March/April 2015 // Public Gaming International //
63
that enable consumers to connect with the
brands, access the information they need,
and fulfill all their impulses to understand
and experience everything on their own
terms before they buy.
Some people (like me!) will stay buried
in their smart-phones while walking the
store aisles. So you have location-based
apps that lead us around the store, you
have personalized messages based on our
own personal buying habits and preferenc-
es—just like Bed, Bath, and Beyond did
with you in your example. You even have
price-comparison apps that enable the
consumer to answer all their questions so
they can make that buying decision right
now, there in the store.
Then there are others who are not tied to
their Mobile when they are shopping and
prefer to have easy access to touch-screen
monitors to connect with the brands
they’re interested in. Or, for that matter,
there is the old-fashioned way of talking
to a clerk. Retail affords many more op-
tions for the consumer to shop according
to their own personal preferences.
The main thing is that retailers are find-
ing that the consumer is responding to the
digital and interactive connections when
given the opportunity, so the technolo-
gies that enable that connectivity are being
integrated into the modern store design.
The goal is to engage, even delight and
surprise, the guest with interesting expe-
riences that simply make shopping more
pleasurable. That is the pathway to in-
creasing consumer wallet-share from their
shopping experience.
The interesting thing about my Bed, Bath,
Beyond experience is that they did not have
what I wanted, and yet I ended up buying
not only the item I wanted, but a lot more
than I had intended to buy because I didn’t
have to carry it out, and the convenience of
the whole experience caused me to look for-
ward to my next visit.
R. Young:
There is even a name for
that. It’s called “endless aisle.” It’s really
like you said—reverse showrooming. In-
stead of stocking everything so you don’t
lose the sale to the customer who wants a
particular size or color, the store has rep-
resentative product that enables the con-
sumer to make a decision and then order
it online right at the in-store monitor.
Presently, like in your example, it is almost
always going to be clerk-assisted. Though
of course we do have self-serve checkout
in grocery stores so we can see the trend-
line. The endless aisle refers to the fact that
everything is made available at the store.
In effect, the aisle of product choices and
options is endless, not physically on the
shelf in front of you, but in the interactive
environment that digital technologies are
bringing right into the store. The endless
aisle brings the interactive dotcom uni-
verse right into the store.
So I’m at the moment of truth stand-
ing in Target looking at a bicycle for my
child. They have black and green but not
the red one that my child wants. Doesn’t
matter because we were able to see every
other attribute about the product so we
could easily decide that we wanted the
bike, and so we ordered the color we
wanted at the in-store touch-screen kiosk.
The endless aisle enables maximum con-
sumer options while enabling the retailer
to carry a smaller inventory. Win-win!
Digital technology enables a much better
shopping experience while reducing costs
at the same time.
The endless aisle is not a new concept.
But it is still in its infancy with the bulk of
it potential yet to be fulfilled. As the data
about customer purchases is captured via
digital transactions, the whole nature of
shopping will shift from mass market to
personalized marketing, and then to cus-
tomization. The messaging you receive,
the channels through which you receive
it, the products that are suggested and the
kinds of promotions that are offered—ev-
erything will be customized to your pre-
cise buying habits and interests, shopping
style, and communication preferences.
It would seem to me that the land-based shop-
ping environment has a far richer variety of
ways to connect with the consumer than does
the strictly online shopping environment.
Touch-screen monitors, Mobile apps and mes-
saging, Video Walls to create a multi-media
entertainment as well as informational expe-
rience. In fact, the ability to connect directly
with the real-live consumer would seem to
give the retailer a huge competitive advantage
over the online merchants.
R. Young:
It takes vision and the
willingness to invest in the technolo-
gies that enable it all to happen. But the
retail world, and their technology-pro-
viders and commercial partners, are just
scratching the surface of all that is pos-
sible. We haven’t even touched on most
of the things that are already being done
right now, much less the incredible pipe-
line of forward-looking applications that
are being developed.
But you probably need to make sure you stay
aligned with your customers, not get too far
out in front of where their business is operat-
ing here and now today.
R. Young:
Absolutely. Carmanah fo-
cuses on applied technologies, products
that the consumers and retailers are ready
for now. But even now, that is migrating
from signage to more interactive messag-
ing devices.
Signage is really becoming customiz-
able to the specific needs of the retailer.
The content and context is geared to ap-
peal to her specific clientele, to how that
clientele may change depending on the
time of day and a variety of other factors.
And it’s not just about a lotto game jack-
pot size. The messaging can be customiz-
able in countless ways—highlighting lo-
cal winners and promoting a new instant
game, as well as providing how-to-play
and responsible gaming information are
just some examples.
Play Stations and ticket kiosks with dy-
namic LCD screens have the advantage of
both engaging the consumer and enabling
