In upcoming posts we’ll look at the various aspects of the Brain STEM Toolbox to unpack the cool things it can do.
People ask me all the time what makes the Brain STEM Toolbox so special. That’s definitely an essay question because there isn’t a toss-away answer that can truly capture what these machines can and will do.
We’ll start by looking at the Brain STEM Toolbox shopping experience – which is quite spectacular and compare it to one of the most well known and popular digital shopping experiences…Amazon.
Customized, interactive, personalized, bespoke…these are all terms that speak to the unique shopping experience the Brain STEM Toolbox offers. It uses machine learning and other innovative technology to interact with you. The Amazon shopping experience is interacting with your http address. This is why when you order yourself a book on fashion and your partner a book about model trains you start getting recommendations for fashionable train parts.
The Brain STEM Toolbox will know it’s you and that you prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate and don’t eat gluten. It uses machine learning to base its recommendations on your interaction with it and on the Internet overall. This broader perspective the Brain STEM Toolbox has allows us to tailor its recommendations to your life holistically not just as it exists on one website.
Shopping isn’t only about pushing product suggestions at you. It’s also about helping you examine the product and interact with it.
One of the big advantages that traditional brick and mortar stores have is that they let you see, touch and often try the product first. Amazon online does have a bit of this in its shopping experience because you can read snippets of the books or perhaps view videos of the product but it’s a one-dimensional experience. The Brain STEM Toolbox uses graphics on par with video game technology (think World of War Craft quality) to let you look at the product from all angles and to take it out of the box and then ask questions about it. The Toolbox’s connectivity to the Internet means that you have access to a world of information right in the experience – you don’t have to leave the shopping experience to access the information on other sites as you would if you were shopping on the Amazon site. The Brain STEM Toolbox is able to pull in that information as it interacts with you while the purchase decision is being made. This seamless and expansive integration is as close to having a personal shopper helping you as a digital experience can offer.
People also want immediate gratification. Shopping in a physical store allows you to have the item you’re purchasing immediately.
Shopping online typically means the customer is incurring an additional shipping charge, potentially – import duty charges and a time delay of days or even weeks until they receive their item. Smart Vending is a perfect way to bridge the bricks and mortar and online shopping experiences by dispensing the product immediately so the customer can have it right away. Recent studies confirm that 20% more customers feel speed of shipping is more important than price. If a smart vending machine can get it into their hands immediately, that’s a huge advantage over online shopping. The traditional coil vending machines that drop your purchase from a height of several feet are being replaced by elegant hydraulic lift systems that gently lower the purchase with the gentleness of a parent placing their baby into a crib – to ensure it’s not damaged.
Amazon is also more of a platform for sellers rather than being the merchant themselves. There have been complaints by customers of receiving counterfeit product and even accusations of fake product reviews. The advantage of having a Brain STEM Toolbox be your store instead of an Amazon site is that customers will be able to see the product themselves and to pack it virtually using the interface that will allow them to turn it around and to examine it as though they were holding it in their hands. The transparency will make the customer more likely to purchase on the spot. Being able to tailor your product offering to regional preferences is another advantage a smart vending machine has over large online retailing sites.
If you are selling on a third party website like Amazon or Ebay – perhaps it’s time to consider Smart Vending as a way to also target a more local market very cost-effectively?
By having your products sold through a Brain STEM Toolbox, you’d save on the fees you’d pay that third party retailer and you will save time and labour to have to ship the product. Since the interactive shopping experience can answer product questions – you will also save time with back and forth communication with potential purchasers. The Brain STEM Toolbox will alert you to low stock and provide you with robust data so you can fine-tune your business.
Time you would have spent on these logistical issues can now be spent developing new product lines and markets.
Using minimum wage as an approximate hourly rate, you’d only have to save 650 hours of time to pay for a fully loaded new Brain STEM Toolbox. If you spend on average 3 hours per day on shipping and admin issues – the machine pays for itself in less than a year. That doesn’t even take into account selling fees on large retailing sites…or the fact that your time is worth a heck of a lot more than minimum wage!
I was so excited to appear on the fabulous podcast You Can Do that Here recently. This show is all about the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that thrives in the Kootenay Region of British Columbia. Check out our episode click here and perhaps a few others.
Our story has just begun!
Til Next Time.
Brad
