News and Analysis
Amazon Pursues Retail-as-a-Service, Looking to Sell Go Tech to Cinemas, Airports
This time, it’s not Amazon Web Services, the cloud underpinning Amazon’s operations and those of other companies around the world, but Amazon’s Go technology that is being peddled to new clients. Bezos’ e-commerce behemoth is in talks to sell the flashy cashierless solution to movie theaters and airports, CNBC reported.
If Amazon is successful, the play to sell Go to other businesses may some day turn what now appears a revolutionary technical advance (with potentially devastating consequences for cashiers) into a commonplace asset. Just as AWS, the B2B play partially financing Amazon’s low-margin retail biz, supports thousands of businesses unbeknownst to their customers, Go-as-a-service could come to change all of retail without many consumers even realizing Amazon is behind changing checkout norms.
These Retailers Are Using Mapping Tech to Change the Shopping Experience
Over the past few years, a number of national retailers have added mapping technology into their mobile apps. Even more retailers have given store associates handheld devices with integrated indoor location features, putting the answers to frequently asked questions—like where products are located and how to get to certain store departments—at their fingertips.
Even though location and mapping technology is embedded into many consumer-facing shopping apps, and it’s used by retailers to fuel both their marketing initiatives and back-end operations, publicly explained use cases from retail brands are rare. Here are five examples of how retailers are applying the technology and using mapping to fundamentally change the in-store shopping experience.
What Comes Next for Indoor Navigation? Enterprise Success, SMB Struggles
Gimbal COO and CMO Matthew Russo says that at scale, indoor location technology is advanced enough that it works incredibly well. Russo says that at Gimbal, he has worked with major brand clients who are able to understand when a VIP walks into their lobby. They also know if the customer has waited too long at a check-in line, and they’re able to present customers with special offers or keyless check-ins at their rooms.
“But if you’re a pizzeria owner with a single storefront looking to send a push notification to people walking by, you probably won’t see the results you’re hoping for,” Russo says.
Could those scaling issues be holding back the indoor navigation industry, and if so, what’s the solution?
Commentary
Can Yelp Extend Its Moment in the Sun?
“[Yelp has] not been very innovative in approaching the many needs of the SMB markets,” Mike Blumenthal writes to David Mihm. “It would seem that there could be (or should have been?) a raft of functionality that they could provide from appointments to customer follow-up that would be a natural fit.”
Latest Posts
Thanx CEO: Loyalty Programs Using Data to Better Identify ROI
“You don’t want to spend money to collect data if it doesn’t change your revenue, and you want your revenue to deliver value,” says Thanx CEO Zach Goldstein. “A negative ROI on your marketing would say, ‘I should stop doing that,’ and a positive ROI should say, ‘I should do more of that.'”
Street Fight Kicks Off 2nd Annual Local Visionary Awards
Have you got the goods to take home a belt? For five-plus years, we have tracked the evolution of local, from the trendy daily deals then to the trendy chatbots today. Local is continuously inventing and innovating, and for the second year in a row, we’re honoring the best of these developments with our Local Visionary Awards.
Street Fight Daily: News Sharing Remains Low-Tech, DoorDash CEO’s Crowded Sector
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Street Culture: Seattle Food Startup Delivers Culture to Chef Partners
When building trust and loyalty with both customers and employees, the company mission is a backbone often referred back to for consistency and clarity. Food ordering/delivery startups Lish’s three company values are the focus on the customer, quality, and variety, says CEO Aakhil Fardeen.
Lessons for Mobile Marketers From Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends Report
The report focuses on several trends that should be of interest to retail marketers and their mobile marketing strategies. For starters, there is less differentiation between products, brands, and retailers. These days, products evolve into brands, brands become retailers, and retailers become products.
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