An OMG about EMV

Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) chip cards were meant to make transactions more secure, but Texas IT consultant and forensic investigator Colman Ryan has pointed out that after three failed attempts to read a chip, a terminal will allow the card to be swiped.

A criminal presenting a cloned credit card embedded with a fake chip will still have the stolen account information stored on the card’s magnetic strip. If the point-of-sale terminal can’t read the chip after three tries, a fallback feature will ask the user to swipe the card instead. That fallback feature cannot be switched off.

The EMV chip is designed to protect the retailer against fraudulent charges by verifying the card was physically present during the transaction. But if the chip isn’t read, the merchant—not the bank—will be on the hook for any fraud.

Students Consider Tech Tools for Shopping

Many college students are shopping at mainstream retailers with mobile apps and they’d like to use similar apps at their campus bookstore, according to a September 2016 student survey conducted by NACS OnCampus Research. However, they’re not as familiar with other shopping aids, such as chatbots and online check-in.

In the 90 days prior to the survey, 34% of students had used a store app and cited mobile coupons, ease of use, and quick loading as the aspects they liked most. Students also appreciated being able to determine whether certain items were in stock and to read product reviews.

Two-thirds expressed interest in an app offered by their campus bookstore, especially if they received a discount for downloading the app, earned instant coupons when they entered the store, or had the ability to check on prices for selling back used textbooks.

Only 3% of students had taken advantage of a chatbot to interact with a store online in real time while 11% had used chatbots in other circumstances. Stores that offer this feature need to promote it, as more than 60% of students confessed they didn’t know what a chatbot was.

Students had more experience with online check-in, which provides a text message or other notification to alert customers when it’s their turn for service, instead of waiting in a physical line. About 23% had used online check-in while 42% indicated interest in trying it out.

A New Look for the Apple Store

The College Store of 2015 Report, a study funded by the NACS Foundation and released in 2010, used the Apple Store as an example for college stores to emulate. Now, the Apple Store is reinventing itself.

“This is one of the new store designs we’re starting to roll out in America,” Angela Ahrendts, senior vice president for retail and online stores, said at the opening of a new concept store in Indianapolis, IN. “We have been intentionally reinvesting in the fleet in America because we had about half of our stores that were opened before the iPhone launched in ’07. We needed to make them larger and more customer-friendly.”

Apple wants its new store to be more like a town square with designated areas for phones and accessories, watches, computers, and repairs. In fact, the Genius Bar in the Indy store has been replaced by the Genius Grove, a section behind a large video screen that allows customers to get service on their devices without being out on the shopping floor.

The new concept also calls for staffers who are expert in the fields of photography, music, and gaming to provide customers with more information on using their new purchases. Taking a page straight out the college store playbook, Apple set aside space, called Today at Apple, to host artist events and other creative opportunities.

“A lot of people who have our products may not come into the store,” Ahrendts said. “Now, they see the avenues in the store, the changes monthly that are happening, and there’s always something new to discover. The plan is to increase traffic dramatically.”

What's Better than Apps? Chatbots

College students value their smartphones and the apps that allow them to play games and make purchases. Chatbots could replace apps as the interface, allowing users to find the things they want and need from the same messaging applications they already use to talk to friends.

“Chatbots are the singularity that smart devices have been waiting for, the streamlined experience that will finally unshackle us from the burden that our apps put on our devices,” Craig Elimeliah, director of creative technology for the digital marketing agency VML, wrote in a column for VentureBeat. “Apps slow us down. For most of what we do on our mobile devices, the chatbot and chat interface are ideal.”

Elimeliah said chatbots will be a better way for businesses to engage customers with their brands because they can be used in so many places and with so many different platforms. They can also be voice- and text-enabled.

“The ability that chatbots have to parse language for meaning and context means we can now create much more meaningful and precise 1:1 experiences that can scale way beyond the finite interfaces of an app,” he concluded. “In the end, chatbots are going to make apps look like clunky experiences that don’t really take into account that today’s mobile users need the most lightweight and easily accessible features and functions to blaze through their day.”

Keep an Eye on VR Products

Developers of virtual-reality products are currently focused on the gaming industry, but that could change rapidly. Companies are already beginning work on applications of VR technology in the medical field, with retail and education not far behind.

