Tuesday, March 23, 2010

the very Super Markets

Supermarkets will become a lot more ‘super’ in the next decade. Rightly so, they can’t just give in to their fast emerging competition- online. Internet retailers are attracting more unique visitations and selling more products than ever before. Do the research on how Woolworths are tracking compared to Amazon.

Supermarkets and retailers will always survive, in what capacity I am really not too sure. I think a few of the big guys will hang around and withstand the online storm a while longer, but I think it’s a case of, for how long?

Consumers are becoming more forward thinking; their modern networked lives are very automated, regimented and planned. Therefore they are purchasing accordingly and taking advantage of online shopping. Where you can take as long as you like, compare all products in the category, make an informed purchase decision, pay immediately and then instruct where you want the goods delivered all the while sitting in your comfy chair with your unfinished work document still open on your desktop. Make sense?

So just how do the supermarkets and retails compete? Technology- think online, in store. Think about how you can generate revenue when your sales are dropping and online figures are sky rocketing. Think about:

  • Loyalty smart cards- Triggering a whole new shopping experience that remembers your past purchases, brand favourites and alerts you of promotions of the day.
  • Eye ball tracking- Cameras that detect the gender of a consumer and digital adverts change accordingly.
  • Intelligent Trolleys- equipped with GPS RFiD, navigation style on board screen and infrared scanning also linked to adverts that are aisle specific. This is also to cater for a proposed 'personalised shopping' experience- The more you shop the cheaper the items.
  • Self replenishing shelves
  • Smart phone compatible products.
  • Self check out.

So stay tuned for the next developments in high street shopping. The day is not far away when we can enter a shop, scan our smart card, pick up a trolley or basket, use our smart phones to research promotions and specials, load our basket then push it through an infrared beam which totals the sum of all products and then commence a self check out. Hang on…isn’t that what I can do online right now?

No comments:

Post a Comment