ERetailingEMarketing

This article discusses the impact of online shopping on traditional high street stores and the role of Alibaba's New Retail. It also explores 5 new technologies and their advantages and disadvantages, as well as what the supermarket of the future should look like. Additionally, it delves into the ethical considerations around businesses knowing every 'place' we visit. The subject is ERetailingEMarketing and there is no specific course code or college/university mentioned.

ERetailingEMarketing

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
QUESTION ONE............................................................................................................................1
Does the huge growth in ‘online shopping’ really mean the extinction of the traditional ‘high
street’ store…or can Alibaba’s ‘New Retail’ help them to successfully coexist?.......................1
QUESTION TWO...........................................................................................................................2
Discussion of ‘5 New Technologies’ outlined and explanation of advantages and
disadvantages of each..................................................................................................................2
QUESTION THREE.......................................................................................................................5
Discussion of what Supermarket of future would look like as well as what it should
contain/not contain.......................................................................................................................5
QUESTION FOUR..........................................................................................................................6
What are ethical considerations around businesses knowing every ‘place’ we visit...................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

QUESTION ONE
Does the huge growth in ‘online shopping’ really mean the extinction of the traditional ‘high
street’ store…or can Alibaba’s ‘New Retail’ help them to successfully coexist?
Shopping includes one of two options, that are going to store or purchasing online. Online
shopping is a practice to purchase offerings of company over internet (Alibaba’s New Retail
Experience, 2018). In other words, it refers to going online and landing to website of seller,
selecting something as well as arranging for delivery. These days, more and more people are
opting box at doorstep which is putting squeeze on traditional brick and mortar retail. Shopping
is essential, but consumes huge time and often becomes inconvenient many a times. With society
becoming ever more digitalised, significant shift in all walks of life is occurring moving from
reality to virtual world as well as shopping is no distinct. With e-commerce shops along with
online wholesalers, for example, Alibaba offers logistical together with financial efficiency
which makes customers less requires to leave houses for shopping.
There is and will always necessity for certain shops in order to remain on high street in
physical form. But at end of day, people can purchase pretty much things online, that results in
no requirement for high street shops for various grocery, clothing as well as product selling
brands (Marroncelli and Braithwaite, 2020). In contrary, as people might stop visiting shops,
there are chances they will still in town centres to visit remaining coffee shops and hence forth.
Impulse shopping will exist in which people looks for killing time as well as see something
which looks more appealing to them internally at shops.
Despite of huge growth in online shopping, traditional ‘high street’ store will always in
demand among people to go into stores. Nonetheless, when people are talking about which will
become the popular type of shopping over coming years, it is complex to perceive the ways
shops could compete with online counterparts. Perhaps, one of only way in which ‘online
shopping’ really mean the extinction of the traditional high street store is embracement of
technology as well as developing a shopping experience that is distinct but superior to the
aspects which a consumer gets online. As it turns out, online and offline world will coexist and
converge. In Alibaba, all the practices are carried out through technology. It is analysed that
technology touches online world and offline physical space that helps the business to exist by
making it possible for online and offline convergence.
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Alibaba’s new form of retail that is combination of both online and offline retail. With
the new type of retail, it is perceived that Alibaba successfully exist as the company is popular
for leading a way towards future through complete digitalisation of all commerce which is key to
save traditional retail and adapting new digital world in most unexpected as well as creative
manner (Johnes, 2019). For example, Alibaba is getting a new retail upgradation of purchasing
cars from big showrooms and huge that process was designed. Alibaba is working to redesigning
experiences that brings various brand of cars to customers for trying without pressure of sales.
Through beholding Auto Vending Machine Model, the company allows customers to browse
certain models on smartphones as well as choose one which they want for test drive in-out
experience. It helps the company to provide favourable experiences to customers and improve its
market share that is key for existing successfully in modern era.
QUESTION TWO
Discussion of ‘5 New Technologies’ outlined and explanation of advantages and disadvantages
of each
In next 10 years, retail shopping has great chances to change that it has in last 1000 years.
On the globe, everything will change including stores will behave as websites and websites will
act more like stores (Retail 2020: 5 Technologies. 2021). There are five new technologies that
has great potentials to affect shopping experiences of customers. The description of new
technologies with advantages and disadvantages are as follows:
Beacons: It is said to a small wireless device which transmit a continuous radio signal,
single ID which is detected by smart phones. The technology send ID to cloud server, further, the
server push targeted content to device. Increasingly retailers are making use of the technology
with the purpose of enhancing in-store experiences while bridging online and physical
experiences simultaneously. Bluetooth Low Energy is technology behind beacons which
provides a device location on very micro level. Stores, for example, Macy’s and Barneys have
adopted Beacons for engaging with customers in exciting as well as unique manner. The
advantages and disadvantages of Beacons are as follows:
Advantages Disadvantages
 Beacon technology allows brands, for
example, Macy’s and Barneys to
 Beacon technology is restricted to
Bluetooth signal. In case, when a
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personalise marketing along with
segment their customers.