“What we learn from textbooks or labs can be really dull, but VR and AR [augmented reality] will greatly enhance learning abilities,” Chinese investor Zhu Bo said in a report for phys.org. “It can also be used in e-commerce. In the future, you will step into a real scene; you can see the products on the shelves, touch and feel them. So our shopping experience will totally change.”

International Data Corp. predicted shipments of VR devices will increase by more than 2,400% this year, but the market still needs development before retailers jump on the bandwagon. Current VR products only allow individual users to play a game or watch a movie, but companies are expected to continue creating more VR-related hardware and software.

“To experience VR, you need a powerful engine,” said L.Z. Wang, managing director of chipmaker AMD. “Without content, you can’t experience anything.”

Campus Retail Innovation: Book Options, Store Design

Innovation comes in many forms for collegiate retailers. Two campus stores were recognized at the 2016 Campus Market Expo (CAMEX) March 4-8 in Houston, TX, for their very different approaches to supporting their institutions.

UC Davis Stores, University of California, Davis, received the $5,000 Innovation Achievement Award prize from the NACS Foundation for its Inclusive Access program, which has saved students up to 70% off the cost of their course materials in some 40 classes. The stores negotiated with textbook publishers to provide students with access to digital versions of their books. Students pay a fee that’s much lower than the price of a print book; the publishers are able to drop the price because nearly all enrollees are guaranteed to pay, rather than buying used copies.

The stores focused on courses using more expensive books (typically $100 or more for used books or rentals) with low sales. Due to the cost, some students tried to complete the course without a book or at least waited a couple of weeks before purchasing. The program ensures students have their reading materials right on the first day of class and don’t get behind.

Honorable mention for the Innovation Achievement Award went to the USD Torero Store, University of San Diego, for its creative use of technology and contemporary retail-space design concepts to transform the traditional campus bookstore into a destination spot on campus. The store, renovated in 2015, now features large video screens, elaborate lighting, a virtual mirror, a technology support desk, and movable fixtures to enable use of flex space.

The store also offers up-to-date mobile checkouts and e-commerce kiosks. There is a demonstration area with free classes and room for live performances.

A NACS webinar discussing how the USD Torero Store undertook this renovation metamorphosis, even reducing its size in the process, will be held Thursday, March 31, beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern. For more details, visit the description page for The College Store of the Future webinar; registration is required in advance.

Consumer Acceptance Pushes Biometric ID

Once the stuff of spy thrillers and futuristic movie sagas, biometrics appear ready to ramp up in the next year as an accepted system for authenticating user identity, according to a report in Mobile Commerce Daily.

One company, Mitek Systems, even goes so far as to predict that biometrics will be incorporated in almost 50% of mobile financial transactions in 2016, thanks to new programs such as Apple’s Touch ID.

“We see a lot of interest in the kill-the-password movement,” said Sarah Clark, Mitek’s vice president of product.

A number of financial institutions have been piloting identity verification systems due to the rise in customers wanting to open accounts through their mobile devices. These customers don’t want to deal with a bricks-and-mortar location and they may not have a secure computer. According to Mitek, 86% of the millennial age group handle financial transactions on a mobile device, usually a smartphone.

At one time people may have been spooked by the idea of using their fingerprints or facial and voice recognition as an ID. Now consumers seem totally comfortable with the concept.

Biometric authentication is likely to spread to other applications, such as point-of-sale systems, campus ID cards, and online test-taking.

Facial Recognition to Become Commonplace

The use of facial-recognition software is about to become much more widespread. MasterCard is set to launch a pilot using the technology, while a new report predicted the number of devices with facial-recognition software will rise from 28.5 million in 2015 to more than 122 million by 2024.

The marketing intelligence research firm Tractica also expects the annual revenue for facial biometrics to grow by 22% annually, to more than $880 million over the next nine years, according to a report in VentureBeat.

“Adoption of facial recognition will be particularly strong during the next several years in mobile-device authentication, but areas of growth will also include government applications, such as national ID cards and biometrics passports, as well as finance/banking and retail applications,” the authors of the report wrote.

The MasterCard pilot is aimed at finding ways for shoppers to use biometric scans or voice recognition to verify their identity for purchases. According to reports, MasterCard is working with several hardware and software companies on the project, along with two banks.

