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Retail is the sale of goods to the public in relatively small quantities, for consumption not resale. Small mom and pop shops might do their inventories differently, but most retail stores have their inventory in an online database. Also keeping track of a store associate might be difficult when it's more than a hand full so companies also use databases to keep track of associate's birth dates, days requested off, absences and lateness's. Many retail stores now do not depend strictly on in store sales but have developed websites that can help them sell their product or just market their brand. Retail stores have turned to new media in order to boost their sales and spread the word about their company to a whole new string of people. Phone applications have made it easier for consumers to shop on-the-go, get updates on the latest sales at their favorite stores, and view their accounts with accessibility. The 51% of shoppers have purchased their items online as compared to physically going to the store.

New Media in Retail

The New Media has allowed retailers to find new ways for their customers' shopping habits to ensure a better shopping experience.. Online shopping has made it easier and more efficient for people to buy and receive their things at their footstep all included in their purchase. New media in the retail industry has provided convenience for everyone since they are able to shop on their devices starting from browsing the websites to managing an order.

Retail stores are taking the advantage of online shopping. If there is no space on shelves in store to display the goods they still have the opportunity to make potential sales by putting it on their website or selling it through third party websites such as Amazon. Retailers have also engaged their consumers online with online specials, promotions and discounts. Another tactic used to increase sales is to set up a minimum order to be eligible to free shipping. Online shopping benefits all market participants. Online advertising also plays the significant role. Customers who are constant targeted with advertising of their favorite store would be more motivated to check that stores’ inventory online and make a purchase. There is no need to go to the store, a customer is simply a couple clicks away from a purchase. Some retailers have even decided to go fully online, for example Amazon. Amazon was one of the first retailers who started to sell various goods online. From 1995, when they started to sell books online they have grown to today where a consumer can find almost everything on Amazon. The platform even allows third party vendors to sell their products through Amazon facilities and services. Online retail has even expanded to food industry, more specifically with groceries. Supermarkets have also begun to sell their products online where groceries can be delivered straight to one's door. [1]

Samsung’s Bixby assistant helps users shop for items with the help of image recognition. Bixby has been installed on Samsung's devices since the release of the Samsung Galaxy S8, and continues to be preinstalled onto later devices up to the current Samsung Galaxy S10 flagship device in February of 2019. Bixby is the “Siri” of Samsung devices. With the use of Bixby, the mobile phone's user has the ability to take a picture and tap a small button that initiates the Bixby visual search feature. This feature uses image recognition technology originally developed by Pintrest, who Samsung has partnered with for this aspect of Bixby. This allows Bixby to take the objects in the picture and relate them to other pictures of the same objects, which can then create different results for the products/services among competing retail stores. This is essentially a virtual reality that Samsung has created around a specific object or place in which one can learn more about the particular subject of interest. Specifically in terms of shopping for items, once Bixby is activated and a product is ascertained, the user has the option of availability in nearby retail stores along with pricing, hours of operation, and location. Retail stores and many companies in general will take advantage of this technology by targeting mobile device users with messages and deals to lure mobile users to utilize this function to purchase goods and services in the near future.

Amazon

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Amazon.com, Inc. is the biggest online retail company in the United States. It sells many kinds of different products including clothing, electronics, and food, etc. It is also an online media platform that we can listen to music, watch videos, and play games through Amazon’s website. Moreover, we can easily browse stuff on its app. We can find the product by clicking on its top right-hand side of the app to take a picture or scan the barcode of the item that we want to look for, and the search result will pop up. It is convenient and fast for We can know the latest deal, and to track our packages through using this app by talking to its Artificial intelligent, Alexa. [2]


Amazon.com, Inc. has various accounts on many different social media, including Facebook and Twitter, etc. It could easily answer the question from the customers by having these accounts. Meanwhile, it can easily track the buying behaviors of its customers, so it could offer the best-desired product to customers. [3]


Amazon Books

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Amazon Books is now at your fingertips. Open the Amazon Shopping App on your mobile device and navigate to Amazon Books under ‘Programs & Features.’ Select your local store to search product availability, see Prime pricing, and use your Amazon account to pay.

