Proximiant, a provider of tap and go digital receipts, launched today, introducing a private and secure way for retailers and shoppers to track purchases and earn loyalty rewards, cash rebates and coupons without paper receipts, time-consuming signup requirements or membership cards.

Retailers of any size are now able to provide customers immediate access to a variety of programs using a phone-sized USB interface transceiver from Proximiant. The free transceiver easily plugs into a store’s computerized point-of-sale system (POS) and launches within two minutes.

The transceiver’s built-in technology allows it to communicate directly with mobile phones having a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip. When consumers shop at participating stores, they can tap their NFC-enabled phones on the transceiver devices to directly collect a digital copy of their receipt and loyalty rewards.

Much attention in the NFC space has been on mobile payment applications. Proximiant focuses on enhancing the shopping experience by providing itemized receipts for easy tracking of purchases, loyalty programs and coupons, regardless how they pay.

Until the NFC-enabled phones are widely available, Proximiant is offering a bridge solution via a small tag that can be carried in a wallet or put on a key chain to allow shoppers the same tap-and-go capability.

Customers also serve to benefit from this technology through the secure “Digital Receipts” mobile app, which records all their purchases at the time of sale, so they can manage their personal spending, collect loyalty points, cash back as well as the convenience of not having to carry around paper receipts. In addition, they won’t need to provide stores with any personal information, thereby safeguarding their privacy. All loyalty points and offers can be directly redeemed at participating stores using their mobile phones.

Other benefits for consumers include:

• Rewards, refunds and exchanges without a special loyalty card or paper receipt since images with necessary data and bar codes show up on their app.
• Ability to quickly access old receipts by inputting the store name or product keywords.
• Receipts that remain completely private and secure.
• Access to Proximiant’s Web interface for receipts on their computer when they register their Poximiant account.
• Help the environment go green by no longer using paper receipts.

“The product is a win-win for both retailers and consumers,” said Proximiant co-founder and CEO Fang Cheng. “Proximiant is the most efficient and secure way for retailers to extend their existing point of sale to an array of mobile loyalty and marketing programs without any IT overhead or customer signup process. For consumers, it makes shopping much more enjoyable and less of a hassle. The device saves companies an overhead investment and it saves customers from the time-consuming and expensive signup process.”

Cheng and co-founders Edwin Evans and Thomas Ahn, both Vice Presidents of Engineering, gave Proximiant its name to transmit the message that merchants and customers are now in much closer proximity to one another.

To date, Proximiant has signed up a dozen stores in the San Francisco area and expects the number to increase as it rolls out more trials later this month and throughout December.

“We’ve gone with a small trial launch to ensure everything is running smoothly,” Cheng said. “We expect to have about 50 retailers by year’s end, mostly in the Bay area. By spring of 2012, we envision the device being in multiple metropolitan areas.”

Consumers can download the “Digital Receipts” app in the Apple iTunes Store or Android Market. Here’s a brief video of how Proximiant works.

TNS has launched the world’s largest study of digital behavior Digital Life based on responses from 72,000 consumers in 60 countries. The study’s size, scale and detail makes it the most comprehensive view of how consumers behave online and why they do what they do.

Key findings:

• Many brands are wasting time and money trying to reach people online even though many resent big brands invading their social networks
• 57% of people in developed markets don’t want to engage with brands online
• Misguided digital strategies are generating mountains of costly ‘digital waste’, from friendless Facebook accounts to blogs no one reads, because companies are acting without understanding consumer attitudes

You can explore the data and generate your own data visualizations at www.tnsdigitallife.com.

Virtual Assistant' technology makes retail debut at Duane Reade

Next-generation digital signage that uses the latest in holographic imaging and audio-visual technology to create the illusion of a real person is making its U.S. debut at Duane Reade’s new flagship in downtown Manhattan.

The technology, the Tensator Virtual Assistant, is provided by Lawrence, a Tensator Group Co. Completely customized for Duane Reade, it takes the form of a female greeter who welcomes entering customers and provides information on everything store-related. Currently, the greeter has seven different scripts, each of which speaks to a different store element.

On April 9, 2011, the 5th fastest growing Facebook page in the world was the page for "Kissing." On its heels, in the number 6 spot, was the Kirkland's Facebook page from redpepper.

