WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: wow! not often do I stumble upon a trend report that actually has valuable insights, trends and recommendations. And not too biased towards Shopify!

I pulled one chart on the importance of customer service but there are many more. Must read for anyone serious about eCommerce, big or small.

WHY IT MATTERS: this list of technology questions for 2022 feels like an answer to the question "what is digital disruption?".

We have reached a moment in time where old technologies - eCommerce or videoconferencing for example - are finally breaking into established industries. And the impact, at scale, cannot be found in technology but rather in every single industry it disrupts.

Very thoughtful piece, very good questions.

WHY IT MATTERS: search is clearly an essential component of eCommerce sites. With the move to small screen mobile devices and marketplaces with millions of products, finding what you need is not a question of browsing categories or keyword searches. eCommerce sites need AI-driven search solutions that enable users to ask questions in natural language and get personalized results in return. At least this is the claim here. With the rise of privacy, this is not easy . But data seems to suggest that users will give very personal information if and only if it delivers value to them, and indirectly for the retailer (higher conversion, etc.). Anyways, very interesting read.

WHY IT MATTERS: the covid pandemic will see a surge in "low touch" solutions (think doors that open automatically or paypass wireless payment). Here, MIT Sloan highlights that "high touch" businesses (think taxis and hotels) will have to look at technology to reduce the impact of their model in a social distancing world.

WHY IT MATTERS: the use of natural language processing is bound to impact retail. But how? Better mobile assistants to help find and buy products? Improved customer service? In store employee augmentation via kiosks or sounds analysis of shoppers? Looking forward to find more at CES and NRF...

WHY IT MATTERS: the report is not available for free but the 42 slide summary is a great overview of key trends that are presented with observations and outcome.

WHY IT MATTERS: what a difference one year makes! Last year everyone was throwing physical stores under the bus. This year, stores are the savior for retail. I kind of get the point but it comes with huge strings attached as retailers must be willing to transform to digital, embrace new technologies, and change store format (possibly trying more than one). Overall this means huge investments in relatively new and moving technologies that require an infrastructure that is often missing (think secure & high-speed network and wifi in store). Not many of my clients have the appetite or the budget ready to do it. Fun times ahead...

WHY IT MATTERS: this article manages to truly bring insights into what the future of retail may look and feel like, beyond the "new experience" buzzword. Very interesting insights.

WHY IT MATTERS: when I ask about what the "store of the future" looks like I often get descriptions of a robot-filled location with huge displays and computer kiosks. In fact the trend is to HIDE the technology to make the store experience more and more about what you had when you visited the general store of the past. Walk in and speak to an employee that is very knowledgeable about you, your needs and the products they have to sell. The only difference is that this knowledge comes from AI, cameras, sensors, and all kind of technologies that support and enhance the retail employee to make you believe they know you and their products. THAT is the magic of the store of the future. Get used to it.

WHY IT MATTERS: I read and research this topic *a lot* and find this summary is capturing some of the key issues retailers face today in their digital transformation. Must read.

WHY IT MATTERS: I often will recommend BOLD moves for digital strategies of my clients: automate entire departments, move everything to the cloud, go mobile-first, go AI-first, etc. It is disappointing to see them take more timid approaches: keep on-premise systems and slowly move to cloud, stay away from ecommerce so as not to deal with logistics issues, build a "store of the future" with a few screens and survey kiosks, etc. 

WHY IT MATTERS: blockchain is the technology behind the crypto-currency bitcoin. It has applications in many industries and this short video shows how it can be used in to track food products and prevent illnesses.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

A good digital strategy should now include smart fabrics and garments as they will become part of the trade in years to come. More leading edge companies should look at fabrics embedded with living organisms, motors and all kinds of electronics to improve confort, track progress or fatigue, reduce cleaning needs, and even, maybe, look better.

This article is part of a larger discussion on smart fabrics. Read more here: https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/23/the-future-of-fashion-and-technology/ 

Very proud to share an article I recently co-authored on CloudRaker blog with Simon Hudson. It sheds lights into the potential impacts that AI will have on retail stores.

A must read ;-)

A discussion on the impact that technology innovation has had on the election of Trump and more disruption to come from Amazon. 

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

The author presents compelling arguments about reasons why technology innovation has had such an impact and forces us to rethink most business models. Moreover the analysis of Trump's election as evidence that the power has shifted from editors and political parties to voters and end users is just brilliant and I will certainly use it in the future!

Below are some articles that describe AmazonGO technology in more detail, including a video animation. As you can see, we know very little and everyone is guessing at this time based on patent filing and an article from a consultant now hired by Amazon.

