Has any term been overused in the last 15 years more than innovation? Some companies live and breathe by this: Google. Apple. Facebook. Starbucks. Uber. Tesla. See a trend. Five of the six companies you just read are tech companies. Yes, even Tesla. Why can’t we innovate quick enough in other industries like retail, travel, and manufacturing? That is the great divide.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said something that rings true: “There can be no great innovation without great risk.”

A Little Different is Not Innovation

If we do the same things slightly different, we are not innovating, we are improving. Innovation involves something bigger. Something greater. And innovation does not need to be defined as strictly a technological endeavour, although granted, there usually is a technology play. But a company can be innovative in numerous ways:  allow employees access to any social media site while at work; introduce a flexible schedule for all employees; build a company gym with state of the art equipment to promote health; build a daycare on the main floor of the company. Innovation comes in many different forms, but let’s be clear: innovation at its core involves a completely different way of thinking or doing. While the outcome may be unclear – not everything passes or results in profits – the road to get there is, namely, do different, and do it large.

Innovation in Digital Marketing and Ecommerce

When it comes to innovation in Digital Marketing and Ecommerce for your business, think of how Uber can enhance your delivery timelines with same-day deliveries; think of how mobile adoption and shopping has scaled so quickly, and build entirely for a mobile-first attitude in everything you and your team does; for multi-channel retailers, think of beacon technology and how that can improve an in-store experience (think for an instance of you walking into an apparel retailer, you get a push notification from the brand’s app asking what you are looking for, you respond by voice and say “jeans”, and through a wayfinding system you are shown exactly where the pair of jeans and colour you are looking for is located, you try them on in the fitting room, and pay right then and there on your app); think too of reserved parking for online pickups in store; what about only accepting payments through a mobile wallet?

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