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Enjoy the new site!
While they do have a nice display of tasty goodies, the fact that they are behind glass makes me think that I will be delayed in my busy day. I would rather grab a plastic wrapped goodie than require barista to open the display, use a sanitary wax paper tissue to grab my food, and bag it for me. On the contrary, leaning too closely to "fast-food" would deminish the value of Starbucks brand. I guess its a delicate balance.
UPDATE: Don't forget to visit the Coffee Blog!
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Wall Street is watching the sales during this year's holiday season with extra attention. Consumer spending remains one healthy element of our economy and our spending habits during the gift giving season is always indicative of our financial health. So what are retailers and manufacturers doing to separate themselves from the competition and raise consumer awareness of their products and services? As I'm sure you know, most stores and malls do a great job of decorating for the holidays, but in my humble opinion, manufacturers aren't doing enough to work with retailers to also decorate product displays.
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This idea is nothing new, Amazon has something similar, and J Crew or Banana Republic had done something like it in the past. But their implementations of it are nowhere nearly as good as the one used by Target. Here's why I like the one used by Target:
First off, Target's is user friendly because it highlights the offer of more information when you move your mouse over the item you are interested in. A new button, "Quick Info" appears, but that's all. If you move your mouse away, it disappears. If you click on the button, then you get more information. Contrast this with Amazon's rollover function which explodes a new window - surprise! Here's something you didn't ask for! Ugh.
The new window that is "opened" when you click the "Quick Info" button can be repositioned on the screen so if its is obstructing so other items in the category, you can move it to see what you are looking for. Just grab the top of the window with your mouse and reposition it. The new window also includes a link to the complete page on the item, as well as links to purchase the item or add it to various shopping lists.
Despite the fact that this feature is "really cool", it uses standard technology which passes my "obscure browser" test. I use the Camino browser on a Macintosh computer, and while this browser is based off the same technology that powers the popular Netscape and FireFox browsers, some cutting edge code has a hard time rendering in it, mainly because it hasn't been thoroughly tested. Nice work Target, I'm impressed!
]]>However, the temptation to overwhelm customers with too much information is a very real possibility. When that happens, the brain starts to filter out the "noise" and the opportunity to communicate is lost. However digital displays are ultimately used for in-store merchandising efforts, they are getting implemented and we'll see them more and more throughout our shopping arenas. My involvement with digital displays is on the technical side, not the content side. In this way, I feel that there are some exciting developments on the horizon:
If you know of any novel digital merchandising systems such as kiosks or wall displays, give us a shout!
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Nice, huh?
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