Sell Out to Up Sell

When I went back this morning to look at the picked over laptop selection, I found a Samsung that fit the bill. It was not until I got up to the register when I found out that the only $299 laptops that were left came with a $70 Geek Squad setup.

So instead of pay $70 to have someone go through the automated setup, I am holding out for a cyber Monday deal.

But what a great way to upsell earlier than ever, open at Midnight be sold out before the doors open, and only have premium options left. There were no other $300 or even $350 laptops left like there usually is on any given day.

After the earliest black Friday start ever, all that was let of the tents and the crowds was one left behind winter jacket crumpled up right of the entrance.

Sold Out Before Its Open

So it's 11:51 and I am writing this with Siri as I'm driving out of the Best Buy parking lot. It turned out they sold out of the laptop that I wanted before the doors even opened. How?

They finally did come around to hand out the the passes for hot item. Printouts with a hand written code on each one giving the beholder an opportunity to buy one of the doorbuster deals. All that was left were big TV's and more expensive items. What bothered me was the process and the attitude of the employees. I guess customer service only comes with full priced items and regular store hours. There were police escorts for each employee passing out flyers. Like one of us animals would tear them to shreds over a stack of papers that let you buy a 55" LCD for a G.

So I walked out of line just before midnight, a little bit down about the loss.

Now it is a bit before 9 am and I am going back to survey the damage.

30 to Go

About 30 minutes until the doors open and we have made a four big moves to the door, but still no magic tickets.

Donatos rolled by peddling pizzas, but where is the Starbucks vendor?

A few stories of deals from the 10 PM openings have came in, usually a black friday team that divided to conquer. Some deals grabbed but most of the stories were about long lines and crazed crowds. One guy talked of shrinked wrapped pallets marked for the morning that were ravaged and stripped.

We creep along, but we will see.

Occupy Best Buy: Police Presence

The paddy wagon (we debated if it was patty or paddy) is here rolling back
And forth just to let the public know that know good deal goes unpunished.

Civility is gone at an event like this. So its probably a good thing they are here.

"For $4 I will buy it. I Didn't hate it that much"

As a few 20 year olds tell parents how "kids these days need sidewalk chalk"... Standing in line for a Nintendo 3DS on Thanksgiving has suddenly given them perspective.

"Sucker Punch". Standing in line this is the first time I have heard of this movie, but I remember when Bad Boys on regular DVD hit $4 and it was a must-buy black Friday deal.

About Sucker Punch
suckerpunchmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/
Sucker Punch is an epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides ...
The google preview is enough for me to move on, but this new low for Blu-Rays is an example of what black friday is all about. Cheap Stuff. I heard about a woman in Florida that has been camped out at a Best Buy for over a week. Despite the superior climate for a retail camp out, a week out the deals a mere speculation. People are not standing in line to fill a need or even a want. This is filling a "because its a deal". Like when my mom would buy some canned vegetables that we never ate only because they were on sale. "It's like we are losing money if we don't buy it.". That's why these people are here. For a shot at a $200 LED tv or some cheap CD's to put on their ipod. This is a line of people waiting for a chance to buy stuff they didn't even know they wanted.

I overheard these people say, "it's only. $4, I didn't hate it that much". These people pictured here, a little grainy but look closely. You see the monster, shorts AND THE BABY! Enjoy Sucker Punch.

Wal-Mart Overflow

When I drove by Wal-Mart on my way to Best Buy, they were just about to cut the ribbon for the 10 PM shopping cart sweep. I have never seen the large parking lot so full and there are people crossing the road. Overflow parking into the adjacent movie theater is probably over the $200 Xbox 360 with Kinect (plus a $50 gift card.)

Cars continue to poor into the Best Buy lot, some staying to join the line while others make a lap and choose sanity as they head for the exit. The line has stretched to the end of the strip mall past Kohls. So far no tiket.

The Earliest Black Friday Ever: Live Blogging

Turkey dinners have not even digested before the tented and multi-layered patrons line up outside the Best Buy in Grove City, OH.

This photo was taken at 7:10 PM Thanksgiving evening. I drove by to check out the crowd and caught an early fight. I wasn't ready to line up yet, but I returned at 9:45 to stand in line and hope to get a ticket do I can buy a laptop for my Mother-in-Law. $179 for a Lenovo laptop, perfect for checkin email, and it won't be used for much else.

This year Best Buy is opening 5 hours early for a midnight rush on cheap tech. I am going to blog while I stand here in line. So far it is an interesting mix. Just now 10:00 PM and the tickets are goig to be handed out for first dibs on the goods.

How will 5 day delivery (and future 3 day delivery) change how businesses communicate?

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

"There will always be a market for direct mail. . ."  

Product or Feature: iCloud Disrupts

Brief - with Apple's 6/6/2011 announcement of iCloud, a new product for apple uses that promises to sync music, documents, mail, apps, and more across multiple devices, a long discussed iTunes product feature becomes another link in the Apple chain.

