#Amazon vending solution

[skuplugs]

Amazon Integration: The Solution Offered By SKUPlugs To Ease Your E-commerce

For any online business model, there are operational downsides such as pressure for cost-cutting, pressure to sell and inventory handling, especially during the digital age. One of the best ways of improving the e-commerce operation is by the use of Amazon integration, where the e-commerce stores are connected to the huge Amazon site. Nevertheless, incorporating Amazon’s business model in your business can most of the times be laborious and take a great deal of time. This is why we have SKUPlugs in the market. SKUPlugs makes it easier to integrate with Amazon by providing effective systems that allow good business processes to be carried out without the excessive manual work. In the coming sections, we will show how much faster, easier and cheaper do many of our clients get thanks to Amazon integration and what is the role of SKUPlugs is in this. What Is Amazon Integration? In simple terms, Amazon integration is the linking of an ecommerce site to Amazon’s marketplace, using the ecommerce site as a platform (e.g. Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, etc.). Through this integration, your product listings, inventory, and orders can be synced automatically between your online store and Amazon. Why is Amazon Integration Important for E-commerce businesses? The most striking thing about Amazon is that it is the leading online business marketplace positioned in nearly all the territories of the world with millions of customers. When you go to integrate your store with Amazon, you will be able to: There are millions of people already buying at Amazon, so you will be able to reach out to them Gaining exposure to millions of Amazon customers. Increase Sales Opportunities: Taking advantage of the goodwill and trust of Amazon’s customers will help further sales. Inventory Management Can Be Improved: This way you can avoid such mistakes as refreshing stock levels across applications by doing it automatically. Consolidate Operations: End-to-end order management and order processing can be done through a single interface, as everything from listing features to fulfillment processes is available. Nevertheless, the process of integration is by no means a walk in the park, especially when there are bulky catalogs and more than one sales avenue to juggle. At this point, SKU Plugs comes in. What are SKUPlugs? SKUPlugs is an adaptable and easy to use software the enables eCommerce sellers worth their salt to undertake multiple channel selling with ease. It gives you an efficient and cost effective way to set up your store on the big marketplaces such as Amazon or eBay, Walmart and many more. SKUPlugs furthermore eliminates the hassle of managing multi-channel eCommerce by streamlining numerous operational modules.

Integrate Amazon with

lightspeed amazon integration loyverse amazon integration zoho amazon integration Erply Amazon Integration Vend(Lightspeed X Series)Amazon Integration LocaFox Amazon Integration

SKUPlugs presents various features that ease and optimize the process of Amazon integration: 1. Automated Product Listing Product listing is an important aspect of e-commerce but is riddled with a lot of challenges, especially when it comes to multi-channel product distribution. Through SKUPlugs you can perform import and export operations with your online store and synchronize your product catalogs on Amazon as well. As a result, all product titles, descriptions, prices, and images remain the same at both places. So, when you update your store, changes reflect on Amazon without the need of altering the listings separately. 2. Inventory Synchronization Proper inventory management should always aim at neither running out of stock nor overselling. SKUPlugs connects your store and Amazon so that inventory levels are adjusted accurately in real time only. For every time a product sells on one channel any more inventory is subtracted off the total inventory pool. This minimizes chances for errors to happen and enhances the satisfaction of the end customer.

3. Easy Order Processing Processing orders from different channels comes with its own set of problems and a lot of stress. When it comes to order processing, SKUPlugs helps you by combining all the orders placed on Amazon or even your store with all the orders placed on Amazon into one order template. This will enable you to order, fulfill and dispatch all orders all at once without the need to switch between different systems to carry out all these tasks. In addition, you will be able to improve operations of dispatch and returns. Why Choose SKUPlugs for Amazon Integration? There are several reasons why SKUPlugs stands out as the go-to solution for Amazon integration: User-friendly Interface: SKUPlugs is designed for ease of use, allowing even non-technical users to integrate with Amazon in just a few clicks. Cost-effective: SKUPlugs offers affordable pricing plans, ensuring that businesses of all sizes can benefit from Amazon integration without breaking the bank. Customer Support: SKUPlugs offers dedicated customer support to help businesses with any challenges they face during the integration process. Scalability: Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, SKUPlugs scales with your business, allowing you to manage a growing catalog and expanding sales channels without a hitch. How to Get Started with SKUPlugs for Amazon Integration? Getting started with SKUPlugs is simple: Sign Up: Create an account on the SKUPlugs platform. Connect Your Store: Integrate your e-commerce platform with SKUPlugs. Link Your Amazon Seller Account: Follow the prompts to connect your Amazon Seller Central account. Sync Products: Choose which products to sync between your store and Amazon. Automate Operations: Start enjoying the benefits of real-time inventory updates, automated order management, and streamlined operations. Our Amazon Integration will automatically download your sales orders into your connected POS/ERP.

Reach out today to begin managing your inventory with the ease of SKUPlugs! sales@skuplugs.com Conclusion In today’s competitive e-commerce landscape, integrating with Amazon is no longer optional—it’s essential for growth. However, managing the complexities of multi-channel selling can be overwhelming without the right tools. SKUPlugs takes the pain out of Amazon integration by offering an intuitive, automated, and scalable solution. From product synchronization to centralized order management, SKUPlugs ensures that your e-commerce business runs smoothly, allowing you to focus on what really matters—growing your business.

[digiroadsabhisheksaini]

Popular Distribution Channels for Energy Bars in Europe

The energy bar market in Europe has been experiencing significant growth in recent years, fueled by the rising demand for convenient, healthy snacks among consumers. As the market expands, so do the distribution channels through which these products reach the hands of eager customers. From traditional retail outlets to online platforms, energy bar manufacturers are exploring diverse avenues to ensure their products are accessible to a wide audience. In this blog post, we delve into some of the popular distribution channels for energy bars in Europe, shedding light on the dynamics of the Europe Energy Bars Market.

Europe Energy Bars Market Overview

Before we explore the distribution channels, let's take a brief look at the Europe Energy Bars Market. The market for energy bars in Europe has witnessed robust growth in recent years, driven by several factors. Consumers are increasingly adopting healthier lifestyles, emphasising the importance of nutrition and convenience. Energy bars, with their on-the-go format and nutritional benefits, have emerged as a popular choice among fitness enthusiasts, athletes, and busy professionals.

According to a report by Grand View Research, the Europe energy bars market size was valued at USD 1.02 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2% from 2021 to 2028. This growth is attributed to factors such as the rising health consciousness among consumers, the demand for convenience foods, and the prevalence of active lifestyles.

Popular Distribution Channels

1. Supermarkets and Hypermarkets

Supermarkets and hypermarkets remain the primary distribution channels for energy bars in Europe. These retail giants offer a wide variety of brands and flavours, making it convenient for consumers to find their preferred energy bars while doing their regular grocery shopping. The advantage of supermarkets is their broad reach and visibility, allowing both established brands and newcomers to showcase their products to a diverse customer base.

2. Health Food Stores

Health food stores cater specifically to consumers seeking nutritious and organic products. Energy bars fit perfectly into this category, appealing to health-conscious individuals looking for convenient snacks without compromising on quality. Health food stores often focus on natural and organic options, making them an ideal distribution channel for energy bar brands that emphasise clean ingredients and nutritional benefits.

3. Online Retailers

The rise of e-commerce has significantly impacted the distribution of energy bars in Europe. Online retailers such as Amazon, Myprotein, and specialised health and fitness websites offer a vast selection of energy bars, making it easy for consumers to compare brands and prices from the comfort of their homes. This channel is particularly popular among younger consumers who are tech-savvy and prefer the convenience of online shopping.

4. Fitness Centers and Gyms

Fitness centres and gyms are strategic distribution channels for energy bars, given their target audience of health-conscious individuals and athletes. Many gyms stock energy bars at their reception areas or in vending machines, providing gym-goers with a quick and convenient post-workout snack. This placement ensures visibility and accessibility to a highly relevant demographic.

5. Convenience Stores

Convenience stores play a vital role in the distribution of energy bars, offering a quick and easy option for consumers on the go. Whether it's a pit stop during a busy day or a snack during travel, convenience stores provide a convenient solution for consumers looking to grab an energy boost. Brands often have dedicated displays near the checkout counter, making them easily accessible and impulse purchases for customers.

Conclusion

The Europe Energy Bars Market continues to grow, driven by the increasing demand for convenient, nutritious snacks. To meet this demand, energy bar manufacturers are utilising a variety of distribution channels to ensure their products reach consumers across the continent. From traditional supermarkets and health food stores to online retailers and fitness centres, brands are strategically placing their energy bars where consumers are most likely to encounter them. As the market evolves, we can expect to see further innovation in distribution strategies to cater to the diverse preferences of European consumers.

Whether you're a fitness enthusiast looking for a post-workout snack or a busy professional in need of an on-the-go boost, energy bars offer a convenient and nutritious solution. With the wide array of distribution channels available, finding your favourite energy bar has never been easier in Europe's dynamic market.

[fwithreview]

The World’s Premier AI Kid Books Academy Review With Highlights and details

What Is AI Kid Books Academy, Exactly?

Introducing AI Kid Books Academy: Your Premier Course for Crafting Captivating AI-Driven Children’s Literature

Whether you’re an enterprising entrepreneur, a savvy marketer, or a creative book enthusiast, if you’re eyeing the burgeoning domain of AI-infused children’s books, look no further than the AI Kid Books Academy — your ultimate solution!

