They say that having no presence on mobile devices in 2010 is like not having a website circa 1999. So true! The digital age is in hyper-drive. 3G access continues to increase, and 4G is already here! Some stats say that up to 99 percent of the population will have some sort of data capability on their mobile phones by 2011.

So what does this mean for retailers? It means the need for a whole new view to their digital strategies. When a shopper can enter a store, scan a barcode, see that the same product is cheaper at a nearby competitor and click a link for directions to take them straight there, the game has suddenly been changed, so to speak. There is an ever-expanding catalog of apps out there to enable this type of shopping behavior (in the store, in the car or on the run), and manufacturers like Apple are training customers via commercials and advertisements about how to use all these apps to simplify their lives.

It might be easy to dismiss this trend given the relatively small percentage of people with iPhones or Droids today, but now is the time to start investigating and investing in individual strategies. Almost one third of Americans are already shopping via their mobile devices, and the number grows when you talk about Millenials and their mobile shopping habits.

So what’s the next move? Gain advantage and protect sales by offering shoppers what they want in the modes they desire. Not every retailer will need a full-blown program, but each must understand the needs of its customers, what information and access they are looking for and where or how they want to access it. Once these insights are known, the appropriate level of investment and how to spend it will become much clearer.

Two examples of retailers getting it right

Two brands getting it right are Best Buy and Target, which both have useful apps. Best Buy’s app not only lets you browse its extended online product assortment, but allows you to actually purchase via your mobile device (not many retailers are doing this yet).

It also lets the user locate stores and provides a map that leads you right there (the icon actually moves while you’re moving so you can see where you are in relation to the store). Finally, it makes it easy to navigate, providing a “deals” page, as well as “ideas” and “gifting” pages, not to mention access to your “Rewards Zone” account.

While Target’s app is very similar, it doesn’t let you purchase via mobile, it provides a barcode scanning option that can be used in and out of the store to allow shoppers to find out more information about a product. Beyond price, it offers product information, customer reviews, and availability in your local store.

Both brands understand the needs of their customers and are creating opportunities to enhance the customer journey.

Ok, I have spent the last five years convinced that the marketing hype was just that—hype. Mostly from reading countless advertisements for LED lighting products that play on unsuspecting readers with questionable claims, such as Long life! Excellent color! High efficiency!  Brighter!

Well, what were previously exaggerated claims are now coming to be real. LED lighting products are here to stay. And the bubbling pot is about to explode. After years of refinements, and new industry regulation, the products are consistently better performers than the previous generation.

The US Department of Energy has developed a labeling program (I think it is voluntary) that provides a means of consistency for describing LED performance. It addresses Light Output, Watts, Efficacy, Color Rendering Index and Correlated Color Temperature. Or Brightness, Energy, Efficiency, Color Accuracy and Light Color.

It is a little like the nutrition labels on food products. And now I have confidence that the participating manufacturers have accurately represented performance of their LEDs.

Yes, they are here to stay, even in retail architecture. Smart engineers will find the proper application. LEDs are green and fit the sustainability profile—part of a surefire way to promote a green building effort.

Still a little costly in broad application, but they have some ideal applications. Check this one out from Evluma.

http://evluma.com/news/news-gsa_contract.html

There has been a tidal wave of automotive advertising flooding the airwaves the past few months with claims and promises of improved product quality, safety, style, gas mileage. Media spending is way up, with every manufacturer trying to entice customers back into the showrooms.  

But to what end?
Consumers hate car shopping and they don’t want to go back into the dealership. Big surprise—the shopping experience there is still one of the most frustrating, untrustworthy, and manipulative games you can be subjected to.

Add to that the fact that the recession has also caused most dealers to suspend investment in their facilities, and you understand why the thought of venturing into a dealership is bleak. Promising better on TV only to deliver the same old retail experience only fuels consumer frustration and mistrust.

Instead, consumers do everything they can to stay out of the dealership, with online research and shopping being the preferred norm. Now even purchasing online has gained popularity.

Successful brands like Apple, Whole Foods, IKEA, even Walmart, understand how to leverage the power of shopper insights to deliver game changing customer experiences that build brand excitement, loyalty and bottom line results.

Auto companies must do more to improve the customer experience in showrooms! And there couldn’t be a better time. With the  recent upheaval in the industry, the marketplace is ripe for someone with the courage to innovate and completely reinvent the paradigm.  Success will come to those who differentiate.

The upcoming flood of hybrid and electric car provides an excellent opportunity for change. Consumers already perceive these cars as different, perhaps in some ways even more like an appliance. A completely new retail and shopping experience could and should be explored.

Will the automotive industry ever learn?
Give me even one dealer out there—or a player outside the industry altogether—who’s ready to exploit a pretty obvious opportunity. They’d have more business than they could handle. That would be exciting to see.

Once. Twice. Yes, starting very soon, Apple will have done it for a third time: changed the way we buy and listen to music. Apple acquired digital music startup Lala in December and shut the site down in May, leading tech pundits to speculate on the coming of “an iTunes in the cloud,” once the streaming music service is incorporated into Apple’s business model.

Although Apple won’t comment on its plans, as a loyal Lala.com user and Apple fan, I’m fully expecting to enjoy a cloud-based iTunes experience in the near future, and I think it’s great that Apple continues to advance their retail strategy and break paradigms of the industry by sourcing great ideas, making them profitable and bringing them to a larger audience.

