How Google Shopping Ads is Killing It

Data.

Data.

Google.

Data.

All the same thing.

Wonder how Google figures out what you mean when you type in something you are looking to purchase?

Wonder no more.  Here is a snippet from the piece:

As Google has scaled up its Shopping products in recent years, there has been a growing consensus in the retail search marketing space that Shopping ads are one of the most effective ways to win valuable consumer clicks.

This is especially true of the non-branded, broader search terms that are typical of the early stages of the customer journey.

During this phase, Google Shopping ads – commonly referred to as Product Listing Ads, or PLAs – are considered to be a key means of engaging consumers early, and boosting new customer acquisition.

Here is the story:

https://www.clickz.com/google-shopping-dominating-retail-search-marketing/213772/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Customer Service via Drone

Walmart wants drones buzzing around in its stores, helping people.

Seems like a logical extension of the mobile shopping assistant.  Not ready for prime-time yet I'm sure but I have little doubt this is coming.

Here is the story:

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/316641/walmart-files-patent-for-in-store-drone-customer-s.html?edition=108241

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

What Facebook's Problems Mean to You

As the Federal Trade Commission looks in to Facebook's interactions with the now widely known company Cambridge Analytica people across the U.S. and the globe are waking up to a startling revelation ...

Facebook has a ton of data about you.

Wait. That isn't news to you? Good!

Here is that story in case you are interested:

https://www.cnet.com/news/ftc-confirms-its-investigating-facebook/

Here is the next startling revelation ... ready?

Every company out there wants your data too. The only difference is Facebook got caught with its hand in the cookie jar and the company it was in business with, Cambridge Analytica, is engaged in some very dirty business. Setting up politicians so it appears they had sexual relations with Ukranian escorts. According to their CEO on video it doesn't matter if the person actually engaged in the behavior it just has to appear that way. Great business you have there, but, hey, so long as your kids get to go to expensive private schools who cares if you help destroy democracy.

Apple is reportedly interested in seeing Facebook put under the microscope for this.

Of course they are. Facebook eats Apple's lunch on personal data. Apple might gain more marketing dollars if Facebook loses out. It's a gold rush to get your data and all of the technology companies, and retailers, want in.

Where Facebook has really done is overstepping on what they gather without proper notification. Android users woke up to a shock over this when they found Facebook was gathering their phone conversations.

I have been predicting we will see a general pullback in technology due to security concerns. Privacy concern are trumping that. Regulations are next.

Is it time we the people gained a measure of control over the technology that has become central to our lives?

Giving out your personal information is a trade-off  You give something of value and receive something of value in return. I have a rewards card or my favorite supermarket. No worries. However when the data gathering is unclear or used in ways you don't agree with and without your consent you should be concerned.

Happy Reading.

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE**

I have several articles to add to this.  First up is news the U.S. immigration force, rounding up illegal entrants, is using Facebook data to track, locate, and presumably remove folks:
http://fortune.com/2018/03/27/facebook-data-ice-immigrants-deport/

Can the consumer gain from this fiasco?  Yes according to one analyst and I agree.  This is an important moment, a wake-up call, to folks who haven't followed what is happening to them digitally. Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/facebook-data-scandal-should-be-a-wake-up-call-about-online-footprint.html

When an issue enters the public awareness to a level it is parodied in TV comedies you know it is a problem.  Facebook is spelled in Russian during the new opening for Season 5 of the hit HBO comedy 'Silicon Valley'. A reference to Russian trolls using Facebook data to attack the 2016 elections. See it and read more here: https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/3/26/17164094/silicon-valley-season-5-opening-credits-facebook-easter-egg-russian-cyrillic-letters-fake-news

More bad news for Facebook on the front page of Bloomberg's marketing pages: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-03-27/ad-scammers-need-suckers-and-facebook-helps-find-them

What Facebook's troubles mean to marketers, that's you right? Read on:
https://econsultancy.com/blog/69902-facebook-is-in-real-trouble-what-it-could-mean-for-marketers/

I'll add more if I find worthy entries in this ongoing story.  I think we are about to see some technologies become treated as equivalent to utilities such as electricity, running water, and phone service.  How that changes the game is easy to see.  A vacuum will be created and other companies, such as Apple, will rush to fill it with their services.