Retailers Pick Mobile Sites over Apps

The cost of developing a mobile app for shoppers is prompting many retailers to opt for a cheaper, albeit less personal, alternative: building a mobile-optimized e-commerce website.

A new study by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Forrester Research, as reported by CNBC, indicated that 58% of retail companies are placing a high priority on mobile commerce this year but they’re balking at the expense. For a national retail chain, that might top $2 million in development fees, not to mention the costs to market the app to consumers.

A campus bookstore could get a decent app for much less, maybe four figures, but that would still represent a fairly large piece of the budget for such a store.

Retail apps do boost online sales—possibly as much as 30% for some merchants—and help strengthen customer loyalty to the store, according to the NRF/Forrester study, although the bump may not compensate for the yearly maintenance and upgrade costs.

The majority of shoppers are using apps to determine if sellers have certain merchandise on hand. A mobile-friendly website, if designed correctly, can provide the same information to consumers.

Retail Coupons Find New Life Online

Brand manufacturers and bricks-and-mortar retailers used to run coupons in newspapers and other print media to entice customers with discounts and special offers. Some still do. However, since many people shop and read online now, the coupons have gone digital, too.

The first digital coupons that appeared on websites and in email resembled their newspaper predecessors, complete with dotted borders. The latest types of digital coupons have evolved quite a bit.

That’s Biz, a marketing solutions company that makes coupon apps for smartphones, just released a new system that enables restaurants and stores to post coupon offers on a Facebook page for customers to text to their smartphones. Customers just have to show the coupon on the phone screen when they visit the retailer. They can also share it with friends. The system allows the merchant to put time limits on the coupon or restrict the number of times an individual can use it, without having to involve the store’s main point-of-sale system.

There are many websites, such as FatWallet, that offer a wide variety of downloadable product coupons in cooperation with manufacturers and retail chains. Coupons.com recently began letting consumers “link” selected coupons to a registered credit or debit card with the discount automatically applied at the point of purchase in the store (although they can also be used for online shopping).

Some coupon sites are experimenting with gamification as a way to attract interest and give customers a means to earn additional discount points. No Kidding Coupons, a new site, says its members can earn coupons for online purchases up to 99% off by reviewing products and promoting ones they like. However, unless you register, the site is a little cagey about what brands are participating.

M-Commerce a Hit with College Students

College students like the speed and convenience of mobile commerce, and are coming to expect it at retail establishments, if the experience of the Alvin Community College Store, Alvin, TX, is any indication.

After Manager Victoria Marvel added a mobile solution to her store’s point-of-sale system in order to facilitate remote sales at events such as ACC baseball games, she didn’t need to do much training with her student employees. When she showed them the handheld checkout device, “our student workers just grabbed it out of my hand and wanted to play around with it,” she said during her educational presentation on Go to Your Students: Mobile Commerce at CAMEX 2014 in Dallas, TX.

Her student customers were equally excited. These days, with students preferring not to carry around much cash, they were thrilled to be able to buy spirit merchandise at games with their debit or credit card.

“Students absolutely love it,” Marvel said. To complete the sale, all she has to do is scan the bar code on the product tag, swipe the customer’s card, and find out if they want a receipt.

She can print out a paper receipt from the mobile device, or email a digital version to students if they prefer. “They don’t really care about receipts,” Marvel commented, “but probably 20% to 30% have it come to email.”

CAMEX Digs into Tech, Content, Commerce

College and university campuses are possibly the only places where consumer technologies, higher learning, new media, electronic and mobile commerce, libraries, retail technologies, and digital content intersect. Educational sessions coming up March 7-8 at the 2014 Campus Market Expo (CAMEX) in Dallas, TX, will address just about all of those areas.

Among the presenters for the Thought Leader series will be Charles Key, director of adoptions, grants, and the College Open Textbooks project for the Open DoorsGroup in San Jose, CA, a coalition of organizations working together to make education more accessible, and Mark Milliron, chancellor of the WesternGovernors University-Texas, a nonprofit institution providing online and blended degree programs.

Key will address Open Educational Resources and the Economies of Sale on Friday morning while Milliron’s Saturday session will discuss Technology, Education, and the Road Ahead.