Since last weeks announcement last Monday, I have begun noticing a few new things from Apple that signal the incoming cloud.  For example, I downloaded an app on my iPad and I was almost instantly sent a push notification on my iPhone asking me to turn on a feature that would automatically download that app to all of my synced devices.  That was without any updates to either the iPad or the iPhone.

But the big news of the WWDC, despite Weiner distraction, was the new iCloud service that takes what could have been a great feature for iTunes, iWork, iOs, etc. . . but instead created a product.  This subtle difference from Jobs and gang was even more exciting news with a $0 price tag.  The music match feature for $25 is a steal too!

To truly get the most out of Apple devices, one must surrender their tech life to Apple.  "It just works".  A popular quote from Jobs' keynote.  Last time he talked about being beyond features, focusing on what it can do for you.  Now it is all about how easily it works together.  The cloud ties all those devices together.  Always gaining on PC's, this makes the higher cost of Mac's a little more tolerable.  Call it a feature or call it a product, this platform is sure to be Apples next greatest success.  

Authors Note:
Key Elements for Disruption: 3rd Party Development
Will developers add iCloud?  Will businesses trust iCloud?  We will see when it goes live.

Google Wallet and the Payment Wars

Google announced a new NFC program for mobile payments that uses the embedded chip on the new model of google phone with hopes that NFC will become the standard in the next generation of smart phones. This means google has already identified partners for payment processing, being the major credit card providers. The bigger implication will be their power to crush groupon. Google Deals can be tied to payment through Google Wallet and vice versa. Deals can be open ended or tied to a specific merchant.

A crucial element of this, even more than NFC enabled phones is NFC enabled point of sale (POS) systems. Having Checkouts that accept this form of payment is a requirement. Google should look to partner with mobile tech early adopters that have a customer base that is in the target demographic for mobile payment users. My shortlist: The Gap, Best Buy, Old Navy, Macy's, Express, Home Depot, Journeys.

If google wants to own payments and deals for consumers, square wants to own the spending, transaction, and card swiping for mobile devices. A new iPad cash register app makes the free square adapter and app a pair of small business essentials. Google boasted in the announcement press conference that they want to parter with everyone (referring to phone makers). But a partnership with Square could make the most sense. The next generation of square card readers could be NFC enabled and Square could go from a collector to a two way receiver for any iPhone or android (and other brands are an app away). And Squares forecasted 2.9% of $1 Billion in forecasted transactions in 2011 should help them get started and a play toNFC just makes sense.

NFC is perfect for parents, put a little money down and see where they use it. Security will be a concern. If Google Wallet or Square (or whatever startup moves mobile payments into the mainstream) want to be the leader, they will have to be the first to convince thepublic that the technology is safe. If it's easy to use and helps you track and manage your money, mobile payments will be the standard. But merchants and phone makers need to be convinced first or the whole thing is a non starter.

I am looking out for the first "tap phone here to pay" sign at the checkout counter.

Are cloud devices going to free us from the desktop?

Google just announced a subscription-based "laptop" that runs nothing but a browser and taps users into the cloud.  Available June 15th, this new device, as the video below describes, is the next step in googles evolution/domination of our web activity.  They have a healthy share of mobile users with Android, their email is the tops, and their docs and apps have become the default applications for my work and play.  Instead of focusing on the Tablet marketing and going head to head with the iPad, they went a different direction and went laptop.

In keeping with their open policy (as they have with the android devices), they are introducing two devices from Samsung and Acer.  The screen size of the devices are 12.1" and 11.6", respectively, and they look like something between a netbook and a full size laptop.  All black and an attempt to be sleek, the first shots of the devices don't look half bad.

Subscribers get 100 MB of free data usage from the Verizon wireless network and they can save the mobile data by using wifi networks when possible.  Additional data plans are in increments of 1 GB for $20 and a limitless day pass for $10.  Unfortunately no unlimited plans, which makes the packages expensive for any heavy user.

The Chromebook is targeting two markets, the business user and the education user.  Business users get the device for $28/month for businesses and $20/month for students/educators.  In about 2 years you will spend as much as you would have just bought a laptop, but you can say you were an early-adopter on the cloud.  And I know I don't keep a computer much longer than 2 years.  Plus their refresh program is pretty appealing.  Like car leases for those than just like new. (I like new!)

Promoting on their microsite, www.google.com/chromebook , they devices will first be sold through Amazon.com.

SHARING: QR Codes Anywhere: The App Factor Will Drive QR Code Scans Into The Future

I don't usually do this, but Nick Ford wrote an awesome piece on the opportunity for qr code marketing that paints a vision of codes dominating ad space that will be on par with Japan.

Great read! QR Codes Anywhere: The App Factor Will Drive QR Code Scans Into The Future

Extra Extra Paper.li the Qr Code Edition

Twitter newspaper publisher paper.li takes your tweets or tweets with keywords to put together a daily newspaper.  An awesome automation tool for marketers to keep you blogging at least once a day.  

