V-Commerce: Amazon's Newest Weapon Of Choice. Trumps E-Commerce.

Big Box Bricks & Mortar retailers continue to react in conventional ways to Amazon’s growing power, which opens new markets for Amazon to propel their annual $13 Billion (27%) growth via V-Commerce.

Thus Amazon is becoming the Death Star of retailing as we know it today – virtually unchallenged. This continuing disarray is outlined in Chart 1.

V-Commerce (Viral-Commerce): To effectively use one customer group, media group or product group for significant commercial gain.

Why Amazon Is Happy Breaking Even With Online Grocery   (See Article here)

“AmazonFresh could be the online grocery service that finally breaks through to critical mass, all helped by its lack of financial burdens and mastery of logistics.”

“It could also mean that delivery fees are lower, order size minimums are waived,”

“and it certainly could mean that home delivery and in-store pick up will never pay out using traditional metrics and full allocated costs.”

“Finally, Amazon views steady grocery delivery as a “powerful way to drive frequent customer interaction,” and opens up avenues to entice consumers to shop for other products with each order.”

A conventional fulfillment & delivery system using “Traditional Metrics and Full Allocated Costs” misses all the above, putting retailers directly in Amazon’s path, not to mention the loss of infinitely greater “Frequent Customer Interaction” and the incredible Third Party Profits therein – from the $8.7 TRILLION worldwide retail market – including Groceries, Pharmacies, Retailers and Restaurants. (US market equivalent is $2.6 Trillion).

Unbelievable opportunity awaits and most retailers are still in denial, even Walmart; thus giving Big Box retailers a wide open field to win.

For years we’ve been urging Big Box retailers to offer:  “(1) The Highest Level Convenience;   (2) The Widest Product Choice;   (3) The Consistently Lowest Price.”

Most retailers are positioning themselves as unique and entertaining places to shop.  However, when Amazon’s V-Commerce strategy is in full roll-out, there will be panic in the executive ranks of most major retailers.

Amazon’s V-Commerce strategic move in Groceries simply increases these Three Top Consumer Choices further in Amazon’s favor against you, stealing your customers, sales, profits & market cap – see Chart 1.

Although dinosaurs were helpless against the asteroid that destroyed them, Big Box retailers are not helpless against the coming Amazon asteroid.

Given the above:  you have the knowledge of what’s coming.

Given the following:  you also have the knowledge of The V-Commerce Solution:   A SuperCyberCenter® Mall with 30 to 60 minutes, 24 / 7 / 365,  Rapid Online Order Fulfillment and 600,000 Third Party Sellers with stores nationwide, including Grocers, Restaurants, Retailers, Pharmacies – virtually all purveyors of time-sensitive retail commodities. 

It’s a tactic that Amazon and Walmart cannot match, even though they both have similar structures.

The Only Thing Left You Have Not Yet Tried ! – A  SuperCyberCenter Local Area Online Mall – Unbelievable, But Now A Necessity – Chart 2 (Best Buy example)

A SuperCyberCenter Mall with your company name on the marquee is similar to having branding rights to venues such as: American Airlines Center, Best Buy Theater in Times Square, Staples Center in Los Angeles, FedEx Field in Washington, Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC; Wrigley Field in Chicago and MetLife Stadium in New York and myriad similar other V-Commerce marketing branding examples. Those companies paid a fortune for such prized branding rights.

Amazon is close to reaching this Pinnacle of The Consumer’s Choice – but still has a mountain, or more, to climb – however, Jeff Bezos is trying very astutely and will eventually succeed.  Now is your time.

For the sake of all your constituents – relent and Test This V-Commerce Solution with us, starting in Buffalo, NY, lest the Amazon asteroid strikes before you have your defenses in place.

Respectfully,

Gail

Gail Nichols, Vice Chair

The Now Mall

 

So - Showrooming Is Dead ? Actually, It's Just Beginning to Heat Up !

Best Buy company spokesman MattFurman told Bloomberg:

Best Buy is confident that its latest policy change will kill "showrooming" in its stores for good.

Starting on March 3, the retailer will price match all local retail competitors, along with 19 "major online competitors" in all product categories, whenever a customer asks for it, 

“There is no doubt that this new policy ends showrooming for Best Buy customers,”  said Mr. Furman.

This statement assumes: “Amazon Is Dead”. Far From It.

For some time now, we’ve been highlighting our EVERGREEN Pricing Strategy. (Chart 1)  It’s similar to what Amazon and others use successfully.

