The following has been re-posted from Convenience Store News. The original article can be found here. By Tammy Mastroberte, Convenience Store News - 03/21/2019 An Amazon Go store NATIONAL REPORT — Debuting its cashierless store concept in December 2016, Amazon entered the convenience space with Amazon Go. Now, with 10...
India Drafts Policy to Reduce Influence of Large Tech Companies
The following has been re-posted from Loyalty360. The original article can be found here. The draft of a new e-commerce policy has emerged in India, one that calls for a “level playing field” between Indian businesses and global competitors. The policy, if enacted, would require tech companies like Amazon or...
Voice Assistants: A New Mobile Frontier for Merchants, Part II of II
In my previous article, we took a look at the rise in adoption of voice-activated personal assistants by consumers. This follow-up will examine the effect that the rise in voice assistant adoption will have on the merchant landscape. Voice-activated assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, are allowing consumers...
Leveraging Payments to Enhance Your Business Model
The subscription-based business model offer clear advantages, and many merchants may be overlooking opportunities for their business to grow in this space. Companies like Netflix and Hulu naturally lean toward a subscription revenue model, but less obvious products have found their way into the subscription space as well. The Subscription-Based...
Subscription-Based Revenue: It’s Time to Reevaluate Your Business Model
Subscription-based revenue models offer clear advantages to businesses, and many merchants may be overlooking opportunities for their business to grow in this space. Companies like Netflix and Hulu naturally lean toward a subscription revenue model, but less obvious products have found their way into the subscription space as well. The...
The Cashless Trend
Several organizations are making changes to go cashless or at least pilot the concept, including Massachusetts’ MBTA, American and United terminals in select airports (Miami being the latest) and Shake Shack’s recently opened cashless location in New York, to name a few. Living in the Seattle area, I have access...
The Voice Assistant: A New Mobile Frontier for Merchants, Part I of II
Voice activated personal assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri have exploded onto the scene. It’s expected that by 2022, 50% of US households will have at least one smart speaker with personal voice assistant capability.[1] While the number of devices in use is huge, the functionality they currently offer...
Click & Mortar
The following has been re-posted from C-Store Decisions. The original article can be found here. Amazon’s Whole Foods acquisition shows brick-and-mortar and online retailing can help strengthen each other when brought together. By Ed Collupy With what seems like the click of the mouse, Amazon has made its entry into...
Cover Charge? I Have to Pay to Get into this Club?
The other day I heard someone refer to Amazon’s Prime Membership as a loyalty club. It took me by surprise. I always thought of Prime as more of a membership club – they charge a fee, so how can it be a loyalty program? At first I dismissed the term...