Concurrent CAMEX educational sessions will explore new retail technologies for campus textbook sellers, how campus stores can work with other entities to support student retention and success, updates on the Higher Education Act and Department of Education regulations, how faculty and students are using technology for their studies, digital content pilots on college campuses, mobile commerce developments, connecting with students through social media, trends in higher education course materials, and integrating e-commerce and digital content platforms.

Flash Sessions (shorter takes on topics) will look at how campus stores can support student learning outcomes, helping students understand interactive digital homework solutions, selling textbooks online, using Google Analytics to track web traffic, what technology products students are buying, licensing course content, and where massive open online courses (MOOCs) could be headed.

Watch The CITE for reports from several of these sessions.

Following the session days, CAMEX will continue March 9-11 with its trade show for retailers serving students at higher education institutions and prep schools. CAMEX is owned and produced by the National Association of College Stores.

High-Tech Approach to In-Store Services

With more and more consumers shopping with their smartphones in hand, bricks-and-mortar retailers are looking for ways to offer more in-store services, such as mapping inventory and mobile advertising networks.

Retailers are trying to better understand their customers through the use of indoor location technology, which can measure how shoppers move through the store. For instance, Walmart is working on a hyperlocal in-store search component for its mobile app that will make it possible for customers to find out the availability of specific items.

Apps are also in the works to deliver special promotions to users based on their location in the store, and in-store mobile advertising could be the next step for big stores, according to Patrick Connolly, senior analyst for ABI Research.

“That is the long-term goal, certainly for the big retailers,” Connolly said in an article in Mobile Commerce Daily. “They will look to launch their own smartphone apps and start building indoor location and mapping, and, ultimately hyperlocal advertising.”

But for the time being, this is technology for large retailers with deep pockets.

“The big retailers are going to make their own decisions and they are going to want to be on the cutting edge,” Connolly said.

Cool New Tech Products to Watch

Keeping up with the latest electronic devices can be daunting. Just last week, two new gadgets were unveiled—one that has real promise for campus stores and the other straight out of Flash Gordon.

The 3Doodler is a handheld device that creates 3-D objects from the same plastic strands used by 3-D printers. The device heats the plastic and dispenses the spaghetti-like strands in a variety of colors that are formed into objects. It can even use biodegradable plastic made from corn.

The device is handy and, at a suggested retail price of $75, could be very tempting to a college student looking to put a fresh spin on their art or science project. The manufacturer hopes to have the 3Doodler on store shelves by the fall.

On the heels of the 3Doodler launch, Google announced consumers would finally get a chance to see Glass, the augmented-reality eyewear the company has been working on for nearly two years. Google released a video depicting the voice-activated product creating video recordings and photos, and sharing images. 

 

Consumers who want to get that first look at Google Glass have to submit an entry to Twitter or Google+ explaining in 50 words or less (or create a video no longer than 15 seconds) why they should be allowed to pay $1,500 for the privilege of giving Glass a try.

Robots in Campus Stores

Thinking about 24/7/365 service to students? Buy yourself a robot.  That’s what SUNY New Paltz did.  Well, not really, but close.  This story highlights a self-contained, refrigerated vending machine that looks like an aisle in a supermarket.  The machine offers up to 200 items that are must needs for campus living.  Referred to as the “ultra-convenience store” the system accepts cash, credit cards, dining cards, and flex cards.  The article mentions that there are other university locations including Ohio Northern University.  Perhaps soon we can start offering textbooks this way too. 

Retail Transparency- What does it mean for you?

Here’s an interesting read  that speaks to retailers getting ready for new technologies that  will bring new store transparency.  The author, having recently attended NRF Big Show, says that now that stores have the technologies available that will give the same opportunities to reach shoppers and influence their behavior as in digital channels, stores will need to make the necessary changes in order to take advantage of the insights this new retail transparency brings.   

Some of the technologies in the article talks about Bluetooth tracking, Wi-Fi-based tracking, heat maps, interactive digital signs, targeted ads deployed within the store, point of sale at the shelf, and various combinations of these are all available in turning the store black box into as formidable of a competitor as the e-Commerce site.  These new tools will let stores know much more about the operations of the store than ever before but all the new data and analytics will not mean much if retailers do not take action based on them. 

