Tag Archives: technology

I love technology when it helps.

Eng, , , , , , , , ,

Are you looking to increase your sales, using a great new lead generation tool?

Among the others, Leadfeeder is what I recommend if you need to identify and track potential leads easily and quickly. You will have the possibility to monitor who visits your website and where they’re from. Isn’t great?

leadfeeder-logo-transparent-400

Being aware of who is looking at you, marketing actions can be made with a specific target. This is exactly what we do at DESITA and we usually invite our customers to use this tool to be more active in this competitive market.

Leadfeeder. It’s a kind of magic!

 

Add your own creations to the menu

Eng, foodservice, Fresh Worldwide Press, Ho.Re.Ca, shopping experience, Technology, trends and forecasts, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tokyo’s Logbar uses iPads to enable its patrons to make their own concoctions and add them to the menu for other guests to buy.

During my daily research on the web I usually find great ideas or new trends that help me to enlarge my professional know-how and related vision but today, thanks to my friend Silvia who forwarded me this news, I’m glad to share with you something which sound to me like a new era of social entertainment or social involvement and why not a new way to make profit.

20130808-130933.jpgHere how it works: “Each customer is handed an iPad Mini upon entering Logbar and is required to create an account and fill out their personal profile before they can use the device. When they do, they can access the bar’s drinks menu, place an order and take advantage of a number of social features, such as liking and sharing their favorite cocktails and chatting with friends and other guests. Each account holder gets a news feed which logs their recent orders, shows them what other people in the bar are drinking and offers recommendations based on their choices. While Logbar stocks many popular cocktails such as Mojitos and Martinis, the platform enables users to make their own cocktails by selecting the glass, alcoholic ingredients, mixers and adornments. They can then order the creation, name it and add it to the menu for anyone else to try.
Important: Creators receive JPY 50 whenever someone else orders their creation.
The video below explains a bit more about the concept:

The system aims to better connect customers through fun, creative activities and communication channels, and the possibility for guests to make money while they drink is certainly a unique one. (source)

Do you think this kind of interactivity could be healthy for the business?

Pimkie’s site documents changing color trends on city streets | VIDEO

Just as sites such as Brayola have used the crowds to help women find recommendations for bras, now a new site is providing hints at the most popular color choices in three European cities. The Pimkie Color Forecast analyzes webcam footage to provide infographics detailing current trends in Paris, Milan and Antwerp.

With the help of interactive artist and software developer Pedro Miguel Cruz, France-based fashion retailer Pimkie has set up webcams in the “most fashionable” areas of the three cities, the images from which are then put through a computer program. The program isolates the pixels that represent people by monitoring their motion over time – the environment stays still but people move across the image space. The color of these pixels is then logged and the data is organized and presented in an easy-to-understand way to visitors of the Color Forecast.

Users can watch the live feed, see the most popular shades at different times of the day, week or month (in bar chart or pie chart form), or check Pimkie’s clothes recommendations for each city based on its most popular color.

These recommendations can then be purchased through the Pimkie store. The video below explains more about the process behind the site:

The fashion industry is full of opinions on the latest trends, but the Color Forecast provides digestable information based on actual data from the street, as well as providing a unique way to engage customers for the brand. Retailers, could you take inspiration from Pimkie’s lead?

via Fashion site documents changing color trends on city streets | Springwise.

Is digital retail a sustainable opportunity?

 for the Guardian Professional Network

I was on a panel this week to launch BT’s Retailtopia, a study event which examines the immense impact that information technology is likely to have on shopping over the next 10 years. On current trends, online shopping will account for over half of all purchases in a decade, with Amazon set to overtake Walmart as the planet’s biggest retailer. And although UK companies are currently world leaders in online and digitally-enabled shopping, I think that very few of the big retail players are really prepared for the scale of the changes to come.

We are likely to see not just more online shopping, but a blurring of the online and physical experience, with shoppers at home able to visit virtual changing rooms and shoppers in store able to access a cloud of information about products.