QR Codes: Marketers are using them, but will they be more than a fad?

Does your company allow linkedin at the office?

With the vast number of social networks and the potential for wasted time, many companies resort to a flat "no social networks" policy, but does your company make an exception for linkedin?

Tech Crunch Reports Massive Growth for GroupMe

SOURCE: Tech Crunch

TechCrunch reports today that start-up GroupMe is helping micro-networks send 1 million texts a day.  Read the full article by Erick Schonfeld: GroupMe Is Now Sending One Million Texts Every Day

Egyptian's social revolution went to texting when their government shut off Facebook, Twitter, then the internet.  Keep it off the road, but texting could just change the way your company communicates and GroupMe is making it possible, for free.

Compare Electronic Mailbox Services: Zumbox vs Volly

		ZumBox	Volly
status		live	beta, not ready for consumers
user accounts		Every physical address	Anyone
user cost		free	free
setup		physical mail varification	opt-in
selling points		electronic mail box and filing system	secure digital delivery system
junk mail		only varified mailers	only varified mailers
marketing mail		yes	yes
Payment Program		No	Yes, ACH or Credit Card
monitoring		TRUSTe and VeriSign	TRUSTe and VeriSign
Compliance		PCI, HIPAA and BITS	PCI, HIPAA and BITS
security		requires physical mail confirmation	only approved businesses and services
widget		desktop alerts	no
app		no	no
funding		Venture Captial, including Michael Eisner, the former CEO of Walt Disney and Rick Braddock, the former CEO of Priceline.com	pitney bowes
Launch		Dec-08	Jan-11
Benefits		no risk of fraudulent communications spoofing your app	convenience
API		Yes	Not yet (planned api and developer community)
Lawsuit		Win	Loss
mobile		mobile.zumbox.com	TBD
storage		upload up to 500 docs/month	TBD

5 Reasons Why Electronic Mailbox Services will Fail

1. Contrary to the arguments, it IS one more password you have to remember and it IS one more site you have to visit.  Plus there is no APP yet.
2. Consumers are NOT asking for a different way to receive electronic statements.  There is not the dramatic rush to e-statements as hoped, and for those that choose to receive statements electronically, email is doing the job just fine. 
3. Not every mailer has signed on, but anyone can setup EFT payments through their online banking account.  And this has been around since the dawn of online banking.
4.  It is just a way for companies to send you SPAM as “Approved Senders” and not get rejected by your spam filter.  Plus, they know even more about you because of the collection of data and your “preferences”.  I am all for targeted messages, but be honest with your intentions.
5. Companies will not sign on until there is a critical mass of users, and users will not sign up until they have a significant number of statements that they can handle in their electronic mailbox.  The Chicken or the Egg applies here, too.

BONUS REASON: Web innovation has not come from big companies, (Remember: google has failed at social media) and start-ups can go broke trying to wrestle on the marketing side with the 800 lb gorilla.  One will fail to focus on the user experience because they are more concerned with shareholder profits, and the other will not be able to offer enough incentives and deals to entice mailers, due to shallow pockets (even though $27 million in VC sounds pretty good). 

Mayor Bloomberg on Zumbox in New York

NY City joined Newark and San Francisco as planned government customers of Zumbox.  Mayor Bloomberg sited in his speech that a motivating factor for adopting Zumbox was that the public has "become technologically comfortable" and the benefit of waste reduction.

Subliminal Advertising (sort of) on GrooveShark

Web on-demand-radio service GrooveShark has added another space for advertising, and this is a first.  Not a pop-up ad or a banner, but a full page flashing ad that shows up when you are listening to certain songs and scrolling.  I am not judging it good or bad, just identifying a new way to present ads.  I definitely paid attention, but grooveshark needs a method of convincing me to buy music.  I can listen to deadmau5 for free and if he is getting significant royalties for the airplay, maybe it is worth the advertising.  Watch the video and take the poll on the right asking if you think subliminal web ads are creative or annoying.

GroupMe Connects Web and Mobile with QR Code

www.groupme.com/android

The new year's hottest start-up, GroupMe, shows off a QR code on-site to promote its new Android app and connect web to mobile.  This is a perfect application for QR codes that makes sense and makes it very easy to find the .  The story from December on Groupme's blog promoting free stickers for guerilla promotion begs the question if GroupMe will distribute QR code stickers anytime soon.

Started in the summer of 2010, the company is based on a simple concept of chat rooms for texting.  After a few rounds of financing, the start-up has secured over $20 million in VC money.  They are focused on creating awareness for the FREE service, further developing the user experience, and solidify a profitable business model. My personal experience with groupme was positive.  I found a bug in group setup, sent an email to support@groupme.com, got a response within a few hours, and the bug was fixed.  Check out this new mobile application and see how the text service can change the way you communicate. www.groupme.com