INSIGHT
Interestingly, Alibaba’s vision based
on Buy+ is to develop standardized
applications for brands and merchants for
selling on Alibaba marketplaces to build
their own virtual reality stores and product
inventories as easily and quickly as a
WordPress website. Just imagine a casino
bonus affiliate that offers 3D reviews of
the major online casinos, thus providing a
sense of the player experience before the
player registers on the brand’s platform.
This could be incredibly compelling to the
gaming consumer, close to buying before
trying, and could certainly influence how
an affiliate sends traffic to the casino brand.
Transformer or modular mobile
phones
Another interesting area to watch is the
modular smartphone. The concept is a
simple one –– you buy a basic model
smartphone, and all the bits can be pulled
off and swapped based on your particular
preference. For example, you need a
larger memory, so you just buy a more
substantial component, snap out the old
part and replace it.
So why the fuss? Firstly, the mighty
Google has, you guessed it, been active in
this tech. The Google Ara was a modular
phone project which, according to internet
reports, has been recently cancelled.
However, just as with Snapchat launching
a cooler version of Google Glass, LG has
launched their LG G5, the first major
brand smartphone to feature modular
components. Going even deeper is the
Moto series of Android smartphones
developed and manufactured by Motorola
Mobility. Motorola was sold to Lenovo
by Google in 2012, and now Motorola
Mobility has launched Moto Z and Moto Z
Force and their snap-on components called
Moto Mods.
Just think about developers creating
gambling-related mods, specialising in rich
visualization and prediction data tools to be
used for identifying opportunities during inplay betting on sports, as against using the
desktop set-up with multiple screens.
Takeaways for affiliates
It is clear that businesses in all industries
are looking to own their supply chain,
through invention and innovation, content,
software and hardware, by solving everyday
problems for consumers.
This presents entrepreneurial affiliates
the ability to look past the reliance on traffic
generation via Google SEO and SEM.
Ultimately it is platforms and the ecosystem
of complimentary products and services
within those platforms that consumers
are attracted to in order to carry out all
their day-to-day activities more efficiently
and effectively. By not embracing change
and exploring how these ecosystems are
evolving and changing consumer behaviour,
affiliates run the risk of becoming obsolete
like many companies in the
consumer supply chain.
MARK MCGUINNESS
has more than 15 years’
experience in digital
marketing director roles with
both private and public iGaming
operators. He is founder of
www.esportsbet.com, a resource for
gamers and sports bettors who wish to
start betting on eSports.
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