Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much!
It’s no secret that online retailers have had a major impact on the brick-and-mortar retail world, and this has mostly been bad news for the big, traditional retailers that do most of their business in-store. From a consumer standpoint, why go to the mall, a big-box retailer, or even a grocery store, when you can spend less time and money buying what you need online?
Remember the first time that traditional retail stores were supposed to disappear due to competition from online outlets? Amazon introduced the Kindle, a bunch of bookstores eventually closed, and plenty of pundits envisioned the same thing happening in a host of other retail niches. Take a walk through the downtown of any busy city, and you will quickly see that reports of the death of traditional retail were greatly exaggerated. It’s not just that traditional retail can still thrive, but that we have access to a more diverse, eclectic mix of small business than ever before!
How long does it take to acknowledge the existence of someone you know who has reached out to you directly with a question or comment? I get that people are busy, and that we all get plenty of spam online. I also get that high-level executives feel like their very valuable time (more valuable than yours, of course) should not, under any circumstances, be wasted. I even get that sometimes a note from a friend or acquaintance slips through the cracks even when you have the best intentions to respond.
You will find no shortage of opinions when you visit your favorite social media platform, and you’ll also find no shortage of opinions about social and communications platforms in general. There is no arguing with the fact that at the most basic level, social and comms platforms can be very useful tools in both marketing and our everyday lives. Whether you see them as more than that ultimately depends much more on you than on the platforms themselves. It’s how you see them – and most importantly how you use them – that determines your experience.
Sure that all of you have heard of, and are at least somewhat familiar with, Augmented Reality (AR).
Simply put, AR utilizes technology to provide additional insights and abilities in the real world, with one example being the Google Translate app’s ability to take a picture of text in many languages and then immediately translate it for you onscreen. An excellent AR app to help you understand signs or menus in foreign countries, or even that fancy restaurant around the corner!
Well today I’m pleased to introduce you to the concept and emerging new logistics reality of ‘Augmented Fulfillment’ (AF) which will allow logistics operators to add and enhance customer experience capabilities.