As a physical extension of Amazon.com, Amazon Books integrates the benefits of offline and online shopping to help you find books and devices you’ll love. We select books based on Amazon.com customer ratings, pre-orders, sales, popularity on Goodreads, and our curators’ assessments. We place books face-out on the shelves, so each can communicate its own essence. Under each book is a review card with the Amazon.com customer rating and a review. Most have been rated 4 stars or above and many are award winners. spacer

Amazon Books is a store without walls – there are thousands of books available in-store and millions more available at Amazon.com. Walk out of the store with a book or device; lighten your load and buy it online (Prime customers, of course, won’t pay for shipping); download a book for your Kindle; or add a product to your Amazon Wish List, so someone else can buy it. spacer

Devices in our Echo, Kindle, Fire tablet, and Fire TV families are available to test drive and buy. Associates are on hand to answer questions and show each device in action. spacer

Prices on all items for Amazon Prime members are the same as from Amazon.com. For customers who aren’t Prime members, Amazon devices are the same price as from Amazon.com; books and other items are sold at list price. [4]

Amazon Effect

The Amazon effect is the ongoing evolution and disruption of the retail market, both online and in physical outlets, resulting from increased e-commerce. The name is an acknowledgment of Amazon's early and continuing domination in online sales, which has driven much of the disruption. A major manifestation of the Amazon Effect is the generational consumer shift towards shopping online. E-commerce allows people to buy things from their chairs at home rather than going out of their way to go to a specific store. By disrupting the way people buy things and shop, Amazon has created a ripple into the economy. According to a study from One Click Retail, Amazon accounted for 4% of US retail sales and 44% of US e-commerce sales in 2017. Consumer electronics was the biggest product category in 2017 for Amazon, bringing in an estimated $8.5 billion in sales.

Amazon's Alexa

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Amazon has made shopping a lot more seamless and human-friendly with the introduction of Amazon's voice assistant called Alexa. Alexa is Amazon's cloud-based voice service available on millions of devices from Amazon. Alexa offers a more intuitive way of connecting with technology for everyday use. It is an intelligent device that can order groceries, product, turn volume high/low and various other features all at a voice command. If you are all lazy on a bed and do not want to get up to dim your lights ask Alexa and she will do it. Amazon's next step is to bring Alexa to the workplace. Alexa for business will let users begin a video conference or print documents. It will be as simple as "Alexa, print my spreadsheet" and the rest will be taken care of by Alexa.





eBay

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Ebay allows for C2C (consumer-to-consumer) and B2B (business-to-consumer) sales through a website. It was first launched in 1995 by founder, Pierre Omidyar. It soon became a multibillion-dollar corporation with its headquarters in San Jose, California. Being a multinational e-commerce, eBay operates in numerous countries.

Sales can take place on eBay through as either an online auction or as a "buy it now" option. When the company first began, eBay was known for their online auction. Today, users can bid on certain goods and services from around the world within a certain time frame. The highest bidder is automatically entered into a sale with the seller once the auction ends. On the other hand, the "buy it now" option is exactly as it sounds. It lets consumers buy the item or service at the very moment. Once the sale is made, the transaction of money exchange must occur before the product is shipped out. Previously, eBay only allowed transaction via PayPal. However, now customers have the options to use credit cards as well.

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In recent years, eBay had also launched the application. Prior to the app, eBay was only available on www.ebay.com. Now, there have been over 400 million downloads of the eBay app. What's more, there are 171 million active buyers and 1 billion live listings. Remarkably, eBay is now within the top ten global retail brands. [5]



Subscription Box

[6] A subscription box is a service that provides recurring delivery of niche products. These niche products can range from food, clothing, make-up, and etc. Often times not, the buyer does not know what is coming in these boxes. Thus, there is a sense of a surprise every month for them. Overall, a subscription box is a marketing ploy to retain its users. There is no physical shopping involved with a subscription box and users will typically fill out a form online to subscribe to one of these box services. As of now, the market for subscription box services is small but we can expect it to changing in the ways of retail.