In a nutshell: “Use higher profits from one product group, or service, to offset competitive pressure on a key product.”

Amazon uses their long time “EVERGREEN” pricing strategy most effectively, applying their “Evergreen Profits” from Sales Commissions from their 4 million Online Third Party Sellers to maintain overall growth and margins while lowering key product prices, long or short term, as need be.

Our EVERGREEN Pricing Strategy is similar, except you use “Evergreen Profits” from Sales Commissions from your 600,000 participating Physical Third Party Sellers (Local stores and restaurants) to lower your in-store and/or online product prices, as need be.

Amazon’s Siege Is On:

It’s not just Best Buy that hopes to keep Showrooming under control with price matching.  So are Target and RadioShack, amongst others.

However, price matching, declared or otherwise, without a long-term offsetting “EVERGREEN” profit source has always been a very risky and uncertain long term DEFENSIVE strategy,

AND it further encourages consumers to use their ever-increasing number of Smartphones in your stores against your ongoing best interests.

Particularly, it invites price wars by web-only retailers like Amazon who measures profits in free cash flow, not margins:

For example, see these excerpts from this Bloomberg article:

·        Amazon scares everyone. There are multiple reasons, but a big one was summarized by Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos in a Harvard Business Review interview posted lasted week, which ranked Bezos as one of the top executives in the world.

“Percentage margins are not one of the things we are seeking to optimize,” Bezos said, to make the counter-intuitive point that he does not particularly care about making money.

“It’s the absolute dollar free cash flow per share that you want to maximize. If you can do that by lowering margins, we would do that.

Free cash flow, that’s something investors can spend.”

·         Bezos has been reliably saying this sort of thing for years. To him, it’s still a land grab. So he’s prepared to cut prices to the bone and add all those freebies to cultivate customer loyalty and drive sales growth.

Then he reinvests it all in more low prices and further expansion, driving additional customer loyalty.

·         If you’re a competitor, it’s the Bermuda triangle of business.

·         And by the way, low margins to Bezos are a competitive advantage.

Jeff Bezos is a Past Master at using his “Evergreen Pricing” as a Sales & Marketing tool effectively.

You Need The Same OFFENSIVE Tool to survive and win.  Only your SuperCyberCenter^© with 600,000 Third Party Seller local merchants is that tool.  (see BEST BUY example in Chart 1 below)

Without such an aggressive long term OFFENSIVE tool to generate a ‘War Chest”, you will not be able to withstand Amazon’s siege against your margins using their “Evergreen Price-Tweaking” to the “Ouch No-Go” level.

And Amazon can do this for years until they win, as they did against Circuit City, Borders, Blockbuster and so many others. 

The Worst Part For You Is:

Your “price-matching” strategy backs you into a corner – it simply tells Jeff Bezos how weak and therefore vulnerable you really are,

You need a permanent Offensive pricing / marketing strategy instead of a Defensive position, expecting the consumer to do your pricing job for you.

AND Amazon will further encourage their Prime members with the convenience and cost savings of FREE Delivery  against you.

All Bezos has to do is concentrate on the obvious and weakest competitor(s) first to simply and inexpensively lessen his siege time and costs against you.

His first target is ALL the top 25 Bricks and Mortar retailers in America, including Walmart – Why Not ?

After all – time is on Bezos’ side - he has all the time in the world – he has nothing to lose, only you do !

The Only Long Term Permanent Solution In Sight:  Your SuperCyberCenter with 1-Hour Instant Gratification with Lower Prices and Wider Choices than Amazon.

Over the last several years, since E-commerce clearly emerged, (Chart 1) you’ve tried everything else, including price matching, and nothing has stopped Amazon’s phenomenal growth against you. In fact it continues to increase.

You’ve also resisted the only Game-Changing solution in sight (Your SuperCyberCenter –  see Chart 1 for Best Buy example) for all the standard reasons such powerful new innovative solutions have always had to overcome.  Trying to do something like this alone looks easy, but it is deceptively difficult – see the first line in Chart 6.

But when you finally see the riches of the promised land, as in all our other Industry-Changing successes, (Chart 5) you’ll never want to leave. (Charts 1, 2 & 3). We Promise.

