Personalization in Marketing

I have seen first hand how merchandisers are so busy they can barely begin to move forward on future-leaning initiatives.

Missing out on personalization is a big miss however and should not be allowed to happen.

Salesforce estimates that adding Einstein personalization to your marketing sorting rules for grid pages, PLPs, will have a positive impact on revenue in the range of 6-9%.  Why leave that money sitting on the table?  Companies such as Certona are thriving on doing the work for you.  Just set up a data feed of your order history and the company will personalize recommendations, resulting in a revenue lift.

Oh, did I mention Amazon is in that game too?  Yeah.  Another threat from Amazon.  Just what you needed right?

Do it.

Here is a story on the subject of how marketers are failing to make this a priority:

https://www.clickz.com/personalization-powerful-priority/243913/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

It’s been a big news week for Amazon. The ecommerce giant’s shares have surpassed those of Walmart. Amazon announced the end of its restaurant delivery service, while launching a credit card an AI-powered recommendation service to improve personalization. Oh, and thanks to a 52% year-over-year increase in brand value, Amazon displaced Apple at the top of WPP and Kantar’s annual ranking of the most valuable brands in the world.

The latter two are certainly related. Available in a handful of regions for now, the recommendation service enables marketers to incorporate product recommendations and tailored search results on websites, in apps, and within content management and email marketing systems. It’s called Amazon Personalize, a nod to the company’s signature move.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

PS I found this great little complementary article that is also worth your time, especially if you are in the supermarket industry.
https://retailleader.com/personalization-digital-food-retailing

BRotD - Entry 0261 Google Report on Omnichannel Shopping

Best Reading of the Day

As I started to read this I was struck initially by how pedestrian the article was.  It gets better though and is well worth your time.

What bogey are you chasing today in your marketing strategy?  AOV?  CR?  Looking at your mobile traffic suddenly over 50%?

Read this little article to give you some help:

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/omnichannel-shopping-journey/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

In other words, people feel that online shopping makes it easier for them to find the right item at the right price.
...
Ultimately, people are looking to meet their needs in the most efficient way possible, whether that means shopping online only or researching online before heading to the store.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Shoppability is a Thing

The current state of eCommerce should be interesting to all of us for a variety of reasons.  We have some new data and a new term to consider.

Shoppability.

That is the integration of a variety of apps and services, such as social media, with the ability to shop instantly.  I'm saying this is a way to encourage people to buy things they don't need and spend money they don't have  but this is also a set of ways to help people find goods and services they may not have known about and may truly need.  Both of those statements are likely true.

It is different from "omnicommerce" as it is less focused on the traditional ERP-based delivery of goods and more on inserting directly in to multi-channel approaches to selling.

Here is the full story:

https://econsultancy.com/three-key-retail-ecommerce-trends-meekers-internet-report-2019/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

...what’s most interesting about the growth of ecommerce in 2019 is that it isn’t just coming from the expected places – offline sales shifting to online, or customers visiting retailers’ websites to make purchases. Instead, Meeker’s Internet Trends report tells a story of shoppability becoming integrated into apps and services of every kind, offline retail becoming digitised, and ecommerce reaching new communities and demographics.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Another Platform Player gets an IPO

I have written about this before, though I had previously focused on the B2B space, but platform players are continuing to make big waves in the market.

This is a consignment store online where people can sell their goods.  The IPO is expected to be valued at about $1.3 Billion.  With a "B".

Some people have things they want to sell on consignment.  Some people wish to purchase things from consignment and buy with confidence.  This platform brings them together.  Easy. 

Here is the full article:

https://www.chainstoreage.com/finance-0/another-fast-growing-digital-native-going-public/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Uber and Lyft Drivers Gaming the Business

I loved this story so much I captured it weeks ago and held on to it until I could get it written up here.