I look forward to having full access to my music library anywhere an Internet connection is available, as well as being able to add/purchase songs from any computer with the added benefit of instantaneous downloads to mobile equipment. I hope Apple is able to keep some of Lala’s unique features, such as letting customers listen to an entire piece of music for free before purchasing it. Also, I really appreciated being able to pay 10 cents for the rights to stream a song an unlimited number of times from the Web as opposed to downloading a song.  I think Apple’s genius lies in asking questions like: Why do I have to download music?

Okay, I admit, I’m a technology laggard, but for the sake of “being in the know,” I have embraced the iPhone and downloaded those apps that I was told were “must haves.” So far The Weather Channel, Facebook, and Mah Jong have proven the most engaging. But here is one I’ve tried that I was told would revolutionize my grocery shopping…

GroceryGadget. In theory, this should be a great one. Create your shopping list, take photos of preferred brands (so when Dad shops he knows what to buy), tick off your items as you shop, and the list recreates itself in the order products are shopped for next time.  Total winner right? Not so much.

Imagine pushing your cart down a crowded grocery aisle, baby in seat, purse hanging off shoulder (or shoved in baby’s lap), iPhone in purse (because let’s be real—holding a slippery, expensive piece of electronics while pushing a heavy cart whose wheels are probably not working properly just isn’t realistic), and scanning shelves. 

You’ve found the product you want, throw it in the basket, now…(1) pull the iPhone out of purse, (2) swipe the phone on, (3) scroll down the list to find your item on the list, [I’m presuming you launched the app before you entered the store to “save time”], (4) click button to turn iPhone off [can’t risk using up precious battery life in between items], (5) put iPhone back in purse, move on down the aisle. Five steps! Each time you check an item off your list!

The traditional list method? Three steps! (1) pull written list and pen out of purse when entering the store, (2) scratch off item with pen when the item goes into the basket, (3) put pen back in purse when checking out. The list presumably has been crumpled in your hand while shopping and will now be thrown out by the cashier. 

Thanks iPhone, but I think I’ll stick with my old method…that is, until my grocer of choice uploads my loyalty card data and I can download my preferred brands and most-frequently shopped items onto a list on my phone without ever having to create anything.

So who really is using all these apps for the iPhone? Who is creating them…and have they talked to us, the end users? Have they really figured out what we need, how we’re going to use it, and what our current circumstances are that beg for some sort of improvement? I’m all for simplifying my life—fewer steps, consolidated tasks—bring it on! But technology for technology’s sake…no thanks. I’ll keep searching for the app that is really relevant and meaningful.

There wasn’t an Evolutionary War for a reason. In the pre-dawn of U.S. history, the new settlers wanted more than to just evolve the British rule, it had to be overthrown. A new start, a clean slate. Imagine the pressure that those founding fathers must have felt when deciding that enough was enough, let’s try something new. Today, many brands find themselves in the same place. The status quo isn’t working. It’s time to differentiate. But I wonder if the ideas of “revolution” and “evolution” aren’t being confused.

It’s easy to tell yourself that your brand needs something revolutionary, something that breaks paradigms and reveals new ways of talking to your customers. But all too often, companies follow the evolutionary path—a new coat of paint, a few new fixtures and a new sign on the storefront. A quick win here, a quick win there.

Starting your own revolution isn’t easy and that first step can be scary. One of the most important things to do once you’ve determined to change is deciding how far you can and are willing to go. Look at every facet of your brand, from the most obvious things to the very subtle.  Deep unbiased introspection will uncover opportunity for a new attitude, a new set of guiding principles, a new market space.

In retail, change is life. So overthrow the old paradigms.  Delve into your brand and find that crazy idea, the one that’s worth fighting for.

As I was finishing up payment at the pharmacy, a young male employee strolled into the area and struck up a conversation with the staff by saying, “That new Kotex packaging is sharp!”  Silence.  Then, apparently mistaking the silence as a request for clarification, he continued, “You know, the black packages?  They are really cool looking!”  More silence.  Based on a quick survey of their expressions, everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing, What is an 18 year old guy doing talking about feminine hygiene products?!  

Even as I grabbed my purchase and escaped the awkwardness, I began to contemplate what transpired.  Given that I spend my days knee-deep in shopper sciences, I found the situation quite compelling.  Good packaging should be, in part, disruptive, and the new U by Kotex packaging is definitely that.  The sub-brand is unique in the category, both in shelf presentation and in the “get real” tone of the advertising.  A+ on disruption. 

But…packaging should also be appropriate for the category, and I’m not convinced that U delivers on that part just yet—or that they are justified in bypassing that rule.  The new package grabbed the attention of the young male employee and made it seem accessible to him, but what does that mean for the brand intended exclusively for a female audience?  (For sure, some men do purchase these items for the women in their lives, but they are not stakeholders.  I highly doubt most women ask their male partners to “bring me something new” in the category when passing off the shopping list.)  I am interested to see how women shoppers will respond to this new offering.  Will women view the disruption as a welcome change in category fraught with pastels and euphemisms?  Will it become a signpost—a game-changing brand that other brands will be forced to emulate or accommodate?  Or, will women view it as a garish statement in a category where they are looking for discretion, security, and reliability?

I’ve been fascinated with the concepts of “augmented reality” as it is currently being used by Legos.  

What’s so amazing is the ability to integrate a 3D digital element directly into a live video feed with complete real time interaction. I understand the automotive industry is jumping all over this technology with upcoming concept vehicles that can have on-screen (windshield) feed for enhancing road contours, signage, lighting, etc. —which could completely change the way we think of driving. 

The automotive ideas still seem a little far off for implementation but what about the present possibilities for other retailers?  Anyone have any cool examples of other retailers utilizing this or have any great ideas of where this may be used in the future?  And guys, please don’t even go there with the Victoria’s Secrets concept.