More on Hand Scanning at Fresh & Easy

From the comments, Clive Black links to a more detailed article on the Fresh & Easy Scanning, including some pictures.  Based on the pictures shown, there were the same designs that we orginally tested in out lab for Motorola.

Hand Scanning at Fresh & Easy

More on another test of shopper barcode hand scanning to improve the checkout process and provide targeted promotions.    Note this uses dedicated devices rather than smartphones.    The same system was tested at AHold.  We experimented with related systems.  Here at Fresh & Easy, a subsidiary of Tesco in the US.

Turning iPhones into Microscopes

In GigaOm.   Or at least displays for real microscopes.  Another example of sensors linked to mobile devices.  We will continue to see more of these.  Its adding the analysis and sharing piece that will make this interesting to health data applications.

Headline: Value Drives Loyalty

In Mediapost: Surprise, consumer experience, especially 'delight' drives loyalty.  Nothing very new here, but the specifics of the categories and data are interesting.  In particular that emotional values continue to increase in importance.  " ... More than ever, the core drivers of brand loyalty are emotional rather than rational. That’s the takeaway from the 2012 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index (CLEI), which marks the survey’s 16th year. While emotional engagement factors have become more critical each year, the influence of two core, overarching components rose markedly in 2012: the brand’s “values” and the consumer’s brand “experience.” ... ' 

Argus Insights : Product Innovation

Brought to my attention by a client:  Argus Insights.  " ... Products that exceed user expectations win.  Very simply, delighted customers buy more.Companies that delver products exceeding the expectation of their users win market share. .... "

Real World Retail Analytics Using Kinect

Just brought to my attention.  Shopperception:  "  ... The Kinect sensors allow us to bring new and exciting 3D spatial recognition tools to the market research industry ...  Once in a while, a new technology disrupts a market. Find out how the Kinect is disrupting shopper analytics by giving new and powerful metrics about the shopper and his interaction with the shelf... "    Explanatory video at the link above.

We examined  many variants on this broad idea in the innovation centers and worked with business analytics  models to interpret the data .

Big CPG Ad Spenders Plan to Ease Back

In Ad Age. Detailed piece on the plans of Procter & Gamble and Unilever in ad spending. Some speculation but considerable useful information.

A Model of Human Health Behavior Change

We worked with Stanford  Professor BJ Fogg several times in the enterprise.   I am very late to discover this,  but he has created a new model of human behavior change.  " ... In 2011, the World Economic Forum selected the Fogg Behavior model as their framework for health behavior change. ....  "  Examining it now.   See also his persuasive technology site.  Also @BJFogg

Samsung Gaming for Engagment

In the NYT:  Good general piece on gaming for brand engagement.  Mentioning the example of Samsung in some detail.  " ... Samsung is embracing a business trend called gamification, which takes elements from games and applies them to other settings. Companies like Recyclebank, for example, use game incentives, like points and rewards, to prompt consumers to perform eco-friendly activities. Other businesses offer awards like virtual badges to induce their employees to embrace corporate goals and increase productivity. Meanwhile, a number of well-known retailers and brands, including Samsung and Warner Brothers, are employing point reward systems as a way to engage customers more deeply.        ... " 

IBM's Watson Changing Careers

More indications that artificial intelligence, much promoted in the late 80s, is back again.    Based on the same kinds of rule-based,  certainty quantification methods we used then to prototype AI in the enterprise.  An now supported by a Web full of readily available knowledge.  Will it succeed generally this time?   I think so, but it may require substantial time to mature.

Unilever Taps a Join the Dots Panel

Had not heard of this before, but from Research Live: Unilever is recruiting a new panel of shoppers to help 'shape the future' of its family of brands.

Home Robotics and the Mint Cleaner

I was involved with several projects in the enterprise that dealt about how cleaning products could be used in conjunction with home robotics.  We got some early experience with in-office robotics that moved mail around.  In particular which algorithms could be used to make that process efficient.  The best known example is the iRobot Roomba floor sweeper.  But a recent conversation reminded me of the mint floor cleaner.  Which has been advertised much on cable recently and received generally good reviews.  Waiting for the workable home butler.