To level-set for the audience, UBER and Lyft are essentially taxi replacement services that enable mobile devices to be the call center for service.  The fees for transportation vary dependent on availability of supply versus demand (drivers and cars for passengers).  Simple right?

Economists love the idea because finite resources fit naturally in to a supply & demand scenario for pricing.  Long articles have been written about price-fixing in the New York City housing scene, with good reason.  Passengers don't really care for it because they don't know what they are paying for the service from moment to moment.  A ride home from the airport might cost $50 or $100 depending.  Meanwhile traditional taxi drivers hate it and the new drivers are complaining they don't make enough money from the gig economy.  Who wins in all this?  Uber and Lyft certainly.

Well the drivers have figured out how to game the system.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Though much of the modern internet is premised on the idea that it brings people together, capitalism — not humanity or even a recognizable morality — powers technology companies.

But since technology now powers so many aspects of civic life, we must infuse human rights principles and accountability into how these platforms operate. In the absence of clear pathways of accountability in which workers concerns are addressed, we can expect to see continuous uprisings and actions organized through loosely connected networks of solidarity — and some of them will even use the power of the platforms against their owners.

Here is the whole story:

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/uber-lyft-drivers-are-using-companies-algorithms-against-them-ncna1009026

Welcome to the 21st Century Union of Workers.  :-)

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

eCommerce the Profit Drain

I found the title of this article to be quite eye-catching:

Is eCommerce Draining the Profit Out Of Retail?

Yeah.  That is truly a great question.

Top to bottom the entirety of the eCommerce ecosystem is focused on enabling a company to have an easy relationship with customers and quickly provide them with goods at a low cost.

That has been the focus of traditional brick & mortar retailers for over 100 years but the cost structure of getting good TO a customer is quite different from providing a place for customers to go get goods FROM a retailer.

It is a read that is worth your time.  Get the whole story here:

https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2019/05/16/is-ecommerce-draining-the-profit-out-of-retail/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0260 Product Development Hubris

Best Reading of the Day

The following read is about video games, one specifically, and the design & development process it has been going through.  However, it is really a story of project scope creep, hubris, arrogance, and the problems of unlimited resources.

This is not a new story and is applicable to any project you encounter (that link I provided leads to one of the best stories of this kind you'll ever find).

The game in question is titled Star Citizen and its development efforts launched with great fanfare to a Kickstarter campaign that quickly became the most successful of its kind ever.

Years later the "game" has received over $300 million in funding and ... still hasn't launched anything out of alpha stage development.

I was initially intrigued having enjoyed founder Chris Robert's other efforts so I watched and waited.  What I kept seeing alarmed me.  Usually a Kickstarter campaign includes a goal that will result in "full funding" so a project will result in a product in your hands, and includes stretch goals that will get included if enough people pony up money.  This campaign, however, had no limit. As the funding increased the scope increased, seemingly endlessly.  I saw scope creep beyond belief and concluded I would have no part in the project until scope, and release dates, became solid.  7 years later I am still waiting.

Read more in this snippet:

Rough playable modes—alphas, not betas—are used to raise hopes and illustrate work being done. And Roberts has enticed gamers with a steady stream of hype, including promising a vast, playable universe with “100 star systems.” But most of the money is gone, and the game is still far from finished. At the end of 2017, for example, Roberts was down to just $14 million in the bank. He has since raised more money. Those 100 star systems? He has not completed a single one. So far he has two mostly finished planets, nine moons and an asteroid.

This is not fraud—Roberts really is working on a game—but it is incompetence and mismanagement on a galactic scale.

Here is the full story:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2019/05/01/exclusive-the-saga-of-star-citizen-a-video-game-that-raised-300-millionbut-may-never-be-ready-to-play/#3e2d26c75ac9

Let this serve as a warning.  Managers, always provide resource constraints beyond what you actually have.  Developers, always listen to marketing to identify need.  Leaders, get out of the weeds to provide vision and let your people work.

And on

and on

...

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant