The internet and its vast adoption have now had a huge impact on our shopping and consumer habits. It provides more choice than ever before when it comes to shopping around. If you’re going to get your car insured, there are many sites that directly compare providers of insurance so that you don’t have to.
There are also plenty of sites that specialise in allowing you and other consumers to leave honest reviews on products or services that are offered by businesses, no matter what country they’re in. In fact, the sole purpose of some of these websites is to help you, aid you in making informed decisions, and hold businesses to account when it comes to bad reviews to explain themselves and resolve their issues.
A lot of choice out there
And if you’re looking to make a choice between one business and another, a review can have a huge sway in eventually helping you decide which is the best one to choose. A fine example is a website called casinos.com that allows users to leave reviews on both online casinos and on the top slot games. And in the casino industry, in particular, competition is so fierce amongst some of the top brands in the industry at the moment that having positive reviews can help them gain more players, so it’s essential they provide good service and an entertaining experience.
The consequences of negative reviews
Put yourself in a typical consumer’s shoes. If you go to a review website and see a raft of bad reviews for a particular store or a particular website, this immediately throws up warning flags. If a business has thousands of reviews left and there’s the odd low rating that can be looked past, but when you notice trends or the vast majority are negative reviews, you won’t consider joining that site. It’s like the internet’s version of word of mouth, and so it’s vitally important that online casinos and businesses in other industries ensure that they have support structures in place to help consumers and online users, rather than them resorting to leaving a bad review.
How many people will look online for a review?
To put into numbers just how influential reviews are, a recent study found that 93% of customers will look at an online review before going ahead and spending money online. That is an absolutely huge majority. And so, essentially, if you have shocking reviews for your business online, on average, about 93% of your potential customers are going to be able to see these negative reviews, and this will more than likely ensure that these are lost sales where they go to one of your competitors. A lot of the top eCommerce sites such as Amazon also allow customers to leave reviews on products following their purchase directly on the site so that users don’t have to go to other sources in order to discover other peoples feedback.
A digital form of word-of-mouth
A lot of our consumer behaviour is influenced by what others think. Reviews are just the internet equivalent of a personal recommendation from a friend. You may have had it before where you’ve asked either on social media or directly to friends or family about a recommendation for a certain service, and you’ve gone ahead and chosen their recommendation due to your affiliation and pre-existing relationship with that particular person. And although you don’t know the people directly who leave reviews, there is no doubt that if there is a large quantity, it can certainly influence a purchasing decision.
Reviews of products
Although you’re looking for online reviews, they are only available on online websites. A lot of people will also share reviews in video format on places such as YouTube. This is popular amongst electronics such as smartphones and watches, and a common method is called unboxing, whereby they will show you the features of a certain product after unboxing it.
There are also a lot of blog websites where someone will blog about their experience or their personal views and opinions on a certain service, subject, or product. This is also a very popular resource for people to look at before potentially reaching a decision on whether to buy a product.
In Summary
From what we’ve discussed today, it’s abundantly clear that reviews can and do have a huge influence on our consumer culture and behavior. They help a lot in helping us make informed decisions as consumers prior to making a decision to purchase either a product or a service. There are also many resources on the internet that can help you find reviews that cover almost every single industry that you can imagine. For the Silo, Diane Hutton.
Retail is on the precipice of a renaissance, which will be characterized by great advancement and economic rebirth.
To get there, businesses need to start by acknowledging that no matter where they operate in the world there is a pressing need to exercise commercial discipline. And a recognition that the metrics of yesterday’s retail will not fuel the growth of tomorrow. However, this non-negotiable commercial pragmatism must be balanced with an appreciation that while exciting technology innovation still dominates C-suite and elevator conversations, the next big evolution is an imminent renaissance of hyper-experiential retail.
The Commerce Department in the US announced that consumer spending rose in February by its biggest margin in a year, while in the UK inflation was at its lowest level in two years as retailers compete for customers, here in Canada RBC reports that “consumer spending data marked a stronger start to Q2 than we expected. But one month does not make a trend. We are cautiously optimistic that consumer activity will improve this year- as adjustment to higher rates hits households less hard in 2024.”. However, whether conditions are favorable or challenging, brands simply must perform, and perform well, in an environment where there are more competitors than ever before.
