We met with our mentor, Mario of LightHaus yesterday. We came away with quite a few new ideas:

Take away:

1.A cloud-based service model could still be used when the ZipThru product is offered as a module that fits into an existing retail store-specific mobile application.Advantages: 1) predictable and steady revenue 2) advertising

2. Sales channel partnerships – we could partner with Retail store network installers to sell the solution to retailers with whom they have existing relationships. This is a medium-to-long term action item.

3. Real-time deals based on product search and shopper behavior in the store

The marketing department of the retail store could offer real-time deals for a shopper based on products that are of interest. Products of interest can be determined from searches and from user behavior inside the store.

We attended the Branding and Ad event at the Vancity Theatre yesterday. It was a good learning experience to know about the world view of advertisers. We spoke to several executives from advertising firms to know their perspectives on the potential for advertising within a retail navigation service.

Number of contacts interviewed: 12

Our takeaway from the event:

1. Focus more on the interactive aspect of advertising than on the ad delivery platform. The focus appears to be in engaging the consumer of advertising content through social media, for example.

ZipThru could offer a different type of customer engagement where the user needs as well as position at a point of time can be used to deliver interactive and contextual ads. A marketing strategy that highlights the interactive and contextual aspects of ZipThru ads would be useful.

2. Voice activated search

A CFO we met said that he would use a retail store navigation service if it supported voice commands. It would be inconvenient to type on a touchscreen phone while holding a shopping basket.

3. It might be useful to learn more about how slotting fees are determined. Slotting fee is the fee that a product vendor pays the retailer to shelve a particular product at a location. A similar model could be used for determining the ads that are to be displayed in the store shelf-view of ZipThru.

While waiting to hear back from the business team at Overwaitea, we have been trying to reach out to other grocery chains such as London Drugs. I spoke to Annette Stark, Retail Operations Supervisor on Friday. The conversation was brief and she asked me to send a product/ concept presentation to her e-mail address. We have sent the information and will be following up with her early next week.

I also visited with the Administrative Manager at Costco, Richmond. She appeared impressed with the MVP, but directed me to the head office. I will be calling the head office on Monday morning.

Another item on the agenda for next week is the Branding and Advertising event at Vancity Theater on Tuesday evening. This was an event we registered for a couple of weeks ago. We have drawn up a list of 8 attendees from the advertising space who we would like to meet and discuss the concept with.

A. Retail stores with an existing  mobile application

After our discussions with Overwaitea, we have recognized that retail stores such as SaveOn Foods that already have existing mobile applications are unlikely to support an independent navigation mobile app for their store. Overwaitea is more interested in incorporating the navigation aspect into their existing mobile app in such a way that there is a consistent look and feel.

Based on the feedback, we think that potential customers such as Overwaitea are more likely to pay for the product, i.e. a navigation module (with indoor positioning). They were not keen on using a cloud-based ZThru service. The deliverables would then include:

1. Network deployment in the store to make it indoor positioning-enabled. This would most likely involve an installation fee.

2.Navigation module that could be integrated with the existing store-specific mobile application.A service fee could be charged per app download. This is a hypothesis that will need to be tested during further discussions with Overwaitea.

B. Retail stores without a mobile application

Retail stores that do not have an existing mobile application might be interested in retail store navigation delivered as a cloud-based service. It was Mike, Director of IT at Overwaitea, who mentioned this to us. He said that potential customers such as Home Depot and IKEA would be more likely to use a cloud-based service. For retail stores without existing mobile apps, the deliverables would be:

1. Network deployment in the store to make it indoor positioning-enabled. This would most likely involve an installation fee.

2. Retail navigation service provided to shoppers in the store through a cloud-based ZThru server. An annual service fee could be charged. Advertising would be a possible source of revenue in the long-term.

Two trade shows to consider:

1. Store 2013 trade show in June 4  and 5, 2013.

http://www.storeconference.ca/about

2.Grocery Innovations Canada 2013 – Sept. 30 and Oct 1, 2013

http://www.groceryinnovations.com/index.html

We tested the indoor positioning API today at the SUB at UBC. We have identified areas where the performance needs to be improved. The positioning system is likely to perform better in a retail store environment with shelves and other obstacles. Also identified a few ways in which we can tailor indoor positioning to the retail store environment.

We visited a London Drugs store in Richmond and spoke to the Mike, the Store Manager. I asked some general questions about how they advertise promotions, whether they have a mobile app and how the organization is structured.

Our take away:

1. London Drugs is a small retail chain consisting of 70 stores with a head office in Richmond.

2. They do not have a store-specific mobile applications.

3. No loyalty program.

4. It would be best to contact some one from Retail operations at the HO to discuss the product. Purchase decisions made at the head office.

5. He said that the product locator would be something the he would use.

We met with Fred, the Store Manager at Canadian Tire yesterday.

Lessons learnt:

He said that they attach a lot of importance to enabling shoppers to locate products. However he is not the decision maker. We have received contact numbers for the Head Office in Toronto.

Next steps: Speak to some one from the IT department at the head office.