Within this comprehensive curriculum, you will gain mastery over:

Harnessing AI’s prowess to conjure original narratives and artwork

Crafting literary marvels that seamlessly blend education and entertainment

Navigating the intricacies of publishing across major platforms such as Amazon KDP, Etsy, Gumroad, and eBay

And much more…

This top-tier educational program provides unrestricted private label rights (PLR), granting you the power to brandish, tailor, and distribute it under your own banner. This remarkable opportunity empowers you to cultivate a lucrative venture centered around AI children’s books, all without commencing from square one. Here’s your blueprint to amass substantial sales and drive traffic through this PLR gem:

Step 1: Acquire: Instantaneously access the AI Kid Books Academy, furnished with all requisite materials for an immediate, profitable launch.

Step 3: Prosper: Launch your newly tailored AI Kid Books Academy, magnetizing customers and effortlessly reaping monetary rewards.

The AI Kid Books Academy encompasses a comprehensive toolkit, furnishing you with all the essentials for producing and vending prosperous AI children’s books, including:

Elegantly crafted, high-quality promotional resources

A fully-fledged sales funnel primed for converting book sales

Systematic, step-by-step guidance on deploying AI to fabricate captivating and enlightening children’s literature

Insights into the cutting-edge developments within the realm of AI children’s books

By embracing the AI Kid Books Academy, you can:

Emerge as a prominent figure, thanks to your engaging, chart-topping AI children’s books

Extend your reach and amplify brand visibility across Amazon KDP, Etsy, and eBay

Harness the potential of AI technology sans the prerequisite for coding or technical acumen

Establish authoritative stature within the domain of AI children’s literature

Partake in the revolution reshaping the landscape of AI-driven content creation.

Review of AI Kid Books Academy: Highlights

Captivating Guidebook: Unveil the Enigma of Crafting AI Kid Books — Immerse yourself in the world of AI Kid Books creation through this compelling guidebook. Over 6000+ words of invaluable insights await you, guiding you meticulously through every phase of the AI Kid Books crafting journey. From unraveling the mysteries of AI technology to mastering the nuances of storytelling, this eBook is your gateway to fabricating enthralling AI Kid Books.

Interactive Training Video Expositions: Absorb Wisdom Through Interactive Training Videos — Immerse yourself in the expertise of interactive training videos. Seasoned professionals will illuminate the process of AI Kid Books creation, offering step-by-step guidance, real-life instances, and actionable tips. Each concept is demystified, empowering you to apply them with confidence and clarity.

Compelling Sales Narratives: Enchant Your Audience, Elevate Conversions — Elevate your product’s allure and bolster conversions with compelling sales narratives. These narratives, meticulously curated by experts, spotlight your product’s value proposition and persuade visitors to make the purchase. They shine a spotlight on the distinct advantages and attributes of the “AI Kid Books Academy,” motivating swift action.

Alluring Visuals: Elevate Product Appeal with Stunning Visuals — Elevate your product’s visual appeal with captivating graphics that mirror its caliber. Access striking logos, banners, and more that enhance your product’s visual resonance and appeal. These visual assets serve as ideal tools for both online and offline branding and marketing endeavors.

User-Friendly, Aesthetically Pleasing Minisite: Embrace a User-Centric Minisite Experience — Present your product on an intuitive, visually captivating minisite. Optimized for seamless navigation and aesthetics, this minisite presents course content in an engaging, accessible manner. It beckons visitors to explore further, delving into the depths of what your product brings to the table.

Potent Email Templates: Supercharge Marketing Endeavors with Impactful Email Templates — Supercharge your marketing campaigns with potent email templates. Designed to captivate subscribers’ attention, these templates effectively promote your product. They save you time and effort, while maximizing the resonance and outcomes of your outreach.

Legally Compliant Documentation: Establish Trust with Comprehensive Legal Pages — Foster trust with your clientele using comprehensive legal pages that cover vital aspects including terms of service, privacy policy, and disclaimers. These pages ensure transparency, engender trust, and guarantee adherence to legal standards.

Discover the Art of Crafting Marvelous AI Kid Books: Uncover a Paradigm Shift in Content Creation — Embrace a revolution in content creation with the “AI Kid Books Academy,” crafting captivating tales that enrapture children across the globe. This academy empowers you with the knowledge, skills, and resources to produce educational and delightful children’s books with the assistance of AI.

Holistic, Actionable Learning Journey: Dive into an Enriching, Action-Oriented Learning Experience — Embark on a comprehensive, pragmatic learning expedition with the “AI Kid Books Academy.” Tailored for novices and seasoned creators alike, this amalgamation of eBooks, training videos, and practical resources ensures immediate application of newfound expertise in real-world contexts.

Embrace the Future of Content Craftsmanship: Pioneer an Era of Engaging, Shareable Content — Enroll in the vanguard of book creation through an innovative approach that births content both enchanting and sharable, enthralling both young readers and parents.

The “AI Kid Books Academy”: A Pantheon of Empowerment — Comprising a wealth of invaluable features, the “AI Kid Books Academy” furnishes the arsenal you need to excel in AI book creation and marketing. From exhaustive learning resources to professional-grade visuals and marketing assets, this product equips entrepreneurs, marketers, and content artisans to flourish in the ever-evolving digital milieu.

Get more info here — https://sites.google.com/view/ai-kid-books-academy/home

[mrhyde-mrseek]

The Horsepeople of the Apocalypse as various things my friends have said

•Pollution- *reaching for metal nut on stage* “I want this nut.”

•Pollution- *side kicks leg up to the extreme*

Famine- *throws goldfish at them but misses*

Famine- *throws goldfish at War’s boobs*

Goldfish- *goes down her shirt*

War- “I DON’T KNOW WHERE THE FUCK IT WENT!”

•Famine- “I’ll have an entire vending machine of peace tea—“ *blanks*

•Famine “Chalky broke.”

Pollution- “I always break.”

Pollution- *dies*

War- “. . . This happens more than you think.”

•Death- *compares “Happy Birthday” to a funeral dirge*

•War- *angrily eats a granola bar because she hates peanuts*

•Pollution- *does a pirouette in the squeakiest damn shoes ever heard on this side of the Atlantic*

•Pollution- *picks up weird little keychain backstage and clicks a button*

Pollution- *figures out it’s a flashlight and gasps*

Pollution- *shines flashlight directly in their eyes*

•War- “I’ll make magic with you.”

Famine- *from backstage* “STOP!”

Pollution- *also backstage* “NO!”

•Famine- “And palm to palm is holy palmer’s kiss.”

Famine *holds up hands to touch palms*

War *high fives him*

•Pollution- *running* “WE NEED THE STAGE!”

Pollution- *jumps onto stage and rolls across*

•War- *grappling with Pollution* “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Famine- “Says the one in the fight!”

•Pollution- *sniffs deodorant*

Pollution- *makes a “confirmation face”*

•Famine- “Didn’t you spill a puddle?”

Pollution- “Did I?”

•Pollution- *shows grimy hands to Famine after hiding in the closet during Sardines, AKA the one place nobody could fit with them*

Famine- *loud gasp*

•War- “I don’t like you!”

Pollution- “Love you too!”

War- “NO.”

•Death- *gives Pollution an Amazon order that came in the mail for them

Pollution- “WAIT!”

Pollution- *turns empty Amazon bag inside out and wears it as a hat*

•War- “I feel very mentally unstable today.”

Death- “Good to know. We’ll make sure to hide the knives.”

•War- “OPEN YOUR KNEES!”

•Famine- “I love your hair. What colors did your hair dresser experiment with to get that color?”

•War- “ONE YEAR BITCHAVERSARY!”

Pollution- “With more glitter courtesy of yours truly✨”

•Pollution- “Oh, wait, unzip your shirt and show her!”

War- “. . . What.”

•Pollution- “I’m just trying to use my purple marker man why are you yelling at me?”

•Pollution- “How many things have I broken this year?”

•War- *yelling* “I AM IN HONORS ELA AND I JUST TRIED TO SPELL “CAT” WITH A K.”

•Pollution- “I want a psychic worm.”

•Famine- “Get on my breakfast level.”

•War- *from off* “IT’S SIX-FIFTY-FIVE AND WE’RE TALKING ABOUT PRIME RIB!”

•War- “Bark bitch.”

•Famine- “I don’t want to have any more chemicals in my body.”

Pollution- “Well, I’m fine with chemicals in my body.”

•Pollution- “Different types of paper have different tastes and textbook paper is the best!”

•War- “I’M AN AMP!”

•War- *chugs the last two drops of fancy apple juice from the glass bottle while holding a plastic champagne glass*

•Pollution- “It’s like, woah! There are children here! And you’re one of them!”

•War- “I have a solution that doesn’t involve homicide. This time.”

•Famine- “Beebeequé.”

•Death- “Grey is light dark.”

•Famine- “Birish.”

•Famine, to Pollution- “Can you figure out a way to get another box on top of that pile to make it taller? The only caveat is that you can’t die.”

•War- “What if we just take a shovel and—“ *mimes smacking a shovel against the side of the very tall box tower*

•Famine- “If you have a bunch of boxes, then . . . what are you supposed to do with your life?“

War- “If you have a bunch of boxes and Chalky, then what else are you supposed to do?”

•Famine- “You’re white, you’re supposed to like mac and cheese!”

•War- “Be aggressive!”

Pollution- *starts an impromptu “be aggressive” cheer*

•Famine and War- *do back-and-forth “Bad Blood” chorus fighting*

Pollution- *starts accidentally chanting the “be aggressive” cheer*

•War- *speaker crackles* “IT’S SPEAKING TO ME!”

•War- *manhandles Pollution out of her seat*

•Famine- *about Starburst jellybeans* “I almost said these taste like Starburst.”

•War- *throws granola bar at Famine*

Famine- *picks it up and starts eating it*

•War- *throws shoe wildly at Pollution*

Shoe- *hits Pollution square in the head*

•Pollution- *hides from War behind the piano*

War- *throws shoe at the piano*

•Pollution- “She broke.”

Famine- *not looking up* “That’s sad.”

