Month: October 2017

Iron Man was released just 9 years ago in 2008. I remember watching the movie and being completely fascinated by the technology of Tony Stark’s office and Iron Man suit; specifically, Jarvis – Stark’s virtual “helper” (or rather do-all glorified secretary). Would technology really progress so far that we could have our own Jarvis’s running our lives? While I don’t know much about universal Iron Man suits, I do know that we will have the option to live our lives through a much more convenient, portable piece of technology with the emergence of augmented reality eyewear. The once revolutionary idea has now become an accepted wisdom with the imminent release of multiple AR headsets from companies as ODG, Sony, and Microsoft.

Still, with the emergence of any disruptive technology that has the potential to change the way our society functions, we’re faced with the question of whether or not we are ready to accept such a product. In my opinion, we’re just not ready yet.

The AR industry has marked many major milestones this year. The most recent (as mentioned in Yariv Levski’s blog) being the announcement from tech titans Apple and Google, who plan to introduce AR to the mass consumer market – via mobile devices – with the release of the ARKit and ARCore respectively. These new system frameworks will allow developers to easily integrate AR experiences with existing Apple and Google products.

“I regard it as a big idea like the smartphone. The smartphone is for everyone, we don’t have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it’s for everyone. I think AR is that big, it’s HUGE.” – Tim Cook, Apple CEO

Many may wonder why Apple and Google’s AR announcement didn’t dive right into wearable components that many competitors had previously tried to promote. However, with the successive failures of the Google Glass and Snapchat Spectacles, it’s become abundantly clear that the public has not picked up on the AR eyewear hype as many enterprise users have.

From a development trajectory, Pokémon GO has been one of the most successful AR implementers, earning $1.2 billion in revenue for the AR industry in 2016. Nevertheless, developers can’t expect to jump from walking to sprinting within such a short time span. Technology takes time to develop and users in turn need time to adapt to these developments. The Pokémon phenomenon has warmed the consumer market for a more robust AR experience on their mobile devices; and in time, mobile devices will pave the way for the next logical AR development, wearable products.

Therefore, we are still more than a few years off from an AR eyewear buying frenzy as the consumer market is still stuck within an adjustment period, just as they would for any new technology. Not to mention the many hurdles that manufacturers still need to solve for wearable AR technology, including: affordability, product flexibility, security concerns, as well as a full immersive, mobile and visual functionality for everyday use.

Until these problems are resolved, consumers simply ARe not ready.

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“To buy or not to buy” is the perpetual question that I’m always asking myself while online shopping. My bank card says no, but my answer, of course, is always an enthusiastically resounding YES. As many of my close friends can attest to, I am a serial online shopper part of a new, largely expanding demographic of millennials and Generation Z shoppers who value convenience and efficiency in my shopping experience. So, when I stumbled across an article detailing online store, Rent the Runway’s new marketing project aimed at price-sensitive shoppers – like myself – I was immediately intrigued.

Rent the Runway is a subscription-based online fashion rental service that allows its customers to rent out expensive pieces from labels such as Oscar de la Renta, Vince and Diane von Furstenberg for a fraction of the original cost. The company recently announced a new budget-friendly pricing option of $89 a month, which is a 35% price decrease from the regular $139 monthly subscription. The only restrictions to the plan are a limited number of monthly rentals and some higher-end designer exclusions.

With more and more innovative e-commerce sites, like Rent the Runway, positioning themselves in markets that were previously seen as blue oceans, it seems that traditional brick and mortar retailers will become more and more obsolete in the future if they do not try and adjust to the changing market of consumers.

“Channels which traditionally dominated the field are in steady decline worldwide. Step forward the new order: e-commerce and discounters, cannibalizing the big retailers with their promise of convenience and lower prices” – Kantar Worldpanel global shopper and retail director Stephanie Roger.

For many millennials, the most convenient option is the now the best option. E-commerce sites have now become one-stop-shops for almost any consumer desire at the simple click of a button; and with huge companies like Amazon championing fast and reliable delivery, the most significant caveats to online shopping is a consumer’s need to feel and see the item they are purchasing.

However, there are many e-commerce sites who are actively working to integrate the dominant customer need to physically interact with their purchase with their current business model. Take, for example, the “guideshops” explored in Teaghan McNeill’s blog. Created by popular online store, Bonobos, the concept allows customers to try on samples in store but have their purchases delivered to their home, ensuring that there are always specific sizes and colours in stock at all times for customers to try on, and eliminating any fears of disappointing a customer’s product expectations.

“Technology is fast-changing the way people shop, and with e-commerce and discounters set to continue their march at the expense of large-format retailers, there is an urgent need for retail reconfiguration across the world.” – Kantar Worldpanel global shopper and retail director Stephanie Roger.

All in all, with the current rate that e-commerce sites are able to rapidly adapt and alter their services to better serve consumers, brick and mortar retailers will soon find themselves put in a precarious position within the retail industry trying to fight for relevance in a consumer market filled fast-paced, efficiency seeking customers. Traditional retailers need to start thinking of ways to help solve these consumer problems so that their customers can go back to thinking about the more important questions in life. Like whether “to buy or not to buy”.

 

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