Comments on: The Gap Scenario

By: Fırsat Club

Fırsat Club — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:54:46 +0000

Worked as advertised. Checked in…picked up clothes…showed the code on the special to the cashier…discount applied. Saved almost $40 on purchase. Cashier said I was first to use the special at store (Norwalk CT). Thanks Gap! Thanks Foursquare!..

By: ncee

ncee — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:30:24 +0000

I would be interested in knowing how you think this would affect the supply chain / warehousing / distribution side of business.

By: Alex Schleber

Alex Schleber — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:27:57 +0000

"I’m afraid I cannot let you do that, John...". - Greetings from Orwell & HAL.

The marketers that are drooling over this are underestimating how much people resent having their mind read without prior permission (and their Unconscious Mind can always tell if a certain offer or statement is out of temporal context).

The best kind of targeting like this only uses prior knowledge/keyword targeting as an adjunct, or will shift the purchasing context into the future, e.g. for a trip you’re about to take.

People are more likely to accept some suggestions/guidance for the future, especially if the starting point is permission-based and transparent/non-creepy. Siri, the service that Apple just bought comes to mind: You INITIATE the question process, for a future that isn't immediately here yet!

By: Geoff Jackson

Geoff Jackson — Tue, 18 May 2010 07:55:46 +0000

Wow, a very 'futuristic' scene, heh. Can't see something such as you describe happening in the UK for some time, we seem to be at least a few years behind many other countries.

Undoubtedly technology will be steering towards this now though... Scary thought.

By: good grief

good grief — Tue, 18 May 2010 07:54:13 +0000

This is not an attack on you John – I’m sure this scenario will play out in some fairly recognizable version of what you describe. That said, what a terrible version of reality. Consumers as rats to be prodded and poked into the maze to consume the “right” goods that algorithms decide they need. Total 20th century thinking.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:09:21 +0000

I definitely think this whole scenario is unfolding in small doable stages but I also think its a great example of how technology is possible there for the customer will want/love whatever experience it dishes out. Smells of epic fail to me. If anything the early adopter scene will test it out first, as always.

Proximity based marketing combined with customer preferences, social graph data, and buyer history bits will make for a compelling experience, at least to write about- the actual experience may be lack luster and too rigid to allow for a real customer interaction process where emotions run wild, and customers irrational at best at times.

Everyone and their mother is going into this space though. We all can see the vision of the smart building knowing when you arrive, altering staff, and digging through your preference data- altering your friends on the net and more.

All of this experience will have to be opt in however, and its extremely niche at best. The scenario sounds great for the Gap, sounds horrific for a car dealer- and its all tied to the experiences we seek.

By: simon andrews

simon andrews — Thu, 06 May 2010 09:55:32 +0000

Great thinking – I think we’ll look back at this as a seminal post.
All the tools to make this happen do exist and we’re having conversations about this with a number of clients. The friction does come from the silo mentality – but the prize is so great we believe we’ll see it start to happen soon.
Rather than a holistic solution, we see two key elements that will be adopted soon; 1/ allowing important customers to ‘announce’ themselves so sales staff can prioritise them 2/enhanced product info through scanning sales tags.

By: Renee Miller

Renee Miller — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:10:45 +0000

We’re already looking into this kind of marketing for our clients.

By: Perry

Perry — Sun, 02 May 2010 16:27:34 +0000

The only "core scenario" that resonates with me is the simple consumer-in-control benefit of walking in to be recognized as a returning customer, with a set of tailored offers/coupons and/or new product highlights for you.

Everything else either crosses the line of "too easy to be abused" (so it will, and kill the scenario in the process), "too intrusive/creepy", or "over the line" in inventory/geo assumptions. The cost of organizing and collecting data on low price point "moving objects" at infinite geo precision is impractical. Insufficient value:effort ratio.

By: Jean-Francois Noel

Jean-Francois Noel — Sun, 02 May 2010 14:03:30 +0000

I believe this scenario is very plausible and something along those line will be a reality in the future. I see one big problem with this and the way some company are developing currently. This problem is the ownership of the data. Is the Gap owning my purchase information and what can I do with it.

We already see this problem with Amazon. Now that I've bought all those books on their site, they really "know" me. What if I wanted to take my business to B&N, I should be able to give whom I want access to my purchase history. All those walled garden around data will have to come down. The way to do it would be to say to the company : I allow you to track my purchase information and link it to my net identity only if you store this data in an open format and you maintain my personal copy. This personal copy would stay in the cloud, but with a 3rd party. This would then allow me to say I want to share this info with other stores and not just the Gap.