Pollution- *waves abnormally long French fry in his face* “Look.”

Famine- “Ma’am—“

•Death- “Well, have fun drinking your dragons.”

•War- “I’m smarter than the rug.”

•War, intending to say titty- “The sun is a tooty.”

•War- “Had another Ninja Warrior competition. I wiped out. My friend did it better, he faceplanted in the mat and stayed there for five seconds.”

•Famine- “I swear to god, if you call Einstein hot, I’m moving to another table.”

•Pollution- *walks on stage carrying a dustpan and dumps it into the trash bin*

Famine- “What was that from?”

Pollution- “The floor.”

War- “THEY JUST DUMPED SAWDUST ON ME!”

•Pollution- *struggles to make a heart out of their hands while staring at them with an expression of both confusion and infinite concentration*

•Pollution, in the other room, using body spray- *starts coughing like a cat regurgitating a hairball*

Pollution, as nonchalantly as possible- “It got in my mouth.”

•War- *is imitating Famine’s movements as he speaks*

Famine- *glances behind him*

War- *acts innocent*

Famine- *sighs wearily*

•Death- “Do you have anything?”

Famine- “I have a piece of bread.”

•Pollution- “I did, in fact, walk two miles in crocs!”

•War- “It’s been, like, two seconds and you’re already on the floor.”

Pollution- “Shut it! I’m tired!”

•Famine- “Next period you’re going to walk into health and sit on the floor.”

Pollution- “I am! The floor’s comfortable!”

Famine- “You’ve said this, I don’t doubt you.”

•Pollution- *runs down the stairs*

Famine- “Did you fall?”

Pollution- “No! Why do you always think I fall?”

Famine- “Because you sounded like a velociraptor going down those stairs!”

•War- *points to Famine* “AAAH! I love it!”

Famine- “. . . I just put shoes on.”

War-

War- “Well, it wasn’t noticeable until you put shoes on!”

•Pollution- *struggles to open a plastic fork wrapper*

Famine- “That was the most complicated opening of a fork I’ve ever seen.”

•Everyone but Death- *make a mad dash for Frostys Death brought*

•War- “This is not salad. It is chicken and lettuce.”

Famine- “Isn’t that just salad?”

•Famine- “Okay ixnay on the aturdaysay.”

War- “Ma’am what.”

•Death- “I think you’ve lost your breathing privileges.”

•Famine- *is trying to explain where Skippy’s is*

Pollution- *interrupts by inhaling and choking on air*

•War- “Is anyone else worried about Vera? She’s never been this high on Valium before.”

Pollution- *falls out of their chair laughing*

War- “Also Death because they’re not here.”

•Famine- “Anyone want coins?”

Pollution- *holds out hand*

Famine- “Anyone but you.”

•Famine- “It’s not even a dollar, what are you going to do with seventy-five cents?”

Pollution- “Throw it in the air.”

Famine- “It’s going to hit someone.”

Pollution- “Yeah, you.”

•Pollution- “I was on the floor.”

War, picking lint and dust off of the back of their motorcycle jacket- “You are not the human mop.”

•War- “I slapped you, like, once. . . .”

•Famine- “War you are not from India! You are from Español!”

•War- “Wait, I want to point fake guns at people!”

•Famine- *finally notices that War and Pollution are pointing finger guns at each other behind him* “What on Earth—“

•Pollution- *extremely muffled, holding an apple with their teeth* “I’ll do it!”

Pollution- *still with the apple in their mouth* “Ow.”

•War- *watching a bootleg clip of “Whipped into Shape” with the rest of the Horsepeople* “Okay. Can she whip me into shape?”

•Pollution- *blows out a cake candle by air-karate-chopping at it while Death tries to get them to stop*

•War- *sits on floor to do her work while charging her computer*

Famine- “You can sit at a desk.”

War- “Nah, I’m good. I like the floor.”

•Pollution- *happy kicks*

Pollution- *almost kicks Death*

•Famine, baffled, trying to figure out why half of the folders have suddenly disappeared from the shelf- “Is anyone just stealing folders for fun?”

•Pollution- “You know a crop top? The thing you put food in?”

Famine- “Do you mean crock pot?”

Pollution-

War- “I thought you said ‘crop top.’”

Famine- “THEY DID!”

Pollution- *dies*

•War- “Do you put food in a crop top?”

•Pollution- “Waman. I’m a waman.”

Pollution- “I’m not even a woman.”

•Famine- “Are you stable?”

War- *nods*

Pollution- *shakes their head vigorously*

•Famine- “The rice that you haven’t touched—it looks dead. It’s an inanimate object and it looks dead.”

•Famine- *points to sad steak and cheese taco-enchilada-quesadilla-thing* “Fine cuisine.”

•War- *aggressively* “I love my chains.”

•Pollution- *much louder and much more high-pitched than they intended* “BEEP!”

•War- *sucks grape into mouth*

Pollution- *flinches for absolutely no reason*

•War- “GRONK YOU DEAF BASTARD I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!”

•Pollution- *burns and stains a STAINLESS STEEL POT TRYING TO MAKE TEA*

•War- “Maybe we can beat each other up!”

•Pollution- *collapses onto floor and curls into a ball because it’s 7:12 in the morning and they don’t want to go to math*

•Famine- *holds out pencil he found on the floor* “Do you want a pencil?”

Pollution- “Heh!”

•War, to Pollution- “You frickin’ drippy man!”

•Pollution- *takes out a bottle of Seltzer*

Famine- *leaves to use the bathroom*

Pollution- *opens bottle*

Seltzer- *sprays everywhere wHEN THEY HADN’T EVEN SHAKEN IT AT ALL*

Famine- *returns three minutes later to see War and Pollution trying frantically to clean up the mess and salvage the project they were all working on together*

•Pollution- *arrives with a present wrapped in an unholy amount of tape*

Famine- “I pity whoever that’s for.”

Pollution- *is trying not to laugh*

Famine-

Famine- “It’s me, isn’t it?”

•War- “Who uses electrical tape to wrap a present?!”

•Pollution- “I’M A GENIUS!”

Pollution- “Mwrp!”

Pollution- *throws balled-up tissue paper*

•Famine- *does everything he can to avoid touching the glitter on his gift bag*

•Pollution- *laughs so hard they faceplant in a chair with a loud thunk while still standing*

•War- *sings along to “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer”*

[thepatricktreestump]

Crush pt1 - peter parker imagine

crush masterlist

part 1 - study hall

               Although none of the other girls in your class would agree with you, you were convinced that Peter Parker was the most attractive guy at Midtown High. He had stolen your heart from the very first day of AP Chemistry, confidently answering some basic questions concerning the structure of carbon compositions, and you basically swooned. You found smart guys unbelievably sexy, and ones who were humble were twice as good. Parker was a quiet kid, very sharp and sensible, but also friendly and courteous. Unlike the other boys at your school, he wasn’t loud mouthed and cocky, throwing outrageous parties and trying to hit on every girl within a five foot radius. It was refreshing to see a guy your age not be obsessed with copying down your homework or trying to invite you to a college frat party. Peter Parker was different, and you liked that about him. You liked it a lot.

            He kept to himself and two his friends mostly, MJ and Ned, which made you more interested in him and his life. Most days he either wore these adorable blue V-neck sweaters or these goofy science pun t-shirts that looked as if ordered in a bulk pack from Amazon. He was a proud member of the photography club, robotics club, debate team, and Science Olympiad. He was one of the smartest people you knew, and in turn, that simply made him the most attractive. Perhaps it was your father who had established your high standard in boys, seeing as he dabbled in astrophysics and technological engineering as a hobby. He was Ironman after all, being an overachiever was practically a household expectation. You were pretty smart yourself, and although it could be looked upon as rude or inconsiderate, the truth was you liked to surround yourself with others who either matched or challenged your intellect.

               Since establishing your crush on Peter Parker, you strived to spend more time with him. You told yourself you could start it off as a friendship with a silly crush and see how things went from there. Towards the end of the class one day, you were determined to talk to the boy. The plan was to ask him to go over some of his notes with you, maybe make it a study date situation, hope he didn’t call your bluff. It wasn’t that you didn’t understand the lesson, you understood everything perfectly fine. Hell, you could probably speak stoichiometry in your sleep. However, you needed a good reason to introduce yourself, so you hoped for the best and decided to take a leap of faith. Nervously smoothing your sweaty palms down on your thighs and gathering your books up from your desk, you walked over to where he was talking to his best friend Ned. “Hey,” you tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around, staring at you with his soft hazel eyes, brunette hair swept up neatly, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

               “Oh hi,” he gave a warm smile and nervously cleared his throat. “What’s uh, what’s up?”

               “I’m y/n, I sit over there,” you pointed out as an introduction.

               “I think I’ve seen you around. Aren’t you Tony Stark’s daughter?” he cocked his head to the side and you groaned slightly, ever the exhausted with being immediately associated with your father.

               “Yup that’s me,” you sighed. “Uh, anyways, I noticed you seem pretty caught up on this lesson and I was having some difficulty understanding some of the concepts, I was hoping maybe I could borrow your notes sometime? If that’s okay?”

               “Oh?” he seemed surprised, but flattered, blush rising to his cheeks. “Sure! Of course. I’m Peter by the way, Peter Parker.” He gave a nervous laugh and then shook his head. “My notes aren’t the neatest in the world but if you think they could help, I’d be more than happy to lend you them for a night or two.”

               “Thanks,” you nodded. “That would be great. I think I’ve seen you in my lunch period too, so I could always just return them to you before class then.”

               “Yeah, yeah,” he agreed. “Or uh, if you wanted, we could always hang out at the library afterschool and I could explain it to you. Protein structural components can get a little tricky sometimes.”

