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It's the most wonderful time of the year — for consumers and tech companies alike. 
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L’entreprise montréalaise BonLook se targue d’être la première à vendre des lunettes de prescription en ligne de façon légale au Québec. Or, le syndic de l’Ordre des optométristes du Québec (OOQ) est en train d’enquêter sur ses activités afin de déterminer si cette prétention est exacte, a a&hel
Farid Mheir's insight:
In french. Very good article to demonstrate how industries blind themselves to digital transformation. In this case the professional board of optometrists prevents the sale of prescription glasses online, stating that certain measurements are very specific and must be done by an optometrist. And the regulation was perfect in the age of physical stores, where competitors were across the street or across town. With Internet, this rule does not apply anymore. Competitors may be anywhere, in the US, Europe or India. And they are not subject to the same rules. This makes the regulation that was once created to protect the public and level the competitive playing field, is now hurting the local optometrists. And the same is true with other professional boards, pharmacists for example (it is not easy to sell prescription drugs online in Quebec, but very easy to buy prescriptions online from US or elsewhere). We need the professional boards to adapt their regulations to the new reality or face falling off the digital cliff.
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Wearable devices made for the enterprise will offer more immediate value than BYOD programs. Here's why. Via TechinBiz
Farid Mheir's insight:
Finally the media seems to have shifted their attention from personal wearables to business-led applications of those wearables - except for yesterday's coverage of Apple iWatch. This article raises a good question : will you bring you wearable to work - your NFC smartphone can replace you company badge (or badges in case of consultant like me) - or will corporation issue you a company approved Google Glass or some other device? Anyone considering the introduction of wearable technology should consider this point carefully. Say you want to introduce Google Glasses for all your field service employees so that they have access to the repair manuals and seamless hands-free communication to head-office experts for on-site support. Or you want to introduce an in-store order picking Glass solution to improve your eCommerce efficiency. Or maybe you have a use case for employee heart rate monitoring that drives a business case to reduce your insurance premiums. Short-term benefits will require you provide company issued devices - no one will buy a 1500$ Google glass today. But in the mid-term, 2 or 3 years down the road, similar or competing devices may start to appear on the consumer market. Will you design your original solution to support BYOD or mandate the use of company devices, at the risk of alienating your employees with sub-par devices or multiple devices that are incompatible with one another? Think about it, define a strategy and set a clear path towards it.
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SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has begun using the U.S. Postal Service to deliver groceries ona trial basis in the San Francisco area, in a potential boostfor
Farid Mheir's insight:
This article confirms 2 things: 1- delivery is an essential component of eCommerce success but it is very difficult to execute. It requires expertise, is capital intensive and takes time to build out. Leveraging an existing service that is looking for ways to improve its balance sheet means USPS may be more flexible to accommodate Amazon than it was a few years ago.. 2- Amazon for now favours improving its delivery service - lower cost, faster turnaround - over opening physical stores. Makes perfect sense for Amazon: cracking the low-cost same-day delivery code is much more effective than opening stores (that requires real estate, employees, inventory, etc.) because it fits with Amazon online retailer pure play model. However, we can expect to see Amazon showrooms open in the future. Also see
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In this year’s Future of Retail Report, PSFK Labs’ fourth annual production of the report, we’ve brought together two interconnected themes that provide a foun…
Farid Mheir's insight:
Very strong overview of digital retail innovations. The presentation is peppered with youTube videos of presentations that are, for the most part, informative and easy to listen to.
