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

Google has just confirmed everything we’ve ever told you – the future of e-commerce is CONVENIENCE.

Retailers who can deliver their products immediately with FREE Delivery will be the big winner – and Google intends to be that winner, taking all.

Good News:  The Ultimate Shopping Convenience®  Delivered In A Flash® The Last Mile Of The Internet® already exist – ready for retailers to use nationwide NOW.  Proven and 100% turnkey.

Respectfully:  Our 1-Hour service (usually 30 to 60 minutes) beats Google’s Same-Day program HANDS DOWN.  Bonus: We sponsor FREE Delivery (which no other service provider does).

PLUS joining us today puts major retailers as the real market leader in their industry with local Third Party Seller Store SALES & PROFIT Royalties that Google is now trying to get.

As you probably now realize, the E-commerce market is heating up much more quickly than anyone expected – all because of Rapid Delivery to which we are the ONLY Experts.

National retailers need to join us today while their industry exclusive still exists. (see details below these 3 articles)

Articles:

Same-Day Shipping? Google Eyes Speedy Delivery System (click here)

Search giant Google is reportedly in talks with retailers and shippers about deploying a new system that would enable online shoppers to have same-day or next-day delivery for a low fee.

If successful, the speedy delivery system could pose a serious threat to Amazon.com the leading seller of online goods.

According to The Wall Street Journal, retailers, many of which feel threatened by Amazon’s prowess, have expressed an interest in signing onto Google’s project.

Google Targets Amazon's 'Prime' With 1-Day Delivery (click here)

Google Inc. is aiming to challenge the e-commerce supremacy of Amazon.com Inc. by diving deeper into the fast-growing world of Internet retailing.

The Web-search giant is in talks with major retailers and shippers about creating a service that would let consumers shop for goods online and receive their orders within a day for a low fee, said people familiar with the matter.

Why Wal-Mart needs its big boxes to win online (click here)

"Fast, faster, fastest," is the new policy.

Same day shipping is the Mecca of online commerce

Wal-Mart is preparing for the end of the Big Box era.

Shipping also integrates online and stores more, by effectively turning Wal-Mart stores into distribution hubs.

These Registered Trademarks are a glimpse of the most dynamic & powerful TRUE solution to national retailers’ current competitive nightmare – Walmart & Amazon.

The Ultimate Shopping Convenience®;   Delivered In A Flash®;   When You Just Can’t Get Out Or Have Better Things To Do®;   The Last Mile Of The Internet® 

Overview of this Decade’s TWO Biggest Retail Innovations:

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 Major 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 their local stores AND their SCC Third Party Stores.

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 Stores co-operating in sharing a “much” larger driver pool to cover their volatile Peaks & Valley periods; it takes an entire neighborhood in scope and years of experience doing it (similar to Amazon’s 10 year lead online and Walmart’s 30 year lead in-store).

This enables Major National Retailers to earn substantial income from their increased in-store sales & profits reclaimed from Amazon & Walmart (and other local competitors) due to 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 their 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 their products via ROOF can be the same or less than in-store prices and are more profitable than if delivered by UPS / FedEx since their 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:  They also save their current significant cost of the 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 they 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 Stores around each of their local stores = cross-marketing and use of our shared rapid in-store shopping & delivery workforce which destroys Amazon’s and Walmart’s basic online marketing tool of same-day, next-day to 10 day home delivery.

B.      The above programs (SCC + ROOF) are available on an exclusive industry and area basis – so they can immediately recover their market share from their local competitors as well as from Amazon and Walmart.

As the only major game-changing / industry-changing solution in sight, we enable them 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.

Initial ramp-up capital cost payback for their branded SuperCyberCenter with ROOF is 9 to 14 months on our conservative “Plan A” (which we are pleased to send upon request); or 6 to 9 months on our less conservative Plan B (full marketing plan); and immediate (2 to 3 months) on our aggressive Plan C (which we have already done for one of the World’s largest US retailers and can validate from their statistics in detail). 

And remember, as results of their initial benchmark city roll forward, this increases the speed, payback time and Internal Rate Of Return (IRR) of ongoing ramp-up in the next cities.  Based on a very high Internal Rate Of Return, this puts this project to the top of their investment list and allows rapid national & international rollout with very little invested capital beyond the initial benchmark cities.

“To be, or not to be, that is the Question: Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer the Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles”  William Shakespeare

We hope you will share this information with major retailers so they can secure their Industry exclusive position to defend their stores with our proven weapons recently adopted by Google, Amazon and Walmart to provide:  The Ultimate Shopping Convenience®

Thanks,

Gail

The Retail Market Is SHIFTING Again - Who Is Winning, Who Is Losing ?

What separates business winners from losers in today’s new e-commerce culture ?

A lot of pundits would say you need to be efficient, cost conscious and manage margins. Others would say you need to be really good (excellent) at something – much better than anyone else. Unfortunately, that sounds good but in our fast-paced, highly competitive world today those platitudes don’t really create winners.  Success has much more to do with the ability to shift.  And to create shift.  Quoted from “Winners Shift, Losers Don't” (see article).

