U-CommerceExpanding the universe of marketing

Richard T. Watson

Leyland F. Pitt

Pierre Berthon

George M. Zinkhan

rwatson@terry.uga.edu

Copyright © 2006 by Richard T. Watson

2

Expanding the vision

3

Expanding the vision

4

Parallel revolutions

– Physics

– Newtonian to special theory of relativity

– Art

– Realism to modern art

5

Raphael: School of Athens

6

Picasso: Ma Jolie

7

Parallel revolutions

– Einstein and the Cubists proposed alternative concepts of space

– Space interacts with the volume, shape, and size of objects

– Space and time can be fractured into visual elements

8

U-commerce

– An alternative view of time and space for business and marketing

– Commerce has been flattened to two dimensions

– Multiple connections are being reduced to a single point

9

A foundation in light

– Physics

– Speed of light in a vacuum is constant

– Art

– Innovations in recording light

– Commerce

– Using light to communicate

10

Types of Commerce

Type Foundation

Commerce Transportation network

E-commerce Internet

M-commerce Cell phone network

U-commerce Ubiquitous networks

11

Types of commerce

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Emu

Some ewes - female sheep

Text

What’s happening?Pay by phone with SMS reminder

Revenue management

Self-report of mulfunctions and tampering

Connection to ticket-writing device

15

16

– Students can visit a Web site to find out when a laundry machine will be available and can select functions, including soap and fabric softener dispensing

– When the load is done, they are notified via an e-mail sent to a mobile device or PC (September 2002)

What’s happening?

What’s happening?

– Google offers

– Detailed directions

– Search results

– Maps

– Satellite imagery

17

Toyota Prius with RFID, Bluetooth, XM™ radio, GPS, FM, and AM

What’s happening

19

What’s happening?

SigBee™

20

What’s happening?• Microsoft intends to build a global

network to support the smart watches -- as well as other devices based on its Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT)

• Microsoft has put together a network of more than 100 FM radio stations in the U.S. to broadcast precise time information and personalized data to the watches

21

It’s all happening!

22

Key forces

– Bounded rationality

– Attention deficit society

23

Bounded rationality

– Humans have limited capacity to process information

– People are capable of a wide variety of reasoning errors when making decisions

– Managers have difficulty in managing a multitude of customers on a one-to-one basis

24

Attention deficit society– Consumers are increasingly bombarded with more

and more messages

– It is estimated that a single weekday issue of the New York Times contains more information than the average person in seventeenth-century England came across in a lifetime

– Conscious attention is a scarce resource

– Some messages need to be attenuated and others amplified

25

U-commerce

– The use of ubiquitous networks to support personalized and uninterrupted communications and transactions between a firm and its various stakeholders to provide a level of value over, above, and beyond traditional commerce

– Über-commerce

Ubiquitous

– Networks everywhere

– All consumer durable devices are on a network

– Intelligence and information are widely dispersed and always accessible

– Smart entities

– Appliances

– Buildings

– Signs

– Street smart communities

26

27

Universal

– Multifunction information appliances

– Devices work everywhere

– All networks

– All locations

– Always connected

– Universal access

28

Unique

• Information is customized

– To person

– To device

– To context

• Location

• Time

• Role

                                 

29

Why your mobile phone supports uniqueness better than your PC

Mobile phone PC or laptop Used by only one person Multiple users

Owners have the phone with them for most of their waking hours (use is initiated by the owner and those who wish to contact that person)

Will only be switched on or accessed when really needed (use is initiated by owner[s])

Text messages go directly to the phone, and the owner is immediately notified when the phone is on

Text messages (email) go to an email server, owner has to access these

The network operator usually knows exactly who that user is, their home and office address etc, and where that person is geographically

The network operator does not necessarily know exactly who the user is or whether that person’s details are correct

30

Unison

• Synchronization/replication of designated files

• Transparent to owner

• Current data are always available

• Team work synchronization

31

Evolution of markets

Market Definition Theme

Marketplace Traditional physical marketplace

Exchange of goods and services via face-to-face human interaction

Marketspace Informational marketplace

Exchange of goods and services via computer interaction

U-space Transcension and integration of marketplace and

The global integration of the physical and informational to provide value through amplification, attenuation, contextualization, and transcension

32

U-space

Unconscious(behind or out of conscious awareness)

Attenuation marketing

Amplification marketing(extends/enhances awareness)

Ultra-conscious

Unique(time-space dependent)

Contextual marketing

Ubiquitous(time-space independent)

Transcension marketing

Post-humanHyper-real

Node Matrix

Immersion marketing Transformation marketing

Nexus marketing Sync marketing

33

• Ultra-conscious & unique

• Extraordinary experience

– Teleimmersion

– Remote monitoring

• Immersion marketing

– Processes that enhance conscious interaction with the phenomenal world in specific situations

Hyper-real

Post-human• Ultra-conscious & ubiquitous

• The network is always on

• Permanent enhancement of human facilities

– Information processing

• Cell phone/PDA

– Advanced prosthetics

– Genetic enhancement

• Body change

– Rhinoplasty

• Transformation marketing

– Processes that enhance conscious interaction with the phenomenal world acontextually – that is transcending specific time-space locations

The Te-Evolution *prosthesis with the C-Leg *incorporated into it is the most advanced prosthesis available today anywhere in the world.

The Te-Evolution *prosthesis is available exclusively through LeTourneau LifeLike O&P Healthcare.

Patients from around the world have for years come to LeTourneau LifeLike O&P Healthcare. It is now possible for them to come to you .

LLOP, with the unique application of Te-Evolution *and *Perfect Skin, and the use of Tracer Cad, can design, fit and provide a prosthesis for you at your home any where in the world.

35

Matrix• Unconscious & ubiquitous

• Move tasks from conscious to unconscious

• Automated consumption

– Automated toll booths

– Smart cards

• Automatic background execution

– Price comparison bots

• Attention freeing

• Matrix marketing

– Universal, acontextual processes designed to automatically perform tasks

36

Node• Unconscious & unique

• Subscription services

• CRM tries to understand the customer so well that offers easily capture attention

• Ultimate form of permission marketing

– Wine-of-the-month club

• Nodal marketing

– Processes that reduce the necessity of an individual or collective to consciously interact with phenomena in specific contexts

37

Types of marketing

Type of marketing Description

Amplification Extending or enhancing conscious interaction

Attenuation Reducing the necessity to consciously interact with phenomena

Contextual Adding value through time-space specificity

Transcension Transcending the traditional constraints of time-space

38

Implications

• Revalidate existing theories

• Build new theories

• Understanding new forms of marketing

• Amplifying and attenuating consciousness

39

Implications

• What will u-commerce do to a business and industry over time?

• How can firms use the u-space framework?

• What will u-commerce do to the structure of firms?

40

Implications

• Integrated customer database

• Electronic communication links

• Simple interfaces and high functionality

• Automation of tasks to free attention

– Attention scorecard

41

– Greater opportunities for coordination and collaboration

– Information overload

– Too much oversight

– Reduction of time and place constraints

– Work never ends

Organizational implications

Open tourism consortium

43

Conclusion• Innovations in processing information are the

bedrock of cultural, social, political, and economic change

• U-commerce is the final step in the evolution of commerce

• It is part of the evolution in thinking about a firm’s relationship with the customer

– From products to services

– From services to information

• Information is service

44

U-commerce

• The ultimate killer app

• It changes everything

45

Jackson Pollock: Blue Poles