To truly turn Showrooming in your favor, only a SuperCyberCenter can do it quickly, efficiently & profitably by meeting all three major consumer demands that collectively Amazon can never match:

(1)    Better LONG TERM Pricing than Amazon (supported by Evergreen profits to you);

(2)    Much Wider Product Choice (including time-sensitive groceries, restaurants & fast food – with profit from sales commissions to you (Chart 1) as Amazon does so successfully);

(3)    Super Convenience – 1-HOUR Fulfillment with Delivery (usually in 30 to 45 minutes); The Retail Holy Grail (Chart 4)

And, it’s not just Amazon & Showrooming to Fear.  Google, Microsoft and eBay arealso Gearing Up.

Having the ability to lower prices LONG TERM (while increasing your sales & profits – as Walmart did)  has always been  “The Retail Holy Grail”.

Your ONLY choices are:   Be “slowly eaten alive” by Amazon or do something powerful to “Change-The-Game” to the consumer’s obvious #1 choice: “One-Hour Instant Gratification with Lower Prices & much Wider Choices”.

In today’s retail world, Amazon is Goliath, but we are David – Chart 1 says it all.

All you need to do is:   Make That Call to us to schedule your initial trials.  Prepare to assuredly win this decisive battle.

We’ll answer ANY remaining questions you may have that are blocking you from achieving the Sales & Profits in Charts 1, 2 & 3.

As well as stopping Amazon’s “Showrooming Siege” against you, Dead In Its Tracks.

Respectfully,

Gail

Gail Nichols, Vice Chair

The Misconceptions, Myths & Fallacies of Instant Gratification: The Retail Holy Grail

Today, virtually every senior retail executive is talking about “Instant Gratification – The Retail Holy Grail” and how they can exploit it to the fullest.


The only problem is: a huge Misconception has emerged as to what really constitutes Instant Gratification !

Internet Retailers, including Amazon (Huffington Post) and Walmart (24/7 Wall St) as well as USPS (Boston Globe) and virtually every retail executive seem to think Same-Day Delivery is Instant Gratification – except the Consumer seriously disagrees. (Chart 1)

Until retailers accept the fact that very few, if any, consumers actually want Same-Day delivery for myriad straightforward reasons, this Misconception “Red-Herring” will persist in leading retailers in the wrong direction. (Internet Retailer)

For years, most major retailers have tried to achieve The Retail Holy Grail of Instant Gratification, but with many fatal flaws and thus failed with colossal losses (Chart 6) simply because they were searching for the wrong thing in the wrong place with virtually no experience or knowledgeable help to achieve it.

Sadly, these retailers continue the same ‘square peg in a round hole’ approach today, including: Amazon, Walmart, Walgreens, Macy’s, Target, JCPenney, Sears and Best Buy, (Internet Retailer) joined by a host of misguided service providers such as UPS, FedEx and USPS; all laboring under the same Misconceptions, Myths & Fallacies outlined below.

All will therefore end up with the same results – costly failure, short and long term, not to mention frustration from wasted effort. Kudos to the eBay Now Same-Hour Delivery beta program. (Forbes) eBay will make a great future competitor IF they can figure out the profit model with a scalable workforce and the secrets to providing their retailer Charter Members the significant profits shown in Chart 2.

Interestingly, the Same-Day Delivery TEST results of the 2012 Holiday Shopping Season are now in for the retailers who were testing Same-Day delivery. Not surprisingly, their results were disappointing: Ho Hum. The consumer’s choice is clear: Same-HOUR: 83% versus Same-DAY: 33% as consumers forcefully stated as documented in Chart 1 (Internet Retailer),

The Same-Day Delivery euphoria is now conclusively over – and the new powerful era of e-commerce One-Hour Instant Gratification (the consumer’s #1 choice) begins with virtually no risk and huge rewards for those with superior vision and the commitment to implement our proven solution (see below).

Unfortunately, most retail senior executives will continue to gripe and complain about Amazon instead of doing anything truly creative, effective and powerful about it.

Nonetheless, the new powerful era of The Retail Holy Grail is disarmingly easy to exploit if you can successfully get past the following Misconceptions, Myths & Fallacies, and all the associated “Red-Herrings and Fatal Flaws” on the path to success.

MISCONCEPTIONS:

A. Same-Day Delivery Will Increase Our Sales And Profits !

REALITY:

1. To the consumer, there is nothing convenient about Same-Day delivery, so they simply won’t use it to the extent you need to justify its costs to implement and continue. (Internet Retailer)

2. It’s like waiting for the cable guy, or watching a pot boil; consumers hate to wait: it’s easier, faster AND CHEAPER to just go to the store and get it than waiting 3 to 5 hours. (Charts 1 & 3)

3. FREE Delivery in 30 to 60 minutes is something consumers simply cannot replace by themselves. Not only does FREE One-Hour Delivery save them time and money but it truly improves their life, particularly the 50% of people who are Mobility Challenged. Ask Them. We Did. (Chart 1)

B. Instant Gratification (FREE 30 to 60 Minute Fulfillment) Can’t Be Done Profitably or Efficiently on a Long Term Basis !