               “For sure,” you chuckled, realizing how lame you probably sounded laughing over chemistry. “I’m usually free afterschool, as long as you’re okay with it, that sounds great to me!”

               “How afterschool tomorrow?” he offered. “Just for an hour or two?”

               “Perfect,” you couldn’t help but blush yourself. “Thanks, Peter. Really.”

               It felt like your heart was beating out of your chest as you walked away, envisioning his adorable smile still in your mind. He was so sweet, and kind, and understanding. Pretty eager too. You had to stifle a laugh as you heard Ned slug Peter on the shoulder and whisper shout, “Dude! You just scored a study date with Y/n Stark!”

               “See ya, Parker,” you turned around and winked, walking out of the classroom and towards your locker.

               The next day in class, you kept glancing back in your chair to look at him, smirking to yourself every time you caught him staring back. He was shy alright, and nervous, but it made him all the more adorable. That morning you made sure to fix your hair up and put on a little bit of lipstick, and after being thoroughly interrogated by your overbearing father, you were able to get out the door in one piece. It wasn’t that you were overexerting yourself into catching his attention, but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t hoping to have him compliment you. The rest of the school day, you caught yourself using the rest of your attention to calculate how much time was left until you could rush to the library and actually talk to him for once.

               “I thought you’d never show up,” you teased as he took a seat next to you at one of the tables, setting his backpack down on the floor and sighing.

               “Me either,” he groaned. “Ned wouldn’t stop bugging me about this being a date.” He gave a nervous laugh and turned to you, but you weren’t laughing. Instead you looked at him, smiling sweetly, unable to resist your temptation.

               “It can be a date,” you shrugged, opening up your textbook and waiting for a response, only to catch him dumbfounded, struggling to find words to say.

               “Oh, I mean- I-” he stammered and you chuckled.

               “I’m just playing with you, Parker,” you playfully reassured. “Now come on, open up those science notes so I can take a good look. I’m still lost on the GPCR structure similarities.”

               “That’s what doesn’t really make sense to me though,” he mused, doubtful as he instead swiped your notes across the table, reading them over and pointing at your diagrams. “I think you do. All of these are mapped out perfectly, and your comparisons are spot on.”

               “Well there’s no harm in getting clarification,” you replied, trying to grab back your notes but he held them out of your reach, narrowing his eyes. Peter didn’t buy it.

               “Why do you need my help, y/n? You’re literally the smartest girl in school. Your father is Tony Stark for heaven’s sake, you don’t need tutoring,” he insisted. “If anything, you should be tutoring me.”

               “You?” you scoffed. “Pete, you’re varsity on every academic team there is. No way.”

               “I just don’t get it,” he admitted. “Why’d you ask for my help? It’s obvious you understand the lesson perfectly fine.”

               “Well…” you blinked at him, shocked at how quickly he had seen right through your cover. “I uh, I don’t know.” Your face turned a bright shade of pink and you began to feel queasy. “Can I be honest?”

               “Of course,” he nodded, concerned but also curious as to what you had to say.

               “I just wanted an excuse to talk to you,” you confessed, embarrassed. “I always see you around and you seem so smart and you’re a part of all these clubs and teams and I don’t know…”

               He looked surprised, almost confused, but then smiled. “Me? Why me?”

               “I dunno. You seem really sweet.”

               “Thanks. You too.”

               “I was thinking maybe we could be friends? If that’s not too weird or-”

               “No, no that sounds, that sounds great,” he insisted, clearly flustered. He looked up at you, eyes sparkling, lips curled up in a smile. “You could’ve just asked you know.”

               “Yeah I’m uh, I’m clearly a fool when it comes to those kinds of things,” you laughed nervously, scratching the back of your head.

               “Well, since we’re here anyways,” Peter decided. “Want to do homework together instead?”

               “Sure,” you agreed. “That sounds great.”

               Both of you spent the next couple of hours solving Gauss-Jordan elimination matrices and memorizing resistance series equations. In a lot of ways, Peter Parker was just as much of a nerd as you were. It was comforting to know someone’s brain worked the same way yours did, excited to be challenged with theorems and calculations, determined to find solutions and build upon your already established intellect. When the library eventually closed, you walked to the cafeteria vending machines and grabbed some chips and sodas, exchanging conversation and making each other laugh with stupid jokes.

               “Sit at my lunch table tomorrow,” Peter invited after having added you on snapchat. “MJ and Ned will be there, and you can bring some of your friends if you want too.”

               “Okay,” you grinned. “Count me in.”

               Walking home, your entire stomach was filled with butterflies. Things couldn’t have gotten better. He was genuinely funny, and clever, and really sweet too. You hoped and prayed things would go well between you two. Practically skipping to the elevator, you tried to hide the stupid smile on your face in hopes that your dad wouldn’t pry too much. However, you instantly cringed when you heard JARVIS’ voice greet you as the doors slid open and you reached your floor.

               “Good evening, Miss Y/n. It seems that you have finally arrived home from school,” he chirped and you groaned, knowing what was to follow. “Your father has requested that I alert him upon your arrival, he has been inquiring about your whereabouts-”

               “Yeah, yeah, I know JARVIS,” you mumbled, setting your bookbag on your chair and frowning. “I came home late, I was at study hall with a friend.”

               “You are approximately three and a half hours late from your usual arrival,” JARVIS informed.

               “I am aware,” you insisted yet again, noticing your dad march towards you from a hall. Part of you was surprised he even noticed you were gone at all. Most of the time he was either out with the Avengers on a mission or cooped up in the lab working on a new project.

               “And where were you afterschool, young lady?” he inquired, arms folded, peering at you above the rim of his glasses.

               “I was at study hall with a friend,” you repeated, chewing at your lower lip, trying to play it off. “It took a little longer than I thought it would, I’m sorry.”

               “You couldn’t give me a call at least?” he asked, annoyed.

               “I didn’t think you cared,” you shrugged.

               “Well I’m your father, so I do,” he argued and you nodded, growing quiet and waiting to hear whatever scolding you had coming to you.

               Sometimes you wondered why he was constantly on your case. Maybe with him being an Avenger and all, always exposed to threats and danger, it translated to him being constantly worried about you. You knew it was just cause he cared, but at times, it did get a bit overbearing. You’ve learned by now to just nod your head and respond with “yes dad” and “I’m sorry dad” interchangeably.

              “Much less, why are you all dolled up?” he looked you up and down in disapproval. You glanced down at your skirt and sweater, remembering the way he had inquired about your hair and makeup this morning. He wasn’t wrong. You rarely ever put any effort into your appearance when it came to going to school. You usually threw on some jeans and a hoodie and made your way out the door. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were trying to impress someone.”

             “I’m not,” you lied, rolling your eyes. “I just felt like changing it up today.”

            “Uh huh,” he drew out. “Twenty bucks says your little friend at study hall was a boy.”

            “Dad!” you whined and he smirked.

            “That’s all I need to know,” he threw up his hands defensively, secretly proud of himself. “Hey kid, get your homework done and then meet me in the lab. Bruce has a project for you concerning some Dijkstra’s algorithms that are right up your alley.”

            “Lucky for you I already got my homework done in study hall,” you pointed out. “So let me grab a snack real quick and I’ll meet you down there.”

            “That’s my kiddo,” he smiled proudly. “See ya in a bit.”

[nickgerlich]

Food To Go

A paradigm shift of epic proportions is happening before our very eyes in the fast food industry, and we can thank the pandemic--once again--for ushering in the change. While these things likely would have happened sooner or later, having to learn how to pivot under duress pushed the smart companies into overdrive.

And it’s all coming soon to fast food outlets near us, either in the form of lockers or dumbwaiters. Wait. How’s that?

It’s all about contactless dining. With ordering becoming increasingly done via mobile app (and Chipotle’s new quesadilla available only by app is a good example of the shift), it is now possible for us to go out to eat without ever having to deal with people.

The crazy part is that it is all vaguely reminiscent of the automat, a cafeteria without waiters, and kitchen workers who placed food into what amounted to a huge vending machine. Maybe there truly is nothing new under the sun.

Well, at least at the conceptual level. Seventy years ago when Horn & Hardart was feeding native New Yorkers, there was no ordering or customization like we have available today. It was really little different from buying a can of Coke from a vending machine, or a sandwich down in the basement of the hospital from a windowed device you could only hope was fresh, sanitary, and rodent-free.

Today, though, we have solved that one-size-fits-all approach and replaced it with the ability to feed an audience of one. We can order. We can pay. And we can pick up. No human contact whatsoever.

Those Amazon Lockers we see everywhere can now be used for food, although I hope you will retrieve your food a little faster than how you might stop by to get your package. Food only stays edible for so long, you know. A burger is good only as long as it doesn’t become mush. Still, KFC, Burger King, and Smash Burger are running head-long into this to make it safer to dine out.

The dumbwaiters present yet another interesting wrinkle, with Taco Bell leading the charge here. This will be little different from going through your bank’s drive-up, and using the plastic containers that get whisked to and from in vacuum tubes.

One day we will look back upon the pandemic, which, thankfully, appears to be in its waning days and months (I hope). We will view it as the time that companies had to dig deep, double-down, and find new ways to do old things. Better yet, the solution to new problems may be found in part in old methods, like those automats only your grandparents and great-grandparents remember.

I just hope the food is better.