Beyond this, consumers can easily be described as fickle
For example, if they are not happy with one experience they’ll move on and there are dozens, hundreds, and if we think globally, thousands of other brands waiting in line to capitalize on their spend. While many consumers are traveling far and wide to experience the best from all around the world, TV and content across platforms is resetting what consumers want, need, and expect from brands by exposing them to new lifestyles and ways of living.
An example of how this brand we all know is re-inventing how customers experience their products…..museum exhibition style!
Retail dominated at CES earlier this year, and almost all conversations revolved around artificial intelligence (AI) technology to drive seamless and frictionless retail, personalization, and much more. Technology is enabling user experience that wouldn’t have been imagined a decade ago. However, rather than being seen as an end, technology should be understood as the means for giving consumers what they want.
The NRF’s Retail’s Big Show this year showcased the best of technology, yet some key themes to emerge were that customer interaction in-store is as imperative as the transaction and that Generation Alpha, while not yet capable of earning money, has immense influence on their parents who do. While these true digital natives are technologically adept, they value in-store and physical experiences. Do not for a second underestimate their influence on their parents.
Gen Z, the first generation to have had a smartphone their entire lives, are also known to be digitally savvy.
While generalizations across entire generations are never helpful, it is widely agreed that this cohort researches brands and products online but – and here’s a surprise to those focusing only on technology – according to global management consulting firm Kearney, 81% of Gen Z prefers to shop in stores, while more than half of them do so because they say it helps them disconnect from the digital world.
All the signs are there for retailers willing to see them. Our two youngest generations are telling us what they want. What does this look like in practice? Amazon launched its Just Walk Out technology a mere six years ago, accompanied by hyper-advanced ceiling-mounted cameras, shelf sensors and algorithms. Amazon has announced it is removing the technology because it alienated shoppers who felt that a trip to the grocery store felt like they were stepping into a high-tech vending machine. This speaks directly to what consumers want from an in-store experience.
Retail’s next big opportunity is hyper-experiential retail, and we are at the precipice of this explosion of customer experience driving consumer choice and loyalty because of a confluence of a few big forces at play.
Shifting of the tectonic plates
The first is technology, which is enabling innovative and effective experiential retail. Another is that as the pandemic fades into memory, people want to be out, they want to spend moments with other people outside of their homes. According to insights from Canvas8 looking into what they call experience hunters, 58% of consumers believe that immersive experiences will influence their next purchase. In other words, six out of ten people place a high value on how retail makes them feel.
Artificial Intelligence will be used to supplement customers shopping experiences.
The third is that there is no longer a clear line between where retail starts and where it ends. Almost everything is a retail experience now, no matter if you’re at an airport, a fuel station, or commuting – retail is everywhere, meaning there are hundreds of different competition points for retailers across millions of different journeys. The last big force is that e-commerce has slipped into a holding pattern. Effective, efficient, and convenient, but boring and predictable. Influencers have taken over product choice even leading the conversations on behalf of brands. But consumers want more fun, they are seeking discovery – the magic of retail past.
This all has very real permutations for brands that have built their market presence on legacy retail experiences. They need to innovate quickly to keep up with pioneers who will keep raising the bar of experiential shopping. In addition to this they will be competing directly with startup brands and businesses that were direct-to-consumer, but are moving into the realm of retail experience without the baggage of the past. This area alone will likely see exponential growth in the next few years.
From purpose to experience
Defining brand purpose has been front and center for a number of years, which is right because purpose is foundational. However, purpose doesn’t tell you everything about how a customer will experience a brand. In light of this, brands will be challenged to define how their brand is experienced across all dimensions. In other words, not just their voice, not just the words that they’re using or their personality and identity, but how they’re physically coming to life, how they’re meeting customers at the important moments across the retail journey and creating value, intrigue, excitement, attraction, and desire.
