February 27, 2014

At Your Convenience

Despite so much saturation in the marketplace, there are a few brands doing things differently by acting as a disrupter and defying the norm. Rather than doing the same old thing, these are the fearless, the risk takers, and the innovative, who take radical ideas and tailor them to reality. Companies like Zappos with their new self-governing structure and Amazon's mobile warehouse robots, are just a few of the businesses challenging the current industry.

photo via USA Today

Pop-up retail shops and restaurants really aren't anything new but they are becoming more and more common in airports as of late. Not only do they offer a chance to test out new brands and concepts, but they provide relevant merchandise and speciality gifts that coincide with the season. Just last October JetBlue hosted a three day Farmers Market at JFK and as we mentioned previously the ethically-minded website Zady set up a temporary shop at LaGuardia for the holidays.


While most offline companies are moving online, Net-a-Porter is doing things a bit backwards. The e-tailer which deems itself as less of a retailer and more like a media company, feels it is missing the most basic component, a print magazine. With such a global following, the magazine called Porter, will be distributed in 60 countries and is giving Net-a-Porter a chance to partner with brands that have been apprehensive about selling their products to them, like Chanel and Dior. Their debut issue which will contain 65% editorial content will not only drive traffic to their e-commerce site, but also to those of its advertisers as well. By taking this omni-channeling approach, the company hopes to expand their audience and generate advertising revenue in the process.

photo via Mashable

Sure we have the luxury of shopping at the click of a finger anywhere, anytime but living the busy lives that we do, how do we avoid all those pesky missed delivery notifications? Now with the new delivery service Parcel, New Yorkers can shop online with ease and receive packages at a time that is most convenient for them. Basically, Parcel gives you a unique address to one of their facilities which you enter as the shipping destination for your purchases. Once they receive your package, you are notified via text to schedule a delivery anywhere between the hours of 7pm and 11pm for just $5 a package.

photo via springwise.com

There's even an app that can make all your tickets go away. Fixed enables you to take a photo of your tickets, upload them on the app, and have them challenged in court by a team of experts. If you win, you pay the team 25% of your ticket and if not, well you're stuck paying the fine but what do you really have to lose? Unfortunately, it's only available in San Francisco right now but hopefully will be expanding to a city near you soon.

The keyword here seems to be convenience and what's more accommodating than ordering Taco Bell via text? While that may take until the end of the year, one thing is for sure it's all about learning to adapt to change and evolving with it. We are mobile users that are constantly on the go so we look to things that are user friendly and make our lives a little bit easier in the long run.

Today we'd like to leave you with some of the top names to keep in mind for the rest of the year so please check out Fast Company's list of "The World's Most Innovative Companies in 2014."

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