Dr “No Stale Sandwiches For Me“ Gerlich

Audio Blog

[vladtheunfollower]

After the local newspaper where she worked as a reporter closed, Emily Guendelsberger took a pre-Christmas job at an Amazon fulfillment center outside Louisville, Kentucky. There, the vending machines were stocked with painkillers, and the staff turnover was dizzying. In the new year, she travelled to North Carolina to work at a call center, a place where even bathroom breaks were timed to the second. And finally, Guendelsberger was hired at a San Francisco McDonald's, narrowly escaping revenge-seeking customers who pelted her with condiments. Across three jobs, and in three different parts of the country, Guendelsberger directly took part in the revolution changing the U.S. workplace. ON THE CLOCK takes us behind the scenes of the fastest-growing segment of the American workforce to understand the future of work in America - and its present. Until robots pack boxes, resolve billing issues, and make fast food, human beings supervised by AI will continue to get the job done. Guendelsberger shows us how workers went from being the most expensive element of production to the cheapest - and how low wage jobs have been remade to serve the ideals of efficiency, at the cost of humanity. ON THE CLOCK explores the lengths that half of Americans will go to in order to make a living, offering not only a better understanding of the modern workplace, but also surprising solutions to make work more humane for millions of Americans. 

ebook

[letshavanaa]

Pushing their dreams in a cart, the Moving merchants of Bengaluru

Every journey starts with a dream. A dream to embark on an adventure that reaps the rewards of labour. A walk around Bengaluru will reveal the vibrancy of its rich street trade and moving merchandise in every corner of the city. It’s widely understood that Bangalore market alone is a soft corner for the average citizen’s shopping retreat. 

It’s the market places and street trades with moving vendors that mark the vibrance of shopping season. At certain points, you’d find flea markets flocking with eager shopaholics looking to get their hands on the finest accessories and clothing. Where else can you find fine linen, fresh fruits, meat, vegetables, religious items, traditional handicrafts, flowers, crockery, trousers, pet food, appliances and all the flavoursome street food you can imagine at such attractive prices. Although Bangalore is home to some of the largest malls and skyscrapers, there’s a familiar fondness associated to unlimited Gol Gappa at your favourite chat stall by the road. The moving merchants of Bangalore are of much significance to the energized optimism of its citizens.

The Street Trade of Bangalore that Connects People

Street trade has been around longer than most of the buildings in the city. A fresh supply of vegetables, fruits and snacks have been on the rounds for as long as life has existed. When people discover a new flavour, it’s likelier to reach the streets of the city than a Michelin start restaurant. The numerous Dosa vendors lined up at sweet spots in the city are a true reflection of this spirit of sharing and caring. It would be a crime to visit the Garden City of India and not try the best street food on display. Some of the finest, freshest and most scrumptious delicacies are a result of street trade.

If you’re spending more than 10 minutes talking about vegetables, you know you’re on the street bargaining with farm fresh produce. If you’re craving a new selection of comfy pants for your weekends, there are plenty of lucrative options around the corner. Most people want value for their money and street trade has provided access to this value. Shopping in the city streets is not just an individual experience. The experience connects with your locality and shows off the diversity of its people. If it weren’t for moving merchants, handy FM radios wouldn’t be available at such cheap prices. Stainless steel and cast-iron vessels would be hiding in some warehouse fifty blocks away. All the fresh vegetables you eat would have been sitting at a supermarket for three days before you decided to finally go shopping. Not to mention the dhobi who sets up his stall in a corner to collect smelly clothes that hostels never run seem to run out of. It’s just the way the street trade works that makes you think of how lucky we are to have everything within reach. 

With digitization, smartphones are in almost every hand, there’s increased connectivity to online shopping. Occasional legal reforms halt certain street vendors for a while. Regulations in farm policies affect the producers who come into the city to share their loot with the country. Branded outlets have taken a significant share of the fine textiles laid across tarp in the streets. The dynamics of street trade have been changing since its earliest recorded popularity in the 16th century. Yet, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, street trade continues to flourish in various parts of the country! Our street vendors continue to rise up and inventively make their products a hot selling item in the neighbourhood. Moving merchants and local street vendors are responsible for the upkeep of a wonderful city experience that makes us all feel a lot safer. 

Safety and Security with Ease of Access

In many households, children can walk up to the nearest vendor on the street and get some snacks while they watch their favourite cartoon shows. The elderly can take a stroll down the alley and bump into a vendor with lucrative deals on world-renowned poetry and magazines. A working professional can step out of the office and indulge in the sweet aroma of chai across the street. A group of friends can window shop from dusk till dawn at one of the nearby markets with plenty of items on display. The safety and security that city streets of Bangalore are equipped with, is the mirror of every law-abiding citizen. If you take pride in the access to information of the internet, you will realize how the access to street trade has enlivened our neighbourhoods. Bringing street trade online could revolutionize trade and consumer experiences.

Migrant workers can start a stall by the side of the street and sell their local delicacies to make a living. Farmers from rural areas can sell fresh produce in neighbourhoods where more people are likelier to buy. Shoes can be repaired by handy pros, equipped with everything you need to make them look brand new. The finest sarees can be bought off the nearest street corner. The most elegant sculptures are showcased along the pavement of this vibrant city. 

If you want access to buying what you want at your convenience, you have to support the tradition of street trade in India. Find all the street vendors near you, in one place online. This is what could make street trade more popular, livelihoods more stable.

People Connect with Street Vendors

Through technological prowess of the 21st century, we are lucky to gain more and more access to things that are dear to our desires. You can find almost anything online. Almost everything can be delivered to your doorstep in a few hours. Every major business transaction can be automated with technology. People have adapted to digitization that makes almost everything wireless. The city of Bangalore has zero-emission conveyance apps, electric vehicles on standby at the swipe of a button, salon appointments delivered home, grocery shopping online and legal documentation remotely fulfilled. There’s plenty going on with technology and innovation. In fact, Bangalore is rightly dubbed as the Silicon Valley of India. What about our Street Vendors and Moving Merchants? Most vendors certainly accept cashless payments. Kind vendors even offer to take your goods up to your apartment if they want. Some moving merchants list their goods on Amazon. The street trade is evolving and we all want to be a part of the change. 

Havanaa App: The One-Stop Access to local Street Vendors

Street trade has always provided financial freedom for an estimated number of over 10 million Indians. Street trade is a big part of the local economy. The creators of Havanaa thought, “why not connect street vendors and moving merchants to an online platform for increased visibility among customers?” After all, the Covid19 pandemic slowed down sales for many vendors who depend on foot traffic and eager shoppers. Many vendors lost jobs and ended up seeking a new way of financial freedom. Havanaa wants to provide a solution to rising unemployment. Havanaa wants to encourage the local economy and street trade. Havanaa wants to make shopping more convenient for customers of all ages. Havanaa wanted to provide sustainable options to bargain with your local street vendors. The Havanaa App was an idea born to preserve the culture of street vending and better – make it an attractive profession! 

Increased Access and Increased Reliability of Havanaa

Imagine ordering your fresh groceries from the comfort of your living room without having to use a coupon, or subscribe to an offer designed to encourage consumerism at supermarkets. Imagine all the access to farm fresh fruits and vegetables near you. No added pressure, guaranteed quality and directly from the local street vendor and best of all – you pick and choose what you want!. Your kids can find some ingenious toys to keep occupied during holidays. All the local stationary is available at such amazing prices. Customers could browse through fine textiles, household items and fancy gifts that are sold exclusively by street vendors. An order online and you get your favourite chat delivered to you. Wireless transactions, easy negotiation and seamless experiences can make your street shopping experience better, safer and more convenient. Best of all – you are helping someone who is truly in need of that money! The Havanaa App connects customers to local street vendors online.

Customers get access to a wide selection of lucrative items on display. Behind every vendor, there’s a story of hardship and struggle. Everyone has a dream and works every day to attain it. Each street vendor is pushing their dreams in a cart, selling their valuable possessions to you. The Havanaa App is designed to create financial stability, increase shopper’s convenience and promote the local economy by connecting street vendors who are near by to you.

We want you to realize the spirit of street trade and join us on the adventure of promoting local produce, moving merchandise and delicious street food with sustainable options. Havanaa inspires connectivity, reliability and convenience.

So what are you waiting for?

Click here to fill in a form and get 3 months access to moving vendors nearby online.

The Havanaa App is launching soon. Get your hands on fine items and contribute to the street vendors and moving merchants of Bengaluru, pushing their dreams in a cart for you.

[thebusylilbee]

[...] Près de Mulhouse, la construction d’un entrepôt Amazon pourra se poursuivre, accentuant son emprise tentaculaire pendant que les libraires sillonneront le département à leurs frais pour livrer à domicile leurs clients. Netflix entretiendra sa mainmise sur la diffusion de flux culturels alors que les cinémas sont invités à tirer le rideau. Jardiland pourra aussi continuer à vendre ses semences pendant que le fleuriste du coin videra ses étals. Entre deux paquets de saucisses sous vide, le chaland parti faire ses courses chez Auchan pourra y glisser dans son chariot un jouet pour son enfant pendant que le magasin au bas de la rue est prié de couler en silence. Les plats cuisinés se vendront à la pelle alors que les restaurateurs tenteront péniblement d’assurer leur survie grâce au concours d’une armée de précaires à vélo.

Il n’est pas question ici de culture, mais d’un choix de civilisation.

Le nombre exponentiel de victimes du Covid-19 doit nous rappeler une évidence : choisir de sauver des vies est un progrès et un choix de société plus admirable que d’ériger en quintessence de la liberté le droit de boire une bière en terrasse. La défense par quelques intellectuels d’un prétendu «art de vivre» dont on ne saurait se priver l’espace de quelques semaines dans l’intérêt collectif est une posture de nanti, quand bien même le risque et la mort font partie de la vie.

La seule question qui vaille est de savoir pourquoi celui qui sert la bière ou vend un livre devrait seul sacrifier le travail d’une vie pour en sauver d’autres.

C’est un choix. Emmanuel Macron avait promis une rupture avec le monde d’avant, gouverné par une oligarchie financière dont le seul dessein est de s’engraisser toujours plus. Force est de constater que huit mois plus tard, nous œuvrons non seulement à rafistoler ce modèle en miette mais nous en valorisons même les pires aspects.