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Taxi and private car hire service Uber has launched a grocery delivery service in the US. The Corner Store facility is available as an option via its main smartphone app and covers more than 100 items. The products are competitively priced against high street stores, and there is no delivery fee. The service is an "experiment" limited to Washington DC at this time, but it makes them the latest in a series of tech firms to move into the sector.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Weird concept (see my other posts on same day delivery). But with the right kind of SKUs and proper relationship with retailers (they prepare the orders and the Uber driver delivers during slow periods of the day), it may make sense. The trial may help figure this out. But is grocery the right SKU to target first? Shouldn't pharmacy, HABA, alcohol, make more sense? See also: - A review of same-day delivery by Google, Amazon, Instacart fails to show how it makes money via @delray http://sco.lt/7Z6OLx - Amazon’s now shipping on Sundays - will rescue US Postal Service + disrupt shipping industry? via @washingtonpost http://sco.lt/8g1601 - Same-Day Delivery not important, next-day delivery/pickup may be traditional retailer edge via @stratandbiz http://sco.lt/4wpmQT - and others on same-day delivery http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses?q=same+day+delivery
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Peapod, FreshDirect and Winder Farms examples of companies who’ve found the right formula for online grocery
Farid Mheir's insight:
This article has some interesting data about the size of some e-grocers (Peapod = 550M$, FreshDirect = 25000 orders per week). It claims that the return of the milkman routes, delivering pre-defined orders weekly to its customers, will provide a business model that makes the e-grocery business realistic and profitable. I mostly agree. Grocery is a regular (weekly, bi-weekly) shopping experience for most households, with repeatable products, brands and quantities. It is not an impulse buying experience, at least not for the staple products that fill our pantries and most of our fridge. For the rest, go to the store and hand-pick your vegetables, fruits, meat and bakery for that special Saturday night meal. At some point, one retailer will figure it out and make replenishment of staple products its core e-grocery offering, blowing all its competitors out of the market. Winder farms does bring an interesting spin to the e-grocery experience but Amazon Fresh appears to be the only company to have truly cracked the model at scale (ie. with many thousands of SKUs delivered on a membership with price cuts on replenishment orders).
Olivier Laborne's comment,
July 30, 2014 3:29 AM
I have always been surprised that even with the digital and the web, each continues to look only what happens on the continent. And you know that too. ;-)
So much going on in Europe and Australia for a long time on food online with different modes of operation and testing. The online food is necessarily specific to each country because of what we eat and our way of life but it is also just a commonality between all peoples. I do not agree on some points like : make impulse purchases is also possible on the online food and already working. I have many other things to say but what is written is interesting,
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This chart shows how much Amazon Prime members spend on Amazon.com compared to regular customers.
Farid Mheir's insight:
When Amazon goes into grocery eCommerce and charges 299$ per year for Prime, what will be the impact on traditional retailers - Walmart, Target, Loblaws?
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Internet Retailer - E-Retailers/Top 500 U.S. E-Retailers - Nordstrom invests heavily in e-commerce
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Using Sport Chek as a pilot, marketing successes are not only helping the parent retailer catch up to competitors, but set the pace
Farid Mheir's insight:
Must read short article with great insights on how Canadian Tire bets digital using and internal team and 10 "secret" digital projects. Looking forward to the next few months to see what they are about.
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Forget the delivery drones and TV deals. Jeff Bezos' stealthy foray into the unsexy world of B2B distribution is likely his most disruptive move yet -- and it has an $8 trillion swath of the economy running scared.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Yes, makes perfect sense: is there a difference between B2C and B2B? I guess the answer is "not so much".
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‘Click and collect’ system will allow consumers to order groceries from its website, have employees pack them and then pick the goods up at the stores
Farid Mheir's insight:
No surprise in this announce by Loblaws 2 things worth highlighting, which represent clear result of the digital transformation of Loblaws:
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Wal-Mart is wasting no time in deploying its latest grocery format — a stand alone pick-up center where shoppers can drive up and retrieve their online orders and never leave their car. It’s a new format concept for Walmart U.S. who continues to up the ante for convenience in the highly competitive grocery sector.
Farid Mheir's insight:
One more sign that retail store transformation is under way and will move from anecdotal to full scale in the next months. With Walmart scale and size of its stores it is not difficult to see them convert part of their existing facilities to host drive-thru area in the back. This way you can order staples (or even benefit from automatic replenishment), then go in store to top-off what you may have missed or want to pick yourself (essential in grocery).
