A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
The robots have been dubbed OSHbots.
Robots are coming to Lowe’s. The company is testing whether new robots on wheels can improve its customer service, like helping a shopper find a match for something as simple as a nail. (Video)
Continue reading… “Lowe’s introduces robotic sales assistants to help customers”
The Connected Fitting Room
Retailers rely heavily on online shopping. This has many advantages to in-store shopping for both the customer and the retailer. Online shopping doesn’t allow for spontaneous purchases. But it also doesn’t permit the customer to try on a garment. Seeing how a color looks against your skin or how an item fits on your body is imperative in deciding whether or not to keep an item, and this is only possible through actually going into a fitting room.
Continue reading… “The Connected Fitting Room eliminates personal interaction with salespeople”
Lazy people are the best customers.
The ultimate customers are lazy, anti-social people. To be assured of success today, create a service that appeals to people just active enough to push a button but too lazy to check their bank statements.
Continue reading… “Uber has taught us that the best customers are lazy people”
Today’s customers and retailers are getting serious about how they implement and manage the customer experience.
“The pay-TV industry has reported its worst 12-month stretch ever.”
2013 has been a tough year for cable-TV operators. This will probably be the worst year for the pay-TV industry in terms of customer retention, according to a report Tuesday by independent research firm MoffettNathanson.
Facebook fans have jumped almost 30 percent in value since 2010. In fact, social marketing firm Syncapse says they could be worth hundreds of dollars each, depending on the industry and company.
Continue reading… “Facebook fans jump up 30% in value since 2010”
The best way to fix the customer’s experience problems is from her side of the marketplace: the demand side.
“Put down the customer. Step away from the marketplace,” Craig Burton once said to a clueless marketing officer That also comes to mind when you hear about unwanted surveillance of customers rationalized for marketing purposes, or how Big Data lets a company know a customer better than she knows herself.
Dropbox, Evernote and RememberTheMilk do not make a case for freemium. And these three easily available examples do not make indisputable evidence against freemium. But these three quotes reflect a return to the roots of marketing — starting with customer needs, choosing the needs you want to serve and getting your fair share of the value created.
Mobile payment systems have the potential to provide significant benefits to business travelers, as well as travel managers. New technologies such as mobile wallets, near-field communication (NFC), along with a proliferation of travel apps, can streamline both the purchase and expensing process for business travelers. But customers’ and businesses’ lack of familiarity with these new tools remains a significant stumbling block for adoption.
The amount of capital available for entrepreneurs when you count the customer market is much larger.
The startup community gave itself a high five in April when the JOBS Act was signed. Crowdfunding would enable startups to reach out to the whole world to get access to funding, not just a small cabal of investors living in a 20-mile radius of Menlo Park.
Continue reading… “Crowdfunding from customers – new class of investors for startup capital”
Credit unions added more new members during that month than in all of 2010.
Credit unions are benefiting from the backlash against big banks over new fees. And in Texas, credit unions gained $326 million in new deposits from 47,000 new members during the month leading up to the so-called Bank Transfer Day. The Saturday event was orchestrated by an online campaign urging consumers to move their money from banks to the generally smaller credit unions.
Continue reading… “Credit unions benefit from backlash against big banks”
A salesman at a Nordstrom store rings up a sale using a custom iPod Touch.
Fabienne Michel was shoppng for a pair of khaki shorts the other day at an Old Navy store in Manhattan. But she left the store without something equally routine: her receipt.