Becoming e-Adaptable

During the past ten years, we’ve all experienced how the Internet has changed shopping for the average consumer. After all, there is not only Black Friday after Thanksgiving for price-conscious consumers but also Cyber Monday for shoppers searching for deals from their desks. And what happened to the computer store in the strip mall down the street? Retailers now call their on-site stores brick-and-mortar locations because Web sites are holding their own by bringing in substantial revenue. In fact, Circuit City brick-and-mortar stores recently closed, but www.CircuitCity.com is still alive and kicking.

As the Internet and e-commerce changes the face of shopping, traditional media is adapting to keep up and stay connected to consumers. Have you ever ordered pizza from your TV or interacted with a magazine ad online? Maybe you used your cell phone instead of clipping coupons from the Sunday newspaper. If you haven’t already, you soon will, as broadcast and print media start becoming more “e-adaptable” to please consumers and retailers alike.

New Take on TV Dinners

November 2008 was a monumental month in couch-potato history.
Partnered with TiVo, Domino’s Pizza simplified the ordering process and brought consumers just a few remote-control clicks away from a hot pizza at their doorsteps.

TiVo subscribers now have the option of using their TiVo remotes to order pizza and other items featured on the Domino’s menu in the Music, Photos, & More section in the TiVo menu. As a proactive step to further drive sales, viewers are also served pop-up advertisements when fast-forwarding through Domino’s commercials. The pop-up asks the viewer if he or she would like to order a pizza, then directs them to the Domino’s TiVo menu. Customers can also track the status of their orders through the TiVo interface.

Other companies are also tapping in to interactive TV for their e-commerce needs. In March 2009, Fandango.com (owned by Comcast cable provider) launched an application with Dish Network where customers could purchase movie tickets using an interactive onscreen interface with their remote controls.

Where Can I Find That Table?

Have you ever admired a table, couch, or paint color while reading an article in your favorite magazine, but you couldn’t find any details on the product pictured?

As a service to both advertisers and consumers alike, Meredith Corporation is using “See It, Find It, Get It” Web sites to showcase editorial and ads from their magazines Traditional Home and Midwest Living. On these sites, you can browse pages in your favorite issue and then roll over the products (e.g., table, couch, faucet) featured in the editorial photos or advertisements to view the names and/or specs of the products. You can either order the product online or view the nearest retail locations where the product can be purchased.

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Look below for larger images of the “See It, Find It, Get It” site, or click the links below to visit the Traditional Home or Midwest Living’s sites:

http://th.seeitfinditgetit.com/

http://mwl.seeitfinditgetit.com/

Traditional Home Editorial Page Online

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Put Down the Scissors! FSIs Go Online

Many of us have childhood memories of mom in her robe on Sunday morning, cutting coupons out of the paper. However, the days of printed FSIs (free-standing inserts) may soon be gone due to up-and-coming paperless coupon companies like Zavers and CellFire.

Founded in 2006, Zavers.com provides online manufacturer coupons via its homepage, retailer Web sites, e-mails, mobile Web sites, and various other online outlets. A convenient resource for consumers, Zavers also allows manufacturers to instantly track, measure, and optimize incentives based on performance using its DIME technology (Digital-Incentive Management Engine).

Also launched in 2006, CellFire is another paperless couponing company, which recently added Tom Thumb and Randall’s supermarket chains to its retail roster. Similar to Zavers, CellFire users can save/store online coupons on their grocery stores’ customer loyalty cards or their cell phones. At checkout, the loyalty cards automatically apply the coupon savings or users show cashiers the coupons saved on their phones (which include coupon codes).

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– Contributed byChristy Schmidt