This type of discovery is crucial for brands to drive longer-term loyalty in a hyper-competitive landscape. It starts with dimensionalizing the brand, in other words thinking about how it should look, feel, sound, smell, and taste – this is the cornerstone of an experience vision. Once a brand has done this it needs to be precise in how it chooses the moments where it wants to explode into life for consumers. Much of this precision will come from a deep understanding of consumer insights and experience barriers and how to overcome them, but also from creativity, imagination and innovation – a true path to differentiation.
Agencies and consultants need to help retailers by mapping out a diagnostic journey of consumers. This enables brands to understand a consumer’s entire journey, not just within an experience, but within the moments and choices leading up to an experience. How do they make choices, what drives them, what motivates them, what distracts or pushes them away from brands? When do they make these choices?
The best technology can aggregate multiple data sources to help diagnose brand issues as well as predict where and why brands are losing consumers along their journeys. It is important for retailers to find answers about where they are not maximizing consumer desire in key moments. However, landing on the right answers requires asking the right questions.
The seeds to these questions were planted at CES earlier this year, when some of the biggest retailers and tech giants in the world made it abundantly clear that their vision of sustainable, long-term growth lay in marrying technology with humanity, signaling a return to appreciating the value of humans and how we feel. We all know what experiential retail is, and the world is awash with various case studies of highly successful campaigns. Expect this to turn up a notch to become hyper-experiential. Especially that according to Canvas8, quoting Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, 8 in 10 people globally are willing to pay more for elevated shopping experiences.
Genuine human connection and personal interactions are going to drive retail growth, innovation, and brand loyalty this year and beyond. Brands need a plan to thrive in this renaissance of hyper-experiential retail. The rules of the past aren’t going to work in the new era of modern retailing where consumers are telling us what they want, we just need to listen, see around the corner and bravely walk through the door. For the Silo, Rhonda Hiatt
Rhonda is the global CEO at Clear, part of M&C Saatchi. Featured image: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan Italy- using historic storefronts and buildings in newly realized enclosed mall retail spaces.
“Libraries are our friends” said famed writer Neil Gaiman. Katharine Hepburn once asked “what in the world would we do without our libraries?” When last polled about a decade ago in 2011, Toronto was home to ninety-eight public libraries and two book mobiles; with approximately thirty thousand programs hours and more than 19 million in person visits.
Despite the seeming popularity of the time honored library, there have been very legitimate concerns about the decline of the library in our digitized world. The cynical pronouncement from the Annoyed Librarian blogger is that no one will even notice as libraries vanish because people will be “too busy renting ebooks from Amazon”.
Is there a future for Libraries?
Books are being replaced with ebooks and the other popular resource, DVDs, are also rapidly being replaced by online movie providers. Publishing companies are not easily persuaded to turn over ebooks (as Libraries offer their use for free, and it’s easier to control the distribution of e-resources than print media which can be obtained anywhere), so although Libraries attempt to acquire as many ebooks as possible, this isn’t always easy.
Other sources argue that if people believe the internet is making libraries obsolete, it’s because they haven’t been in a library recently.
The reality is that libraries, like so many public institutions, have adapted to new digitized world.
Book circulation may have declined, but the Library now offers a wider diversity of services. Libraries offer free wi-fi, public computers for personal use, an assortment of programs for all age groups, Library accounts accessible online, and even offer services such as income tax filing assistance and computer classes for seniors. For the Silo, Charity Blaine.
Criminals continue to impersonate well-known brands to trick people into giving up their personal information.
According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN team, Crédit Agricole, a French financial group, was by far the most used brand in phishing attacks in H1 2021. The brand was linked with 17,755 unique phishing URLs, followed by social media giant Facebook with 17,338 and Microsoft with 12,777.
The figures are based on Phisher’s Favorite Top 25 H1 2021 report by Vade, which looks at the 25 most impersonated brands in phishing attacks from January 1, 2021, to June 30, 2021.
Multi-platform messaging service provider WhatsApp is the second social media brand to make the top ten list. It was taken advantage of in 8,727 phishing attacks. Meanwhile, French bank La Banque Postale occupies the fifth spot with 7,180 attacks.
