July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

With streaming media websites like Netflix and iTunes virtually wiping out Main Street’s DVD rental stores, Dish Network has found an alternative use for Blockbuster, the chain it acquired last year.

Blockbuster revealed today that it will begin stocking mobile phones, as well as DVDs, in its brick-and-mortar stores around the country. The phones are already available for purchase online.

Is it just me, or are Blockbuster store sightings more difficult to scout out than a Spotted Owl? Dish has already closed about half of the 1,700 Blockbuster stores it acquired when it bought the company out of bankruptcy.

For Dish, the announcement is a long-time coming. Executives announced their intention to sell mobile phones from Blockbuster stores when the acquisition was finalized in April, 2011.

Dish reportedly plans to begin selling mobile phones out of stores under the name “Blockbuster Mobile.” Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile and other carriers have already signed on as partners. According to Bloomberg, the move may be a prelude to Dish launching its own mobile phone service — it is already looking for potential partners.

Dish recently acquired numerous wireless airwaves, and is awaiting word from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about how it can use them.

Mobile phone image // violetkaipa, Shutterstock

The conventional wisdom about retailers nowadays is that they’re getting wrecked by the Internet-borne virus that is online retail. And mobile phones are making matters much, much worse.

Mobile marketer InMarket, however, tells a different story. It says the rise mobile phones isn’t a death knell for retailers but rather could be their savior.

“We’re right at the turning of things swinging toward mobile in a pretty big way,” InMarket communications director Dave Heinzinger said.

But, he said, retailers are so afraid of showrooming for Amazon that they’re not embracing some of the biggest strengths of mobile devices: Creating personalized ads to consumers as they shop.

“The mindset of people in-store is completely different from when they are sitting on the couch,” Heinzinger said.

According to InMarket data, shoppers spend an average of 90 seconds interacting with products in store. That’s three times as long as the average commercial. This, Heinzinger said, means there is untapped potential for retailers to meet shoppers head on with mobile apps and in-store contextual advertising.

It’s shopper 3.0, Heinzinger said.

Of course, InMarket has a big horse in this race. The company’s trio of shopping rewards apps — CheckPoints, List Bliss, and Extra Extra — allow brands to advertise their products via coupons and deals.

But Heinzinger’s conclusion remains relevant: Retailers are struggling to meet consumers head on. “We’re spending more time on our phones, but the brands aren’t following. This is something they have to fix” he said.

Photo:Shutterstock

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Most business owners are already aware of the benefits of having a user-friendly website that is easily viewed and accessed by smartphones and tablets. Now, many of these same companies are finding fresh and unexpected ways to use tablets in stores, while helping to broaden the boundaries of what a brick-and-mortar store is capable of. Yes, the tablet revolution has finally reached retail, proving itself to be an essential tool in a new way of doing business.

Recent research indicates that by 2014, more than one in three American Internet users will have a tablet device, and that 52 percent of tablet owners prefer to shop online using their tablets. However, this data isn’t discouraging retail-store owners, who more and more are seeing the advantages of working with tablets to enhance their brick-and-mortar businesses.

For example, at the ‘Gas Station of the Future” in Rio de Janeiro, a Cisco Cius tablet is available to connect customers to specialists in real-time, and can also use videoconferencing to gather information on maintenance specials offered by the station, as well as show addresses across the city. Over at the the Shanghai Lotus Supermarket in China, SK Telecom has started a trial of its Smart Cart — a WiFi-enabled tablet PC mounted to a shopping cart (pictured above). While walking through the aisles, the customers can use Smart Cart to find product and discount information linked to their current location. It can even be synched to a companion smartphone app.

A recent survey of retailers done by RISNews.comRISNews.com showed 31 percent had plans to begin testing tablets in stores this year, 22 percent had already begun such testing and six percent had fully deployed tablets within stores. Tablets have already proven themselves to be extraordinarily adaptable and flexible at a variety of uses.

With the adaptation of Square and VeriFone point-of-sale (POS) services, there is an emergence of the concept of ‘t-commerce’ or tablet-commerce. And indeed, retail-business owners are beginning to understand the advantages of having a tablet with POS capabilities.

NYC-based Saturdays Surf uses the iPad with LightSpeed software to show merchandise to customers, order out-of-stock products, and complete sales. Putting tablets into the hands of sales associates is a smart move for a variety of reasons; using a tablet as an additional POS device helps free up floor space for merchandise, and customers no longer need to wait long check out lines for a cash register. Not only that, but studies show consumers who have been to stores where tables are being used feel that those stores are more innovative. Sixty four percent of businesses with tablets found their employees to be more helpful when assisting customers if they had a tablet.

An employee with a tablet in hand is at an advantage to help the average customers, who are more and more likely to have access to information on their smartphone or have researched their purchase on a tablet before entering a store.

