.”

    [Featured image via Pexels]

  • NYU Stern Professor Scott Galloway: Amazon is a Monopoly that Should be Broken Up

    NYU Stern Professor Scott Galloway: Amazon is a Monopoly that Should be Broken Up

    NYU Stern Professor Scott Galloway says that Amazon is a monopoly that should be broken up. “When one company can take down the price of any other consumer company, almost by a third, just with press releases, I would argue that the markets are no longer competitive. The key to this great system we call capitalism is that no one player has too much power,” stated Stern.

    Scott Gallowy, NYU Stern Professor, recommended that Amazon should be broken up in an interview on Fox Business:

    Jeff Bezos Lost the Value of Nordstrom Yesterday

    I believe that Amazon from an investors perspective is probably a buy. Essentially, you had a company whose valuation may have gotten a little bit over its skis. Rising interest rates, the threat of a slowdown, and also the specter of regulation took this stock down. I think Jeff Bezos actually lost the value of Nordstrom just personally yesterday, his net worth declined $9 billion. I would argue from a strictly economic, business, and shareholder standpoint, Amazon has never been stronger. Whenever they bump up against any big tech companies they’re winning.

    Amazon is Effectively a Monopoly

    My issue is that when you have one company that controls 50 percent of all ecommerce, that small companies never get out of the crib and large companies are prematurely euthanized, who tend to be better taxpayers and employers. While it’s great for shareholders to have shares in a company that is effectively a monopoly, in a growing economy I would argue that we have a proud history of moving in on companies in terms of antitrust regulation and we’re at that point in the economy with Amazon.

    Won’t the Markets Take Care of This?

    Walmart was hauled before Congress when they were at 11 percent of retail and Amazon was only at 6 percent. However, I think a more apt analogy would be railroads or Ma Bell or even Standard Oil, where we decided that effectively the markets were no longer competitive. You now have a company where if it just puts out a press release saying that it will address health care costs, and we don’t even know if that means they are giving employees gym memberships or that meant that they are starting an HMO, on opening bell the healthcare industry sheds $31 billion in value.

    Good for Shareholder, Good for the Company, Good For the Planet

    When one company can take down the price of any other consumer company, almost by a third, just with press releases, I would argue that the markets are no longer competitive. The key to this great system we call capitalism is that no one player has too much power. In addition, I think if you broke up Amazon shareholders might benefit. If you spun AWS, soon after the spin the two companies in aggregate might be worth more than the two companies combined. So good for the shareholders, good for the company, good for the planet.