2. Parents

Turn your son or daughter’s passion for the Internet into a small projects by asking them to write about the Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival. Ask them to brainstorm on ways to contribute to the website, and then send me their ideas. I’d be happy to work with you, too, and we could always use more video and/or photography.

D001 Big Changes Coming to Radio Shack

Cyberland

D001

Cyberland/

Big Changes coming to Radio Shack

I found it very disheartening to hear about the changes coming to Radio Shack in the near future. Sure, the company is filing for bankruptcy protection, so it will still be around, but I don’t think it will ever be the same again. There are already plans to close some stores, including the local one that I’ve been shopping at for years.

As much as I love stopping at Radio Shack, this news doesn’t come as much of a shock. I know that the company has been struggling for a while and has made several attempts to improve business. But, the fact of the matter remains that the Radio Shack stores don’t ever seem very busy, unless you count Black Friday.

For me, this has been the type of store that I stop for three possible reasons: Find something that’s cheap or on clearance, I need a part or a gadget that is hard to find at other stores, or I’m in the mood to browse an electronics store.

We don’t have a lot of selection when it comes to electronics here in Mid Michigan, unless we want to drive 40 minutes to the nearest Best Buy in Midland. There is WalMart, Staples, Target, and Radio Shack, but only Radio Shack specializes in electronics.

For all of these years, Radio Shack has been that type of store that always seemed to be in every town. I could visit the one in Brighton when I was younger. I considered applying for a job at a Radio Shack.

I made some of my most interesting purchases at Radio Shack. It’s where I bought my customizable, FX lightsaber with dual blade colors (blue or red). I’ve bought several docks there, as well as cases and jackets for my Apple devices.

So, I hope that they turn things around and someday return to my area.

/ Comment / Respond /

A033 How I would relaunch SkyMall

A033

How I would relaunch SkyMall

When I read that SkyMall’s parent company would be selling it as a part of it’s bankruptcy, I began to think about different ways in which it could be saved.

I don’t fly much, so I don’t have a lot of experience with the Skymall catalogs but I have a good idea about the kind of products they promote. They worked because for many years airline passengers were a captive audience with few alternatives. Today, potable devices help passengers stay occupied during their flight. This is also the main reason why SkyMall is being sold, according to its Chief Executive:

With the increased use of electronic devices on planes, fewer people browsed the SkyMall in-flight catalog. [This] resulted in additional competition from e-commerce retailers and additional competition for the attention of passengers, all of which further negatively impacted SkyMall’s catalog sales.

I agree that the brand still has potential in the Digital Age. It is already associated with flying, and its catalogs are well known for their somewhat unusual products. The company which buys SkyMall could easily use these strengths to take the brand in a bold new direction.

SkyMall was losing business because people weren’t looking at it’s catalogs. I’d recommend that they shift their strategy in two ways:

• Provide information which attracts passengers to their site or mobile presence
• Create a strong user experience tailored towards passengers in the air

This would require more research into the kind of information passengers are interested in, but I would recommend the inclusion of news, the weather, and real time flight information. For the latter category, one section of SkyMall might give visitors customized information about their route, the plane they are riding on, and the weather report for their destination city. Integration with social media would make it possible to highlight posts about their flight on Twitter or Facebook.

This in-flight information could be interweaved with descriptions of products that are available for sale. These could be presented as catalog entries, or videos.

SkyMall could draw upon its history and feature popular products from the past, top selling items, and perhaps items that were rejected.

In addition to being a source of information, SkyMall could offer concierge services which help passengers connect with other online services.

When I searched for SkyMall on the Internet, I found a site and an iOS app which both look like online catalogs. I would start by changing to a design which allowed for multiple kinds of channels and activities for visitors.

What are some things that you would change about SkyMall to make it more relevant to travellers? Share your thoughts in the comments.