Tesco Does Tablets with the Hudl

Reported in the BBC: A remarkable new step, World class retailer Tesco enters the Tablet market.  They have been a long time leader in retail technology, but this is a new big turn especially since non technology retail companies, like Amazon, have said they are not making money with their tablets.  To me this was like announcing that they decided to make TVs in the 50s, before the technology was completely mature.  I guess they are pushing the envelope again.  I admire that.  Will be watching.  And a UK correspondent suggests:  ' ...  Makes sense in that the web is the modern shop window.  Tesco in UK have also provided self scan and free WiFi for sometime, so no doubt noticing device usage has sought to link both via this device. ... '

From the BBC article:

" ... But what does the arrival of the Hudl - for that is the name of the product the company is launching this morning - mean for the overall market?

What is immediately clear is that Tesco is taking its tablet very seriously. Unlike some cheap Android tablets launched by other unlikely firms - remember Next's attempt? - this looks a competitive and reasonably high-spec offering. It runs the latest version of Android, has a 1.5 GHz processor, an HD screen and expandable storage.

The 7in device looks at first sight like any other small Android tablet - the Tesco content is mostly hidden under a "T" logo at the bottom left. Tapping here takes you to services like online shopping and the Blinkbox on-demand film service, bought by Tesco a couple of years ago. ... " 

How iPads are Transforming Retail

In TheNextWeb:  Nothing very revolutionary here.  The examples work for all tablets. Still a good reminder of the basics of what can be done.  I don't see enough about how strategic problems by management in retail can be solved using tablets.  How can management in retail use tablets creatively?   I note of interest, the last example, which is a touch of novelty for IOS7:   " ... iBeacons  ... Apple has included a feature called iBeacons within iOS 7. They enhance location services by using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) which has been included in iOS devices since the iPhone 4S. Using BLE devices can be set up to introduce a new range of geofencing and location capabilities..... " 

Crowdsourcing Grocery Shopping

Called Instacart:      Personal Shopping remains a narrow market.   With crowdsourcing come quality assurance issues.   " .... In contrast to the high overhead of Webvan, which had its own refrigerated warehouses and a fleet of trucks, Instacart is built on a crowdsourcing model. Its 10 full-time employees, mostly engineers, work from a small office in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood. Its app sends customer orders to about 200 independent Bay Area personal shoppers, who receive commissions based on the number of items and orders they deliver in their own vehicles. The app features detailed maps of local supermarkets and can direct the personal shoppers to specific aisles. Founder Apoorva Mehta says Instacart’s “secret sauce” is its fulfillment software, which allows the online retailer to combine orders placed at different times and fill them from different stores—supplementing frozen food from Trader Joe’s with fresh fruit from Whole Foods (WFM) and cereal from Costco (COST). Customers assemble their orders with lengthy drop-down menus on Instacart’s website or app. ... " 

Augmenting the Catalog

Have been exploring the latest 2014 physical IKEA catalog, with is an already large (320 page plus) slick paper catalog that broadly and artistically explores IKEA's offerings.   The catalog is then augmented by using the IKEA App from a smartphone.  You view select pages through the camera of a smartphone and you see a floating icon that can be clicked.  I found the use of the method not consistently easy, and I can see people frustrated by it.  A help section shows the remarkably large number of different kinds of displays.

The App also  allows you to download the full digital catalog,  which is augmented by icons on each digital page.


What you then get varies by page.  In some cases a web page of additional content, in others a video, in others a sizing method that lets you 'see' what a piece of furniture looks like in the room you are in.  Previewing its location through the camera.   You can see a different color or style of fabric on a couch.   Nicely done, part of the fun is seeing what each value add will be.  People are getting used to using methods like QR codes for more content.  This tries to link content to local physical states.   Thus augmented reality.

At first I thought that augmented catalog items needed to be marked by an orange plus sign. But any orange marking on the page is an indication of activation.  There are many,  That draws you through the catalog pages, if the additions are interesting enough.  But since the catalog is already large, it doesn't save much paper.

The additions are also dynamic, and can be remotely changed.  So the back cover has promotions and alerts.  All this works only if you continue to go back there to discover new things.   You can't order from the catalog, and have to go to the store, so although they can tell what you looked at and interacted with a page, they can't tell if it led to a sale.    I also found the little markers that tell you if a page is augmented hard to find. Time will tell if this method will be productive

The system has been developed for IKEA by Metaio, more about that here.

More in this blog on Augmented Reality.

Building the 21st Century Grocery Store?

Interesting, but too much 'California' in this article.  Submit that there is is still no efficiency here, and cost will prevail. " ... The Good Eggs "farm-to-fridge" business model turns the supermarket model on its head. Instead of having one or several physical locations stocked with a standard, unchanging inventory, the Good Eggs storefront is online, and calls on local farms to deliver only what customers have ordered that day. Good Eggs essentially stocks and empties a grocery store every day, and because its inventory is based entirely on what each customer is ordering, it's a different grocery store every day, too. The company has created an efficient new food system that's elegant in its simplicity. ... " 

Retail Digital Client Management

A client brought this to my attention.   Multiple screens in one for retail experiences.  Aimed at decreasing advertising costs and better targeting marketing campaigns  The article link below  provides some very interesting details.  Intel's involvement is very interesting ....

INTEL® RETAIL CLIENT MANAGER SOFTWARE
Intel® Retail Client Manager Software (Intel RCM) creates valuable consumer experiences and retail sales opportunities. Intel RCM is an intelligent software solution that enables you to deliver digital content to every screen with greater impact. Retailers are able to remotely manage marketing campaigns in real time while launching customized content on the fly to deliver a richer brand experience ... " 
And more.  