Birchbox

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Derived from New York City and created by Katia and Hayley, Birchbox is a subscription box for makeup. Both founders decided to create this easy and convenient way of delivering top of the line products right to your door step without the frustration of shopping in stores. Each box typically includes four to five makeup related items. These makeup products can range from perfume, skincare, and other cosmetic items and are usually sample sized. The purpose of this box is to introduce its subscribers to new and never seen before makeup brands.

Brands often collaborate with Birchbox just to get the extra exposure. With the extra exposure, brand partners hope that customers will go and then buy a full-size product from the brand itself. Currently, Birchbox has over a million subscribers and is working together with over eight hundred partners. Membership to Birchbox costs $10/month with a 15% off the first purchase.


BarkBox

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BarkBox was developed by Bark&Co., who is based in New York. The CEO, Matt Meeker, Henrik Werdelin, and Carly Strife created BarkBox back in December 2011 to provide a subscription for dog lovers. BarkBox covers just that. The subscription price starts at $21 a month with many different plans. In the box, subscribers can find dog treats, dog food, and toys. What's more, each month has a unique theme attached to it. BarkBox has promised that every treat has been made in either USA or Canada. In addition, if users or their dogs are not satisfied with the box, Barkbox will send in a replacement for free.



Ipsy

Ipsy provides subscribers with personalized cosmetic samples

Ipsy is a subscription box dedicated to beauty lovers who can receive various beauty products monthly to try-out and showcase on social media platforms such as Youtube and Instagram. The Ipsy Glam Bag features five new products along with videos to help the user fully reap the benefits of the subscription.


Boxycharm

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Boxycharm is a subscription box filled with beauty related products such as skincare and makeup. Each box is filled with 4 to 5 full-size beauty products. The minimum value of each box is approximately $100. Only exclusive members are offered the best brands of products, win free giveaways and receive rewards points in their exclusive Charm shop. Their Charm shop is a way of giving back to their loyal customers. It is only for active subscribers and you only earn Charms by giving a review of the items you received in your box and when you refer a friend. The 'Charms' translate into currency in which you are able to purchase whatever products in the Charm shop. The duding rule for that currency is that 1,000 Charms = $10.



Fab Fit Fun



FabFitFun

Fab Fit Fun is a subscription box service that delivers products in beauty, fashion and fitness. Subscribers receive a box every season, which means they get 4 boxes a year. You can also just purchase one box for the season. Fab Fit Fun was founded in 2010 by Michael Broukhim, Daniel Broukhim and Katie Ann Rosen Kitchens.

Fab Fit Fun costs $179.99 annually for 4 boxes a year. One seasonal box costs $49.99. One Fab Fit Fun box contains full-size products amounting to about $200. For example, some boxes include makeup, bags, leggings, water bottles, scarves, mugs, masks, etc. [7]


The Home Depot

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The first Home Depots were opened and founded in 1979 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank with the help of an investment banker and a merchandising guru. The Home Depot had more merchandise than any other hardware store at the time. But the most important part of the stores was the employees that had the know-how on how to teach anyone, how to do any project. This made them stand out and gain more customers because now regular people were saving money by not having to hire a plumber or carpenter or construction worker because they could do it themselves. The media at that time was mostly the news paper and word of mouth. However they have not gotten lost in time, The Home Depot is keeping up with technology to better serve their customers. [8]

The First Phone

The Home Depot is a Home Improvement retailer that sells: tools, construction objects, services, appliances, plants and more. The way it keeps track of its inventory is through what they call the First Phone [9]. This device tells them the price, the number of items on-hand of the product as well as when the next shipment comes in and even what other Home Depot locations have it in stock. This device also tells workers where the item is located in the store if they didn't know already.