Sans sourciller, le Président vient de donner un énième coup de pouce aux mastodontes de la finance, du numérique et de l’agroalimentaire en sacrifiant les commerces de centre-villes. Ces derniers, supposés être la clé de voûte des nouvelles politiques urbaines et écologiques sont relégués au second plan. [...] 

Personne ne peut prétendre détenir la solution miracle dans cette situation, malgré la prolifération inévitable de savants de la veille. Le confinement est peut-être la seule solution et nul doute que chacun est en mesure de le comprendre dès lors qu’il n’a pas la sensation de faire partie d’une masse dépersonnalisée de laissés-pour-compte que les «premiers de cordée» ont sciemment décidé d’abandonner derrière eux.

Il ne convient pas de céder à la tentation facile de l’opposition entre plèbe et élite bourgeoise, mais de «faire société tous ensemble», ce qui implique aussi quelques efforts de la part de la seconde. Puisque Emmanuel Macron a fait un choix, il nous faut assumer de faire le choix inverse : exiger que les mesures contraignantes s’abattent en priorité sur ceux dont la fortune se compte en milliards alors que l’immense majorité de la population se déchire pour des queues de cerises. Refuser que des milliers d’artisans, de commerçants ou d’auto-entrepreneurs vivent les mois à venir la boule au ventre tandis que d’autres accumulent tant d’argent que leur seul projet de vie consiste à s’envoyer en l’air vers Mars avec la complicité de l’Etat.

La culture ne se limite pas aux objets culturels et aux lieux dans lesquels ils se partagent et s’échangent, c’est une émanation impénétrable qui met à la disposition des gens les outils utiles au développement de leur sensibilité, de leur personnalité et de leur individuation. C’est le conseil du libraire, le parfum d’une fleur, les légumes fraîchement récoltés dans le potager et cuisinés avec passion par le chef d’un restaurant etc. C’est tout ce qu’Amazon, Netflix et leurs algorithmes, Auchan et ses plats surgelés ne sont pas en mesure de procurer.

«Il est plus commode, écrivait encore le candidat à l’élection présidentielle de 2017, d’écrire une loi ou un décret que d’indiquer une direction.» Promesse tenue : élu président, Emmanuel Macron aura su indiquer sa direction, la voie des puissants contre celle des petits.

[mickeyminaj00]

Comment générer un revenu secondaire facilement ? (Cody McLain)

(NDT : Les informations contenues dans cet article ne constituent en aucun cas un conseil en investissement, faites vos propres recherches et investissez de façon éclairé)

Avec ces méthodes, certaines personnes gagnent plus de 2 000 $ par semaine et cela ne va pas s'arrêter de sitôt tant que notre économie continue de croître de la sorte…

Devenir un «influenceur»

Revenu hebdomadaire médian: 2 800 €

Comment débuter :

Tout ce dont vous avez besoin est un appareil photo de haute qualité (un iPhone ou un appareil photo. Oubliez le reflex pour le moment).

Publiez votre contenu sur une plateforme comme Instagram, YouTube et Facebook de manière cohérente pendant 200 jours.

Concentrez-vous sur la création de contenu pouvant devenir «viral» et attirant l'attention des abonnés potentiels, followers et des utilisateurs de contenu, l'objectif est de se créer un véritable public.

Profitez de ce public pour monétiser votre popularité !

Coût de démarrage moyen: 450 € + pour une caméra.

Devenir un gourou en ligne et vendre un cours

Revenu hebdomadaire médian: 3 000 € et plus selon le créneau

Comment débuter :

Pensez au produit / problème que vous souhaitez vendre / résoudre. La plupart des gens achètent quelque chose qui leur permettra de gagner plus d’argent, d’être attrayants et de perdre du poids. C'est tout!

Développer un programme, avec des modules basés sur des solutions étape par étape pour résoudre ce problème.

Si vous ne savez pas comment créer un cours; Embauchez un pigiste sur une plate-forme comme Upwork pour créer le cours au complet.

Coût de démarrage moyen: 39,00 € à 299,00 € selon la plate-forme hôte

Démarrer une entreprise de livraison directe

Revenu hebdomadaire médian: 2 000 € et plus selon le créneau

Comment débuter :

Recherchez les niches les plus vendues à l'aide d'un programme appelé «WatchCount» qui vous montrera les produits les plus populaires sur un site comme eBay.

Créez un compte Shopify et configurez votre boutique en ligne (Shopify propose des plug-ins pour vous aider à démarrer, en particulier avec une entreprise d'expédition directe). Vous n'avez pas besoin d'acheter l'inventaire / stock.

Créez une page de fans Facebook pour votre site

Exportez votre pixel Facebook vers votre Shopify

Ciblez votre audience et démarrez vos campagnes publicitaires

Ré-ciblez et dupliquez le public qui achète vos produits.

Coût de démarrage moyen: 200,00 € incl. Budget des publicités Facebook

Devenir un auteur auto-publié

Revenu hebdomadaire médian: 1 200 € et plus.

Comment débuter :

Écrivez 1000 petits livres sur différents sujets et publiez-les sur Amazon.

Le point fort d’Amazon, en tant que plate-forme, est qu’elle vous donne des informations sur ce qui se vend et ce qui ne se vend pas. Allez regarder la liste des best-sellers et écrivez quelque chose de meilleur !

Si vous ne savez pas quoi écrire ou comment débuter, embaucher un freelance à partir d'une plate-forme comme Upwork | Hire Freelancers. Make things happen.

Coût de démarrage moyen: 5 € / heure pour le pigiste sur Upwork. Dépense totale: 500,00 €

Démarrer une entreprise FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon)

Revenu hebdomadaire médian: 1 000 € et plus

Comment débuter :

Trouvez des produits génériques qui se vendent déjà extrêmement bien sur Amazon

Lister le même produit, mais optimiser le contenu de la page avec le référencement (SEO)

Envoyez vos produits aux centres de distribution Amazon (entrepôts à partir desquels les clients Amazon Prime recevront leurs colis)

Autorisez Amazon �� traiter et à exécuter vos commandes.

Coût de démarrage moyen: 500 € et plus en fonction de la niche que vous visez.

Démarrer une entreprise d'impression personnalisée (POD)

Revenu hebdomadaire médian: 1 000 $ et plus

Comment débuter :

Recherchez les niches les plus vendues à l'aide d'un programme appelé «WatchCount» qui vous montrera les produits les plus populaires sur un site comme eBay.

Créez un compte Shopify et configurez votre boutique en ligne

Créez un compte avec un grossiste POD, une personne capable d'imprimer de nombreux t-shirts avec votre propre design personnalisé.

Créez une page de fans Facebook pour votre site

Ciblez votre audience et démarrez vos campagnes publicitaires

Ré-ciblez et dupliquez le public qui achète vos produits.

Coût de démarrage moyen: entre 0,00 € et 100,00 € selon le grossiste.

[vendreview-blog1]

Vend Review is the participant in the Amazon associate program, which is an affiliate advertising program. The primary purpose of that program is to provide the ads to websites that will help to earn by advertising and linking an Amazon.com platform to their sites. Vend Review comes up with the solution to save your time and money by doing complete research on online shopping hectic.

[thebaileynina]

Grocery Website - The New Concept With A Huge Promise

The Covid-19, or the Corona virus, as it is popularly known, is compelling mankind to rethink and readjust its usual pattern of life in many different ways. Hardly ever, in the recorded history of the world, has an invading  viral attack been able to catch the world in a state of such unpreparedness, wrecked havoc over such a vast area of the planet, affected such a huge number of the world population simultaneously at such an incredible pace, caused such a huge rate of mortality and disrupted human life to the brink of disaster.

As if that weren't enough, the human population, with the ferocity of the viral onslaught in mind, is forced to retreat to the apparently safe confines of respective homes. Isolating people indoors for prolonged time periods may shield them to quite an extent from the deadly virus. However, the method gives rise to a series of new problems basic to the existence of human not used to the life within such severely shrunken limits.

Indisputably, the most important of them all is the supply of grocery, inadequacy of which  leaves people insecure, anxious and jittery.

At this crucial time, when approximately 80% of the world finds itself under complete or partial lockdown, hundreds of thousands of supermarkets and big stores around the world find themselves without customers - a development that may spell doom for their business.

Fortunately, the human race has learned to live with problems while finding solutions to those along the way. With both the business houses and the confined people around the world looking desperately for a way out, the concept of online grocery has emerged as a boon to everybody concerned. With nearly two and a half decades of experience behind, as a professional in the IT sector, I recently took upon myself the task of exploring the trends and potentials of online  grocery, motivated largely by the numerous queries received in this regard. Lockdown-worn people from varied quarters of life had mostly some common concerns to share:

a) How to get started with the online grocery supply system? b) Who are the suppliers? c) Are the supplier systems robust enough to meet the  sudden surge in demand? d) Can the suppliers match the increasing pressure on their supply systems to sustain them satisfactorily during and beyond the Corona-phase? e) Is it likely that the post-Corona-phase will see the online grocery suppliers fall back to the old supply system - somewhat lax, slow, and casual?

A singular fact to emerge clearly from these queries is that quite a huge number of those concerned people, who have either opted for online grocery supply already, or are looking to join the system, have come to realize and appreciate the merits of the system even beyond the Corona crisis and include it in their way of life. A developed society has significantly higher percentage of population utilizing online grocery facilities anyway. But in the changed scenario, this percentage too has been showing a steady uptrend. Going by the indications obtained from across the world, the concept of online grocery is here to stay.

I was immensely impressed to come across a remarkably inspiring instance of human resilience where a number of individual grocery vendors, out of business by the recent Corona-related developments, joined hands to launch an online grocery vending platform by the name of grocerysellers.com.

