Tag: amazon

Retailers in Canada might have trouble engaging mobile consumers

Canadian retailers may be in for a turbulent holiday season. Price wars and consumers skittish about mobile and e-commerce may put retailers under significant strain this year during the months of November and December. The growing prevalence of mobile commerce, in particular, may make it harder for some retailers to find traction with many people. These retailers have been investing heavily in their mobile infrastructure, but they may not see returns due to the fact that many consumers are not yet comfortable with the idea of shopping online with a mobile device.

WalMart sees troubling trends emerge in the retail market

WalMart has big plans for the holiday season, as usual, but the company notes that it is seeing trends emerge in the global market that could be trouble for the retail industry. According to David Cheesewright, president of WalMart’s international division, growing competition from companies like Amazon may present problems for traditional retailers. Traditional retailers are having price skirmishes with online companies, and consumers are beginning to favor the latter because of the digital services they offer.

Consumers comfortable with mobile shopping are visiting physical stores less frequently

Many people are still uncomfortable about mobile commerce, but those that are not are spending more money when shopping online from a mobile device. Companies like Amazon are taking steps to provide these people with an enjoyable online shopping experience and as consumers become more involved in digital commerce, they are beginning to shop online more than they visit physical stores.

It may be too late for retailers to adopt mobile initiatives to connect with consumers before the holidays

Mobile commerce has proven to be quite powerful during the holiday season. Shopping from a mobile device helps people avoid long lines and they can benefit from having products delivered to their homes relatively quickly. Retailers that have avoided the mobile space, or have a relatively small presence therein, could find it difficult to connect with consumers in a significant way, and it may be too late for them to introduce effective mobile initiatives before the holidays are here.

There, various types of tech to be used as household devices is also going to be creation.

Amazon will soon be growing the size of its mysterious Lab126, its hardware operations unit, so that it will be able to develop and test out various wearable technology and household devices that will be created with the Internet of Things in mind.

The massive online marketplace will be boosting its hardware development hiring by 27 percent.

Reuters reported that this will bring nearly 4,000 additional people to the company and will direct $55 million more in funding to the company’s Lab126 division over the next half decade. That media source stated that it had discovered Amazon’s intentions through a “little known government document.”

Lab126 has been the source of a range of highly popular mobile technology devices sold by Amazon.

For example, that department was what created the exceptionally popular Kindle ereader device, as well as the much more recent release of the Fire Phone smartphone. The media reports on this expansion of the company’s Lab126 reflects a very strong focus that it is placing on the Internet of Things, and that it is even in the midst of coming up with a WiFi connected gadget that would give consumers the ability to order everyday household items from Amazon, simply by pressing a button.

According to Reuters, the government document that it found also reveals Amazon’s intentions to come up with a range of different connected products that would, for example, alert consumers that it is time to schedule regular maintenance for various household appliances, or that they should be replacing their filters (which can, of course, then be ordered from the online marketplace).

As the company has seen a drop of nearly 20 percent in its shares, this year, and following disappointing sales figures of the Fire phone, Amazon appears to be looking to other mobile technology efforts to help it to remain relevant and to keep up its competition against Google and Apple, which are also looking into smart devices to be used in the average household for the Internet of Things.