We are likely to see the arrival of the “internet of things” with every product given a digital identity, every movement mapped, and every preference logged. Information will overlay all areas of our lives. This will produce a rich seam of data to be mined, and analysing – and acting on – those data patterns will be key to retail success.

We are also likely to see a whole load of new players enter the game – peer-to-peer sellers, small independents or online farmers’ markets – as new technologies democratise the market and bring down barriers to entry for smaller players.

When people do visit stores, it will be for entertainment and the leisure experience, so expect to see chef demonstrations, children’s entertainers and food tastings.

What could this all mean for sustainability? On the one hand, people will be presented with more opportunities to consume. By 2020 the store will come to the consumer, via whatever handheld device we are using then, with personalised offers to entice us to spend. There will be few physical, technological or geographical boundaries to making purchases. We certainly won’t need to carry cash. We’ll just click for what we want.

On the other hand, this cluster of new technologies does offer the opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of consumption.

Shopping may become way more efficient. With intelligence embedded in everything, retailers can use that intelligence to cut the waste they produce and reduce energy and water use. Logistics will be smarter, and adjustable in real-time. Retailers will probably start to share more infrastructure. And the higher volume and density of home deliveries should allow for efficiency savings.

Shopping could be dematerialised. There will certainly be fewer journeys to physical shops, as more people buy online. And we can also expect a far greater proportion of the nation’s wealth to be generated digitally rather than physically, with many more goods and services to be provided virtually. Just think about how the MP3 file has almost completely replaced record shops or how the Kindle is currently becoming a serious rival to bookshops.

Shopping could be more informed. The new technologies, and the information that they generate could help customers make wiser choices. There will not only be total transparency around products in terms of their ingredients and provenance; but that information can be packaged and communicated in ways that make sense to the individual shopper. The climate-change conscious could get a carbon score for their weekly shop, with suggested adjustments; people with health issues might receive nudges to ensure their purchases fit their dietary plans; while people who care about fair trade will be able to click to watch a live video feed of the farm or factory on their smart phone before buying.

The technological changes are likely to come thick and fast. The consumer experience will probably be more seamless, more personalised, more ubiquitous. And if these technologies are applied in the right ways, I hope that it might just also be more efficient, more informed, and more sustainable.

via Digital retail: A sustainability opportunity? | Guardian Sustainable Business | guardian.co.uk.

A new Kinetic-based tool to track shoppers interactions

Nintendo’s Wii platform has already sparked applications well beyond the world of gaming, so it’s not entirely surprising to see Microsoft’s Kinect do much the same thing. Enter Shopperception, a Kinect-based tracking system that gathers data on shoppers’ interactions with the products on retail shelves.

The brainchild of Argentinian development company Agile Route, Shopperception uses Kinect sensors to bring 3D spatial recognition capabilities to market research applications that have traditionally relied on costly and error-prone human observers. Brands, researchers and retailers can then continuously monitor the way shoppers interact with the products on the shelves, including metrics such as how long they spend, which products they touch, which are put back and which are ultimately purchased. They can also use the technology to compare the success of competing shelf layouts or point-of-sale promotions, for example. “Heat map” reports, meanwhile, are available to depict consumers’ interest in different products or shelves. The video below demonstrates Shopperception in action:

One would be hard-pressed to think of a better way to study consumer behavior than by unobtrusively tracking real-world shoppers in a natural retail setting. Brands, retailers and researchers: one to get involved in!

via In retail stores, research tool uses Kinect to track shoppers’ behavior | Springwise.

Are virtual walls the future of retail?

The use of digital technology to enhance high-street shopping took a step forward last month when Ocado and Tesco unveiled initiatives aimed at creating a seamless retail experience.

Ocado opened a pop-up shop in London’s One New Change shopping centre in the Square Mile. It featured a printed window display, or ‘virtual wall’, showcasing some of the retailer’s most-bought items and their barcodes.

Consumers who had downloaded Ocado’s ‘On the Go’ app can visit the window display to order the items – by scanning the barcodes with their smartphone – and book a delivery time. The retailer says it will roll out more displays across the country if the trial is successful.