It has been reported recently that many restaurants worldwide, with backs to the wall due to alarming rate of fall in business, have chosen the path of fast moving grocery vending. Emerging trends also indicate that many existing players in the online grocery vending segment are expanding infrastructure to cater to much larger clientele, while many large companies are investing briskly in grocery sites.

A grocery website is not merely a plain website, but a well equipped e-Commerce platform-cum management system covering every single step of the process from billing to shipping and inventory management.

In course of my quest for some of the best grocery e-Commerce system providers, the name that figured right on top of my choice, is itechscripts. They provide probably the only solution in the segment to support multi-vendor, multi-currency and multi-language options. This means third party grocery sellers can use your website to sell their items, and you stand benefited by charging either a subscription fee or a percentage on every transaction.

One can hardly overlook the niche design of the front end offered by itechscripts, while also offering utmost simplicity and platform independence comparable to those of eBay, Amazon and Instacart.

During this hour of the prevailing Corona crisis, the hardship-stricken business community cannot afford to spare a fortune in acquiring an efficient grocery e-commerce site - a step that would amount to jumping out of frying pan into the fire. In sharp contrast, one cannot help but be  amazed at the extremely affordable price tag the grocery e-commerce site from itechscripts comes with.

Going online apparently seems to be the only way out to keep the shrinking and dying business afloat. The world has come to this realization - the sooner you wake up to the reality, the better it is.

My word of advice for the lockdown-hit existing business community - don't despair! Try to restore the snapped link with your customers by going online. With a more specific reference, the concept of online grocery, where you deal in commodities of everyday use with perpetual demand, there is every possibility of the consumer interest continuing to exist and grow exponentially way beyond the duration of the current crisis.

For the aspiring beginners of online grocery business, there could hardly be a better time to start than now!

[chandanbetha-blog]

INTERNET OF THINGS(IOT)

The definition of the Internet of things has evolved due to the convergence of multiple technologies, real-time analytics, machine learning, commodity sensors, and embedded systems.[1] Traditional fields of embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (including home and building automation), and others all contribute to enabling the Internet of things. In the consumer market, IoT technology is most synonymous with products pertaining to the concept of the "smart home", covering devices and appliances (such as lighting fixtures, thermostats, home security systems and cameras, and other home appliances) that support one or more common ecosystems, and can be controlled via devices associated with that ecosystem, such as smartphones and smart speakers.

There are a number of serious concerns about dangers in the growth of IoT, especially in the areas of privacy and security, and consequently industry and governmental moves to address these concerns have begun.

History

The main concept of a network of smart devices was discussed as early as 1982, with a modified Coca-Cola vending machine at Carnegie Mellon University becoming the first Internet-connected appliance, able to report its inventory and whether newly loaded drinks were cold or not.Mark Weiser's 1991 paper on ubiquitous computing, "The Computer of the 21st Century", as well as academic venues such as UbiComp and PerCom produced the contemporary vision of the IoT. In 1994, Reza Raji described the concept in IEEE Spectrum as "[moving] small packets of data to a large set of nodes, so as to integrate and automate everything from home appliances to entire factories".Between 1993 and 1997, several companies proposed solutions like Microsoft's at Work or Novell's NEST. The field gained momentum when Bill Joy envisioned device-to-device communication as a part of his "Six Webs" framework, presented at the World Economic Forum at Davos in 1999.

The term "Internet of things" was likely coined by Kevin Ashton of Procter & Gamble, later MIT's Auto-ID Center, in 1999, though he prefers the phrase "Internet for things". At that point, he viewed radio-frequency identification (RFID) as essential to the Internet of things,which would allow computers to manage all individual things.

Defining the Internet of things as "simply the point in time when more 'things or objects' were connected to the Internet than people", Cisco Systems estimated that the IoT was "born" between 2008 and 2009, with the things/people ratio growing from 0.08 in 2003 to 1.84 in 2010.

The key driving force behind the Internet of things is the MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, or MOS transistor),which was originally invented by Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959.The MOSFET is the basic building block of most modern electronics, including computers, smartphones, tablets and Internet services. MOSFET scaling miniaturization at a pace predicted by Dennard scaling and Moore's law has been the driving force behind technological advances in the electronics industry since the late 20th century. MOSFET scaling has been extended into the early 21st century with advances such as reducing power consumption, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) semiconductor device fabrication, and multi-core processor technology, leading up to the Internet of things, which is being driven by MOSFETs scaling down to nanoelectronic levels with reducing energy consumption.

Privacy and security concern :

As for IoT, information about a user's daily routine is collected so that the “things” around the user can cooperate to provide better services that fulfill personal preference. When the collected information which describes a user in detail travels through multiple hops in a network, due to a diverse integration of services, devices and network,the information stored on a device is vulnerable to privacy violation by compromising nodes existing in an IoT network.

For example, on 21 October 2016,a multiple distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks systems operated by domain name system provider Dyn, which caused the inaccessibility of several websites, such as GitHub, Twitter, and others. This attack is executed through a botnet consisting of a large number of IoT devices including IP cameras, gateways, and even baby monitors.

Fundamentally there are 4 security objectives that the IOT system requires:(1)data confidentiality: unauthorized parties cannot have access to the transmitted and stored data.(2)data integrity: intentional and unintentional corruption of transmitted and stored data must be detected.(3)non-repudiation: the sender cannot deny having sent a given message.(4)data availability: the transmitted and stored data should be available to authorized parties even with the denial-of-service (DOS) attacks

IoT adoption barriers :

Lack of interoperability and unclear value proposition

Despite a shared belief in the potential of the IoT, industry leaders and consumers are facing barriers to adopt IoT technology more widely. Mike Farley argued in Forbes that while IoT solutions appeal to early adopters, they either lack interoperability or a clear use case for end-users. A study by Ericsson regarding the adoption of IoT among Danish companies suggests that many struggle "to pinpoint exactly where the value of IoT lies for them".

Privacy and security concerns

As for IoT, information about a user's daily routine is collected so that the “things” around the user can cooperate to provide better services that fulfill personal preference. When the collected information which describes a user in detail travels through multiple hops in a network, due to a diverse integration of services, devices and network,the information stored on a device is vulnerable to privacy violation by compromising nodes existing in an IoT network.

For example, on 21 October 2016,a multiple distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks systems operated by domain name system provider Dyn, which caused the inaccessibility of several websites, such as GitHub, Twitter, and others. This attack is executed through a botnet consisting of a large number of IoT devices including IP cameras, gateways, and even baby monitors.

Fundamentally there are 4 security objectives that the IOT system requires:(1)data confidentiality: unauthorized parties cannot have access to the transmitted and stored data.(2)data integrity: intentional and unintentional corruption of transmitted and stored data must be detected.(3)non-repudiation: the sender cannot deny having sent a given message.(4)data availability: the transmitted and stored data should be available to authorized parties even with the denial-of-service (DOS) attacks.

Applications :

Nest

learning thermostat reporting on energy usage and local weather

Ring

doorbell connected to the Internet

An

August Home

smart lock connected to the Internet

The extensive set of applications for IoT devices is often divided into consumer, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure spaces.

Consumer applicationS

A growing portion of IoT devices are created for consumer use, including connected vehicles, home automation, wearable technology, connected health, and appliances with remote monitoring capabilities.

Smart home

IoT devices are a part of the larger concept of home automation, which can include lighting, heating and air conditioning, media and security systems. Long-term benefits could include energy savings by automatically ensuring lights and electronics are turned off.

A smart home or automated home could be based on a platform or hubs that control smart devices and appliances. For instance, using Apple's HomeKit, manufacturers can have their home products and accessories controlled by an application in iOS devices such as the iPhone and the Apple Watch. This could be a dedicated app or iOS native applications such as Siri. This can be demonstrated in the case of Lenovo's Smart Home Essentials, which is a line of smart home devices that are controlled through Apple's Home app or Siri without the need for a Wi-Fi bridge.[31] There are also dedicated smart home hubs that are offered as standalone platforms to connect different smart home products and these include the Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple's HomePod, and Samsung's SmartThings Hub. In addition to the commercial systems, there are many non-proprietary, open source ecosystems; including Home Assistant, OpenHAB and Domoticz.

Elder care

One key application of a smart home is to provide assistance for those with disabilities and elderly individuals. These home systems use assistive technology to accommodate an owner's specific disabilities. Voice control can assist users with sight and mobility limitations while alert systems can be connected directly to cochlear implants worn by hearing-impaired users.They can also be equipped with additional safety features. These features can include sensors that monitor for medical emergencies such as falls or seizures.Smart home technology applied in this way can provide users with more freedom and a higher quality of life.

The term "Enterprise IoT" refers to devices uSed in business and corporate settings. By 2019, it is estimated that the EIoT will account for 9.1 billion devices

Commercial application and Medical and healthcare :

The Internet medical things (IoMT) is an application of the IoT for medical and health related purposes, data collection and analysis for research, and monitoring.[38][39][40][41][42] The IoMT has been referenced as "Smart Healthcare",[43] as the technology for creating a digitized healthcare system, connecting available medical resources and healthcare services.[citation needed][44]

IoT devices can be used to enable remote health monitoring and emergency notification systems. These health monitoring devices can range from blood pressure and heart rate monitors to advanced devices capable of monitoring specialized implants, such as pacemakers, Fitbit electronic wristbands, or advanced hearing aids. Some hospitals have begun implementing "smart beds" that can detect when they are occupied and when a patient is attempting to get up. It can also adjust itself to ensure appropriate pressure and support is applied to the patient without the manual interaction of nurses. A 2015 Goldman Sachs report indicated that healthcare IoT devices "can save the United States more than $300 billion in annual healthcare expenditures by increasing revenue and decreasing cost." Moreover, the use of mobile devices to support medical follow-up led to the creation of 'm-health', used analyzed health statistics."