As an example, Amazon’s current annualized sales are now $39 billion, rising 38% annually, of which 40% ($15.6 billion) came from Third Party Sellers in their Marketplace (see "Third Party Sellers” here). 

However, Amazon’s Marketplace of Third Part Sellers didn’t exist 10 years ago, thus demonstrating the undeniable power of e-commerce Market Shifting – taking the lead ahead of anyone else. 

Today, eBay, Walmart, Sears and others are all copying Amazon’s Third Party Seller program for competitive reasons.  However, these copycats are not Market Shifters as they didn’t change anything (other than perhaps their companies into a more competitive position).  The net-net of this Major Market Shift are a few early winners and many late-to-arrive losers.

Another terrific example of Market Shifting is by Walmart, who intends to become the world’s largest online retailer surpassing Amazon, with their “Project Titan’s Next-Day Delivery. (see MOST CURRENT Articles #1  and  #2 ). This improves on Amazon’s 3 to 10 day delivery and at lower delivery costs.  

Tommy Lasorda said: “There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens.”

You can watch what happens with “The Battle Of The Titans” while trying to expand your market share, same as your competitors are doing (see GREAT article) – OR – make it happen by Market Shifting with new platforms to spike your growth as The Titans are doing.   

You certainly will not take market share from Walmart or Amazon doing the “Same-Old-Thing” – quite the opposite.  Even matching The Titans won’t cut it anymore.

Let Us Help You Create Your “SuperCyberCenter^©” – The Next Major E-Commerce Innovation Shift

For the Top 500 chain retailers, in-store retail sales are marginally up while online sales are now 10% to 30% of total sales.  (see article)

If your current sales are not at least equal to either of the above averages, you need a Market Shift:   maintaining your core business;  while shifting to new platforms with quickly changing consumer preferences.  "Times have changed forever.  Trends are NOT like the shadows of yesterday." (Quote by Robert Taylor)  It’s essential to shift to new platforms quickly with today’s trends or become irrelevant.

And forecasting future online sales over the average growth rate of 11.3% annually (see above article) is downright dangerous without making a significant Market Shift.

Here’s How To Market Shift with Your “SuperCyberCenter”:

ADD 15% to 20% of sales from other LOCAL retailers, restaurants, pharmacies & grocers (Third Party Sellers) to your existing in-store sales (as The Titans are doing) with a SuperCyberCenter = 40% additional sales & 79% added profits including your 15% ROOF (Rapid Online Order Fulfillment) in-store sales – WITH HIGHER PROFITS.

Shift your overall strategy to easier achieved platforms as many of these LOCAL retailers do not yet have e-commerce capability but know they need it.  Why struggle with underperforming e-commerce fulfillment platforms when easier, more profitable trends are right in front of you.

“Too often business leaders spend too much time thinking about what they do.  They think about costs, margins, the “business model” and execution.  But success really has less to do with those things than understanding trends, and capitalizing on those trends by shifting. You don’t have to be the lowest cost, or most efficient or even the most passionate.  What works a lot better is to go where the trends are favorable, and give customers solutions that align with the trends. And if you do this early, before anyone else, you’ll have a lot of time to figure out how to make money before competitors try to cut your margins!”

“Recognize that most “execution” is about preserving what happened in the past.  Trying to do things better, faster and cheaper.  But in a rapidly changing world, new competitors change the basis of competition.” 

“For investors, employees and suppliers you are better off to be with the company that shifts.  It has the ability to grow with the trends.  And the faster you get out of those companies which are stuck, locked-in to their old business model and practices in an effort to defend historical behaviors, the better off you’ll be.  Despite the P/E multiples, or other claims of “value investing,” to succeed you’re a lot better off with the company that’s finding and building on trends than the ones managing costs.”  Quoted from “Winners Shift, Losers Don't” (see article). 

Your new SuperCyberCenter sales are assembled, paid for as we leave the store and delivered by our professional CyberValet^® Shoppers from all your Third Party Sellers usually in less than 1-Hour  24 / 7 / 365 at the same (or less) price than in-store prices.  And delivery can be FREE.  Collectively, these are the reasons why the other LOCAL stores will participate with you, INSTEAD OF THE TITANS, as NONE of The Titans can offer them any of these significant SuperCyberCenter features, making SuperCyberCenters uniquely different than “Marketplaces”.  AND, your high profile nationally-branded stores are the “BEACON” to drive in local online consumers (bringing even more traffic to you from your Third Party Sellers’ myriad and loyal local customers.)

AND it’s 100% turnkey – We do it all.

Let your customers know about your SuperCyberCenter’s 1-Hour In-Store Shopping & Delivery program – they will be delighted to participate because their needs are so great and SuperCyberCenters uniquely offer other important local stores and restaurants “When You Just Can’t Get out, Or Have Better Things To Do ®”  Your LOCAL Third Party Sellers will willingly do the same promotions.

