Tech Bytes: Three Thoughts on the Disruptive Potential of Apple Watch

Now that the smoke has cleared from the initial release of the Apple Watch, retailers can take a more objective look at how this latest innovation in wearable technology might disrupt customer engagement and the overall customer experience. Here are three thoughts on how Apple Watch could shift the retail landscape.



Small Screen, Big Challenge/Opportunity

Retailers have benefited from the growing screen size of smartphones, but the Apple Watch presents a much smaller screen than retailers are used to dealing with. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity.



On the challenge side, retailers cannot perform traditional m-commerce on a screen as small as the one offered by the Apple Watch. Most of the early retail Apple Watch apps function as offshoots of iPhone apps, allowing users to seamlessly switch their experience to their iPhone when they are ready to check out more product detail or make a purchase.



However, retailers to think more broadly about the possible advantages the small screen offers for marketing. It is good for highly targeted marketing, a single message can easily be displayed across the entire screen, demanding the user’s attention. Retailers should also investigate the marketing potential lying within Apple Watch’s capabilities to create and display animated images.



Getting (Extremely) Personal

Smartphones are personal devices, but the Apple Watch takes personalization to new levels. Users can record and send their heartbeat, and it also allows users to personalized tap patterns to each other, which are felt as a buzzing on the watch.



Retailers could hypothetically send customers targeted offers based on heartbeat analysis (fast heartbeat may indicate a need for a beverage to cool off, etc.) or notify busy consumers of discounts on certain items with a personalized tap message they don’t have to stop to look at. Of course, this type of extreme personalization would require opt-in, and retailers would need to carefully safeguard customer privacy and not get to the creepy level with offers based on biometric factors like heartbeat.



Time Will Tell

Retailers including Kohls, J.C. Penney, Amazon.com and QVC have already released Apple Watch apps, and many more will undoubtedly follow in their footsteps. The iPhone 6 and Apple Pay have not yet reinvented retail the way some observers had predicted, and Apple Watch most likely won’t drastically or immediately alter the retail landscape by itself, either.



But Apple Watch is another step in the disruption of the retailer-consumer relationship, with more power held in the hands (or wrists) of the consumer. Time will tell exactly what impact wearables like smartwatches and connected eyewear (Google s partnering with Luxottica for a more stylish reboot of Google Glass) will have on retail, but some form of impact is assured.