 It is affordable and easy to install, setup
and use which make its less risky
together with highest possible
investment returns (Guo, Zhou and
Durrani, 2018).
customer do not have Bluetooth
enabled, the technology faces to detect
them (Daniş and Cemgil, 2017).
 For some companies, the technology
depends on installed apps to use
Beacon for communicating with
customer’s device.
Facial Recognition: It is another technology that is capable to match human face from
digital image against database of face, employed for authenticating users through ID verification
services and works through pinpointing along with measuring facial characteristics from an
image. Retailers no longer content for identifying customers through swipe of loyalty card at
point of sale (Majumder and Izaguirre, 2020). They want to identify customers as soon as they
enter in their store. In iPhone X, the technology is used to provide customised experiences.
Advantages and disadvantages of facial recognition are as follows:
Advantages Disadvantages
 Facial recognition technology improves
surveillance efforts along with assist brands
to provide customised experiences
(Pantano, 2020).
 With this technology, organisations will be
able to read emotions for identifying when
customers are frustrated and notify
employees to respond.
 Knowing that retailers can easily
identify customers, the technology
can lead to self-censor for fear of
negative consequences.
 Facial recognition technology
carries its own security risk (Lin
and Hong, 2021).
Robot Assistants: It is described as artificial intelligence which assist and greet people in
multiple languages. These robots are intelligent for navigating current stores along with moving
around customers (Laudon and Traver, 2020). They assist brands to build 3D scanners with
image recognition software in order to identify items along with navigating stores for guiding
customers to products. Advantages and disadvantages of Robot Assistants are underneath:
Advantages Disadvantages
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 Robot Assistants benefits by setting
work on repetitive cycle as well as it is
maintained accurately for programming
(Lee, Lee and Kim, 2021).
 The technology minimises material
waste addition to remove requirement
for human to put at unnecessary risks.
 The technology impacts directly on
jobs of workers that builds a fear
among humans that they are not needed
any more.
 Installing Robot Assistants requires
huge investment costs at initial level
(Costa, Julian and Novais, 2017).
Smart Mirrors: In retail stores, traditional mirrors are out as well as smart displays are in.
Through artificial intelligence and virtual reality, mirrors are becoming virtual changing rooms
wherein customers can develop complete outfits without ever getting undressed (Coimbra,
2019). In OakLabs, similar product is available for fitting rooms. In retail stores, Smart Mirrors
are used for not just measuring average time a customer spends in fitting rooms, but also to
analyse which items have highest conversion rates. Mentioned below are advantages and
disadvantages of Smart Mirrors:
Advantages Disadvantages
 Smart Mirrors allows people to sell all
products which are not in stock
addition to dozens of variant
combinations (Akshaya, Raj and
Gowri, 2018).
 The technology brings ease of online
shopping into tangible retail world.
 Installation, setup and use of Smart
Mirrors is pricey as these are intriguing,
new addition to shiny which makes it
expensive.
 It lacks human interaction or face to
face interactions for getting feedback
and suggestions for some item (Zhang,
Zhang and Yan, 2018).
Auto Checkout: After robot support along with interactive displays comes payment
process, self-service checkouts existed for over decade, paying with watches or phone never,
however, rise and fall of Auto Checkout technology (Lee, 2017). It is a combination of computer
vision, deep learning addition to sensors. For example, Amazon has shops which identify
customers as they enter together with automatically charge when they leave. Advantages and
disadvantages of Auto Checkout and below:
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Advantages Disadvantages
 Auto Checkout reduces labour costs of
company as there is no requirement of
human resources to perform practices
 (Wankhede, Wukkadada and Nadar,
2018).
 The technology restricts requirement of
scanning products. As per it, payments
in future will have no checkouts, no
hassles and no queues.
 Auto Checkout technology has great
chances to create bug every now and
then that can create confusion among
customers.
 Machines can be touchy and certain
transactions cannot be completed
without human resource (Wolpert and
Roth, 2020).
QUESTION THREE
Discussion of what Supermarket of future would look like as well as what it should contain/not
contain
Behaviour of consumer is changing and supermarkets require to change with them.
Supermarkets require to transform as well as urgently change their business models with the aim
of surviving challenges that are brought on by disruptive forces. At Symphony, it has been
analysed that latest trends in grocery across USA addition to Europe and believe that there are
essential shifts which causes changes in consumer behaviour (Supermarket 2020: A vision of the
future, 2021). In Supermarket 2020, there will be small range of commodities in store, mainly
high quality addition to convenience items. The full range being available to customers online,
with touch screen that offers convenient opportunity for browsing together with order for later
delivery or option of pick up. The supermarket has greater chances to meet demands of
prospective and potential customers. The store of future will have host of customer centric
characteristic. Furthermore, multichannel addition to convenience shops have provided a way for
massive re-imagination of centre store.