Neither Walmart nor Amazon can match, let alone beat, your SuperCyberCenter.  (It’s patented.)  And it complements & significantly enhances your current Online & In-Store platforms.

Your SuperCyberCenter is the difference between being relevant, or becoming irrelevant, in today’s new e-commerce culture.  However most staff members prefer the “Same-Old-Thing” because it’s job security – no risk – nothing unknown/new.  Only rising star staff members have the chutzpah to recommend such reasonable initiatives as Market Shifting and SuperCyberCenters.

If 40% sales increase with 79% higher profits is of interest, let’s discuss the feasibility of your company adding a SuperCyberCenter (or, in the least, joining one).

Thank you,

Gail

Walmart Just Beat Everyone Out Of The Gate AGAIN

IMPORTANT E-COMMERCE NEWS UPDATE

In our last blog post dated April 19 (below), Wal-Mart said their Next-Day Delivery Program was not yet approved, so we felt you had a 90+ day window to become prepared.  Well, thanks to their purposeful misinformation, we were wrong !

On Saturday, April 24, Wal-Mart opened “Walmart To Go” (see Article) starting with NEXT-DAY delivery of groceries in San Jose, California as part of their “Project Titan” (see Article); same as they have been doing in the UK, Mexico and Japan.

This is Super Bad News for Amazon, Safeway, Peapod and your local grocers.  BUT THAT’S JUST THE START OF THIS E-COMMERCE RETAIL REVOLUTION.  After all, Wal-Mart now needs to grow $14 BILLION every year just to stay relevant.  And their new market share has to come from someone else…. like you. 

Can you foresee when everything is delivered by Walmart from their local retail complex with no other local competing stores existing ?  Well, they can.

Wal-Mart has repeatedly stated that “Project Titan” is the beginning of Wal-Mart’s push to become the lead e-commerce retailer worldwide (see Article).  But when you look at the retail landscape objectively, Wal-Mart’s  “Pick Up Today”  and  “Walmart To Go”  offer high consumer convenience that not only increases Wal-Mart’s ONLINE business but takes customers away from competing local stores with Wal-Mart’s significantly lower prices and much higher service levels.  

Wal-Mart just eliminated the consumer’s need to navigate traffic, long cashier line-ups and miles of walking in stores: when they could be golfing, at the ball game or enjoying their family !  Smart People – Wal-Mart recognized and acted upon the obvious consumer needs and wants as well as offset the various problems people experience in shopping at Walmart stores.  And, Wal-Mart’s low in-store prices apply for delivery – approximately 27% less than regular supermarket prices.

NOW THAT’S TOUGH TO BEAT – And of course they planned it this way and are looking for as much lead time as they can get by telling you it’s only a test and only groceries.  BUT THEY ARE ALREADY DELIVERING THEIR ENTIRE RETAIL PRODUCT RANGE IN THE UK, MEXICO AND JAPAN.  So, Walmart To Go is no test and it’s not just groceries in the long run.

HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS – While we had hoped you might beat Wal-Mart “Out-Of-The-Gate” and take the lead position with our patented Rapid Online Order Fulfillment (ROOF) program;  Wal-Mart has demonstrated the future of retail clearly is in Rapid Home Delivery as they did in the UK, Mexico, Japan and now the U.S. 

This Leads You To Two New Opportunities:

1.     Visionary retail leaders will seize the opportunity to improve on Project Titan’s initiatives and become the industry leaders by eclipsing Walmart’s Same-Day Pick Up and Next-Day Delivery with ROOF 1-Hour In-Store Shopping and Delivery, which even Wal-Mart cannot beat. And Wal-Mart probably won’t try to match ROOF for some time to come, thus allowing you to grasp the lead time they were counting on to establish market dominance.

Before Wal-mart opened the Rapid Home Delivery program door thus trouncing the current 3 – 10 day e-commerce common practice, retailers were content with the status quo.  And, as Wal-Mart hopes and expects, these retailers will ignore Walmart To-Go and Wal-Mart's Project Titan initiatives once again, until it is too late. 

2.      Implement a ROOF SuperCyberCenter^© (i.e. Virtual SuperCenter = Walmart and Virtual Marketplaces = Amazon and others).  This is a huge new way to leverage ALL your current assets – tangible and intangible - and earn additional profit from participating stores.  

For example, most local and regional grocery stores have completely ignored Home Delivery as Wal-Mart Supercenters began significantly stealing their in-store sales in the late 90’s.  Now, with “Walmart To Go”, they have a major incentive to join your ROOF SuperCyberCenter© – a competitive Rapid Online Order Fulfillment (ROOF) local area consortium in a SuperCyberCenter format, thereby further increasing your sales and profits both in your stores and through their online sales in your ROOF SuperCyberCenters, which are greater in consumer scope than Walmart’s Project Titan.

Due to the now proven importance to Wal-Mart’s future growth of their “Project Titan”, we hope we can start ROOF with you ASAP so as to steal Project Titan’s thunder in the Media.

Thank you,

Gail