Other brands in the top ten list include multinational telecoms company Orange (4,047), the world’s largest online retailer Amazon (3,501), multibillion-dollar media, entertainment, and communications company Comcast (3,116), digital payment service provider PayPal (2,601), and American national bank Chase (2,537).
Most phishing assaults were perpetrated in Brazil, followed by Russia and Indonesia.
Financial brands were criminals’ favorite
Generally, cybercriminals choose highly-trusted brands in their phishing campaigns. However, brands in certain industries were more favored than others.
Financial service brands were particularly popular in phishing attempts due to the rise in digital payments and growing reliance on online banking during the pandemic. They accounted for 36% of URL phishing attacks in H1 2021.
Cybercriminals spoofed well-known financial brands such as Crédit Agricole, La Banque Postale, PayPal, Chase, Wells Fargo, Square, HSBC, and Banque Populaire to lure out sensitive information from unsuspecting victims.
Social media companies were also heavily impacted. Social media brand impersonation accounted for over a quarter (26%) of all brand phishing attacks in the first half of this year. Apart from Facebook and WhatsApp, Instagram and LinkedIn were common choices for criminals.
Next up is the cloud sector. Cloud companies like Microsoft, Netflix, Adobe, and DocuSign were involved in 17% of URL phishing attacks. Meanwhile, 11% of phishing assaults targeted e-commerce and logistics companies, such as Amazon, DHL, Rakuten, Apple, and eBay.
The remaining 10% of brands spoofed in URL phishing attacks were internet and telecommunication companies, such as Orange, Comcast, Yahoo, SFR (9%), as well as government organizations (1%).
Tips to avoid phishing scams
Keep your browser up to date. Look out for browser updates. They are released regularly and may contain security patches for vulnerabilities that were discovered on the browser. Cybercriminals often launch attacks to exploit known security vulnerabilities. Therefore it is essential to install any browser updates as soon as they become available.
Inspect the website’s URL. Carefully inspect the website’s URL before taking any action. Criminals use visually similar characters such as lower case “L” and capital “I” to deceive people into thinking they are on a legitimate website.
Look for an SSL certificate. Make sure the portal address starts with HTTPS (not with HTTP) and has a green padlock symbol before the web address. This means that the website has an SSL certificate, and the connection is encrypted.
Beware of grammar mistakes. Scammers rarely hire professional writers to check their copy-cat website’s content for errors. If a website is riddled with spelling mistakes, there is a high chance it is not legitimate.
Check if the website has been flagged. You can use URL checkers to see if the website has already been flagged. You can find many tools for this purpose by searching “Check URL safety” in Google.
Use Tracker Blocker. Take advantage of the Atlas VPN Tracker Blocker tool, which stops third-party trackers and blocks malicious websites for a safer browsing experience.
Smart Speakers 101 The trendy devices can help you with everything from appointment reminders to grocery shopping lists to playing your favorite music and podcasts. It’s that last item that has the radio world excited. Find out why all the buzz is good news not only for broadcasters but also importantly for you.
A recent trend has shown an increase in radio listenership through popular smart speakers such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa. So what can broadcasters do to take advantage of this trend? Steve Goldstein of Amplifi Media and Sonic Ai aims to help.
A broadcaster by trade, most recently as EVP at Saga Communications, Steve saw a shift to on-demand content, and in 2015 launched Amplifi, a firm focused on developing on-demand audio—the intersection of podcasting and broadcasting. Earlier this year, Steve partnered with Jacobs Media on Sonic Ai, who develops smart speaker skills (more on skills later) for podcasters and broadcasters.
So what is it about smart speakers that make it easier for people to listen to radio? Steve explains, “There are a number of factors. For starters, the number of radios in the home has been on a steady decline. By some estimates, two-thirds of homes do not have radios. Generationally it’s even fewer.” Steve says the notion that it’s a choice between a radio and something else isn’t really true anymore – in some homes, there is no radio.
While it may be hard for those of us in the broadcast industry to imagine, the smartphone has replaced the radio and clock radio in many homes. “The smartphone is an entertainment hub,” Steve says. “It’s where people listen to music, get the news, watch videos, and so on. It’s transitioned from a telephone to a full-fledged hub. Part of that hub can be radio, but very little listening to radio occurs through the device.”