REALITY:

1. The Pizza Industry has been doing 30 to 60 minute delivery for the last 40 years. Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza, is one of our founders.

2. We did it successfully for McDonald’s, raising their profits 58.6% and raising their annual sales 14.89%. (Chart 4)

3. FREE One-Hour Instant Gratification costs retailers substantially less than either Same-Day or 3 to 10 days because it results in: (1) far fewer returns; (2) larger orders; (3) more orders; and (4) many more new customers (just to name a few).

4. For our Charter Member Retailers; the profits outlined in Chart 2 are AFTER all Network costs, including all service fees.

5. Many retailers have failed in their quest for The Retail Holy Grail simply because of lack of long term experience in learning where The Real Profits are and are not – the basis of all successful businesses. (Chart 6)

6. NOTE: To succeed Long Term, it takes years of dedicated rapid fulfillment experience (we have 35+) plus a Consortium with symbiotic relationships similar to what we had in place at McDonald’s (and elsewhere), which is what this blog post is all about. (Chart 4)

7. The opportunity now exists for true industry leaders to at least test Instant Gratification’s SuperCyberCenter© Consortium Network to win the coming e-commerce battle for The Retail Holy Grail.

MYTHS:

A. INSTANT GRATIFICATION Will Cannibalize Our In-Store Sales.

REALITY:

1. A significant number of MOBILITY CHALLENGED people simply CAN’T get to your stores which is why they order elsewhere. (Charts 1, 3 & 4)

2. Most consumers in your stores’ trading areas have at least one of your competitors closer to their home that they use the most – only Instant Gratification (30 to 60 minute fulfillment) can attract their dollars to you. (Chart 3)

3. Instant Gratification will INCREASE your in-store sales by an average of 15% which is therefore NOT cannibalization. (Chart 4)

4. Only Instant Gratification allows our Charter Member Retailers to further increase sales and profits to unheard of levels using our SuperCyberCenter Consortium Network. (Chart 2)

5. The only thing cannibalizing your stores is Amazon, enabled by your lack of an effective alternative solution.

B. We Don’t Believe You Can Do It Nationwide !

REALITY:

1. Chart 4 says we can. It also says we did it.

2. Our 35 years experience and myriad statistical analyses from various major companies with whom we collaborated, are available.

3. Our shared workforce of 60,000 professional, independent contractor, “Level 1” CyberValet® Shoppers, are available to our Charter Member Retailers, starting with 127 in Buffalo, NY.

4. Chart 6 should also give you a glimpse into our experiences.

5. Nobody else on this planet has any such experience, abilities or proof of years of costly field trials in various cities nationwide.

FALLACIES:

A. FREE One-Hour Instant Gratification Is Too Expensive For Bricks & Mortar Retailers To Offer !

REALITY:

1. 83% of consumers want One-Hour Instant Gratification, including the Mobility Challenged (50% of the population comprising seniors, people with disabilities, busy families, caregivers, etc.) (Chart 1)

2. Our One-Hour fulfillment cost (order assembly, packaging and payment before we leave your store, delivery) is significantly less than your current Same-Day and 3 to 10 day internal e-commerce fulfillment costs (assembly, packaging, added inventory, warehousing, delivery).

3. You also save your 20% to 30% returns cost that we 100% eliminate.

4. FREE delivery via our Network is 100% sponsored by us as our contribution to the overall Consortium Network marketing costs.

5. Only real Instant Gratification (30 to 60 minute fulfillment) can beat BOTH Amazon’s new Same-Day service as well as their Prime service.

B. Chart 2 Sales And Profits From Third Party Sellers Are Not Realistic And Therefore Cannot Be Achieved !

REALITY:

1. Amazon’s Third Party Seller Marketplace generates 40% of their overall revenue.

2. The profits shown on Chart 2 are sales commissions to which you have no added costs.

3. 600,000 Third Party Sellers nationwide, starting with an average of $126 sales each daily from their physical stores via our SuperCyberCenter Network, enable you to reach this target (easily achievable, less for smaller stores, more for larger). These local retailers need the same thing you do – more sales to survive against Amazon.