Likewise, more and more retailers are catching on to the trend of using tablets. Here are some other great examples:

• Disney Stores and Urban Outfitters allow employees to ring up a customers purchase (and email their receipts) from an iPod Touch.
• Sears, Converse, Puma and Burberry have all rolled out tests of in-store tablets.
• Gucci and JC Penny are experimenting with ways to incorporate tablets into their stores.
• Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s both have tablet devices available at specific store locations to assist customers in researching a product, or to shop from a variety of styles.
• Nordstrom is rolling out 5,000 mobile checkout devices at 116 full-line stores in preparation for its Anniversary Sale in July.

With so much potential, and such quick adaptation, don’t be surprised to see tablets start showing up in stores near you.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

I’ve been testing out the Kindle Fire tablet for the last several weeks. At $199, it’s a tremendous value. It’s no iPad — I just upgraded to the new iPad as well — but it provides a solid base-level tablet and reader. I can think of a lot of uses for it: an e-book reader, a video consumption device, and a dedicated Sonos controller. But the most exciting use I can see for it would be for Amazon to turn into a device that helps small, local retailers.

Amazon could leverage its massive scale in searches for online commerce to help drive business to local businesses, while simultaneously generating revenue and cementing itself as the place to go to shop online.

Here’s how I see it working:

• Merchants would use the Kindle Fire to load their inventory on to Amazon.
• In addition to the standard options consumers have for standard delivery, second-day shipping with Prime, or overnight shipping, Amazon would offer the option to buy locally.
• When an item is selected to buy locally, the merchant would be alerted via the Kindle Fire and could confirm the order.
• Once the order is confirmed, Amazon collects payment from the buyer and the merchant sets the product aside. (Larger merchants with sufficient inventory could configure it to auto-confirm orders.)
• The consumer stops by to pick up the item and shows ID.
• Amazon keeps a percentage of the revenue.

Amazon already does this for some merchants who sell through the mail; I frequently buy items from third-party sellers through Amazon’s site.

The key is that the Kindle Fire is a simple, inexpensive device that integrates well with Amazon services. Add in the option to generate revenue with it, and it can be an important step in increasing the connectedness of small businesses.

The Buy Local service could be augmented with local delivery from a company like Postmates. [Editor's note: This futuristic, cool, visionary stuff is exactly what we're talking about at the VentureBeat Mobile Summit on April 2-3, where one of the main themes focuses on mobile commerce.]

Amazon has been working to expand its reach into the local market. Its daily deals product, AmazonLocal, is launching a subscriber-acquisition promotion tomorrow, selling $10 Amazon gift cards for $5. Although it has lagged well behind industry leaders Groupon and LivingSocial, this is a sign that it may be getting serious about the deals space. (Amazon sources many of its deals from LivingSocial.)

Beyond local retail there are a number of other compelling services Amazon could offer to make Kindle Fire a must-have for small businesses:

• Deal redemption tracking for AmazonLocal.
• Social media management tools for Twitter and Facebook accounts.
• Scheduling tools similar to Groupon Scheduler.

Amazon and local businesses have had a tumultuous relationship, with some blaming Amazon for the demise of local independent bookstores. But these days, even prestigious independent bookstores such as Portland behemoth Powell’s Books are selling through Amazon. Same-day fulfillment plays to the strengths of local retailers and provides consumers a service that Amazon can’t offer today.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

There is a strange duality in the world of brick and mortar tech stores today. In the last four years CompUSA, Borders, and Circuit City all went out of business. Many expect Best Buy to follow in the near future. At the same time, Apple has opened over 300 retail outlets worldwide. And recent reports indicate that Microsoft, Amazon, and Google plan to follow Apple’s lead.

The new Google store, which Bloomberg reported on yesterday, will be a relatively small affair outside its European headquarters in Dublin. Like Amazon, which has plans for a small Seattle shop, the search giant is trying to make it clear that it’s simply dipping its toes in the water. “We’ve not made any decisions, it’s simply a planning application,” Google told Bloomberg by email in its typical engineer speak.

When Apple launched its first retail stores back in 2001, as MacWorld notes, there were plenty of doubters. “I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake,” quipped one executive in BusinessWeek. Arne Alsin of Alsin Capital Management said in an article for TheStreet.com, “It’s desperation time in Cupertino, Calif.,” and, “this move is fraught with problems.”

These days, of course, Apple’s retail stores are credited with helping to drive the rabid adoption of its smartphones and tablets, boosting its profits to historic highs. But for the first two years, the company posted a loss on its retail division. And this was during a time when Apple didn’t have the mountain of cash it does today to backstop losses.

But like many of the Apple projects led by Steve Jobs, Apple never doubted itself or made excuses for its foray into retail. And that’s the thing that stands out about the recent moves by Amazon and Google; they lack commitment and ambition. Instead of the flashy glass temples that Apple erected to woo luxury consumers, Amazon and Google are planning small, tentative outposts.

Microsoft is the one company with a big stake in the future of phones and tablets that seems willing to open stores. But it too is avoiding any flagships in major cities, preferring to roll out small efforts in regional malls.

As consumer electronic shops and bookstores (remember those?) become a thing of the past, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google should follow Apple into the retail business with a bold hand. Otherwise, their forays are doomed to fail.