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Amazon Prime members can now have big boxes filled with regular-sized household items delivered at a flat rate. As the big-box retailer of the online world, it's no surprise that Amazon sees a future in big boxes. This week, Amazon launched Prime Pantry, a delivery service that allows customers to fill up a single box of non-perishable household goods and have it shipped to them at a flat rate. In a dig at stores like Costco and Walmart, where customers save by buying in bulk, Pantry users will be able to purchase items like cereal, canned soup, pet food, paper towels and detergent in "everyday sizes," but save by having them shipped in bulk. Customers can order up to 45 pounds of items, but each box, no matter the size of the shipment (it shows the percentage being filled in the shopping cart), will be delivered for $5.99. The service is only available to Amazon Prime subscribers, but the flat rate comes on top of the annual $99 membership fee (up from $79 as of April 17). While Pantry delivers to customers in the contiguous U.S. (not Hawaii or Alaska), the company's other offering in the grocery space, same day service AmazonFresh is currently accessible in three West Coast markets – Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
Farid Mheir's insight:
More signs that Amazon is targeting established retailers where it hurst: repeat business of staple products. you know, the stuff in the middle of the store, on shelves, where there is little value in picking the product yourself - a can is a can. Amazon will suck the air out of retailers for these products as its cost structure is much less than that of a retailer - no staff, low cost warehouses, high automation, no need to ship/unwrap/stock shelves. Of course there are the shipping cost and the returns but Amazon is addressing those as well. Related article: Amazon Is Now Accepting Returns Through its Lockers What can established retailers do? Roll over and let Amazon do what it wants. So far, that looks pretty much like it... Also read:
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Amazon also recently published the following job posting on its site: Amazon is growing at a faster speed than UPS and FedEx, who are responsible for shipping the majority of our packages. At this rate Amazon cannot continue to rely solely on the solutions provided through traditional logistics providers. To do so will limit our growth, increase costs and impede innovation in delivery capabilities. Last Mile is the solution to this. It is a program which is going to revolutionize how shipments are delivered to millions of customers.
Farid Mheir's insight:
It was clear when amazon started rolling out Amazon Fresh. See this post from Jan 2013: AmazonFresh set to expand? http://sco.lt/59o9Td and others on same-day delivery http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses?q=same+day+delivery
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Shoppers spend more online after browsing through lavish print spreads.
Farid Mheir's insight:
That is why "Marketers mailed 11.9 billion catalogs in 2013". Amazing read and reminder: most people still use printed catalogs - even I do and enjoy them - and go in store to shop and view products. What's important is to make online experience seamless.
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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has been vocal about its intention to aggressively build its online business, but there's one thing it needs to change first: Getting its own in-store shoppers to shop at Walmart.com. Just 19% of Walmart in-store shoppers shop at Walmart.com, compared to 53% of those who also buy at Amazon.com, according to a UBS report, citing Kantar Retail data.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Read the stats and ask yourself the same question in your business: how many of your customers shop online on Amazon.com? Is that percentage higher or lower than those using your own eCommerce site? If the answer is lower, then you are loosing money. If you do not have an ecommerce website, the answer is even easier to get.
André Bélanger's curator insight,
April 16, 2014 8:54 AM
Walmart n'a pas encore réussi à offrir une grande valeur ajoutée à ses clients pour sa boutique en ligne. Amazon, qui n'a pas de présence physique, reste le leader incontesté du magasin en ligne des clients de Walmart.
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Le Québec perdrait 95 millions de dollars par année en raison du commerce en ligne transfrontalier, estime le Conseil québécois du commerce de
Farid Mheir's insight:
On se plaint ici des pertes de revenus de taxes (15% sur 1B$ = 150M$ quand même). Mais il faudrait aussi souligner que c'est 1B$ de ventes perdues par nos marchands...
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Farid Mheir's insight:
No surprise here: Canadian retailers online lag compared to US counterpart. Nevertheless very good list that opens eye as to what is working and what is not.
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Les pluies et inondations de février ont incité les Britanniques à se tourner plus que jamais vers l'achat en ligne. Dans l'ameublement, le tiers des ventes se fait désormais sur Internet.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Britain is ahead of the maturity curve in its use of the Internet, eCommerce in particular. They have embraced online grocery shopping more than any other country. The eCommerce spike in Feb due to climate conditions may provide a good view into the future: when eCommerce is available, then it really does become an option when it is difficult to go to the physical store. We see this every year at christmas where people now prefer to shop online rather than go and wait in overcrowded stores...
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Farid Mheir's insight:
The BestBuy omni-channel strategy document was made public in Nov 2012 and is available online. Sheds light into the company current state versus competitors and the strategy to regain its position.