The Home Depot App

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Home Depot has an app for customers that can also allow them to have some of the information the first phone has. The app tells users the price, the number of items on-hand and where they are located in the store. The app also allows users to make purchases for delivery or in-store pick up as well as shop items they only carry online. The app also allows users to scan items to get details and the price. [10]

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Online Home Depot shopping

The Home Depot also offers a service to customers in which they can place a complete order online and come the same day and pick it up. This is convenient for many people who are in a rush or may not know where everything is in the store. The order is placed and usually an hour or so from the time the order was placed, all their items will be waiting for them together. [11]

The Home Depot Employees

The Home Depot uses an online system for punching in and out of work. Employees are easily monitored through a database. Late employees can easily be spotted. Also, employees use an online system to request days off. The store manager or an assistant store manager can approve the days off online. This makes the process easier than many workers lined up to talk to one or a hand full of managers.



Bloomingdales

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Bloomingdales was built in 1860 by Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdales.[12] Their first store was located in Soho and made the visionary move to their iconic 59th Street and Lexington Avenue location. Their department store has incorporated numerous designer brands since the beginning and has caught the eye of many famous icons such as Queen Elizabeth. They provide exclusive merchandise with designers that can only be found at their store. Bloomingdales continues to stand at their uptown location as a tourist "must-see" to grab the best deals on expensive items.

Bloomingdales App

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Progressing with technology today, Bloomingdales created an app to make it easier for consumers to find what they want and need without having to walk through all nine floors in the store. This allows shoppers to use the search bar in order to look for a certain designer, or they could simply scroll through the menu options to find a section that catches their eye or to simply browse. For those loyal customers who have a credit card with Bloomingdales, they can link their account to the app and track their orders, points, or rewards. The biggest benefit to making an account on their app is that you don't have to reenter your credit card information every time you make a purchase. Once you create an account, it saves all your cards for future use. Registry registration has also been put onto the app for more convenience. Gift wrapping has become a standard option on the app for those who don't have time to do it themselves. They have made it effortless to shop and even if you run into a problem, their 24/7 chat with a representative window, is always available.



Smart Shopping

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In 2014, Bloomingdales equipped fittings rooms at certain locations with iPads in order to make the system of finding clothes and contacting a salesperson more efficient. The tablets mounted onto the walls of the fitting rooms allow customers to connect to the company's inventory-management systems as well as its multimillionaire item inventory network and locate garments in the store.[13] Customers are able to read reviews, see other colors and sizes available and get advice on other pieces of clothing that would go well with what they're trying on. This initiative was to solve the issue of a waiting customer in the fitting room while the salesperson ran off to find what they needed. This new technology has made the shopping experience more enjoyable and saves both the customer and the salesperson more time.



Fashion Nova

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Fashion Nova is an online clothing store that has only 5 stores located in California. There is an app for this with a catalogue of the clothing but one can not purchase anything from the app. This website is a new media powerhouse because of its popularity on Instagram. Fashion Nova provides women with affordable pieces that are known to fit like a glove. Most on the pieces on the site are under $50 and include discount codes to remove additional money off the final purchase. Fashion Nova has celebrity endorsements to help increase the popularity of the online store. Celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Blac Chyna, and Amber Rose play as social media influencers for the company. Celebrities post about their clothing and offer a code for social media users to use online, therefore they can get great clothes at a cheap price. Through this influencers, the company is able to stay on top of its competitors. Fashion Nova plans on continuing their advertising by using these influencers to increase the online sales. According to a 2017 Google study, Fashion Nova was nearly as searched for as top tier brands like Chanel, Gucci, Supreme and Louis Vuitton. Along with this, Fashion Nova came in fourth place in runway shows without any sponsors, extreme promotion, magazine placements or customary marketing campaigns. [14]

Fashion Nova also has a lot up to date modern clothing style at a decent price. They really do spend a lot on their advertising because they really want to stand out in the market alongside its competitors. They also are very tech savvy with their purchasable items being that you can upload it and hashtag them which is a great way for the company to advertise. they make sure that their public can access them all connected via their Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Wanelo, and Pinterest.

