Imagine the day a car can become an extension of your living room, where you can continue your leisurely activity of choice while being transported to your final destination. Well, it could be coming as soon as 2030! Self-driving cars are all over the news, with much publicity and anticipation as this futuristic marvel is quickly […]
How Self-Driving Cars Will Impact Retailers Read More »
Not only does a successful brand clearly define a unique and ownable position in the market, they also deliver on their promise and make an emotional connection with their customers. Brand assets such as tradition and performance are still relevant to consumers; however, these are ceasing to determine solely whether a person buys from one
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Marie Kondo has made the old adage “less is more” feel fresh again. In her popular Netflix show she helps people de-clutter homes by asking them to decide if the items they own spark joy. Anything that doesn’t meet this standard simply shouldn’t be in your home, she posits. The idea, one that resonates with many, is
What the End of Mass Consumption Means for Retailers Read More »
96 percent of unhappy customers will not tell the business they are upset with – but will share their dissatisfaction with 15 friends. With the prevalence of how quickly negative feedback spreads on social media, it’s more important than ever to keep up with customer sentiments before it damages a brand’s hard-earned credibility. Simply put, it
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The facts are sobering: according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, by 2050 the ocean could contain more plastic than fish, and plastics could be consuming 20 percent of oil production and 15 percent of the carbon budget. Only 14 percent of plastic is recycled across the planet – the rest is tossed out, filling landfills, rivers
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Smart Banking promised to herald in the convenience of digital technology and more personalized customer service. Today most would agree what was imagined as utopia has yet to materialize for banks pioneering this new branch format. Early attempts have demonstrated that consumers remain attached to in-branch human interaction and are skeptical of the merits of
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Things used to be so simple. We bought nails at the hardware store, books at the bookstore, coffee from a coffee shop. We lived in communities made up primarily of dwellings, and commuted to work away from our homes. It was an easy time to be a retailer: put up a sign, stock your shelves
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Seamlessness is now an expectation in our service-oriented society. Customers have little patience for services that are inconvenient, frustrating, and inefficient. We don’t want to wait in line, have to repeat ourselves, or deal with mistakes. Many major companies are selling services instead of physical products and are differentiating themselves based on customer experience. Brands
Service Design and the Banking Experience Read More »
With an ever-growing need for things that are faster, smarter and better, customers expect a lot from the brands that they support. Despite this, there are still dreaded friction points along the customer journey that hinder them from buying products and services, making them privy to abandoning their carts and falling right into a competitor’s
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You’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t. That’s the overwhelming response when you ask foodservice operators about third-party food delivery apps like UberEats, Skip the Dishes and Foodora. Such services say they are opening the door to new customers – but this isn’t what restauranteurs are seeing on the ground. The increase in ordering through
Should Foodservice Embrace Third-Party Delivery? Read More »
The majority of financial institutions are focused on ensuring their strongest asset for driving growth, namely their retail banking network, remains relevant with the rise of Fintech start-ups and new types of banking competitors. This need is most prevalent in Asia, and more specifically China, where there is an enormous and underserved appetite for smart
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E-commerce is becoming more robust with each passing year, and there is no turning back. According to Statista, online sales corresponded for almost 12 percent of all retail sales worldwide in 2017, and close to 22 percent of the world population currently buys on the internet. These numbers are only increasing. Here are some driving
The Future of E-Commerce is Now Read More »
Personalization is at the top of every retailer’s list of goals. Win in personalization, and you win loyal customers who spend more. As technology improves, it will become possible to go even deeper and provide customers with highly specific service. In this blog we will explore the top experiences in personalization that are currently available,
Innovative Trends in Retail Personalization Read More »
In our previous blog we discussed the four tiers of immersive experience with the pinnacle representing the “Bionic Human,” a fully symbiotic technology enabled human delivering superior customer engagement. We often wonder how far into the future it will be that we witness the convergence of technology and human beings, such as The Six Million Dollar
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Over five years ago, SLD introduced the word “immersive” into our company vision, and identified the term as the new definition of customer engagement. At the time, the idea of creating immersive experiences focused on how technology such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) would shift the way consumers engage with brands and
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Saying that a company’s staff is the best ambassador to its brand has become incontestable. After all, who knows more about a business’ product, service, or culture than someone who works there? Consumers usually see the way an employee portrays a company as more credible than advertising or other marketing efforts. However, the company and
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As digital technology enables new opportunities for automation across various industries, it makes sense that subscription services have evolved and gained popularity in recent years. These services, such as Netflix and Birchbox, are essentially automated shopping – improving efficiencies in the lives of their customers while generating recurring payments and building strong brand relationships. According
What is the Future of Subscription Services? Read More »
New technology has a history of disrupting entire industries. It creates new possibilities and shifts in behavior that transform society. And yet, it is difficult to predict how an emerging technology will evolve and if it will be accepted by the majority of people. It is easy to overestimate the future impact of novel technology
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In this digital era, it’s no longer a surprise to see “Welcome back,” followed by your name on the home screen of an app or website. The consumer is increasingly conditioned by e-commerce giants, such as Amazon, to expect a certain degree of personalization. In the words of Dave Carnegie, “a person’s name is, to that
Personalization Strategies for Banks Read More »
The odds are very high you have flown on a Boeing 737 MAX 8 in the past year. Since its launch in 2011, more than five thousand orders have been placed, with over 350 planes delivered to airlines since 2017. However, Boeing has gone from getting passengers to their destination to being associated with fatal
Why Boeing Needs to Rebrand the 737 MAX 8 Read More »