Just two days earlier, agency redpepper launched Kirkland's Cha---ching! promotion. This promo included a $25,000 cash prize and a chance to win Kirkand's merchandise in a swap game where people force other players to trade merchandise they have in their virtual possession. 

Everyone who plays the game gets a coupon for a future purchase at Kirkland's. (Kirkland's customers LOVE their coupons. The more they play, the more they can save. The number of fans nearly doubled from 73,000 fans at launch to over 140,000 four days in. 40,154 people were entered to win. 36,709 people were playing the swap game.

The Holy Grail of any social media effort is to engage the audience versus simply getting them to click a "like" button. Much to our delight, new fans showed their enthusiasm and passion for the brand through telling posts on the Kirkland's Facebook wall like"Kirkland's and I are BFFs."

This group of consumers is predominantly comprised of 25-55 year old Females.

Not only are they the fastest growing segment on Facebook, games like Farmville & Cityville are the kinds of online social activities they engage in the most. And, what's more, this consumer group is identical in make-up to the average Kirkland's customer.

When players engage in the promo, a wall post appears on their profile and in their friends' news feed. This post announces their participation in the game and invites other players to do the same. 11 days into the promotion, 54,875 people have entered the sweepstakes, 50,021 are playing the swap game and the number of total Facebook Fans has grown to 165,229, and is on-track to hit the 200K goal.

And, while a million Facebook "likes" is certainly noteworthy, redpepper believes that 200K impassioned brand advocates is a much truer measure of social media success.

And these two retailers are, Barnes & Noble and Borders. Barnes & Noble today reported strong holiday results led by some good sales of its Nook e-readers. Same-store sales, rose 9.7 percent for the nine-week period ended on January 1. A large part of this increase has come because of the popularity and sales of Nook which is in direct competition with Amazon.com's Kindle e-reader.

Barnes & Noble says Nook boosts holiday sales

Barnes & Noble Inc reported strong preliminary holiday results at its superstores, led by the popularity of its Nook e-readers, and shares rose more than 5 percent.

The top U.S. bookseller said that same-store sales, or sales at its superstores open at least 15 months, rose 9.7 percent for the nine-week period ended on January 1.

Barnes & Noble, which put itself up for sale in August, introduced the Nook in 2009 in a bid to compete with Amazon.com's market-leading Kindle e-reader as it seeks to prove itself viable amid bookbuyers' shift to digital formats.

In the fall, the retailer introduced a well-reviewed, enhanced version of the device, NookColor, which has some functions similar to those of Apple's iPad tablet.

Barnes & Noble in November had forecast same-store sales for the entire current quarter, including the holiday period, would rise between 5 and 7 percent.

Barnes & Noble's numbers include Nook devices sold in stores but not on its website. Last week, Barnes & Noble, which operates 717 namesake stores in the United States, said the Nook had become its best selling single item ever. The retailer said it would release more detailed sales figures on Thursday.

Now compare this with Borders, which is the second largest US bookstore chain after Barnes and Noble. Borders is reporting that it is delaying payments to some publishers trying to avert a liquidity crisis.

Borders Delays Payments to Publishers

In an ominous turn of events for the book business, Borders Group Inc. said Thursday it is delaying payments to some publishers, a sign that its financial troubles are worsening.

The nation's second-largest bookstore chain by revenue, behind Barnes & Noble Inc., said the delays were part of its efforts to refinance its debt and that it had notified the publishers with which it is seeking to restructure payments.

The retailer also said "there can be no assurance" that its larger refinancing efforts will be successful.

Sign of the times, I say. With competition from Kindle and the ebooks, B&N was able to remold themselves as a Digital company with Nook, Borders did not and results are there to be seen. There is more competition coming from Google and that will put even more pressure on Borders to rethink its strategy.

MOD Systems is introducing its Download2Go digital music kiosks in Quick Chek convenience stores.  Consumers no longer need to be dependent on an Internet connection and unlimited data plans to access and build their digital music collections - Download2Go music kiosks enable customers to directly download and purchase digital music tracks for playback on mobile devices, right from convenient retail locations, such as Quick Chek.  These kiosks offer a new way for retailers to engage shoppers, provide entertainment content for purchase and drive repeat customer visits. Download2Go kiosk customers can transfer music onto SD cards, USB drives, or directly to their portable music players, paying for their purchases with a credit card.

