Group items tagged

customers walking into the store are greeted by a floor that contains only one pair of each model of jeans available. The jeans are tagged with a QR code that – when scanned using the store’s bespoke app – delivers a pair in the chosen size to a fitting room in the store and alerts the customer which room to go to. Once the jeans have been tried, customers can either send the jeans back into the system or swipe their card using a machine in each fitting room to make a purchase.

71 percent of survey respondents said they are likely to recommend a brand to others when they get a quick and effective response, compared to the 19 percent of customers who said they would still recommend a brand even when they did not hear anything from the company at all.

For those feeling underwhelmed, perhaps this isn’t the LTE story you were looking for. What it is: a prepaid mobile operator that’s trying to retain customers in a world gone gaga for mobile Internet. MetroPCS customers aren’t really looking for the next hot Android or iPhone. They’re looking for access to Facebook, Twitter and most importantly, online video, without having to sign a contract with a carrier. According to Tom Keys, COO of MetroPCS, about half of them use their phone as their primary internet connection, and about 90 percent of them use data on their handsets. “We built this for our customer base, not as a 4G iPhone replacement,” Keys said.

J CREW launched an advertising campaign in September, featuring splashy print ads and a photograph of a well-dressed young man on its Web site, sitting atop a ladder. Surrounding him was an assortment of items: umbrellas, medicine balls, a retro-looking trailer, a slab of raw meat. All of those items were available for purchase. But J. Crew stood to profit only from the sale of its clothes. The other goods were merely recommended by J. Crew to its customers, with Web links to the purveyors of those goods. J. Crew saw a business opportunity in assuming the role of a sophisticated and self-assured friend, guiding customers through the infinite offerings of the Internet without pushing them to buy only its own wares. “What the world needs now is curators and filters,” said Anthony Sperduti of Partners and Spade, the New York advertising agency behind the campaign. “J. Crew is savvy enough to know that the Internet has changed our buying patterns.” J. Crew is hardly the only company trying to sell something by befriending you. The idea that social commerce — which mixes networking with online shopping — can win business has spurred companies to try to connect with customers through sites like Facebook and Twitter.