Many critiques of Fashion Nova are concerned with the models of the site. Some women feel discouraged to buy apparel on the site because Fashion Nova seems to only target people with a certain physique. Most of the models on the site have plastique surgery where a signature look is featured. This consists of larger breasts and bums but very slim waists. In recent years, Fashion Nova has been working to refute these claims and has expanded their plus size collection. They have also attempted to include a few more models with different body types. [15]



RFIDs in Retail

RFID’s (Radio-frequency identification) are tags on different items that contain an integrated circuit and antenna, which is used to transmit data to a reader. Tags usually have a source of power such as a small battery which allows them to operate up to hundreds of metes away from the main source. This is a lot better than the original barcode that only keeps track of items when it is scanned by a computer. The advantage of being able to calculate different analytics from tag data is immaculate with all of the new analytics tools that we now have access to.

The information collected by these tags is taken in a wave format where the information is not immediately useful. It has to be converted into data that can be analyzed through different computer systems. These trackers become very useful in retail because organizations now have a more efficient way of keeping track of their inventory. It is reported that these trackers can generate information that can be combined with other store-level data, providing valuable insights along with show analytics for different trends and forecasting. [16]

These trackers are also the explanation for why we can see exactly where products are during shipping. At times they are attached to trucks and during the assembly line to show the stages of production to shipment to delivery. These tags have given companies the ability to increase their customer satisfaction, because customers can have easy access to see the process of products instead of having to call the producer numerous times. [17]


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Why are retail stores dying

One of the biggest reasons that so many stores are failing is that people aren’t shopping the same way they used to. Rather than spending whole afternoons walking around the mall, many people prefer to shop in their pajamas at home. Shopping isn’t a pastime like it used to be — it’s more transactional. Retailers are shrinking their physical presence because more of their business is now taking place online. Today, many retailers achieve 35% or more of their sales through increasingly more sophisticated e-commerce—via their websites and other social platforms. It is remarkable how quickly shoppers have changed from buying in physical stores to online. Before the pandemic, people were still spending on clothing and décor items to beautify their homes. But pressure of time forced many to purchase at off-hours and rely on the convenience of online shopping. The pandemic, even as it shifted spending more to household necessities, only reinforced the reliance on e-commerce.[18]

  1. https://www.raizlabs.com/blog/2017/03/tech-changing-face-commerce/
  2. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1121&bih=770&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=7IQnWtCJJYa0_Aad9YjgDw&q=amazon++app&oq=amazon++app&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.98034.98669.0.98907.3.2.0.1.1.0.100.194.1j1.2.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.3.207....0.22CEOOPnLHA#imgrc=JegEDp90ID-frM:
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)
  4. https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=13270229011
  5. https://www.ebayinc.com/our-company/who-we-are/
  6. http://jamesonmorris.com/what-is-a-subscription-box/#/
  7. https://www.fabfitfun.com/
  8. https://corporate.homedepot.com/about/history
  9. https://corporate.homedepot.com/newsroom/next-generation-first-phone-hits-home-depot-aisles
  10. http://www.homedepot.com/c/SF_Mobile_Shopping
  11. http://www.homedepot.com/?cm_mmc=SEM%7CTHD%7CGoogle%7C%7CBase-B-BT1-BT1&gclid=CLGsvaLu5NMCFQ5XDQodUTQJCw&gclsrc=aw.ds
  12. http://fashion.bloomingdales.com/b/about-us/history/
  13. https://www.psfk.com/2014/10/macys-bloomingdales-testing-smart-fitting-rooms.html
  14. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ezax3a/how-celebrities-helped-fashion-nova-take-over-your-instagram-feed-and-your-wallet
  15. https://www.thecut.com/2017/11/i-wore-fashion-nova-for-a-week-and-this-is-what-i-found.html
  16. https://stores.org/2017/09/11/rfid-ready-revolutionize-retail-industry/
  17. https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1790&context=amcis2006
  18. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/4/1/18285928/death-of-retail-shopping-bankruptcy-business-sears-toys-r-us/