Open Innovation: Heart of Small Business

In Free Enterprise: John Mason GM of IBM's Midmarket Business writes:

" ... The drive to innovate is alive and well within the hearts of small businesses. But as most successful small business leaders know, it's not enough to have a great idea.   In fact, half of all new small businesses fail because they can't turn their promising concepts into a profitable business reality, according to the Small Business Administration. For the most part, the survival of these smaller firms relies on factors that remain unrecognized until it is too late. Markets shift, pushing customers to find new places to spend their money. Technologies shift, enabling the latest products to be offered through other channels. Even demographics shift, with one group’s position of “favorite brand” losing its appeal and seemingly overnight becoming “has-been”. ... " \

As part of my role in our innovation centers I often had to work with small businesses that had new ideas in retail.    These varied in size from very small businesses to very large. We worked with them to define, develop and deliver their new innovations in our simulated retail environments ad demonstrate them to retailers.    These innovations were delivered under the umbrella of open innovation.   One thing I saw more than and other was the need to adapt to agile environments.

In addition companies were often closer to the retail environment than we were, and had to be able to changes as their market changed.    Most of what we did was before social technologies were widely available to consumers, but the new realm of the social, mobile and local connections make this form of innovation more agile even more important.

" ... The small business often has the advantage of proximity to their customers, but this proximity also means that it may be difficult to "see the wood for the trees". Yet thanks to new social, mobile and connected technologies, there is much a small business can do to identify new areas of value in their products and services. Open innovation is fast becoming the heart and soul of a new, more dynamic small and midsized enterprise. The opportunity is greater now than ever for smaller competitors quickly to develop actionable insights, collaborate with others to turn innovative ideas into real business opportunities and be a truly disruptive force in their market ..." \

John Mason is the GM of IBM's Midmarket Business.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

Retail Glossary

A useful glossary of retail terms.  " ... The Path to Purchase Institute’s Shopper Marketing Glossary is an evolving work-in-progress. We invite your critiques, additions and suggestions ... " 

On Saving Center Store

In Retailwire:  Retail center store is where the staples are, but the profits are not.  Where most package goods are sold.  " ... As traditional retailers attempt to reinvent their perimeter with a more dynamic shopping experience and capitalize on natural and health/wellness trends, they have eaten into center-of-store categories and diluted overall store profitability. ... A range of efforts to revitalize center store traffic are being deployed: everyday low pricing; using center store to sell upscale non-food items (for example, Wegmans); and moving to an "all-store" brand format while limiting assortment (Trader Joe's). We have also seen a shift in consumer/shopper focus. For instance, "owning" the organic/natural consumer (Whole Foods) or incorporating "store-within-a-store" (Target). ... " 

Changing the Retail Experience

In GigaOM:  " ... Its Thanks to the mass market shift to e-commerce and the rise of maker-oriented sites, the way we shop is changing. Grommet a startup out of Boston wants to help innovative products navigate the changing retail landscape. ...  The Grommet team consists of four buyers, which Grommet calls “launch managers,” who vet potential products for things such as manufacturability, quality and reliability. They then help those products find an audience. In many ways Grommet is building a higher quality and less cheesy version of the infomercial and using the web to do it at a larger scale without crazy high studio or distribution costs. ... " 

Walmart Reveals Economic and Customer Trends

From Consumer Goods Technology:  Some quite remarkable findings from the retail giant.   " ... A new report from retail behemoth Walmart Stores Inc. uses sales and survey data compiled in the first quarter of 2013 to identify ongoing economic and customer trends. Key takeaways include:
Uneven expectations cause both shoppers and small business owners to look inward for stimulation.  Consumer confidence’s bumpy ride in the first quarter can most be attributed to shoppers’ lack of faith in economic progress and was undoubtedly shaped by perceived Washington gridlock on budgetary issues. .... " 

Retail and Big Data

A case of retailer A&P using a big Data Portal.  " ... This cloud-based portal enables retailers to share their proprietary data – including point of sale (POS), inventory, loyalty and more – with their supplier partners. It allows a retailer's vendors to work with and analyze the same data the retailer does in order to collaborate on mutual business goals. ... " 

5th Screen and McCormick

I had mentioned a company we worked with in our innovation centers: 5th Screen.  Had reason to look at some of the work they have done with McCormick spices in the innovation and retail spaces. Check out a description of their work here.   Includes a video.  Of particular interest to me the interaction of flavor and innovation.

" ... FlavorPrint is designed to provide a profile for a person’s tastes giving them a fun personality to walk away with.  This evokes the emotion “Self-Creation”. This is an emotion that reveals itself through creating, enhancing and expressing one’s identity by stimulating self-reflection, status, bragging rights and values.

Looking at the personas of 12 different “Flavor Personality” types, this interactive engagement leads the viewer down a path of engaging choices from food pictures.

The user will select their favorite food dishes and the FlavorPrint Analyzer will determine their personal FlavorPrint based on their choices.  Ultimately users are given a personality flavor name. This is represented by an ICON with slogan.  Some users give answers that provide insight to secondary likes. They are given a second FlavorPrint when appropriate.... " 

Fake Shops

In our innovation labs we experimented with using false front displays to set contexts for consumers in a laboratory.  Interesting and obvious idea, but the coverings tend to be much more permanent than expected.  Stifling innovative experience.  The same idea has been used for a long time in the real world.  My UK correspondent sends about this in a BBC article.  Cover ups are all around us.