In an anything, anytime, anywhere environment, consumers can have access to almost anything they seek, for the price they want, made available for them when they want it. Ubiquitous choice has become the ultimate competitive challenge for every traditional retailer of products or services.
If the scenario described in Gifts & Decorative Accessories is anywhere near real, retail is going to change dramatically. In this article, a shopper in a store sees the desired product on the shelf, and at the decision moment, brings out her mobile phone instead of her credit card. She snaps a photo of the barcode with her camera phone, scans it and sends it to a retail service such as Amazon.com or Shopping.com. What comes back to her mobile screen is detailed product information, reviews, and a list of competing retailers within 2-3 miles of the shopper's location, with maps and directions, and maybe even more incentives to buy.
It's clear that retailers will need to reach out and serve their potential and loyal shoppers.
The old formula for success -- "location, location, location" -- takes on new meaning when the retailer can extend beyond their store walls into a greater share of the consumer experience. When the mobile device can be enabled as an individual's "remote control" for their life, mobile-enabled loyalty cards turn into loyalty services, oriented towards facilitating activities and fulfilling preferences.
Take, for example, fulfillment of a dinner party. Instead of just engaging with the consumer at the point of sale, the grocery store retailer could extend this engagement much earlier in the dinner party process. The retailer could provide menus for different types of dinners, each with accompanying recipes and shopping lists that would include food, table setting accessories, cooking tools, a special playlist music selection, and so on. One step further would be to enable the individual to collect the merchandise at the store at an arranged hour, and to download the playlist to an MP3 hooked into the sound system.
The retailer in this scenario is providing a dinner party "service". Value accrues to the retailer in that they enjoy a larger share of that individual's spend. They also start to enable the fulfillment of preferences, rather than the disappointment of compromise that often comes from not being able to find the right item on the retailer's store shelves.
Value also accrues to the individual as they save time, have fun doing it, and are likely to offer a more delightful experience to dinner guests.
So retailers, reach out and serve.
Elizabeth Chaney
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