Why can't "Google Adwords" be used in the brick & mortar world?
This blog post is inspired in part by Rahul's blog on "Can the grocery store provide an Amazon experience?". Set me thinking; seems like there are quite a few concepts that can be leveraged from the online world to provide consumers with a better shopping experience and in some cases make some money for the retailer as well.
This post is about the possibility of using a "Google Adwords" kind of concept to target consumers at a retail store at the "moment of truth"
Google makes money on Adwords by bringing together consumers online with product or service companies at the "moment of truth"; when he or she is searching for a product or service online. Why can't we employ a similar concept at the retail store?
What does a retailer need to do something like that?
- A consumer with a mobile phone; which can also be configured to act as the store loyalty card
- Technology to identify that a "loyal" consumer has walked into the store; preferably technology that can identify which aisle the consumer is in.
- Personalization Analytics that can be be used to send the consumer coupons/ offers that can potentially swing the consumer over from "store surfing" to actually buying the product he is surfing for
- An arrangement with the CPG company that atleast partially pays for the ability to display ads and offers to the consumer
The enabling technology for all the above already exists. So why can't the Google Adwords concept be used in a brick and mortar world?
Comments
Hi Sudhir,
Nice thought.
My take: Amazon and Walmart are niche in their own operational style and hence command a different set of audiences. But, there's nothing like bringing the best of both the online and the offline world together.
The only hurdle I see in implementing 'Google Adwords' in brick & mortar world is figuring out as to which consumer actually used the displayed ads to route himself/herself to the correct shelf and ended up buying. The online world too has this issue of identifying the valid click but that has been taken careof a little by having milestones in the entire buying cycle.
This will happen for sure. Let's see how it happens.
Regards,
Krishna
Posted by: Krishna Sanganeria | October 15, 2009 7:46 AM