Managing Analytic Resources

Good post on the topic. I find many groups are uncertain about how to manage the process of working with analytics. And they are also unclear about how to deal with the results discovered.

On the Size and Complexity of Data

In the Atlantic: In an edited excerpt from his new book, Too Big to Know, David Weinberger explains how the massive amounts of data necessary to deal with complex phenomena exceed any single brain's ability to grasp, yet networked science rolls on.

Practicing for the Super Bowl Ads

Sands Research sends along an item and commentary pointing to an article in the WSJ on  how Super Bowl ad companies use neuromarketing methods to test modifications of ads to see which work best.   A good example of how neuro techniques are becoming used more commonly by big advertisers.  Usually in addition to other methods.  More and more of these methods are being used mobile, in context, a further powerful idea.

Enterprise Performance Management from SAP

Good post by Laura Mikovsky on Enterprise Performance management from SAP.  A classic need for the enterprise.   A typical dashboard BI application.   How are various parts of my enterprise performing, and how do I normalize these results with other measures like the economy?    You could take this further to measure other causal interactions,  both inside the organization and outside.  The post goes on to mention how some of their new in memory techniques and data availability can make these measures real time.  Useful in some industries. 

My suggestion: Take this a step forward and construct a company performance leader board, then use game dynamics to create in enterprise competition between, say, sales districts.  Provide automatic causal suggestions as to why the leader is ahead.   With cautions about the likelihood of people trying to game the measures.  We experimented with something like this well before this kind of sophisticated technology was possible, and data was far less available, as far back as the early 1980s.

Food Lion Shares Demand Data

In a move to consumer driven demand, Food Lion shares data:    " ... Food Lion is working on changing the way CPG vendors such as PepsiCo replenish its distribution centers and stores by offering them visibility into current and expected consumer demand as reflected by store-level inventory and sales. This represents a marked departure from the traditional replenishment scenario whereby Food Lion, like most retailers, only provides vendors with information on transfer of products from DCs to stores (known as warehouse withdrawals), but not on what happens at the store level. Instead, the chain is shifting to what it calls consumer-demand-driven replenishment.... "

Conflict Management

An excellent piece by Ed Burghard on effective conflict management.  Most people do not deal well with conflict, and this chkeclist of possible solutions can be very valuable.

More on Story Telling

Steve King writes in the Small Business Blog about the rise of storytelling and a number of projects underway in that space.

Wireless Brain Wave Sensors

In SCiam:   General, non technical article on wireless encephalogram monitors.  A number of current gaming examples are mentioned.

Visual Beauty, Usefulness and Objectivity

How do you bring together objective truth, analytical precision and visually pleasing visualizations?  Can all the infographic spin be removed, or  does the mere choice of data shown have its ow spin?  Tableau software discusses in their blog.  Good examples shown. Overall the Tableau blog is worth following.

"  .... one cannot reach their potential with a publicly facing viz unless it is both analytically useful and visually stunning. No emphasis on either one. A viz needs to be beautiful to draw people in and engage them, but it also needs to be analytically valuable in order to serve a higher purpose than just beauty ... " 

Crowd Sourced Ale

A simple example of crowd sourcing, not sure if it a very good one, but the application in food and drink is unusual.

Digital Signage Continued

I will have to mention Keith Kelsen's book: Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage once again.   An excellent book that I am making my way through now.  I particularly like the fact that it includes quantitative analysis of the value of signage uses, and a useful classification of context issues.  Much more here.   

If you are considering a digital design display in stationary, mobile, interactive or other environments, this book is a great place to start.  This was one of our key experimentation topics in the innovation center,  and it is of great value to have key topics laid out.

Federal Move to Mobile

The government is usually late to such moves.  They pioneer some aspects, then wait for a long time. But when they finally decide to move it legitimizes it for lots of other parts of the economy.  The CIO on the Federal Mobile Strategy. 

P&G AdSpend, Facebook Linked to Layoffs

  This article suggests that a not unexpected round of belt tightening at P&G is being caused by lower cost  online advertising in venues like Facebook and Google.  It does not look like a causal thing.  Just the usual periodic reexamination of available resources and tasks to make business more efficient. 

