It’s never too late to innovate
It’s hard to keep up with all the new technology these days. I have a hard time just staying current on the new things that Google alone is doing. So it’s no surprise to me when I hear marketers say that they can’t keep up with the Joneses (I spelled that right, here’s proof).
That’s why I was so impressed with the Barnes & Noble iPhone app. Talk about late to the game. Personally I tend to buy from Amazon as much as possible, mostly because I’m a proud Kindle owner, but also because they make it so easy. But looking at this new B&N iPhone app, my habits may change.
First of all, the app runs quickly and seems to do a good job with inventory. But what is extremely compelling is some of the additional features that combine the online/mobile experience with the in-store experience.
They’ve integrated the SNAP functionality that allows you to take a picture of a book and immediately find out information about the book, including reviews and ratings. And of course you can then order the book immediately. Sitting next to a friend that is reading a book you want? Take a picture of the cover and buy it on the spot. Pretty handy. And they include videos of interviews with the author.
They also obviously will tell you the nearest B&N stores, but they also give you the ability to see which ones offer coffee and which offer free wifi.
So while B&N is what, like a year late to the game on this, they still managed to put out a product that is compelling and should prove useful to their customers. Too many companies today feel like if they aren’t the first movers that they might as well focus on other things.
I say if you aren’t first, so what? Take a page out of B&N’s book (pun intended) and listen to your customers, look at what the competition is doing and innovate accordingly.
I prefer the Ricky Bobby motto: “If you're not first, you're last.” :)
While I have an Amazon Prime membership, I still love the experience of killing an hour or two in a Barnes & Noble store. So I'm not sure I'd use this app for ordering, but always nice to know where I can go hang out with some books and Starbucks.
Not to mention that if you are late to the game (assuming it's not too late), you can take advantage of the blunders/learnings of the early adopters, spend less to implement, and then have a better to chance to earn ROI more quickly.
Yep, exactly. You're seeing that with all the Twitter mobile apps, each one is improving upon the last and most likely spending less money to develop each iteration.
Great posting! I completely agree with your statement “if you aren't first, so what?”. You don't always have to be the first in your industry to be innovative, but if you are going to be a runner-up, you should at least be better than what already exists. In this case, I would say that B&N accomplished that and has released an app that may save them from Amazon.
Great posting! I completely agree with your statement “if you aren't first, so what?”. You don't always have to be the first in your industry to be innovative, but if you are going to be a runner-up, you should at least be better than what already exists. In this case, I would say that B&N accomplished that and has released an app that may save them from Amazon.