Jason Gissing, co-founder of Ocado, claims that the experiment is a bold move. “We hope this trial is a hit and, based on its success, we’ll be looking at options around continuing this ‘virtual window shopping’ approach in other locations UK-wide,” he says.

Consumers have already been exposed to this new way of shopping.

Tesco has been experimenting there with an interactive shopping wall for its Homeplus brand, by opening a virtual store in a busy underground railway station in South Korea’s capital, Seoul.

More than 500 products are on offer, and all are displayed in a shelf-like appearance, prompting shoppers to scan them with their smartphones.

A spokeswoman for Tesco says: “You place an order when you go to work in the morning and can have the items delivered when you come home at night. This will help increase our sales via smartphones, which will be the next big sales generator.”

Ocado in the UK, then, seems to be catching on to Far Eastern technologies ahead of its domestic retail rivals. But James Tagg, mobile services director for MPG’s Mobext, is unsure that the technology can be implemented successfully in cities such as London.

“I think it’s clear that, here in London, the main value of a similar campaign would be as an awareness-raising tool, rather than an improvement on our everyday shopping experience,” he says. “The lack of mobile reception on large parts of the Tube system would prevent most people from downloading the app in response to seeing the virtual shopping aisles, and placing an order would have to wait until you were above ground at the end of your journey.”

Tesco says it doesn’t plan to launch similar services in the UK, but with Ocado leading the charge, the ‘big four’ supermarkets of Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s could well be tempted to follow suit in the future.

Increasing smartphone adoption will help, along with plans to install mobile broadband on London’s Tube network. It could be a while, however, before interactive walls feature significantly in retailers’ growth plans. (Source: Andrew Mccormik/Wallblog.co.uk)

Sustainability in Italy: what big retail players are doing.

Italians are virtuous, with a constantly growing attention towards the environment among young people. This is the picture that emerges from the research about Italian Sustainability and emerging lifestyles: 2,500 interviews, a sample of the Italian population aged between 15 and 74 years. Objective: To identify the most common habits among Italians to reduce their environmental impact.

“The majority of Italians, 50.9%, is sensitive to issues related to sustainability, 48.6% said they buy environmentally friendly products. There is a 36.4% claiming to not care and a 12.7% which is almost hostile to the subject”, “explains Monica Fabris, sociologist, currently president of the Episteme institute of research. “Sustainability is primarily a response to unconscious needs: fear, for example. And the international crisis in this sense was crucial because it demonstrated the unsustainability of many behaviors, limited resources and has spread the importance of having more conservative attitudes. ”

This explanation of Fabris, that the sensitivity of the Italian added: “We are not the most attentive of Europe, but we have a different kind of sustainability. In the research we have identified four types of “green” attitudes. There are “promoters of a shared involvment” (10.9%) who practice a sort of militant environmentalism, they think that everyone can do something and that sustainability is a value. Then there are the “those who judge” (10.4%), people who feel the need to see polluters and waste producers being legally punished. The vision of “eco-nostalgic” (14.8%) is about a return to the past and considering saving and reducing consumption real goals. Finally, there is “the vanguard of sustainable consumption” (63,9%) who have a key to modern, pragmatic and are willing to pay for more virtuous behaviours” This last category direct their purchases mainly to products of the big market, identified as guarantors of attitudes ecofriendly.

“All the big brands have sustainable programs. The projects are very varied and range from research to packaging more easily disposable and recyclable materials to reduce water consumption, the increasing presence of photovoltaic systems to supplement the energy needs of the factories to the use of new production technologies with low environmental impact ” says Ivo Ferrario, director of communications Centromarca, the association of the most important companies active in Italy brand. “Huge efforts are also undertaken to provide consumers with a better information, and to educate companies’employees thanks to specific activities regarding the environmental and sustainability issues.” In this direction is the Total Quality Day organized by Coca-Cola HBC Italy: each year, employees spend a day and a half attending comprehensive educational programs about safety and environment. “We talk about the correct control of raw materials, top quality production processes, optimization of cargo handling and a more effective waste management,” says Alessandro Magnoni, Communication and External Relations Manager. “About sustainability, last June we put into operation a large cogeneration plant in Nogales (Vr), which has already reduced CO2 emissions by 66% and increased energy efficiency up to 83%. But this is just the beginning, we plan to equip all eight Italian plants with photovoltaic systems, an operation that will avoid the emission of 11,500 tons of CO2. ”

