If you enjoy shopping, you are well aware of the impact digital technologies have had on the shopping experience. From coupons from Groupon to pins on Pinterest, you know a decent deal when you see one. You subscribe to Gilt, Woot, and other daily deal sites to ensure that you do not miss out on offers and promotions on things that you don’t actually need. You are extremely comfortable with the clicking aspect of click-and-mortar businesses that allow online and offline purchases and are willing to share your experiences with your friends and followers on social media. So, whether you are a compulsive shopper or a trend watcher, here are a few retail trends that may spark your interest.
Window Shopping
The fashion house Fifth & Pacific Inc. which owns brands like Kate Spade, Lucky, and Juicy Couture, recently launched a new retail format to promote its new line of fashion accessories and apparel sold under the “Saturday” brand name. Using touch-screen technology, customers can browse through and buy a number of items displayed in “windows” on busy street corners of New York City.
The windows themselves constitute the store, meaning that there is no retail store behind the window display where you can walk in and make a purchase. You click the article that you wish to purchase, and provide some basic information like your phone number, and voila! The product gets delivered to your NYC address within an hour! You pay upon delivery. To make this possible, the company has partnered with eBay. As a concept, it is innovative and potentially a huge cost-saver for Fifth & Pacific. But, are customers ready to take window shopping to the next level? Only time will tell.
Drone Delivery
When you hear of drones, food is not the first thing that comes to mind! And yet, a couple of restaurant chains are experimenting with drones as a way to serve and deliver food to their customers. Take the example of Yo! Sushi, a British chain that is using drones to serve sushi to its patrons. Taking the concept further, Domino’s Pizza is testing out a helicopter-like drone to deliver pizzas to its customers.
Perhaps Dominos has realized that investing in drones is cheaper than providing free pizzas to customers for missed delivery deadlines. The motivation for these companies to explore technologies that could reduce costs and improve efficiencies is obvious. However, the future of flying objects delivering food appears bleak with many practical aspects of such an implementation yet to be ironed out.
For now, I will be happy to see McDelivery in my neighbourhood!
Grocery from Amazon
If distribution giant Amazon gets its way, you will be able to order your milk, produce, and meats online along with your books and computer peripherals. The recently launched service is currently available in the Seattle and Los Angeles area and comes at an annual service charge of $299. Members can expect their orders to be delivered the same day or overnight based on the time of order. Amazon Prime membership program, launched a couple of years ago, is considered to be wildly successful and assures customers free shipping within two days on items ordered through Amazon.
The company hopes to cash in on customers who are reluctant shoppers who would rather order online than line up every week at the local supermarket. When you combine the potential savings that Amazon typically offers and the amount of time that you can free up – an average of two hours a week – this may be worth considering. However, if walking the aisles of your chosen supermarket is part of your exercise routine, you may want to think again.
So what do you think? Which one of these retail ideas do you think has the most likelihood of succeeding? Please comment and share using the options below.