4. 600,000 Third Party Sellers comprise an average of 500 per SuperCyberCenter including retailers, restaurants, grocers, services (doctors, dentists, and lawyers), other business advertisers, etc.

5. Only by realistically gaining these Third Party Seller profits can you compete on a level playing field with Amazon and others.

6. Our unique “Secret Sauce” and patent-protected SuperCyberCenters (Chart 6) provide you these new sales opportunities.

C. We’ll Do It Ourselves, Our Store Staff Knows Our Products Better Than You !

REALITY:

1. Walmart and Amazon can’t do it alone – how can you?

2. Thousands have tried and all failed. (Chart 6)

3. No matter how big your stores and well-trained and equipped your staff, your Peak & Valley delivery times will alternately overwhelm and underwhelm your in-store and delivery teams (i.e. the same dynamic as in a call center). The solution is Third Party Seller participants generating sufficient orders in off-setting time periods that are all processed by our shared workforce of professional CyberValet Shoppers (i.e. the same solution we pioneered in our industry-changing virtual call center – Willow CSN – now Arise.com) (Chart 5)

4. Liability Insurance does not cover your Brand Name losses in major traffic accidents involving your staff.

5. Alone, you will never reach enough sales or profits to offset either Amazon or the profits shown in Chart 2.

6. Same-HOUR service is not possible without a full Consortium of mutually benefiting symbiotic participants.

7. Quality Control is of the highest importance. Historically, busy store staffs inevitably prepare packages for delivery with wrong or missing items. Then, at the door the customer is upset. It’s important for the CyberValet Shoppers to personally assemble orders and pay for them, taking responsibility for correct fulfillment. Our team already has the UPC codes, product description, the customer’s phone number and your staff’s help as needed. Let us do it seamlessly, end to end. (Chart 6, item 8).

8. Our experience and knowledge from years of Instant Gratification trials, trump everything in this new powerful era of Instant Gratification e-commerce retailing.

D. I’ll Wait Until Everyone Else Is Doing It – Then I’ll Consider It !

REALITY:

1. Fortunately, so will most other executives, thus leaving The Real Profits in Chart 2 for the retail industry-changing thinkers and innovative retail leaders like Jeff Bezos, Sam Walton, Dick Schulze, just to name a few.

2. If you wait until everyone else is doing it, the best e-commerce locations and opportunities will already be taken.

3. Unless your store sales are increasing over 3% annually AND your e-commerce sales are increasing over 30% annually (chart 2), your current business method is stagnant and needs a strong boost.

Call or email us your remaining concerns that are blocking you from achieving The Retail Holy Grail sales & profits shown in Chart 2. Let’s get together NOW to provide your customers with REAL Instant Gratification – One Hour Fulfillment.

Respectfully,

 

Gail Nichols

Vice Chair, The NOW Mall

2013: The Year Of 1-Hour Instant Gratification – Consumers Finally Get Their #1 Choice – And A New Retail World Leader

It took 10 years, and a lot of patience, but consumers finally get their #1 Choice in 2013.

In 2003, we asked consumers what they wanted the most in retail services.

They overwhelmingly said: Rapid 1-Hour Delivery – Instant Gratification with Online Ordering (chart 1 below) – today we know this as E-commerce.

After years of testing every conceivable way to PROFITABLY achieve the consumer’s #1 Choice – The Holy Grail Of Retail, a One Trillion Dollar Market (charts 2 and 3 below);

And after myriad others failed; with persistence, we finally discovered the Secret Ingredients of the “Golden Goose Formula” to achieve this Trillion Dollar Market.

However, unlike Indiana Jones, to win the day this Golden Goose Formula requires A Team of Expert Players, each doing their part in harmony and excellence.

This Team also requires WIDER PRODUCT CHOICE and HIGHLY COMPETITIVE PRICING plus UNIQUE QUALITY CONTROL: no easy task.

As Steve Jobs said: “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

Who Will The New Retail World Leader Be ? 

No player could achieve this goal on their own, no matter how big or powerful they are – several tried and all failed because they all missed one or more of the “Secret Ingredients”.

In 2009, after we invested an entrepreneurial fortune in Development, Testing & Field Trials in various U.S. cities:

We began searching for the right expert players to build the necessary Consortium Network Team, including The Leading Consortium Member.

But putting together such a team of excellence has not been an easy task, especially overcoming their innate Inertia, Fear, Myopia, Greed & Apathy (The 5 Horsemen of the Retail Apocalypse).

