SEWING 2ND SCREEN STRATEGIES

What would you do to increase your sales by 135% overnight?

It happened by mere chance, but there are lessons to learn from the story I'm about to relate.

Antena3TV, a TV Channel from Spain, is broadcasting a series based on a bestselling novel. It tells the story of Sira, a young lady who earns a living sewing clothes in a tailor shop. The story runs in the 1930s, not the best time framework to explore the posibilities for current products' placement or other traditional media gimmicks. 4 episodes later the series is a big hit: 26% share, +5 million average viewers.  A rebump in sales of the book, as expected, took place everywhere...but something else happened: an unexpected 135% increase in sewing machines sales at Amazon.es

Not 35%... 135% increase, out of nowhere. Regular sales multiplied by 2.35.

Was this jump due to the TV Series? You bet it was! Sales at the unusual 10:00 to 24:00 time frame (the time the show is on) went up 124% in broadcasts days!  This experience would have been IMPOSSIBLE just a few years ago even with e-commerce sites like Amazon already present and running. Mobile makes the real difference. Consummers are watching TV shows alongside their smartphones and tablets.

There are, of course, market situations that helped this success. The economic crisis in spain is making more people refurbish their clothes or think about starting their own clothing repair businesses. But up untill the show started, sewing equipment sales were far from booming.

Buying habits are shifting from instore to online. Mobile was the piece missing to complete the e-commerce puzzle.You better get your company ready for this, or the opportunities will fly away from you, regardless on how good your product is.

What can we learn from this situation?

BEWARE OF THE 2ND SCREEN

Don't understimate the power of mobile. We're witnessing a cultural shift deeper than the one that made us switch from neighborhood small businesses to big stores and shopping malls. People are finding mobile shopping easier and more convenient than instore experiences.

IMPULSE BUYING IS A 24/7 HABIT

Who would have thought people would buy sewing machines on impulse? You better make your products available for sale 24/7 or sales will be missed.

MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AVAILABLE AT AMAZON

Amazon is not a single store. Is a conglomerate of different companies selling under the same umbrella. Opening an online store requires substantial effort and resources. Consider the possibility of selling through Amazon´s infrastructure.

SEIZE THE MOMENT

Evaluate events happening and to come. They may have hidden opportunities for unexpected sales you may take advantage from. Use Social media to newsjack.

BRAND AWARENESS MATTERS, BUT PRODUCT AVAILABILITY MATTERS MORE

Singer, the sewing machines' brand featured in the tv show, and probably the best positioned in the mind of the consumer, was the one making more sales, but there was a shortage of product at the Amazon.es store, and delivery dates for the Singer popular items started to push further in time. Numbers shown that people bought other brands prioritizing delivery dates over product choice.

Mobile means now. Consumers are getting smarter and once they make a decision, they want the chance to get instant gratification. Sew your strategy to the 2nd screen. Take advantage of it or your competitors will.

BLACKBERRY 10: AND ON THE 3rd OS.... IT RESURRECTED

(This Post was originally written in spanish for http://adictoalmovil.com)

No more waiting! Time has come and it’s here with a sizeable jump of three, no less, operating system numbers in a leap.  Adapting still to OS7 and its very juicy innovations, (voice over wifi among BlackBerry users included), BlackBerry enthusiasts were jumping head over heels when, last November, RIM announced BlackBerry 10 to be presented on Jan 30th, 2013.

Downhill curve in market share, distressed at the continued loss of their once legendarily loyal customer base, many were the rumors about the future of RIM. A few months ago I had a conversation with two "BlackBerry Evangelists" about to give up on RIM.  Both speculated of being taken over by some giant internet mogul (Jeff Bezos’ comments about evaluating the possibility of Amazon stepping upon the mobile hardware business, emerged strong in the conversation).  They even told me that the only way for RIM to survive would be to surrender to the siren song of Android and become one of a long list of manufacturers that leverages the Google mobile operating system.

In my opinion, this movement would have been a mistake, a poison pill under the tongue, treacherous knife stuck in the heart of RIM’s corporate culture. An irreversible leap into oblivion in shameful disgrace. Not adaptation, but rendition. The killing of RIMs most valuable asset: its independence.

BlackBerry’s new platform 10 hits high score on its basics:

1.       Security and Privacy: its encryption system is nonnegotiable. The Blackberry ecosystem seems bulletproof in regard to privacy, one of the most valued properties by members of the lucrative and very attractive segment of business executives.

2.       Unique User Experience The very rapid learning curve BlackBerry system remains intact. Now they’ve combined it with a pleasantly cool, and impressively zappy online browsing.

3.       Strong relations with Mobile Operators WorldWide: the use of its own servers relieves operators from tons of traffic management they can profit upon in addition to its chunk of BB plans.  

The outcome from this move seems very encouraging. I strongly believe there is a very profitable market waiting for what RIM is offering, only time will tell us if this resurrection attempt came on time to save one of mobile’s most iconic enterprises.