Happy New Year's Eve!`

Just about time to say goodbye to 2014.  I truly hope it has been a good one for you and your families.

Here's to 2015!

Hope you've enjoyed the reading.

J.W. Gant

In-Store Pickup Issues, Walmart Gift Card Program, and Macy's Award

Hello Everyone,

I hope 2014 has been a great year for you.  This will be my final research post of the year.

First up is an interesting study on in-store pickup issues.  Seems the checkout process is considerably longer when performing in-store pickup, vs. store shoppers who've done their own picking.  This matches my own experience recently at Best Buy.  After waiting more than the requested time to come to the store my order still wasn't ready so they sent the picker off to find and fulfill my order.  He couldn't locate the product.  After watching him wander around for a few minutes I went directly to the location I expected it would be at and found it on the shelf.  Seems the real problem for pickers is the lack of familiarity with products, each store having tens of thousands of SKUs. Whereas the customer knows exactly what they are looking for.

Here is the story:

http://www.chainstoreage.com/article/study-store-pickup-offers-slower-checkout

Next up is a Walmart gift card trade-in program they've recently launched.  Trade in cards from other retailers for Walmart credit.

http://www.progressivegrocer.com/departments/technology/walmart-launches-gift-card-exchange

Finally is the award to Macy's for best in mobile 2014.  They've earned it in my estimation.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/macys-is-2014-mobile-retailer-of-the-year

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Misc News - Hershey SMS, Dunnhumby Predictions, and Chevron with Apple Pay

A few stories are worth your time today.

First is the use of SMS messaging by Hershey's to enable in-store interaction with consumers.  This is in preference, for now, over bluetooth beacons.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/why-hershey-co-chose-sms-not-beacons-for-in-store-engagement

Next is a very good story by Dunnhumby predicting what 2015 will contain.  This is the best reading of the day really.

http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/2015-predictions-Dunnhumby-use-data

Finally is news on Chevron signing up for Apple Pay at the pump.

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2014/12/chevron-working-to-integrate-apple-pay-at-its-gas-pumps-by-early-2015

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Instacart Valuation at $2USB

Wow!

Just 6 months ago this little Silicon Valley startup company that delivers groceries was valued at $400 million.  They just wrapped up a new $220 million funding round that values the company at $2 billion.  They've been busy.

Re/Code has the story:

http://recode.net/2014/12/30/grocery-delivery-startup-instacart-scores-220-million-investment/

Looks like private equity believes Instacart has legs and grocery delivery is real.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Apple Pay, CurrentC, and Amazon

A few good articles I've found today, though one is a few days old.  These are good reads overall.

First up is the beginning of what is sure to be series of articles we'll see that summarize the year.  This year-end tradition is a bit annoying to me overall but has its worth I guess.  This one is good if you haven't followed along closely with events in mobile payments:

http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/articles/2014-in-review-part-i-apple-pay-mcx-the-uk-and-beacons/

Next is an article on ComputerWorld about Apple Pay and the issues we've seen with various forms of mobile payments.  This is worthy of the read just for the part on McDonalds and Apple Pay:

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2862227/hold-the-phone-mcdonald-s.html

Finally is news from Mobile Commerce Daily about Amazon.  Seems mobile is a huge part of their eCommerce business now, thanks to both smart phones and tablets I'm sure.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/amazon-com-sees-nearly-60pc-of-consumers-shop-via-mobile-devices

I hope your holiday season is going well.  Best Regards to all.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Happy Holidays!

I hope you and your family are enjoying a wonderful holiday season!

A quick google search of holiday images resulted in this one that I hope you'll enjoy (and I hope isn't copyrighted in some way).

See you later,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0179 Amazon Showing Cracks?

Very good article over on the New York Times regarding Amazon.

Internally I've been saying since early summer after a decade of hearing about nothing but eCommerce conquering traditional retail the new mobile-centric world is enabling retailers to strike back.
















This article seems to take that idea to heart:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/technology/personaltech/amazon-not-as-unstoppable-as-it-may-appear.html?ref=business&_r=0

Here is a snippet from the piece:

“I’m seeing the first big cracks in Amazon at this point, and it will be interesting to see how they handle it,” said Venky Harinarayan, a tech investor and entrepreneur who worked closely with Mr. Bezos in the early 2000s, after selling a company he helped start, Junglee.com, to Amazon.

...

“Wall Street has given them a lot of leeway in prioritizing growth over profitability, and they’ve taken full advantage of that,” he said. “But it’s going to get harder and harder to get that license, and when that happens, we’ll see how their business starts to look, and how they respond to challenges.”

What will 2015 bring?

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant