Posts tagged tablet devices
The Latest Development in Tablet Technology
Aug 10th
With the digital age upon us, many in the industry focus on the difficulties technology brings to their store. But, the truth is the future of retail is exciting! Technology only opens up opportunities for each store to expand their market share. Take a look at this new development in tablet technology. Although it’s not yet released in North America, imagine the possibilities of having these in store, allowing students to easily navigate to everything from textbooks to on sale apparel!
This article was published on YahooNews.com by Mike Flacy of Digital Trends. Click here to view the article.
Quite possibly the dream for an extreme couponer, SK Telecom launched a test program of grocery carts with a tablet computer mounted on the handle at China’s Shanghai Lotus supermarket. After a user downloads the free “smart cart” application to a smartphone, the tablet PC on the cart is synced to the phone. On the smartphone app, users can create a shopping list as well as search for store coupons, weekly discounts or product information. After syncing, the tablet has the ability to guide the user around the store and highlight the products on the shopping list.
The tablets are networked through the store’s Wi-Fi and uses indoor positioning technology to alert the consumer of products and discounts as they come within a few feet of the product. It also provides an in-store map that guides the user around the store to locate everything on the shopping list. In addition, real-time updates can be sent to all carts at the same time. If these smart carts were rolled out at K-Mart, for instance, people could be alerted about a Blue-light special through the video screen rather than over the intercom. When the consumer goes to check out at the register, the tablet screen offers up the complete list of purchased items, price paid, membership points earned and discounts applied.
An additional roll-out of this new technology is planned for Korean stores by the end of the year. There are no announced plans regarding bringing this technology to North America or Europe. While the tablets appear to be removable, there’s no indication that the device would be able to resist inclement weather and carts would likely have to be stored indoors. The tablets would also have to be resistant to the hands of children as the placement is very close to the child seat on carts.
How do you think the future of tablets, and even technology in general, will impact the retail industry? What are you most excited for? What are your biggest concerns? Share your insight and ideas on our Facebook Page!
How Retailers and Customers Use Tablet Devices
Jun 7th
This article was originally published on NRF‘s Retail’s BIG Blog By Kathy Grannis, NRF spokesperson. View full article.
Ozzie Osbourne and Justin Bieber may have played out the scenario best this past February during their critically-acclaimed Super Bowl commercial: these days, technology changes constantly. From what retailers are observing, the hottest, fastest-moving technology right now is tablet devices.
Though not a phone by standard definition, tablets, like smartphones, have changed the way people across the world access news, shop for services and merchandise, and entertain themselves. Tablets have become so popular, Nielsen reports that 35 percent of surveyed tablet owners who also own a desktop computer admit to using their desktop less often or not at all, and 32 percent of those who also owned laptops used the laptop less often or never since acquiring a tablet. According to a recent LA Times article citing research about the sales of personal computers, PC sales dropped 11 percent in the first quarter of 2011, the largest drop in nearly a decade.
NRF’s digital division, Shop.org, recently released industry research regarding retailers’ use of tablets and how important they are to their business. According to the State of Retailing Online report, tablets account for 21 percent of a retailer’s total mobile traffic. Knowing this, it’s fair to assume retailers are moving at lightning speed to capture the attention of the millions of tablet owners around the world. When it comes to inserting tablets into their daily operations, the survey also found 30 percent of respondents said a main objective for their mobile platform will be to provide store associates with tablets to improve selling. In fact, Nordstrom just announced plans to put 5,000 mobile checkout devices into workers’ hands at 116 full-line clothing stores by the start of its Anniversary Sale in July.
What lies ahead for tablets is anyone’s guess. Just a few years ago, the thought that small retailers would be utilizing tablets to process credit card payments was inconceivable. Or that Disney Stores and Urban Outfitters would be using iPod Touch devices, like Apple stores do, to ring up customers’ purchases and email them their receipts upon request.
With the popularity of tablets spreading like wildfire, NRF research partner BIGresearch recently dug into the type of people who own them, what they do for a living, how they spend their time, what influences their online purchases most and what on earth they do while using their tablet. The research, conducted for Shop.org and released to member companies, compares tablet owners to smartphone owners and the average adult over 18+. A few astounding highlights are below. View the special report here.
- Nearly one in 10 (9.4%) tablet owners say sponsored links/results greatly influence their purchases when searching online for a product or service. That’s compared to only 4.5 percent of smartphone owners and 3.1 percent of other adults.
- When asked how often they watch the video commercials that companies play before the actual video content, 29.5 percent of tablet owners say they regularly watch the commercial, compared to just 16.9 percent of smartphone owners and 12.3 percent of others.
- After searching online, more than one in five (22.3%) say they blog about it – just 10.9 percent of smartphone owners and 6.3 percent of other adults use blogs to spread the word. Tablet owners are also much more likely to send an email and post it on Facebook or Twitter.
So who are these tablet owners?
- The average age of a tablet owner is 36.8, younger than smartphone owners (39.2) and the average adult (45.3).
- Mostly male (61%)
- Have an average salary of $86,516 – much more than the average $77,570 smartphone owners bring home and $63,696 the average American over 18 makes
- Three in 10 (30.0%) play team sports (compared to 21.2% of smartphone owners and 13.5% of other adults).
Tablets aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Nine in 10 online retailers now have a mobile strategy in place, and 87 percent said they will use tablets to drive revenue and sales to their websites. There’s no doubt tablets will be a standard part of the customer shopping experience in years to come.
Looking to bring the latest technology to your store? Look no further. MBS has several mobile solutions in place to keep you on the cutting-edge.
Our tablet solution, the MBS Mobility Suite, was created as a direct response to the needs and feedback from our customers, providing an ideal option for stores that are constantly on the go.
Combining the powerful MBS POS and Electronic Payment System application used by countless collegiate retailers with the sleek, intuitive interface of Apple’s iPod Touch, the MBS iTouch POS provides another mobile computing solution.
For more information on how to bring tablet technology to your store, talk with your MBS Representative or email us at systems@mbsbooks.com.