Another international brand is following the same path, Heineken, which in 2010 presented a ten-year plan Brewing a better future. “The aim is to reduce CO2 emissions resulting from production processes by 40% and to fall by 25% on water consumption. All by 2020 “explains Alfredo Pratolongo, Communication and Institutional Affairs Manater at Heineken Italy. A strong commitment to social responsibility is also the mission of Procter & Gamble, a leader in consumer products which collects 300 brands: “We have halved the production of waste and CO2 in our plants and use alternative energy generated by wind and photovoltaic systems “says the head of Italy’s sustainability policies, Renato Sciarrillo. He adds: “For those of us who handles many products – we have 140 factories in 80 countries -logistics is crucial: we want to move 30% by rail transport. But that’s not all. “Concentrated” products ensure reductions in packaging up to 45% and the research is aiming at finding new materials to replace plastics. ”

About packaging, Nestlé has a dedicated team that study sizes and materials to reduce environmental impact. “In 2010, in Italy we have avoided the use of 147 tons of materials including metal, paper and plastic. Our objective is to optimize weight and volume, to use materials that you can recover properly, to develop materials from renewable sources and to support initiatives to recycle and recover energy from used packaging “explains Manuela Kron, Nestlé Group Italy Corporate Affairs manager. “To do this we have added a cogeneration and regeneration power plant in San Sisto (PG) and Moretta (CN), which allow us to cut the emission of around 13 000 tonnes of CO2 per year.”

Investments in the study of eco packaging and using alternative energy are also key points for L’Oréal. “We have been working on green chemistry for over ten years and thanks to our research we have recently discovered cosmetic effects of natural sugars. This year we launched a major center for predictive evaluation in Gerland (Lyon) where more than 99% of our ingredients are animal-free tested. Our packaging use a high percentage of recyclable material, we only use wood fiber from certified forests. The Garnier brand, for example, in 2012 will cut the weight of packaging by 15%, “says Giorgina Gallo, managing director of L’Oréal Italy. And the future? “The global goal for 2015 is a reduction of 50% in CO2 emissions, 50% of water consumption and waste generated per unit of finished product. In particular, our factory in Settimo Torinese, in the forefront on sustainability issues, is finalizing two projects that use alternative energy to become, by the end of 2012, a zero emissions plant. ”

Always in Italy, another brand which is very attentive to sustainability is Barilla. “Over 92% of our packaging is recyclable and now we want to exceed 95% in advance to target set for 2014. In recent years we have supplied cogeneration pasta plants, developed energy saving projects and replaced the electricity used in the production of Mulino Bianco products by Renewable Energy Certificate System certificates. This has reduced by about 10% the CO2 emissions for each unit of finished product, “explains Barilla’s Head of Communications and Media, Giuseppe Cocconi. This anticipates the future: “We want to reduce the impact of our products in a timely manner ensuring production processes throughout the supply chain.”

And as we have already informed you about, another worlwide known Italian company, Illy, have been awarded for its sustainable approach during the production processes, receiving the DNV Green Coffee Responsible Supply Chain Process certification. A certificate that emphasizes respect for the ecosystem through the use of recycled packaging and non-polluting practices.
In Danone are applying a very tight control system too. “In 2011 we will reach the goal of being the only company in this market segment to use thermoformed plastic, a new generation made much lighter and with less plastic, for the entire range of products ” explains Gianluca Mormino, director of Danone factory in Casale Cremasco . “This system also allows you to sell the pots which are welded together, avoiding the secondary packaging. And we are studying biodegradable packaging. ”

There is another sector which is very eco-friendly, and Philips is one of the brands involved. “We have to meet annual targets tied to packaging, water and energy savings,” explains Sergio Tonfi head of communications. “In 2010, the” green “products accounted for 38% of our total revenues, in 2007 were 20%: this is the result of three years long investment in innovation worth about 1 billion euros” (Source: Manuela Croci -Corriere.it)

Mobile consumers do prefer in-store purchasing, a research says.

