Monday’s Musings . . .

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NEXT TECH IS COMING:  To get the week started I’d like to introduce the concept of Next Tech to you.  This emerging field is focused on how technology will transform all aspects of our lives, and not just applications confined to today’s smart phones and laptops.  Over the next month AdWeek will be highlighting various Next Tech innovations.  To kick things off check out the attached link, which features some of the most interesting emerging Next Tech ideas.  You’ve heard of some of these products already – like Facebook’s Occulus AR headset, Google’s Glass Enterprise wearables, and Amazon’s Echo voice-enabled assistant.  But that’s not the fun stuff.  Instead consider Microsoft’s HoloLens which will deliver a “mixed reality” platform by overlaying VR holograms on to what you see in the real world.  Or how about Alphabet’s (aka Google’s) Waymo autonomous driving tech which can retrofitted on to normal cars we all drive.  This is heavy stuff to be sure.  And it’s also an early sign of how transformative the practical applications of Next Tech will be on our lives over the next 10-20 years.

RETAILERS SHOULD WORRY LOSS ABOUT RENT AND MORE ABOUT PAYROLL COSTS:  If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know I often touch on eCommerce trends which are disrupting traditional Retail, and about how automation is impacting the US workforce.  Over the weekend I came across the following image in a WSJ research piece which perfectly encapsulates both trends into one example.  The image compares the P&L of selling a single pair of jeans in a B&M store vs. online.  The biggest variance between the two cost models is the labor needed to run the stores.  In this example labor costs $27 for every $150 pair of jeans sold.  By comparison eCommerce warehouse fulfillment only costs $5 per pair – so that’s a $22 difference.  That amount is almost exactly the $21 delta in profit between the two models.  Bottom line . . . labor cost is the single biggest reason why eCommerce is more profitable than B&M.  So is it any wonder that traditional retailers are racing to automate their in-store operations in order to better compete with their online brethren?

“IT’S A BOLD STRATEGY, COTTON”:  Yes, the day is finally here.  At the stroke of midnight tonight on 8/8 . . . wait for it . . . ESPN will flip the format of its ESPNU station to ESPN8 “The Ocho”.  If you’ve ever watched the movie Dodeball you’ve probably dreamed of the day Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks would actually be calling play-by-play for “seldom-seen sports from around the globe”.  Yes, this is actually a real thing.  Maybe it’s also a PR-stunt for a ratings challenged network, but it’s a creative way to get some attention.  Starting at midnight ESPN8 will air the following slate of programming.  I’m not sure what Kabaddi is, but since it’s the World Cup Final I’ll be sure to tune in.  And don’t miss the Moxie Games which ESPN describes as “an uncanny, new and amazing event which combines a variety of sports into one, such as dodgeball and juggling, martial arts and volleyball, and table tennis and soccer”.  Enjoy tomorrow, Ocho-nation!

Happy Monday guys!

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