A Nest learning thermostat reporting on energy usage and local weather

A Ring doorbell connected to the Internet

An August Home smart lock connected to the Internet .

Infrastructure applications :

Monitoring and controlling operations of sustainable urban and rural infrastructures like bridges, railway tracks and on- and offshore wind-farms is a key application of the IoT. The IoT infrastructure can be used for monitoring any events or changes in structural conditions that can compromise safety and increase risk. The IoT can benefit the construction industry by cost saving, time reduction, better quality workday, paperless workflow and increase in productivity. It can help in taking faster decisions and save money with Real-Time Data Analytics. It can also be used for scheduling repair and maintenance activities in an efficient manner, by coordinating tasks between different service providers and users of these facilities. IoT devices can also be used to control critical infrastructure like bridges to provide access to ships. Usage of IoT devices for monitoring and operating infrastructure is likely to improve incident management and emergency response coordination, and quality of service, up-times and reduce costs of operation in all infrastructure related areas. Even areas such as waste management can benefit from automation and optimization that could be brought in by the IoT.

[mindthump]

6 Technologies That Will Reshape Marketing In The Next Decade https://ift.tt/2SS8OeD

Augmented reality and the Internet of Things are among the defining forces going forward.

December 31, 2019 9 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

When the internet was beginning to be commercially adopted in the early 1990s, few predicted how it would completely overhaul the marketing industry over the next two decades. Ingenious search engines that navigate a plethora of budding websites, along with the first online display and search ads, marked a drastic turn of marketing dynamics as individuals's active search behavior allowed for much more relevant and efficient ad delivery. 

The emergence of social media represented an equally revolutionary milestone, whereby comprehensive data on user demographics, preferences and interests offered marketers unprecedented targeting options. The innovation of advertising is the foundation on which world-changing tech giants such as Google or Facebook are built upon. It has allowed them to claim a huge chunk of all ad spending and generate revenues surpassing the total GDPs of entire countries.

In a similar fashion, companies that manage to formulate the most scalable marketing ecosystems around the next wave of society-altering technology, coupling commercial with consumption intent more effectively, will experience astronomic growth and most likely become corporate superpowers -- or further cement their dominance. 

Early adopters who leverage those novel tools and unsaturated channels will gain significant competitive advantages, and new companies and agencies will emerge that build out their own tools or business models to complement the most impactful future marketing technologies.

Related: How to Market Technology in the Digital Era

Big Data, AI and Quantum Computing 

Why are these three buzzwords seemingly just lumped together? Because their development is strongly interdependent, and combined they’ll underpin most major technology advancements. The synergy of AI and big data is already deeply rooted in the core marketing activities of both large and small digital enterprises: Recommendation engines account for a staggering 35 percent of Amazon’s total sales, multi-channel sentiment analysis informs the brand strategies of companies like Samsung, and every minor e-commerce retailer can already harness the effectiveness of chatbots.

AI thrives on mountains of information to fuel its continuous learning mechanisms, and once leveraged by the mind-bending processing speeds of quantum computers to tap ever-increasing sources of big data, its capacity to deliver unique insights, automate a multitude of tasks and even take over various decision-making aspects from humans will surge exponentially.

The likes of IBM, D-Wave and Microsoft are all investing heavily into quantum computing, and Google has already modelled quantum neural networks in a race to build the first stable and commercially viable quantum computer, a force of (artificial) nature that would enable the conception of a sheer endless number of potential AI-powered applications, some which we haven’t even imagined yet. 

It’s safe to assume that the first commercial applications to emerge from the current research will serve the core functions of the companies at the forefront of their development. As a result, all pillars of online marketing -- SEO, digital advertising, price matching etc. -- will be subject to massive disruptions as they become more efficient and autonomous. 

It also means many jobs will become obsolete. Various custom services provided by agencies, especially in the realm of data analytics, will inevitably become commoditized through respective AI tools. The cannibalization will even spill over to the more creative marketing segments, given algorithms that autonomously generate personalized assets, copies and content exist already.

The technological leap driven by the development of the holy technological trinity of big data, AI and quantum computing will open a treasure chest of unprecedented opportunities for online marketers in the form of novel applications to reach and monetize customers as well as an enhancement of the current digital marketing ecosystems. Equally, those who fail to adapt will find themselves overhauled by the progress.

Internet of Things

As of now, our smartphones, laptops and some commercial machines and sensors comprise the majority of the current gateways to the internet. However, this is rapidly changing as the physical and digital realms increasingly (and somewhat frighteningly) converge. An estimated 41.6 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices will generating 79.4 zettabytes of data by 2025; a truly astronomical figure brimming with potential.

Beacon technology, 5G, sophisticated sensors, self-driving cars, smart wearables and smart homes all just mark the beginning of a world where almost anything powered by electricity may be connected to each other and with the all-encompassing web, opening up deep-reaching tracking and engagement opportunities for marketers.

CTRs of almost 100 percent will no longer be an impossibility, whereby companies and agencies shall strive for hyper relevance and aim to eliminate the interruptive commercial based on demographic and behavioral data from a limited few devices. Fridges, vending machines, shop displays, even plates; every ”thing” may serve as a touchpoint to accompany the consumer along a much richer, attributable and predictable journey in the quest to serve the right sales message at the right time.

To fully realize the potential, marketers will face the monumental technical challenge of implementing holistic, multi-device platforms that can assimilate and manage all these incredibly varied and intertwined gadgets and their associated data. Undoubtedly, this will give birth to many new entrants that take it upon themselves to deliver solutions for a new, hyperconnected cosmos.

Voice and Virtual Assistants

A promising child of AI harnesses one of the most ancient forms of human interaction: voice. The likes of Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant are slowly morphing into a ubiquitous and most seamless UI that will change the way we find information, consume media and buy things.

With 61 million people owning a digital assistant in the US alone and already 20 percent of all mobile searches being conducted orally, the value of including voice search in future marketing strategies is clear. Add to that moves like Google’s plans to integrate voice query data into the Search Console and roll out Google Actions, software that allows Google Assistant to interact with a site’s content, and the consideration of virtual assistants will no longer be advisable but instead become a must.

Businesses are already reaping the rewards of proper voice search optimization and attain significant boosts to their click-through and conversion rates, attributable to greater relevance and less competition on voice search result pages. Measures such as ensuring localized businesses are listed in the assistant-favored data-aggregators, or optimizing for semantics- -- with a greater focus on conversational interrogative phrases -- are already in the standard repertoire of forward-thinking SEO tools and agencies.

However, the new frontier revealed by virtual assistants lies beyond search. Cross-app integration and deeper access to big data are the first steps to transform them from mere search enhancers into predictors of users’s needs capable of autonomously serving highly targeted ads and carry out transactions on their behalf. In that light, it becomes self-evident that the proliferating number of IoT devices comprise the perfect ecosystem for virtual assistants to link up with. Alexa’s integration into newer BMW cars and into various Bosch home appliances pose examples that hint towards a future where VAs serve as a point of convergence for multi-device data on user’s behaviors and preferences and as the agent to deliver hyper-relevant ads at the right moment.

Right now, marketers should recognize the importance of voice search in SEO. In the future, once IoT becomes omnipresent, a whole new world opens up in which marketers can devise entirely new ways to reach consumers, leveraging stronger emotional connections enabled through voice and tapping into gargantuan reserves of big data. 

Related: 4 Major Marketing Trends for 2020 and Beyond

Augmented Reality

A scene from the Netflix series Altered Carbon presents what an augmented/mixed-reality urban landscape could look like: The main character walks along the alleys of a futuristic city, and through high-tech contact lenses sees a myriad of flashy holograms promoting mostly dubious amenities. In 2019, overlaying augmented reality through such lenses still belongs to the realm of sci-fi movies (for now). Instead, smartphones are still the marketer’s AR gateway to the consumer, and an increasingly effective one at that.

Various e-commerce niches in particular may see significant boosts in sales as the online shoppers’s hesitation is alleviated by being able to more vividly visualize the products with their smartphone from the comforts of their homes. For example, IKEA’s Place app, developed with Apple’s ARKit, allows thousands of pieces of furniture to be virtually previewed anywhere in a roomm, causing the likelihood of buying to increase 11-fold. It’s quite possible that, for some industries, offering visualizations to "try out" products pre-sale will transition from being a mere value-adding gimmick to a standard consumer expectation.

Similarly, AR is set to play a huge role in enhancing the physical shopping experience of retail stores. More engaging shop displays, like Zara’s virtual catwalk that replaced mannequins in one of its stores, allow brands to make stronger emotional connections through interaction. Walmart enhanced its mobile app with an AR scanner, allowing the product-conscious customer to easily retrieve an item’s reviews or additional information.

Most interesting for online marketing agencies, however, is the dawn of AR ads on social-media platforms. Earlier this year, Snap Inc. opened up programmatic auctions for AR Lenses to the masses, and by rolling out the complementary Lens Studio, agencies possess an additional format to offer to clients that’s more compelling than video. Facebook, too, tested AR ads in its Newsfeeds and Messenger, resulting in companies like WakeMeUp, who let customers try on new shades of makeup, to boast a sales uplift of 27.6 percent.

Furthermore, as tech behemoths open up the technology for audiences to engage with the real world through AR on a daily basis, it won’t be long for shops and amenities in proximity to promote themselves on those overlaid screens, effectively positioned between physical billboards or signs and Google Maps entries. 

Considering AR interaction is especially

appealing to younger demographics

and that the number of mobile AR devices

could exceed 2.5 billion by 2023

, it’s no wonder that the next decade and beyond will see AR ads shift from the domain of early adopters to the mainstream.