“In this era of transparency, it's not enough to solicit feedback from shoppers - passionate or otherwise. Just like people get frustrated with negative product reviews that don't result in any correction of product flaws, they will get frustrated with getting asked for advice about "their" store and then having that advice ignored. Not all advice has to be taken, but if it's not taken, there should be some acknowledgement and a brief explanation of why that particular idea is difficult or not the highest priority.”

Here are three recommendations from the article:

1. 1.       Measure store managers on sales conversion rates based on minutes spent per customer, not on sales per hour and labor as a percent of sales.
2. 2.       Connect store managers and employees to each other.
3. 3.       Look at how the store can market itself.

The first two may seem less relevant within the college store industry today, but the third hits home.  College stores must increase their capability and sophistication at "telling their story" both on and off campus.  Stores must market themselves in new ways focusing on value and outcomes wherever possible.

Phasing Out Paper Receipts

We posted a blog about digital receipts a while back but there is a recent post on the Retail Consumer Experience website that provides another good take on this topic.   This is a website many of our readers might be interested in reading in general, with a number of interesting stories.  We chose to highlight this story as a rapidly emerging technology that has a range of potentially positive business implications for retailers.

Digital Receipts: The Good and The Bad

Here’s a story that says more retailers are looking to provide digital receipts but some customers are a little weary of personal data.  Retailers already sending email receipts include companies like Gap, Kmart, Best Buy, Sears, and Apple.  Receipts can be received via email and can customers can access receipts on the Web or on their mobile phones, according to the article. 

Some of the benefits of digital receipts include the convenience for customers, who require receipts for such things as product warranties and tax records.  It also supports in helping to reduce fraudulent returns."It definitely will help cut down on fraud," said Joe Masar, marketing director for D&B Supply, an Idaho-based, farm-and-ranch store that is currently exploring digital receipt solutions. "You never want to treat your customer like a criminal, so we tend to trust them. Sometimes we're over-trusting." However, with a digital receipt, Masar said, "then there's no question."

The negative to emailed receipts is that it makes customers nervous about personal data being available to retailers.  Some people consider their spending habits to be personal and they feel personalized marketing to be invasive.

According to the article, Kmart spokesman Aiello recognizes that the corporation is incorporating this information for added personalized marketing such as offering coupons and promotions based on spending habits, but he sees it as benefit to consumers.

"This really starts to open up opportunities that a paper receipt just can't," he said. "If the customer has shown interest in certain things, [he or she will receive] recommendations as part of the digital receipt.”

Infomercial and Web Retailing

Great article by Mashable Business if you are into new marketing practices.  There’s a new trend to integrate content with product offerings on the web, according to the article.  Content can range from editorials to videos all intended to provide value-added shopping experience for the consumer.  Some include infomercial like videos and others are in-depth articles on how to do certain things.

So, if you are shopping for a tie, you can learn about the right tie knot for your color shirt. Or, if you are looking to buy bed sheets you can learn about how to fold fitted sheets.  The content offering is producing repeat visits and giving consumers confidence to make purchases according one CEO whose company is using this technique.

Retail Systems Research Report on the State of the Store

Retail Systems Research continues to produce interesting and relevant stories and reports for retailers in an age of technology.  In one recent report RSR discusses their annual study on the "state of the store" or retailing.  Here is a quick quip:

Our findings consistently show retailers understand the importance of creating a better in-store shopping experience for their customers. However, in 2010 it became clear that armed with more technology than most store employees and managers, the consumer was crafting her own experience – and much of it was outside the boundaries of the store’s four walls. The question is no longer, “How can we make the in-store experience as satisfying as the web?” It has become, “How can we make our stores more significant than showrooms for on-line merchants?”

As stores think more about increasing traffic, and providing more and more products and services online, several of the lessons within the report are worth examining.  Key lessons in this year's report seem to focus on the importance of making sure that the people on the floor are educated in the products being offered.  The report also discusses the importance of using technology in retail to engage customers, and in doing so available technologies can drive customers to the store rather than away from it. 

The 29 page report is available for free with site registration and is worth the time to download and read. There is more than one actionable takeaway that retailers can pull from the piece.