There is an APP (application) you can have on your smart phone (Red Laser) that uses your camera feature to read a bar code (UPC codes on retail packages). When scanned the APP determines the best place to go buy the product scanned in terms of price given your geographic location.
In the old days the saying “buyer beware” had more efficacy than today. The better bellwether now is “retailer beware” because we are rapidly approaching a time where deceiving a consumer on pricing strategies is almost over.
I predict that sooner rather than later we will compare not only direct UPC codes but similar codes for feature comparison. In other words, the APP will go a step further and scan a UPC, look at the features for the product and then compare those features to similar features with different UPC codes.
The entire world of retailing is changing in ways that we do not yet grasp. We continue to attempt to go to market using the same tired old marketing strategies employed in the past and getting upset that we do not get the desired results. In most cases the results we get are directly proportional to our understanding of the current state of the relationship between the consumer and the seller.
The same smart phone that can make a consumer smarter can also grow your business to the extent you understand how to make the APP work for you. Private Label sales are through the roof. To some extent that is driven by a desire of retailers to make direct comparisons tougher to make and a desire on the part of a consumer to get a better/equal product for less cost. That is one potential response to direct UPC comparisons.
No matter what size business you own you can benefit from better marketing in a new environment. You simply have to utilize your assets to maximize your sales and your old toolbox of marketing is likely in need of updating.