The In-Store Shopping Opportunity for Mobile Apps

When I was first imagining the mobile app I would build for regional supermarkets the biggest opportunity I saw was to help reinvent the in-store shopping experience.

Want to find a store?  Don't you already have a favorite supermarket picked out?  Doesn't google do that for you?

After you've been to the store?  What?  Recipes to cook the food you bought?  Sure, but there are a few resources for recipes available already right?

In the store?

Now you're cooking with butter!

(I love that saying)

Walmart is at it in a big way and it is worth following.  With resources I could only dream of they are reimagining the shopping experience.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

With a new mobile app experience, Walmart is hoping to change the way people shop at its brick-and-mortar stores. The multinational retail chain, which now has more than 11,600 stores under 59 banners and ecommerce websites in 11 countries, recently debuted a new mobile app experience that promises to get customers in and out of stores more quickly, reimagining in-person shopping.

Walmart’s new Store Assistant is an all-encompassing mobile app solution...

Here is the full article:

http://streetfightmag.com/2018/02/27/walmart-reimagines-in-store-shopping-experience-with-mobile-update/

Now imagine if none of the past were present and no stores existed today and you wanted to open a store.  What would you do .... today?  Mobile interactions?  Social media interactions?  You bet.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Whole Foods After Amazon

Where do you shop for your food and "super" market needs?

Whole Foods?

Before Amazon bought it or after or both?

What has changed?

Take a look:

https://www.boston.com/news/food/2018/03/01/amazon-whole-foods-changes

I think it is safe to say this is only the beginning.  One becomes the other and the other becomes the one.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Target's Profits Down

Target is in a bit of a hard spot.

Amazon on one side.

Walmart on the other.

A changing industry heavy on digital technology, ecommerce, and changes in the store experience.

Not everyone is going to get it right and the legacy merchants are going to have to craft a new path forward.  Target's efforts resulted in a problem in its profit as it missed efforts.

Great analysis and an interesting look in to what is happening in retail in the United States today:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-06/target-s-turnaround-plan-weighs-on-profit-as-it-chases-amazon

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

What to do About Smartphone Addicts?

Is there a smartphone addict in your life?

Is it you?

Your significant other?

Children?

Co-workers?

Students?

What can you do about it?

Plenty.

Read more here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2018/02/05/this-millennial-discovered-a-surprisingly-simple-solution-to-smartphone-addiction-schools-love-it/?utm_term=.7e4c900d9068

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Ditch the phones.

He founded a company, Yondr, whose small, gray pouches swallow phones and lock them away from the fingers and eyes of their addicted owners. Since it started in 2014, hundreds of thousands of the neoprene pouches have been used across North America, Europe and Australia.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Optimizing for Smaller Audiences

Hello folks, I've had a crazy last 6 weeks but have been capturing some stories I marked to blog when I finally carved the time to catch up and get back to my usual rhythm.  Here's the first of several stories.

I've often thought about the practice of A/B testing, or split testing (the practice of providing part of your audience with one design and the rest with another to compare and contrast).  It is especially difficult when your audience is small.  As a statistically driven person I think in terms of scientific sample size when determining the accuracy of results.

Thank about it.  Is your A/B testing useful when you have 5-10 visitors regularly?  100?  10,000?  When your numbers are in the tens of millions or more then ... definitely, but what about the smaller fish in the sea?

Here you go:

https://getuplift.co/how-to-optimize-a-low-traffic-site-without-ab-testing-step-by-step/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Testing is not a matter of opening your testing tool and waiting for that little “Statistically Significant” marker. You need to reach your required sample size before concluding anything or else the insights will be invalid.

That’s where it gets difficult for low traffic sites.

Unless you’re detecting an incredibly large effect, you’ll need to run the test for months. The longer a test is running, the more vulnerable it is to sample pollution, which can rear its head in many ways.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant