Social Has Been Around Since Ancient Times: Insights from the Head of Instagram in Japan

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Thanks to event organized by EN World, I had a chance to listen and talk with the head of Instagram in Japan, Mr. Tsuguhide Nagase. Instagram is part of Facebook but runs as a separate service. What’s unique about this network and why it could be relevant to users and advertisers in the mobile-first era?

Social is Nothing New

Social connectivity has been a part of human nature since ancient times - sharing things while having a tea or nonverbally while at campfire. Humans have always been messengers and story tellers. Thus, people have always been publishers as well. What has changed is the media – same behavior but in a whole new world.

Today, people look at mobile instead of TV. Time spent on mobile is significantly increasing in Japan. From 2009 to 2013 it has grown by 2.5 times while 4 times among those in the age of their 20ies. Usage of mobile is 1.5 times higher than that of PC. Trend of using mostly one device at a time is also increasing due to larger screens available for mobile devices. Mobile is the preferred screen in Japan. Facebook and Instagram are not social tools – they are marketing and branding tools. Instagram is in the business of branding. As of today, Instagram has 300 million monthly active users.

The Contributors
There are 2-3 groups of users on Instagram. Instagrammers – just upload pics and enjoy community. Instant meet is an activity where community can gather in a physical location to share and understand how nice and creative pics were made. It is not a drinking party.

Another group is famous users - celebrities. The number of followers is also affected by the actual artistic sense of the photos they upload. People will not follow if their pics are not nice. Famous users can also be organizations like National Geographic, Starbucks who use the service for branding. Getting more followers means creating great images rather than just clicking to like others and exchanging follows. As of today, Instagram has 70 million number of photos contributed a day and 2.5 billion likes a day.

In Branding Business

In the mobile-first world, the power of user’s thumb – tap or skip means that an ad needs to be very good at first impression and should have creative impact. What you saw is important. 99% of people who saw a Facebook ad and then bought a product in a store never clicked on that ad at all. They remember the impression and make the transaction later. Therefore, Instagram is focused on branding and awareness via images rather than click-through rates. Here, images are universal language. Therefore, it is no wonder that from the beginnings of the service, 70% of the users are coming from outside of the US from various geographies.

If a company publishes nice images unrelated directly to their trademark, those can attract followers who can also become customers via overall brand awareness. For example, Louis Vuitton often publishes images not linked directly to their trademark or promotions. Burberry can publish images of London. Then London could potentially tag with Burberry in the user’s mind etc.

Facebook and Instagram ads are different. Facebook targeting is based and follows click-through rates. Instagram is focused on creative images and the measurement would be different. Instagram will start advertising services in Japan this year. One of important principles will be to maintain good user experience.

Introduction to Omni-channel Retailing and Single Platform Approach: Case of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail

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This article introduces the basic ideas behind Omni-channel concept, explains advantages of adopting a single platform approach as business solution and reviews key retail capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3.

Requirement for Omni-channel Approach and System Readiness
Retail is one of the industries experiencing impactful changes. It has expanded from traditional brick-and-mortar to call centers, e-commerce and continuing to shift into social and mobile spaces. One of the new industry buzzwords is Omni-channel retailing (where the word “Omni” stands for “All”). It is retail marketing discipline focused on seamless approach to the customer experience through all available shopping and interaction channels - physical stores, kiosks, call-centers, Web sites, social networks, mobile and even TV and radio can be considered here. This approach means tracking and managing customers, their transactions and experiences across all channels. Unless Omni-channel is successfully adopted, it is not a surprise if a customer is better educated of the latest company offerings than sales staff in a store by learning from their e-commerce site . Furthermore, customer can expect to buy online but pick-up at a store. It means that all retail teams shall have the same understanding, readiness and information from systems available in their roles. Customer will expect to have the same great brand experience in both - the physical world of stores and online. Merchandise and campaigns are expected to bring the same value and experience in all touch points with the customer and not differ by a channel.
As the business technology advances, retailers often end-up with separate systems and multiple vendors for their Line of Business (LOB) solutions to be coordinated and integrated. For example, in-store POS systems, separate solution for call-center, and another platform for e-commerce, native mobile apps etc. These front-end solutions also have to link with back-office (financials, SCM, warehouse etc.) to provide seamless customer experience. Supply chain visibility becomes even more relevant in Omni-channel model since merchandise is now a customer centric as opposed to channel oriented. In not so distant future, a retailer might even like to improve customer service whereby warehouse staff is notified as soon as customer enters a store and triggers communication with a nearby beacon device. More about beacons here.

Approach based on Many LOB Systems
Depending on business strategy and existing IT landscape, a retailer could choose updating and extending their often distinct existing systems and adding new LOB packages to keep up with the latest Omni-channel and industry requirements. At first glance, this sort of gradual approach could seem less risky compared to large overall platform changes like implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system with integrated retail functionality. The “Big bang” approach is often avoided due to challenges and dependencies associated with large implementation projects. Meanwhile, the downside of having many LOB packages is enabling integration and middleware among all front-end technologies and their linkage to the back-office requiring investments into analysis, interface development, handling data-integrity as more packages are added, modified, extended or upgraded.

Single Platform Approach
Alternatively to handling many LOB packages, a retailer can consider adopting a single, end-to-end business platform, which can support majority of requirements, require minimal integration, provides extensibility and offers a road map into the future. Integrated ERP for retail approach shall provide one solution for back-office areas such as SCM, finance and warehousing as well as enable centralized data management. Retailer shall be able to manage merchandising, catalogs, run POS and various sales channels including e-commerce, call-centers and have variety of CRM functions. Modern ERP solution for retail should enable Omni-channel capabilities possible for business and united technological platform that IT can support.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 ERP in Retail
Besides the back-office support (finance, SCM, warehousing etc.), Dynamic AX currently offers the following architectural components and functionality in retail as part of one ERP package while not being limited only to these features.

Retail HQ
Retail HQ module allows to configure and administer retail channels as brick & mortar stores, call centers and online stores. Retailer can manage assortments and product selections offered at the stores based on various criteria like region, demographics etc. Retail workers can be assigned roles and privileges. The module allows to manage kits, catalog of products attached to channels with expiry dates control if necessary, pricing, discount, and promotion functionality. Replenishment requirements are also supported with push, cross-docking and replenishment rules. Loyalty program management is available as well as gift card management.
Inquiries functionality provides data on retail transactions, sales, posted statements etc. Periodic tasks include data updates and technical level communication with retail channels.

Retail POS (traditional and modern)
Dynamic AX for Retail provides Point of Sales (POS) program built on .Net framework. POS administrator can customize look and feel - font color graphics of the user interface.
POS application can be role tailored. Store manager can access store reports and real-time sales data. POS solution allows to processes sales orders and codes and cash draw. It provides bar codes, printing of receipts, amount and tax calculations, shift close, gift cards, loyalty transactions and other functions. From back-office perspective, it proves inventory receipting, reporting and stock count.
Along with traditional POS, new in Dynamics AX 2012 R3 is Modern POS app for PCs, tablets and smartphones which allows to process sales transactions, orders and daily operations including some inventory management within the store. It can also be used in conversations with customer - clienteling using product catalog details and Bing maps integration for store locations etc. Modern POS must connect to Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail server which performs business logic and processing.

E-Commerce and Social Features
Online store is one of the retail channels published on SharePoint site from Dynamics AX. Categories and hierarchies are driven out of Dynamic AX and mapped to other channels to enable consistency. Functionality includes shopping card capability, real-time inventory updates, sharing on social networks directly from Web site, pick-up at the store, map integration with Bing to find store and many other solutions.

Commerce Data Exchange (CDX) 
Channel database (or store database) holds data that is required for retail transactions while master data is sent to channels from Dynamics AX database. CDX is a synchronization service that transmits data among head office, stores and channels. Data distribution is asynchronous while in some scenarios require real time communication between Dynamics AX and the channel which is also supported in CDM architecture.

Commerce Run Time (CRT) 
The Microsoft Dynamics AX CRT enables multi-channel commerce capability and provides retail content and services in a scalable way. CRT addresses the requirement to manage different channels with same tool via same logic and integration. It can also serve to innovate with new capabilities on the same platform.

Enterprise Portal for Retail
The Web portal and can be set up for access over the Internet to serve retail team for sales reporting, inventory monitoring, receiving and picking. Retail employees can also view retail products and related detailed information as well as access read-only price adjustments and discounts. Various sales reports, such as sales by hour, worker, store, performance by product, sales or retail category are available. Furthermore, staff can perform stock account over the Internet, receive purchase or transfer orders and complete outgoing transfer orders

Retail Hardware Station
Retail Hardware Station is another novelty in Dynamics AX 2012 R3 providing services for Modern POS clients, peripherals as printers, payment devices to communicate with Dynamics AX.

