
Dumb Pipes, Dumb Shelves,Smart Wallet It gets worse before it gets better
The future is mediocre Convenience Convenience Convenience Experience Experience Experience Price Price Price
Past • First there was only Local • Mom & Pop • Large Chains • Early Internet shopping • Cheaper prices • Lots of guesswork
Present • Mobile Age + Maturing Internet • Enabled the combination of Local + Internet • Showrooming= best of both worlds • Forced Transparency in • Pricing • Product Information • Side effect: forced Locals to compete on price • Price match with Internet retailers • Sacrifice experience to compensate for price
Present: Developing… • Local Deals Revolution (failure?) • Internet retailers unite to weaken Amazon • ShopSavvy Wallet • Shipping Innovations • Hotels, Flights, Wireless Carriers, Music • Pricing Games (numbing effect) • Price goes up if you’re a member of Prime • Camera price cheaper in the morning • $1MM book
The future is mediocre Convenience Convenience Convenience Experience Experience Experience Price Price Price
Future: Pricing • Fight against Showrooming • Misdirection around local prices will finally work due to the numbing effect happening on the Internet • A DIFFERENT PRICE FOR EACH PERSON • Ability to pay • Economic status • Hidden behind a sophisticated mix of variables like: Loyalty & Social Influence • The End Goal • The Illusion of savings • How can I compare prices when I don’t even know what this will cost me post-tweet?
Future: Coupons • Reinforces the concept of “a different price for every person” • Complex rules • The more hoops you jump through the lower the price will go. • “Influentials” will get items for free. Others pick up the slack in cost. • New status quo • Instead of haggling with the merchant, you must play into their games
Future: Wallet • The digital wallet enables these innovations • Further abstraction from the “real price” by ubiquitous use of store-based currency, e.g. Star”bucks.” • Think store credit but next level • Not a 1:1 ratio to dollars – confusion • Enables issuing “credit” without regulation • Directly connect your wallet to credit, checking or even your company’s payroll system.
Future: NFC • Yes but SLOW adoption • Value-add in all the wrong places • Faster than “swipe” • NFC prices are the same as plastic prices • Yet another channel for ads • Big brother • Leave your wallet at home? • If it relies on its ubiquitous nature, it depends wholly on reaching a critical mass point
The future is mediocre Convenience Convenience Convenience Experience Experience Experience Price Price Price
Distant Future • Technology enables cat & mouse games • Self correcting