Steve says radio stations need to think beyond the transmitter and audio stream. While there are only so many radio stations in a market, there are 100,000 radio stations available via the TuneIn Radio app, streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, and 400,000 podcasts. “You’re talking about an awful lot of audio,” he asserts. “The focus needs to be on-demand content. That’s the trend. The expectation today is that content is available on-demand.” The ability to listen whenever and wherever a listener desires—in the car, while they’re walking the dog, when they’re exercising—is in step with today’s lifestyles.
It’s the same arc we’ve seen on the video side with on-demand services such as Netflix, Hulu, and others. While adoption has been slower on the audio side, the conversion is happening rapidly among millennials.
An Edison Research study from NPR earlier this year showed that somewhere between 7-11% of homes in the U.S. have these devices and the largest group of users is millennials (18-34). And we should expect this trend to continue, especially with the holidays upon us. “We should expect these devices are going to sell like hotcakes over holiday season,” Steve says. He points out that some analysts predict that market penetration may increase to 15-18% by the end of the year.
Smart Speaker
With the trend toward radio and audio consumption through smart devices, it’s apparent the way forward for broadcasters is to develop new ways to connect audiences to their content.
Got Skills?
You’ve probably heard the term skills thrown about when smart speakers are discussed. So what exactly are skills? And how do they relate to broadcast audio consumption via smart speakers? Steve explains. “Think of smart speakers as computers… They don’t know what to do until you teach it. In this case, Amazon refers to the learning aspect of the device as a skill. We develop skills and invocations for the stations we work with.”
As an example, Sonic Ai built a skill for WMMR in Philadelphia called ‘Open MMR.’ The listener hears a greeting from the morning show, then is offered a menu of choices. Listeners can choose to listen to the live stream, the latest podcast of the morning show, or the show’s top feature, called ‘The Bizarre Files’—an 8-12 minute piece of audio you can listen to without sitting through the entire morning show. Steve says WMMR has seen significant traction from listeners who missed the segment on the morning show tuning in to listen at a time convenient to them.
For a top-performing morning show, this is huge; for the first time, there’s a retention strategy, with the ability to repurpose and reuse audio. Additionally, in PPM markets, listening to content within 24 hours of the original broadcast is accretive to a station’s ratings.
Steve points out that when it comes to a radio station’s invocations and skills, getting it right is essential. Depending on the name or phrase used to identify a station, the invocation might not provide the audio stream you’re looking for. Steve cites the phrase ‘Lite FM’ as an example. “If you say ‘Play Lite FM’ as your invocation, you’re going to get Lite FM in Beirut, Lebanon, or an Inspirational station in Albany, NY. So you need to get your name and invocation correct, and register it.”
Steve suggests however that if stations are only doing this for streaming purposes, that’s not enough. “The real opportunity is with on-demand audio, which is what we’re focused on.”
The capabilities of smart speakers are constantly being enhanced, and they’re used for a variety of tasks, but audio is by far the top option. That’s the good news, Steve says, but the challenge for broadcasters is that that audio is coming from a variety of sources. “The linear AM/FM notion is going away, but the notion that broadcasters create relevant content is not, so they need to be more flexible about where content is being consumed, less focused on the transmitter, and more focused on devices that can play audio.”
It’s a new challenge, but with booming sales of smart speakers and potential for a measurable increase in listeners, it’s a challenge broadcasters need to embrace. Steve sums it up. “Broadcasters need to get out of the radio business and into the audio business. That will change your thinking about everything.” For the Silo, Dave Sarkies/Telos Alliance.
What happened when Katya Eames, a 16 year old female dropped out of High School and joined the tech world by enrolling in a coding school?
Joe Eames, her father, is a successful programmer. He believes in empowering youth and females, through technology. He got his daughter involved in some basic exposure to programming and web development. The more she got involved, the more empowered she felt.
Katya was selected to speak at one of the largest recent gatherings of web developers, ng-conf. Following, she attended an event where she taught Governor Herbert of Utah how to code. Katya will complete her high school requirements using an online high school.