The future store will have new clock and collect areas in store and through drive-thru. It
will be a redesigned centre store that will feature as store quick service together with deliver food
restaurant offerings healthy eating choices or options and pre packed meal kits. Supermarket in
future will remove centre store aisle for making room for prepared foods, taking benefit of
intention of shoppers to spend 3-4 hours. In this, there will be a food court style seating which
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will encourage customers to done in addition to consume their dishes to go purchases
immediately (Hamilton, 2018). It will have touch screens on each table that will permit
customers to engage with new commodities online scan their loyalty card as well as search for
new offers and promotions while they eat. Within Supermarket 2020, there will be more about
experiences, browsing as well as curating products that will create theatre experiences for
shoppers.
There are various things which Supermarket of Future should contain. One is flexibility
replaced with uncertainty. With this, grocery stores will convey feeling of accessible bounty and
swap out permanent fixtures for techniques addition to equipment which can be moved relatively
easily in the manner supermarkets can better tailor layouts for fulfilling changing taste of
customer’s addition to market conditions. Buffer among store and world outside is another aspect
which future of Supermarket should contain (Larson, 2019). Herein, grocery stores may change
through adding features which reduce stress various shoppers presently feel. There will be
immediate click and collect service in-store pickup and delivery and special product aisle with
assortment changing twice a week to surprise addition to delight customer. It is perceived that
checkouts will be there in the future supermarkets as checkouts have changed too with 80%
being self-checked out units and only 20% traditional man belted checkouts. Finally, to collect
our click and collect purchases, the store will contain drive-thru options for smaller orders and a
loading dock for larger items supermarket 2020 a vision for customer centric grocery shopping.
QUESTION FOUR
What are ethical considerations around businesses knowing every ‘place’ we visit
In present era, all companies want to know where customers are doing, how they are doing,
why they are doing it and where they are doing it. Where a customer is right now, it is very
valuable piece of information (Location Based Marketing, 2020). There are few thoughts which
leverage location is related to following a new type of cookie one that track users from morning
to night. Location based marketing is increasingly popular marketing technique used by
companies so to evaluate habits and preferences of consumers. Trackers collect pings from cell
phone of target audience and are able to tell businesses a wealth of information for times they
shop, how long they stay in a store, where they shop as well as how often customers frequent a
store. Further, the information is used for making best decision for selling product in market.
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People travel to work listening to radio and interact with billboards along the way they
take a lunch break and are influenced from digital menus. One of ethical consideration that
businesses needs to adhere while knowing places that a customer visit is privacy and location
related information. For example, Geolocation places people, connect people and customers uses
it for literally carving out what they want to experience daily. For business, it is essential to draw
virtual lines that customers want the lines to be constructed. When such lines are subsequently
collected addition to tracked, it is when desire to connect bumps up against ethical concerns of
the way data are handled. At minimum, app business must know what does their location service
perform, type of data they gather and whether the information is shared with others including
affiliates, third parties or partners.
Location based marketing permits businesses for targeting consumers at person level with
online or offline messaging on the basis of physical location. With the help of location data,
businesses reach consumers that are based on qualifiers such as proximity of store or events
happening in region (Turban, McLean and Wetherbe, 2010). Herein, ethical considerations
around organisations knowing every place they visit is maintaining privacy of information.
Businesses are supposed to ensure productivity addition to efficiency while locating information
about where customers visit, but when it crosses the line as well as becomes spying, they are
required to legally monitor their email and internet browser history. It is essentially required by a
business to consider privacy policy for seeing the ways they are being monitored as well as
consider whether it can indicate record of performance of visit.
In accordance to Arena (2014), locational based marketing is popular marketing tool used
for evaluating habits, preferences and visits of consumers. Trackers collects pings from cell
phone and tell businesses wealth information related to time consumer shops, how long they stay
at store, where they shop and many more. The method has various concerns of ethics such as
personal privacy. It has been analysed that more than 50 per cent of people or participants do not
wish to be tracked by retailers. Around 27 per cent are open to it within certain circumstances.
Around 50 per cent of consumers preferred not to be tracked, most cited ‘privacy’ due to certain
reasons (Arena, 2014). The method of tracking is legal and companies often slip disclosures
which that are tracking into lengthy terms of service contracts which are unlikely to be read.
Location Based Marketing is a technology that has created huge branches to operate
effectively and successfully in business industry. In accordance to Van De Sanden, Willems and
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Brengman (2019), all businesses while knowing every ‘place’ customers visit are required to
perform ethically as per GDPR for protecting data based on customers (Van De Sanden, Willems
and Brengman, 2019). With this, marketers have to follow tight rules related to data collection
about places customer visit. It reflects that companies can’t make users to say yes for accessing
private data through passive opt-in permission while the app offers any deal. Moreover,
marketers are required to provide standalone consent to users for sharing why, how and other
details about personal data to achieve success in location based marketing.
People go shopping addition to receive push messages swaying out decision of purchase
and when they reach home, some of them still watch ads on television (Heinström and Ruthven,
2019). With this, location is key piece of data which enables in seeing where customers are and
what media is nearby to them. Ethical consideration revolving around businesses to know where
their customer visit is trust as building trust with customers helps businesses to track location and
using it for organisational purposes.
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