However, this has been Exactly The Same process as in all our other entrepreneurial achievements (see "Our Credentials" chart 4 below) – so we were prepared for it, but as this is our biggest endeavor, it is also the most difficult, has taken longer and cost us more to achieve.

As Jeff Bezos said: “We are willing to invent. We are willing to think long-term. We start with the customer and work backwards. And, very importantly, we are willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.”

The Candidates For The New Retail World Leader: 

Finally in mid 2012, the most aggressive and innovative retailers, Amazon & Walmart, began offering The Next Best Thing to The Holy Grail Of Retail – Same Day Delivery instead of Instant Gratification.

Then in late 2012, based on information we sent them, eBay offered consumers a BETA copy of our Golden Goose Formula, minus: (1) our patented portion, and (2) our “Secret Sauce”; ultimately moving eBay to the top of the list of failures in this space (see "Rules Of The Game" below). Fair to say, several candidates who want to know confidential components of our Golden Goose Formula will be eliminated from our list of finalists and thus the Trillion Dollar Holy Grail Of Retail.

Today, very early in 2013, news articles abound discussing Instant Gratification, Rapid Delivery and how the retail world of Bricks & Mortar and E-commerce are converging in the consumer’s favor.

As well, FedEx, UPS, USPS, and even Google are all joining the Rapid Delivery stampede – the world of Speedy Retail Delivery is now permanently here – with eBay leading the Rapid Delivery charge into 2013 but without the key ingredients of our Golden Goose Formula – so the 2013 race is now on for the world’s future retail leader and the lion’s share of The New Trillion Dollar Market.

The trouble is that 98% of all retailers are “Specialty” retailers that, by their design, are eliminated in the race for The Holy Grail Of Retail because Wider Product Choice is a key ingredient – unless they join our Consortium Network Team.

Smaller local retailers with less purchasing power are also eliminated because of another key ingredient: Price – unless they also join our Consortium Network Team.

As Steve Jobs said: “Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.”

The 12 Finalists For The New Retail World Leader: 

The consumer’s #1 Choice, The Holy Grail Of Retail and The Resulting Trillion Dollar Market, await one of these 12 qualifying retailers:Who will be The Leading Consortium Member of this New Trillion Dollar Market: Walmart; Target; Sears; Macy’s; JCPenney; Home Depot; Lowe’s; CVS; Walgreens; Staples; Barnes & Noble; Best Buy, or perhaps one of TWO surprising and powerful “Dark Horses” ?

As Winston Churchill said: “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.”

Stay posted and we’ll keep you informed who The New Retail World Leader will be.

Best Wishes for the Finalists in this fascinating & exciting New Retail Year: 2013, The Consumer’s Year Of 1-Hour Instant Gratification.

Sincerely,

Gail Nichols

Vice Chair, The Now Mall

When All Around You Fails – Sometimes Common Sense Is Hidden In Plain Sight

Amazon has recently been called a lot of things, including The Death Star.

The retail world has changed forever but retailers haven’t yet changed enough to deal with “The Death Star”.

Most retail executives (including Walmart’s) have been blindsided by the spectacular rise and impenetrable marketing power of Amazon while they watched in shock, copying this, trying that, but still losing ground, putting their companies and their careers at high risk.

Chart 1 below shows a classic example of the effect of “The Death Star”  in action against an otherwise great company, who has tried every conventional thing to compete – to no avail.

A Simple Common Sense Solution can reverse this tough situation, rendering Amazon’s quick rise into a disastrous fall with excessive and expensive distribution centers that will no longer be required. (Chart 2)  Incredible But True when retailers see the obvious solution and start the journey back with a competitive advantage Amazon cannot match.

Let’s review what we already know, but maybe are overlooking:  Amazon’s Achilles’ heel.

Follow along with us for a moment.  Let’s explore an unconventional solution that you might never normally consider, but now, against “The Death Star”, it might all of a sudden make sense.

Nobody likes to wait – particularly in a retail line-up.  Everyone knows this – it’s simple common sense.

Chart 3 below shows the results of the steadily compounding growth of e-commerce – which is absolutely predictable based on past and current government statics – but which nobody wants to believe.  (We didn’t have the nerve to show the greatly reduced local retail store sales in 2030.)

Given total consumer retail spending growth is a constant long term average of 3%, then e-commerce sales (17% average growth) are inevitably growing at the expense of your local stores – making them irrelevant.