What are the thoughts of a high school age female about dropping out of school to attend DevMountain, a coding school in Utah?
What do you think was missing from your High School experience in terms of your personal interests?
What I think was missing from my high school experience was the ability to actually learn, and to try new things and grow at your own pace. It seemed less like they wanted you to learn, and more like they wanted you to pass tests.
Was it difficult to transition to coding school at your age?
It was. In high school it was easy for me to not pay much attention and do my assignments at the last minute but still get relatively good grades. Then at DevMountain, I had to manage myself and had no grades to try and earn. It was definitely very different from high school.
How important was the role of your father, a professional programmer, in helping you make your decision?
He was really important in my decision because he was an example of how successful I can be doing something I love, and he was really supportive of me choosing to do it though it’s not the normal way to go about getting an education.
Are you finding the online, high school learning experience something you can easily handle?
I haven’t started yet, but from what I’ve seen and heard from friends who do online schooling, it seems to be much more my speed than traditional public schooling.
Would you encourage other members of your generation to think about their options while still in high school, and perhaps go into coding?
Definitely. You should explore your options as much as you can in high school, even if it doesn’t seem like something you would like. You never know when you’ll discover something you seem to have a natural talent/understanding for, or something that excites you that you never thought to pay attention to (or especially something you thought only those of the opposite sex are supposed to do).
Do you think that members of your generation are particularly adept with computers and likely prospects for a coding school experience?
I do. Those in my generation, and the younger Millennials, have grown up with technology always nearby. We know how to use it and we understand newer technology easier than others. Everyone in my generation has ideas on how to make our world better for us and our siblings and our future children. Programming and computer sciences, along with the other sciences, are great ways for us to advance the world in the direction we want it to go.
Have you begun to make an income with your coding knowledge? Are you in the market for a coding job as an employee or contractor?
I have started making an income, not solely on my programming, but also on my unique views as someone who wants to know what they want to do in life at a young age in has taken a very untraditional route to pursue that career. As of now I am in the market for smaller projects while I finish school and continue learning.
What do your friends think of this, leaving high school and learning a skill early on in life where you can make an income?
Some of them were worried first about my sudden decision to drop out of school in the middle of my junior year, but now they’re all very supportive of me and think it’s really cool that I’m able to pursue what I want to do. (though they all have the same complaint of missing me at school.)
Lastly, what are the ideal personality characteristics for a young person to become involved and succeed at coding school?
They need to be willing to push themselves and manage their own time. They also need to be able to be critiqued regularly by those who are more experienced than them and know that most, if not all, critiques are done with good intentions. You need to be willing to continue learning. Technology is always changing, and so the languages we use to program that technology have to constantly adapt. You never know everything there is to know when you’re a programmer.
About DevMountain
DevMountain started in 2013 in Utah. With over 300 graduates, two campuses, and six course offerings, DevMountain is the largest coding/technology school in the Intermountain West, and one of the highest rated coding schools in the United States.
Supplemental- Could Amazon’s AWS Lambda signal a new future for ‘automated coding’?
Giftgowns, a Toronto based company specializing in redefining the archaic hospital gown, announced today the release of a limited-edition gown to raise funds and awareness for the Canadian Cancer Society in celebration of October Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The alternative hospital gown features graphics driven to motivate and inspire patients with quotes such as “You are Magic” and “Warrior”, available online at WWW.GIFTGOWNS.COM throughout the month of October.
“This October, we are pleased to partner with Giftgowns in the fight against breast cancer,” states Zahra Karimi, Corporate Development Officer at Canadian Cancer Society. “At the Canadian Cancer Society, we are taking action against the disease by funding high-quality breast cancer research, educating women about early detection and providing information and support services to those living with the disease.”
Founded by Jackie Moss under two years ago, Giftgowns’ inspiration originates from Moss’ own experience within some of Canada’s finest medical facilities. As a former patient, Moss recognized the need to create a modern, humourous and functional gown designed with snap enclosures on the backs and sleeves. The gowns are designed to make patients feel more comfortable in pyjama-like pieces that they might wear at home and aid healthcare practitioners easy access for medical needs.