Introduction to Indoor Positioning Solution - Beacons

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Beacons as a new technology has emerged relatively recently in the mobile and retail industries. It has attracted attention among innovative entrepreneurs, developers and retailers due to its very precise location based capabilities to engage with mobile device users such as customers at retail stores or other places. While bringing with it potentially disruptive nature, it is a bit surprising to note that general awareness of this impactful technology is still relatively low. In this article we will introduce at high level what it is and how it works.

Basic Idea

Indoor positioning with beacons is about the right message at the right time and place to mobile device user. While GPS is well known mainstream geo-positioning technology used in mobile devices, it is actually not fully accurate when it comes to exact location in buildings, floors and layouts. When you are in a city, tall buildings distort the satellite signal. Wi-Fi also can be used for Wi-Fi enabled devices but has not been particularly successful in precise indoor positioning either. To address the challenges, beacon technology have been introduced. Apple’s iBeacon is part of iOS7 (and later versions) and also available on Android devices (not all). This new technology uses Bluetooth Low Energy and allows to place beacons (devices) in various indoor locations to transmit data for location based advertising and notifications. iBeacon can be iOS device or purposefully made beacon devices by various vendors.

From consumer or user perspective there are various use cases and applications. For example, customer downloads retailer’s app and walks into store, then notification (voucher etc.) can be sent when customer is standing on exact location (e.g. aisle) and/or hits a specific profile. Of course, for this to work user has to enable Blue Low Tooth connection on the device. Retailer also shall take into account customer profile and unique needs into consideration to be successful in such campaigns.

Application Scenarios

Applications for beacons can be many and diverse within or outside of retail industry which currently seems to be leading the technology adaptation. Retailer can combine location in the store with demographic and behavioral data of its app user to push well targeted messages or vouchers to the customers. Real-time external data like weather can be taken into account into this communication. Use beacons in retail Omni-channel strategy integrating them with other CRM communication channels.

According to iMore.com, McDonald's trial with beacons in Columbus, GA to guide customers to its stores using Bluetooth LE and an app developed by beacons supplier Piper, has led to increase in sales of McNuggets by roughly 8% in the store. According to Kajsa Dahlberg, Head of Media & Digital at McDonald's Sweden (see presentation at http://www.vmob.co/resources/events/retail-insight-breakfast-ny/recordings/) McDonalds needs to go from mass to personal – called 1-1 communication. By engaging in real-time segmentation, McDonalds can ‘Push’ visitor an offer selected meal offering based on his or her intent, likes lifestyle and location.

There could be plenty of use cases outside of retail – for example, finding your friend in a large, crowded building visiting first time (shopping mall, hospital etc.) or attaching a beacon device to a pet to control (notify you via an app) that it does not go too far from your home.

In museum, when in front of piece of art, beacon technology could trigger information about the exhibit when user stands in from of it. Beacon technology could well fit into so called IoT (Internet of Things) architecture.

Vendors

Apple has been on the forefront with its iBeacon technology. Beacons can be enabled for transmission function in iOS7 (and higher) devices or special beacon devices can be purchased from Apple’s partners, placed in store or other locations and take different form from iPhone or iPad devices. As the industry is picking up, more players are coming into play. PayPal and Qualcomm have announced plans for hardware. Multiple retail focused vendors have included or are planning to include beacons into their retail solution architecture. In the future posts, we will have a closer look into beacon integration with CRM and other mainstream enterprise platforms to enhance consumer experience.

Stack Overflow for Swift is Speedy - 4 Solutions in Less than 50 Min

Apple's Swift is a new programming language and as new development platform or tool it takes time for the community and knowledge base to pick up while the official manuals might not give the necessary depth of insight.
While playing around and actually trying to build a new native mobile app for iPhone, one come across an issue (even seemingly simple task in other programming languages) which does not allow you to move forward and takes unpredictably long time to resolve.
As you cannot find the answer on the Internet or official manuals for Swift, I found posting a question on Stock Overflow to be quite valuable. For an issue i spent long hours of my weekend i received 4 answers in less than 50 minutes while combining  it with other already posted question and answer I was able to resolve the issue and move forward with my first native app for iPhone.