• 2013 detailed report by Brittain Ladd, ex-consultant now Amazon employee, that may be the source of some of the concepts behind Amazon GO: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beautiful-way-save-woolworths-brittain-ladd 
• Amazon 2015 patents that supports the GO store technology: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=(Steven.IN.+AND+Kessel.IN.)&OS=IN/Steven+and+IN/Kessel&RS=(IN/Steven+AND+IN/Kessel) and older one http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=%22DETECTING+ITEM+INTERACTION+AND+MOVEMENT%22&OS=%22DETECTING+ITEM+INTERACTION+AND+MOVEMENT%22&RS=%22DETECTING+ITEM+INTERACTION+AND+MOVEMENT%22 
• Very good analysis - in french - of what we know and some interesting tidbits about how Amazon may use it in the future: http://www.le-furet-du-retail.com/2016/12/amazon-go-comment-cela-marche-technologiquement-ce-que-l-on-sait-du-systeme-just-walk-out.html 
• Amazon GO website announcement and video: https://www.amazon.com/go 
• 2015 recode article that unveiled the concept a year ago - but went under my radar: http://www.recode.net/2015/3/30/11560904/we-may-have-just-uncovered-amazons-vision-for-a-new-kind-of-retail 

Various other articles:

• http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13856158/how-amazon-go-stores-work-patent
• http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/139650-what-is-amazon-go-and-how-does-it-work
• http://www.usatoday.com/videos/tech/2016/12/07/how-amazon-go-work/95111660/

Take a minute to watch the video. This is the future of retailing.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Amazon has disrupted many industries with its online business. Recently, as other digital leaders have done, Amazon is trying to bring digital revolution in the world to blend our physical and digital experiences - think Google self driving cars, Starbuck mobile phone payment and geofencing app, Apple stores that are more showrooms and help centres than stores because eCommerce is there to fulfill orders to your door, etc.

Amazon has been focussed on grocery for the past 10 years to use this weekly recurring, low cost, high volume shopping trip to the supermarket as its pathway to bring digital into the real world and blend it with online e-commerce.

With Amazon Fresh for examples they have been busy putting trucks on the road to deliver groceries to your door overnight with minimal costs. Why grocery? Because its high volume guarantees that trucks will be on the road everyday in all areas. And once trucks are running around carrying groceries they can also bring other items - books, TVs, etc. - at little or no cost, effectively making FedEx irrelevant or at least giving Amazon huge negotiation power.

I wrote about this in many blog posts, just see here: http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses?q=amazon 

Here with Amazon GO, it addresses some of the major pain points of customers in grocery stores: waiting in line at the cash register. As they've done online, Amazon focusses on its customer issues to smash them or make them so irrelevant that they are not issues anymore. See "amazon secret sauce" for insights on this: http://sco.lt/979c4P

Take Amazon Prime for example. It addresses the delivery fee issue: we do not want to have to pay for delivery. So they make it a non issue, providing 2-day delivery for free for an annual fee. Side effect: if you've paid for prime, then you spend up to 5x more at Amazon (300$ annually for average client, 1500$ for prime member), basically becoming a loyal shopper. Wow.

Back to Amazon GO and why it is important. The grocery industry has not seen a major disruption since Costco started top sell grocery in bulk format years ago - grocers ost 10% market share with that new player in the field. But today, grocery stores are the same, the layout is the same, the process is the same than it was 50 years ago. There has been little or no innovation in stores recently (last one may be the barcode in 1970s) but GO shows that there may be a perfect storm of technologies that combine to make physical stores transformation a reality:

1- mobile phones are on every customer back pocket;

2- electronic payment is everywhere, making cash almost irrelevant;

3- loyalty programs and big data allows retailers unprecedented customer knowledge and forecasting trends;

4- artificial intelligence enables real-time image analysis, feature detection, and robotic improvements.

From the concept store video and the Amazon description, all that GO is doing is applying these new technologies on a new problem set: adding and removing items to shopping basket and speeding the checkout process.

Of course, at the end of the day, the winner will not be the grocer with the best technology. It will be the one with the lowest prices and the best selection (best marketing and customer service won't hurt either). On those fronts (price & selection) Amazon GO faces huge headwinds from established grocers that have long standing relationships with suppliers and way more volume than Amazon. But it does not mean Amazon cannot provide customers with a more enjoyable, easy, fast experience - especially to millennials - which may give GO 5% or 10% of the market (the "good" 5% by the way, those that spend more and spend on higher margin items) from established retailers. And this will hurt established grocers like hell.

Also see the analysis from business insider here: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-go-grocery-store-future-photos-video-2016-12/ 

and the plans for Amazon to open up to 2000 store in the future if GO concept works: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-2000-grocery-stores-10-years-2016-10

Always interesting reading on digital transformation by Capgemini which has been at the forefront of defining digital transformation. Read this one, then flip through old ones...

Outstanding 20 minutes video that explains what geofencing is and how to it, them in layman's terms.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

We all carry mobile devices in our pockets so we are all targets for beacons and geofencing by retailers and brands. We were just getting used to being tracked everywhere we go online, and now we have become targets in the physical world as well. It is essential that we all know what level of tracking we are subjected to.

On the other hand if you are a brand or a retailer, you must know about beacons and geofencing and ensure your marketing team includes it in their digital strategy otherwise you may be missing out over your competitors.

A great blog on different elements regarding eCommerce, from strategies to solutions and statistics. Here, one post that identifies the issues that prevent ecommerce deployment.