From the Press Release:

“Retailers are looking for opportunities to capture customer interest in digital entertainment or take back sales that have shifted from their stores to online,” said Anthony Bay, CEO of MOD Systems. “Consumers can now build their digital music collections outside the home without requiring connectivity, while retailers can sell the latest entertainment content in a way that drives impulse purchases and repeat customer visits.”

Check out this Video on how the Digital Music Kiosk works:

MOD Systems Digital Music Kiosk

Intava, a leader in touch screen solutions for retailers, announced that Ethan Allen has deployed Intava Vector™ interactive merchandising screens in its Design Centers across the country.

With the implementation of Intava’s technology, Ethan Allen Design Centers now have the ability to showcase and sell all available products (both online and in-store) in a visually compelling and informative way, regardless of store size. The touch screens inspire furniture shoppers by giving them the ability to discover, select, and visualize their dream home interiors through intuitive style quizzes and interactions with the screen. You can read the full release here - http://intava.com/about-news.php

In a separate release, Intava announced the latest features and capabilities of Intava Vector 2.0, a visual merchandising and shopper assistance solution customizable for any product category. As illustrated with Ethan Allen, Intava Vector brings the best of online shopping to brick-and-mortar stores by seamlessly integrating with a retailer’s product database and quickly presenting information through simple and engaging interactive content. You can read the full release here - http://intava.com/pressrelease11.18.2010a.php

DailyDooh is reporting that Intel has just bought Toronto-based digital signage company CognoVision, acquisition price is around $17 million.

So why would Intel want CognoVision? TechCrunch writes:

The company’s digital signage offerings go beyond just providing compelling displays for marketing purposes. CognoVision’s computer vision technology provides customers with analytics and intelligence around customer interaction with displays, including data on the number of people who look at displays; how long people look for; the number of people who walk by; how long people stay near displays; and anonymous semographics of the display’s audience (gender and age bracket).

Intel and CognoVision actually have an existing relationship. Cognovision has partnered with Intel to show how processors are used in Digital Signage applications.

If this is a question you are trying to seek answer to, I suggest head over to Cashier Live’s recently launched interactive microsite “Future of Retail”. New technologies like mobile advertising, in-store augmented reality, and cloud-based software are changing how retailers (big and small) sell to consumers. The microsite presents scenarios for Mobile coupons, Virtual mirrors, Welcome kiosk, Digital signage, Self-checkout, Email receipts, Store management, RFID tags and Purchase orders. For each scenario, there are Proof of Concepts which shows how the retailers are working or thinking about using these new technologies. For e.g. for Welcome Kiosk there is this cool Gap Welcome video from Minority Report.

NYTimes writes on growing use of surge in the amount and type of digital data that retailers are tapping to make sense and identify patterns in the data.

"...rapid surge in the amount and types of digital data that retailers can now tap, and the improved computing tools to try to make sense of it. The data explosion spans internal sources including point-of-sale and shipment-tracking information, as well as census data and syndicated services. Companies also track online visitors to Web commerce sites, members of social networks like Facebook and browsers using smartphones.

The better tools, they say, are ever cheaper and faster computers and so-called business intelligence or analytic software for finding useful information and patterns in that data.

Retailers are increasingly mining vast troves of digital information to improve the decisions they make about pricing, shelf-stocking and product offerings. “This huge and growing ecosystem of data is an asset that some retailers are really beginning to exploit for competitive advantage,” said Thomas H. Davenport, a professor of information technology and management at Babson College. “It brings more science into the business. Relying on gut feel is yesterday’s strategy in retailing.”

Retail will be one of the trend areas and we will see more digital interactive solutions in Retail in the next year. IPG Emerging Media Labs identifies five trend areas to watch next year related to browsers, conversation, transmission, retail and consumer tech.

Even in the depths of a recession, interactive retail solutions will soar in 2009, IPG says. An online experience punctuated by smart signs, interactive mirrors, loyalty programs and other features is enhancing the consumers' and brands' ability to constantly be connected to the Web and each other by mobile phone. Google's mobile bar code reader Zxing enables photography and decoding of barcodes for more product data, and SnapNow provides price comparisons and peer ratings from Amazon.com.

Such real-time shopping assistance is matched by audience measurement on sight in stores to provide more relevant target advertising that more likely results in a purchase.

Check this cool slide deck on what the future could be like for Retail.

Merry Christmas to you all :)