According to JiWire’s research 79% of mobile consumers are ‘comfortable’ making purchases from smartphones or tables, even for products over the $1,000 threshold. Mobile shoppers are most likely to make purchases under the $1,000 threshold with about half saying they’ve made purchases over $100. Only 20% report making a purchase over $500 through a mobile device.

However, more important than those actually making mobile purchases is the fact that researchers believe mobile shopping is actually leading to more in-store purchasing. While many mobile shoppers logon to branded websites, many may be simply looking for product information, pricing or to check the availability. From there, they are going to brick-and-mortar stores to complete their purchases.

“What we are seeing with the evolution of mobile commerce is how the combination of mobile and location is transforming shopping behavior, enabling mobile advertising to drive in-store, brick and mortar consumer engagement,” said David Staas, Senior Vice President of Marketing with JiWire. “We are seeing this trend take place across a broad range of retailers and service providers, from national brands to local mom and pop deals.”

Researchers found:

• 31% of mobile shoppers research mobilly and then buy in-store
• 40% of mobile shoppers research mobilly then purchase via PC/desktop
• 20% of mobile shoppers research and then purchase via mobile

In addition to researching purchases, mobile shoppers are looking for local store locations, looking for daily deals or coupons and even sharing deal or product information with friends through email and social networks. (Source: Bizreport)

How to deliver customized in-store offers to shoppers?

One of the in-store marketing biggest issues ever is how to reach customers with customized offers while they are shopping. U.S.A retailers and consumers are going to have a solution handy in the next future: Shop O’Lot.  

Shop O’ Lot is a self service platform which makes major retailer participation very easy. The model is based on a predictive analysis engine, that builds a customer’s shopping profile, then allows retailers to reach these customers in real-time while they are shopping, offering them customized discount coupons.

The app uses GPS and bar-code scanning for delivering the content and will be released on the iPhone and Android OS platforms.

Bob Pack, CEO says, “major retailers are now competing with product search and comparison apps that can actually drive a customer to buy from a competitor, a practice known as “scan and scram.” We have a complete solution to really help drive retail purchases, this goes well beyond mere Geo- location and focuses on individual target marketing. Once we understand the shoppers tastes, delivering them customized product deals only by the store they are in, will help keep shoppers loyal.”

Shop O’ Lot is still in the testing phase and plans a 2011 launch and retailers and consumers, can sign up now to be part of our beta program directly on Shop O’Lot website. (Source: americanbankingnews.com)

Is augmented reality the future of retail?

Global revenues from augmented reality (AR) applications and services are projected to reach $1.5 billion by 2015, according to Pocket-lint.com

Augmented reality is a term for a live direct or an indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics.

Tissot watches has had success implementing an AR campaign. By placing a dummy watch around your wrist, which has a code on the face, and holding it in front of your webcam, the app displays it on the screen as a virtual, 1:1 scale version. The benefit is you get to “try on” the watches to see which suits you best before purchasing.

Holition, AR, 3D and future technology creative agency, which is based in East London, is responsible for the campaign.

“What we’re trying to do with the worn-on-the-body applications is enable a real business functionality for it. It engages consumers, it enables people to understand the product and therefore it enables them to take that step closer to purchasing the product as well,” said Lynne Murray, brand manager at Holition.

“Tissot’s brand public relations grew 600 percent through the campaign compared to 100 percent growth that they usually expect to achieve. So, even as a communication tool, it’s a hugely engaging way for brands to have another and new point of contact with its audience. AR is a new way of communicating socially, a new way of getting people on board with the brand.”

Murray expects these types of technologies to give way to a fully integrated retail experience in the not too distant future. (Source: Retailcustomerexperience.com)