Site Visits and Store Visits

A study linking brand site web site visits and in-store spending.  " ... According to a recent study, conducted by Accenture, comScore and dunnhumby USA, people who visit the websites of consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands end up purchasing 37 percent moreworth of goods from the brand in question in brick-and-mortar retail establishments than people who don’t visit such sites.... "

Chaos of Unstructured Data

From O'Reilly Radar:  Thoughts from a practicing CTO on the chaos of unstructured data.

" ... The heart of data science is designing instruments to turn signals from the real world into actionable information. Fighting the data providers to give you those signals in a convenient form is a losing battle, so the key to success is getting comfortable with messy requirements and chaotic inputs. As an engineer, this can feel like a deal with the devil, as you have to accept error and uncertainty in your results. But the alternative is no results at all.... " 

Private Label Cost Pressure

A good broadly ranging WSJ article.  Private label prices are increasing, but they are being increasingly pushed by retailers.  (Subscription) " ... Every year, U.S. shoppers buy more generic goods, many of them trading down from more expensive, name-brand labels to save money. But consumers are developing loyalty to store brands for reasons besides price, and that could be a problem for food and consumer-products companies as the economy rebounds. In some cases, consumers even pay more for store brands, many of which have been positioned as gourmet or specialty items. ... "

Half of US Shoppers Use Phones for In-Store Research

This look at a PEW report has gotten quite a bit of exposure.  It was an angle we looked at very closely, even well before the Smartphone explosion.  Early on we tracked the use of ordinary cellphones to see if people called their friends to  see what products their friends thought were best, or what the best price might be for a product.    And based on those results, if it made sense to provide text based services like shopping lists and connections to contextual promotions.  It is remarkable that  50% of US shoppers are now engaged with the shopping process using phones.

Text Mining the Voice of the People

In CACM:  Statistical techniques help public leaders turn text in unstructured citizen feedback into responsive e-democracy.... "  Good thoughts, though I worry how easily this could be manipulated.  Simpler people oriented methods are more likely to be secure.

Museum of Mathematics

In New Scientist: Mathematicians have launched an ambitious campaign to raise the profile of their discipline, by opening a museum of maths in the UK. Geoff Wain, who is leading the initiative, points out that every other subject has a variety of cultural and educational hubs for people to visit, so why not maths? “Where would you go to find out about mathematics?” he says. “There’s absolutely nowhere in this country, it’s very sad.” ... '

Good idea, but I would rather have it liked to or within something like Wikipedia, where it is more likely to be found.

Big Data Startups

A look of a number of startups that intend to improve the use of big data.   I have not looked at any of these to date, but some of the plays are interesting and well worth examining,

Gamification Portal

The Community portal for the gamification Wiki has been updated.  A useful place for information about the topic, vendors and examples.  Also a good example of a community updated Wiki.

A Community of Startups

Just pointed to: AngelList:   AngelList is a community of startups—started by the dudes who do Venture Hacks. Meet the team. Browse startups and investors.   More to follow.

Corporate Blogging Decreases

In ReadwriteEntrprise an article discusses a study on the decrease of corporate blogging.   Have been blogging since 2001.  First inside the enterprise with a group of interested participants, then outwardly facing, and finally independently.   I still think it is a powerful concept, appropriately supported by social networking of other kinds.

More About the Future of Retail

A good piece by Greg Satell in Innovation Excellence on the Future of Retail.  Always an important topic here.  Can we completely reinvent the retail process in engaging ways? 

"  ... What’s the next big thing in digital? Mobile? Social? Online video? Those are things moving fast but the trend with the most potential for significant economic impact is, in fact, retail.
The sleepy, boring business of selling things to consumers is pepping up and becoming a hotbed of innovation. Technology and consumer trends are combining to create a shopping experience entirely different from anything we’ve seen before.... "

Tibco Social Platform

I admit to having been unaware of the Tibco social platform, Tibbr .  I was involved with the enterprise rollout of their Spotfire data visualization package, which is impressive.  Now their Tibbr social network adds geolocation.  I have been examining several cases where companies are using social network dynamics for collaboration and integration, so will take a closer look at Tibbr.  Contact me with thoughts.