“Breast Cancer Awareness Month is dedicated to not only raising awareness but working to save lives and we wanted to be part of this national effort,” says Jackie Moss, Founder, Giftgowns. “10% of the proceeds from the sale of the special edition gown will be donated directly to the Canadian Cancer Society.”
Moss consulted with breast cancer survivors who gave positive feedback on the gown especially after a mastectomy. One survivor noted the function of the gown as an asset, with the easy access during the recovery period at home as more useful than a traditional robe or housecoat that cannot accommodate drainage tubes. For the Silo, Dani Matte.
MORE ABOUT GIFTGOWNS
Made with purpose, Giftgowns give patients an opportunity to share an active sense of their personal character with what they wear – even when dealing with less than ideal medical situations. Designed with the intention to bring positivity and a fresh take on the archaic hospital gown, Founder Jackie Moss believes creative and colourful hospital gowns give patients of all walks of life the ability to find individuality and joy through something as simple as a dressing gown.
Giftgowns ships worldwide daily through the e-commerce platform, www.giftgowns.com, as well as through Amazon and Etsy.
About the Canadian Cancer Society
The Canadian Cancer Society is a national, community-based organization of volunteers whose mission is to eradicate cancer and enhance the quality of life of people living with cancer. Thanks to our donors and volunteers, the CCS has the most impact, against the most cancers, in the most communities in Canada. For more information, visit cancer.ca or call our toll-free bilingual Cancer Information Service at 1-888-939-3333 (TTY 1-866-786-3934).
I’d like to tell you about an easy shopping hack that moves coupon clipping into the 21st Century.
Gumdrop by Goodshop is a new free browser button which automatically finds and applies the best coupons at checkout when you are shopping online at more than 30,000 retailers including Kohl’s, Toys R Us and Amazon. It takes just a few seconds to add and then you can enjoy big discounts and save precious time by not having to search for antiquated ‘print’ coupons or cut and paste promo codes!
In addition, if you select a cause, a portion of what you spend at participating stores will be donated to that cause for free.
To date, Gumdrop has saved shoppers more than $100 million USD and donated nearly $13 million USD which has gone to find homes for stray animals, build playgrounds, fund cancer research and more. For the Silo, J.J. Ramberg.
Keep grime at bay with the perfect, must-have holiday gift for every busy person who loves gadgets and useful technology. Grillbot is the world’s first automatic grill cleaning robot.
Grillbot makes life much easier for BBQ chefs. It saves them time and lots of dirty work cleaning grills and letting them get back to spending more quality time entertaining family and friends. The award-winning Grillbot takes the time and effort out of cleaning even the dirtiest grills.
Designed for use on any style grill, simply place the Grillbot on the grill’s surface, press a button, and the robot does all the cleaning. The device is driven by a powerful CPU that controls movement, speed and direction of brushes. It comes with an LCD alarm and timer that can be set for a light scrub, deep clean or something in between, and notifies when cleaning is done.
The innovative Grillbot comes in four colors and includes the following features:
Three high-power electric motors
Smart Brain that controls movement, speed and direction of the brushes
Brushes pop right off to put in dishwashers for easy cleaning
Rechargeable lithium ion battery
The Grillbot comes as a standalone grill cleaner, or an optional bundle with a carrying 3 brass brushes installed and a carrying case. Grillbot has already sold over 100,000 units globally, including in new markets such as Russia, Australia, Canada and Brazil. The Grillbot is $99.95USD and comes with a one-year warranty.
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, in January 2017, Grillbot demonstrated its advanced technology with the Bluetooth-enabled Grillbot Pro. It comes with the same, great features as the original plus the addition of Bluetooth technology, giving BBQ chefs even more freedom and leisure time to watch games, relax with family or cater to guests.
Grillbot is now available at over 500 Home Depot stores nationwide. It’s also available at a wide variety of other retailers such as ACE Hardware, True Value, Sur La Table, Lowe’s, and at websites Amazon.com, Bedbathandbeyond.com, Walmart.com and more or contact marketingdirector@thesilo.ca.For the Silo, Jennifer A. Marca.