Given your local stores currently represent 90%± of your sales (and assets), and because you have sales both in-store and e-commerce, it is also probable that you have mixed emotions about this future outlook.

Chart 4  shows (in light blue) what online sales are readily available from your local stores at no extra cost.  The red indicates sales that remain outside the local sales arena.

Consumers have clearly shown their constantly growing preference for e-commerce because of convenience, price & product choice. (see Chart 1)  And that’s not going to stop.

But consumers don’t like to wait.

They prefer next day e-commerce deliveries (or sooner) to next-week deliveries (or later).  Amazon, Walmart & Google all realize this and are quickly moving in the consumer’s preferred direction.  Common Sense.

However, Amazon, being the true radical innovator in the crowd, is now offering Same-Day e-commerce delivery.  Again, a lot of common sense.  Unfortunately it’s from “The Retail Death Star”. Please notice their current position in Chart 6.

So how in the world do you get your business back from Amazon (and Walmart and Google) ?

Common Sense rules the day.

Would you wait 3 days to get something you want, when you can easily get it in 30 to 60 minutes at a lower cost?  Of course not.  Nobody would. Even Same-day is way too slow for today’s busy consumer.  That is simple common sense. (see Chart 5)  And don’t kid yourself, it doesn’t matter what it is , a TV set or a house or a cheeseburger – you still want it now, if you can get it now at the same price.

But, you might reply:  it can’t be done; or, it will be too expensive; and anyway, it’s too complicated; and people don’t need it;  and “Retail Is Different”; and, and, and.  This is where common sense just left the room.  30 to 45 minute delivery has been with us most of our lives: pizza, Chinese food, etc – common practice, efficiently done for years (or it wouldn’t still be here). 

Many others, like Webvan, Publix and McDonald’s, tried to offer rapid delivery but failed only because they had the wrong business model.  Wrong vehicles, wrong drivers, wrong product, wrong technology, wrong delivery timing, etc, etc.  But in many other countries like India and the UK, it’s common practice and has been done right for years, same as pizza delivery here.

Here’s where common sense becomes revolutionary.

A pizza is delivered to your home in 30 to 45 minutes, reasonably hot, and costs roughly $20/$30 including the pizza.  Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s pizza is one of our founders.  We took his 40 years experience in pizza and combined it with our 30 years in retail and groceries and simply put them together during several years of field trials, which are now completed. 

Rapid (30 to 60 minutes) Online Order Fulfillment (ROOF) is actually easy, low cost and highly efficient (more so than same-day or next-day or 3 to 10 days) when you know how, creating a new marketing, sales & distribution channel, thereby saving many retail stores and the jobs of roughly 7 million retail employees nationally.   Truly A Revolutionary Event.

Here’s where a revolution becomes innovative.

Chart 4  shows (in light blue) the size, scope & effect of what can be the future of your retail stores – with simple retail common sense and a little imagination.  Rapid Online Order Fulfillment (ROOF) in the U.S. is a huge new channel. Challenging today’s e-commerce.  Some will see it as scary, a dreamer’s dream, when in fact it is simple common sense.  To an innovator it is taking on an exciting industry-changing program that in-turn will also transform companies who need revitalized sales & profits and who are battling the currently invincible Retail Death Star.

If your company is in Chart 6, particularly in the red section, common sense says you should seriously consider a new marketing shift to safer more productive waters as shown in Charts 2 & 4 and described in detail after Chart 6.

In the cold light of day, you have 3 choices, (1) ignore the obvious and do nothing; (2) wait until someone beats you to it and steals your market; or, (3) call us  (or e-mail us) –and  become your industry’s innovative leader very possibly saving your company and its employees.

Let’s innovate together starting right now!  Or at least send this to those in your company who are aggressive and in a position to innovate.

Gail



The Importance Of Innovation In The Future Of Retailing

Here is the 2011 chart of the stock market results for the Top 50 Publicly Traded Retailers – The “Winners” and 15 “Super Winners” are in black while the others are in red.

The interesting thing:  This 5 year study clearly shows the Winners all keep winning, unaffected by strong competitors such as Walmart and Amazon or even the economy, while only a few retailers in the red are beginning to show the innovative tendencies necessary to transition into the black.

Certain retail Industries are in trouble as shown by one or more struggling companies, which indicates a lack of overall Innovation (creative change) needed to accommodate consumers’ rapidly evolving shopping preferences.

All of the companies with 50% or higher increase in share price performance are Radical Innovators, trying new products & services all the time – they are never happy with the status quo as many in the red appear to be.

