i3 - September/October 2017 - 39

Policy

they are five miles from many homes,
a pizza weighs less than five pounds and their
biggest cost is labor. But it is unlikely to be
a game changer for deliveries any time soon.

Q How can smaller retailers compete?
A Any type of value-added services or

bundles like installation or post-transaction
advice can be really valuable. Take Sur
La Table - they make money off of their
cooking classes. The Apple Store got
a lot of traction with film editing classes.
Stuff like that is value added and people
are willing to pay for it. It also drives people
to the store and is a way to upsell - if you
want to take this great photo, then you
need to buy these lenses. With the amount
of creationism out there, romancing and
giving people classes on how to set up
a blog or whatever is new - for example,
a class on understanding Snap Chat
for consumers. These are opportunities,
wherever there is a gap between the

knowledge base that people have, an
electronics store could step in to that space.
It would not be that hard to pull together.

Q Could they partner with others?
A Any type of alternative revenue stream

is valuable. It could be anything from hanging
a big flat-screen on the outside of your store
and advertising on it to ads in the store itself.
Rooftops could have solar panels and they
can sell the energy back to the city or even
have a rooftop garden. I think anything and
everything can monetize their physical real
estate. If you have excess space you could
sublease some of the space to startups
or provide free real estate in exchange for
them acting as your onsite geek squad.

Q Are there other opportunities?
A A makerspace is an opportunity because
there is definitely interest in robotics, code
and engineering. How can retailers take
a piece of that? If I were in the CE industry,

I would do some ethnographic research at
local schools and visit their makerspace.
I would spend time with Lego League clubs
that have engineering for kids. What are their
parents spending money on? Is there an
education adjacency that these companies
can think about? Because now they are
heavily dependent on the next innovation
coming out of Apple and the next TV, but
they could rethink their business model. An
industry to look at is the college bookstore.
Digital media killed college textbooks so they
needed to find an alternative revenue stream.
They went into licensed apparel and then
started to sublease space, and most are also
authorized Apple resellers. They have cafes,
banks and many lease space to Verizon for
cell towers. They went from 80 percent
books to 30 percent books. I would challenge retailers to look at what is next because
more electronics are being commoditized
and sold online or being sold on Amazon.
Where are the best opportunities to pivot?

November 7 | The Rainbow Room | New York City
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have paved the way for the products and services that have changed our lives. Join the
Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™ as we recognize the 2017 honorees for their
contributions to the tech industry.
For more information, visit CTA.tech/halloffame
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i3 - September/October 2017

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