About Grillbot As with most inventions, Grillbot began with an idea. One day, founder Ethan Woods was getting ready to use his grill and did not have a brush available to clean it. While trying to clean a stubborn grill with a wire brush, he wondered if a robot could be created to do the job. He took a power drill, attached a brush and cleaned the grill. He put together a design team and that makeshift drill became the sophisticated computer-driven Grillbot! Since then, Grillbot has sold over 100,000 units and has received many awards and accolades for its innovative design. Grillbot continues to expand its line and is developing two new home robotic solutions designed to simplifying your life one robot at a time in 2017.
When you’re a 20-something, what’s the first and the last thing you do? You check your Facebook or you tweet. When you want to buy a pair of jeans and you want to ask your friends’ opinions, you post a picture on Instagram with a #needyourhelp! And who needs to go to a store when Amazon is only a click away right? Social Media and E-Commerce have permeated your personal and social lives. Nowadays, to keep up with the rest of the world, you have to have a smart phone, a tablet and at least 3 social media accounts. Your thought process can now be summarized into: Click. Like. Share. Repeat. Information in an instant !
The coolest thing about Social Media and online stores is the ease by which you send and receive information. The idea that you can connect to a friend in Asia, check out the latest happenings in Europe, and buy the outfit you’ve been eyeing for on discount via Amazon still fascinates many. Not only does the connection happen in real-time, it is also extremely convenient for the hyperactive, multitasking yuppie. Who would’ve thought that you can talk to someone halfway around the world while riding the train? Or that now, you can buy everything you need online while working out. Literally, the world is at your fingertips.
What about Design my Home?
If social media transformed the way you connect with the world, then mobile technology is revolutionize the way you see and experience it. With its public launch in February 2015, everyone is expected to rock the new Art Plus Home Virtual app and two words are sure to be immensely popular: “Share and Buy” This new breakthrough promises to merge the real, the virtual, and the social. Indeed, the possibilities are endless. Two fields that can definitely benefit from this innovation are art and design, particularly for the home. As more and more young professionals climb the ladders of success, you find yourselves located in a condo or in an apartment at the heart of the city. And in the name of individuality, almost all of you are heavily involved in truly making your homes a place to call your own. “I’m a minimalist guy. I like a lot of black and white pieces,” shared Alex, a young accountant. “I’ve always had a penchant for quirky furniture and eclectic painting, both of which are very hard to find by the way,” explains Jessica, a law graduate.
Here lies the conundrum. In as much as you newly-empowered breed want to go all out to design your homes, you simply don’t have the time. “Designing your own place is a completely different animal. It’s almost a full-time job,” says Ashley. She went on further, “It’s almost like a cat and mouse game. You go to an art gallery to find a good painting. Then you have to go to another store for the drapes. Then you go look for a nice coffee table. They’re a perfect match in your head but after you install them in the living room, they just look horrible.” Dary Rees, an artist and a designer herself, knew exactly what Ashley meant.
“Designing your home takes a lot of imagination. All the time, you have to close your eyes and visualize how every art piece, every furniture, and every drape will come together. That’s not easy. But it should be.” Then idea struck! Bringing together a team of people, Dary went to work. After months of development, the Art Plus Home virtual app was born. “With the Art Plus Home app, you can shop, visualize, and buy for your home in your own time and at your own convenience. You get to choose anything you like from the online gallery, superimpose them together in your space, and see how it looks – all in a matter of minutes. You can even share the design to friends! If you like the design, you can buy them right then and there. If not, you can start all over,” explains Dary. This is perfect for the Gen Y who is always on the go. You can design and buy for your home on the way to work, after a Yoga session, or even before you go to bed. The Art Plus Home app is also ideal if you’re on the look out for the latest in art and design. Check-out gallery openings, up and coming artists, or simply browse what’s hot (and not) so you have something to talk to with your date.. The Art Plus Home app is available in Android and in iOS.
Generation Y is a new breed. You’re motivated to succeed, you’re proud of your individuality, you’re always mobile, and you’re extremely connected to the world around you. With such a personality, you’re a perfect match for the Art Plus Home app! www.ArtPlusHome.com and download the free app at any app store.