To rise from the red, strongly into the black, retailers need to do something new and spectacular – a true ‘Game-Changer’ to realistically attract and keep the myriad new customers they need. 

“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.” - Andrew Grove, co-founder of Intel Corporation.

Which retailers are ready to radically innovate for a substantial competitive advantage ?  The size of this available new market is truly impressive. (See “US Retail & E-Commerce” Charts #1 and #2 following “Overview” text below)

Amazon, Walmart & Google are already bringing on smaller versions of their new powerful service (click their links to see how). Will national retailers be ready to compete effectively ? (See Overview item #2 below)

(Click Chart to Enlarge)

Overview of this Decade’s TWO Biggest Retail Innovations – for “Space Age” Customer Convenience:

1.       SuperCyberCenter^© (SCC):  a HYBRID online “Marketplace” with Third Party Sellers similar to Amazon, eBay and Walmart but much more powerful:

A ‘Hybrid’ because we add a patented upgrade – we include “LOCAL”  physical stores;  restaurants; pharmacies, grocers & retailers with unique fashion and/or time-sensitive commodities as Third Party Sellers.  Not available on Amazon (or anywhere else).

This is an astoundingly lucrative new Third Party Seller profit source enabling national retailers to dramatically increase their in-store sales from LOCAL cross-marketing and our powerful EVERGREEN Free Cash Flow “War Chest” program.  This locally-focused Neighborhood initiative is a strategy that Amazon, without local stores, simply cannot EVER match.  Our patents cause Walmart to try the “back-door” into a unique Hybrid business they know nothing about.

2.       ROOF (Rapid Online Order Fulfillment^©): a HYBRID FedEx/UPS for local stores AND SCC Third Party Stores.  The Logical Customer Convenience Choice.  People want things right NOW, not next day or next week !  Amazon, Walmart & Google are already bringing on smaller versions of this new powerful service (click their links to see how). Are national retailers ready to compete effectively ?

A ‘Hybrid’ because we add our 100% Turnkey LOCAL In-Store Shopping + Rapid Delivery … both usually within 30 to 60 Minutes 24 / 7 / 365 using our proprietary and excellent Shared Workforce.  No single retailer, no matter how large, can do this without Third Party Seller Stores co-operating in sharing a “much” larger driver pool to cover volatile Peak & Valley periods; it takes an entire neighborhood in scope and our years of experience doing it (similar to Amazon’s 10 year lead online and Walmart’s 30 year lead in-store).  Please see chart 3 “When Consumers Want Delivery” below for consumer preferences.

This enables retailers to earn substantial income from their increased in-store sales & profits reclaimed from Amazon & Walmart (and other local competitors) due to our Rapid Shopping & Delivery (30 to 60 minutes – 24 / 7 / 365) instead of same-day, next-day, or up to 10 day more expensive in-house fulfillment with FedEx/UPS delivery. 

THEN ADD new EVERGREEN Free Cash Flow “War Chest” from all ROOF rapid fulfillment orders through their Third Party Seller stores.  Again, nobody else can match this, it’s “The Last Mile Of The Internet^®” literally.

Another Consideration: Delivered prices of products via ROOF can be the same or less than in-store prices and are more profitable than if delivered by UPS / FedEx since store staff do not assemble, package or deliver ROOF orders PLUS we pay before we leave the store – ROOF is 100% turnkey.  We also sponsor Free Delivery (unlike FedEx and UPS). 

Hidden Windfall:  You also save the current significant cost of the usual 20% to 30% returned online orders shipped by USPS, UPS or FedEx.  Our online discount coupons redeemable in-store are FAR less expensive, easier to use and faster to update than regular online daily deal sites like Groupon, which retailers can add to or change at any time without some else’s approval – a huge ADDITIONAL selling point for their Third Party Stores.

BONUSES:

A.      There are 600± neighboring Third Party Seller Stores around each of the national retailers’ stores = cross-marketing and use of our shared rapid in-store shopping & delivery workforce which destroys Amazon’s, Google’s and Walmart’s basic online marketing tool of same-day, next-day to 10 day home delivery.

B.      As the only major game-changing / industry-changing solution in sight, we enable national retailers to significantly boost their share value with a proven HYBRID online LOCAL marketplace with EVERYTHING: Delivered In A Flash®  24 / 7 / 365 that nobody else can even closely match – including FedEx, UPS, Amazon, Walmart or their local competitors.