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Electronics retail giant Best Buy Canada is cutting 950 jobs at its namesake and Future Shop stores as it streamlines its business to take on tougher competition. The job cuts underscore the increasingly competitive retail landscape as U.S. discount giants Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. expand in this country, other new foreign merchants arrive and online players steal away business from incumbents, leaving them scrambling to keep up. Best Buy’s same-store sales, a key measure of revenue at locations open for at least 12 months, fell by 0.9 per cent during the crucial holiday period. And margins were worse than expected The retailer enjoyed more than 50-per-cent sales growth in its e-commerce business in the past year while its new in-store “reserve and pick-up” service more than doubled in that period, Mr. Wilson said.
Farid Mheir's insight:
I wrote about the digital cliff a while back ("Survivrez-vous au précipice numérique?"), the concept that says digital transformations do not happen slowly over time. Digital transformation usually transform whole industries within a few years, rapidly, with established players disappearing overnight for the benefit of relative newcomers. It happened in the book industry, the music industry, the travel industry, the yellow pages industry and now is happening in the retail industry. What is challenging for digital natives is that the signs have been there for years, decades in fact, that retail will have to change due to the introduction of digital technology. It was the Internet at first, then came the mobile devices and soon, the revolution in order delivery and shipping. We are not sure yet what the retail store of the future will look like but we can assume it will look more like an Apple store than a Best Buy store:
Also read those recent posts:
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Starting in the second quarter of 2013, Best Buy, No. 10 in Internet Retailer’s 2013 Top 500 Guide, began fulfilling web orders from 50 of its more than 1,500 U.S. stores. At first, Best Buy was much slower in delivering orders to customers than Amazon. But that changed over the holidays. During the summer, Best Buy took nearly seven days to deliver an order on average. That compared to four days for orders made with Amazon.com, StellaService says. By October the gap had narrowed, to about two days and seven hours for Best Buy orders compared with about three days and 12 hours for Amazon orders. Best Buy lost ground in November. But on Dec. 13 the chain could claim victory, if only barely. Its orders were in the hands of customers in just under three days, while Amazon’s orders needed a few more hours.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Looks like having real estate (read: stores) may not be as much as a liability as expected when it comes to eCommerce. This post breaks down the number of warehouses that online pure plays have but also makes the case that smart brick-n-mortar retailers can turn their stores into mini warehouses. Great idea if you think about it since stores are already close to where people live. I leveraged this concept back in the dotcom era to fulfill grocery orders from local stores instead of warehouses. Unfortunately, grocery may have been one of the worst product to implement this concept with, given the high SKU count, different planograms and inventory levels in each store, fresh products, large order size, etc. etc. But in the case of Best Buy, it may make sense if they can make 2 things work: real estate cost and delivery. Stores typically are in areas where rental rates are high compared to locations where warehouses are typically located. But that may actually be turned into an advantage if you leverage the location for customer pick-ups, which solves the high cost of delivery. Best Buy and other established retailer thus may have the upper hand here over Amazon that needs to build out its warehousing infrastructure. At least for a few years...
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Walmart To Go, the retailer's on-demand shopping service offering home delivery of general merchandise, including in some cases, groceries, is expanding its..
Farid Mheir's insight:
Some interesting pictures and stats regarding walmart ToGo.
André Bélanger's curator insight,
February 4, 2014 4:58 PM
Un magasin roulant sans avoir à payer d'impôts fonciers et de loyers. Brillant!
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One in four online clothing purchases are returned, often due to poor fit. And obviously, the only way to solve the problem is with shape-shifting robots.
Farid Mheir's insight:
For a while here in Montreal we had "le mannequin virtuel", a 3D computer model to help sell clothes online. Now this new robot provides a more natural option to determine how well a shirt, skirt or pant will fit. Look at this video to see the robot in action. It appears to really do a great job at showing if a garment fits well or not. Of course, retailers will be interested in the technology to reduce the high return rate the apparel industry has been experiencing. Not sure how the robots would be integrated into the online shopping experience? I also wonder if they could also help with in-store, where you would not have to try the clothes on but rather would let the robot do the work for you... Would bring a new tool to personal shopper, that could literally go "shop for now" and return only with the products that suit you perfectly. Of course, designers and others will benefit from having this new tool at their disposal. Read this for more details on the matter: As much as 33% of Internet sales gets returned? good reason why digital transformations require planning via @wsj http://sco.lt/5eALiL
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Curated by Farid Mheir
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The trend is clear and the growth appears stable at about 16% YoY means sales will double to 200B$ by 2019.