Usually in the first paragraph I give an insight to the articles in the weekly round up, but not this week. Today I am using the space to say Happy Birthday to the Bar Code. Without it where would we be? Hard to believe that it was 35 years ago that NCR demonstrated it’s first scanning system. In less than two months after that, Wrigley became the first company to produce a product (a pack of chewing gum, of course) with a UPC that could be scanned at the local supermarket.
Lee Nicholson VP of MIS puts it best
“When that package of Wrigley’s gum moved across the scan window, and a laser beam ‘read’ the bar code imprinted on the package, it was the beginning of a new era for retailing.”
1. Smartphones and Emerging Markets: A New Technology Revolution? – The introduction of the smartphone (Blackberry, iPhone and G1) has transformed the way that consumers have access to so many things via the ability to download new software applications. Who will build these applications that could bring a whole new world together? That would be Frogtek, a project that began in the classroom at Columbia Business School.
Doing what students do best, they plan to develop an application that will be used for “mom & pop” retail stores. We all agree that many of these small retail shops keep inefficient sales records, so their first application will be an inventory and accounting management tool. This will allow small retailers to use a smartphone as their point of sale device and the camera will double as a bar code reader. The phone will then generate sales, inventory and profitability reports that will be uploaded and securely stored on Frogtek servers.
2. Malls court smaller, private retailers on temporary leases – As a small retail business you might have never thought of opening a shop in the Mall along the side of large retailers like Sears or Macy’s. Think again! This article outlines the need of malls to pull in small mom and pop shops to keep their malls alive. Almost every mall in the country has vacancies due to large corporation bankruptcies or cut backs. Who else to offer that prime space too…Small retailers. Many malls are offering short term temporary leases with favorable rents, sometimes as much as 50% less than long term tenants. The article goes into detail with many testimonials from small businesses around the nation that are taking advantage of this great opportunity.
3. Interactive mall game aims to bring in patrons, get them to stay longer – While you’re opening a new branch in the mall think about this amazing way to keep customers wandering the mall looking at all your great specials. BarZ Adventures has created a interactive mall video game called Ranger Quest. It operates through a handheld device and encourages consumers to walk through the mall and explore their surroundings. It’s a type of choose your own adventure where they will follow clues to find hidden locations in the mall, then collect evidence to complete the mystery. The game is extremely customized on the consumers shopping preferences and retail locations can be written into the software to encourage traffic flow. For example a hidden clue on a giant sign that has a One Day Only Special Sale at your location.
4. Email Marketing Success Is About Relevance – As I have said before email marketing is a remarkable way to keep a long term relationship with your customers. It’s effective, low cost and profitable if you keep it relevant and targeted. Customers enjoy receiving email from companies that they like and trust. According to a recent study by Forrester Research 84% of customers look forward to the sales and deals form their favorite retailer. The author Lisa Barone gives 6 awesome tips on keeping your email marketing campaign relevant to the customer.
5. Role Of Technology Expanding – With the PCI compliance deadline fast approaching, convenient stores must evaluate their current POS systems to ensure that they are up to date with the latest technology. If the current point of sale system supplier has not developed a way to comply with the new standards or have not validated their testing the POS must be upgraded. Convenience stores should not look at this in a bad way. Although it may be expensive to upgrade, it will be far less than the fine imposed if they are not compliant and with a new upgraded point of sale the store will run much more efficiently.