From in-store geo-located deals – first in apps such as Foursquare but now being delivered straight to your pocket via iBeacons – to "on-demand" merchandise allowing consumers to personalise their products at home and pick up in-store, it seems the battle for the high street pound is a long way from over.
This morning, the company announced the debut of a new iPhone application called eBay Exact which allows users to browse and buy customizable print-on-demand merchandise from three top 3D printing companies: newly acquired MakerBot, Sculpteo, and Hot Pop Factory.
The startup says it has plans to create an on-demand merchandising operation, which I'm presuming involves letting users order things like t-shirts, mugs, mouse mats and that sort of thing (a la CafePress) with custom printing based on quotes pulled from Quotables' database.
Merchants including Wal-Mart rely on demand for merchandise like jeans to increase sales in the weeks before schools reopen, the second-biggest retail period after the pre-Christmas season.
The U.S. recession has cut demand for merchandise now that consumers have virtually stopped spending and has severely strained the need for energy, pushing the price of oil off its July 2008 high of $147.00 per barrel.
The liberal elite against those who demand Duck Dynasty merchandise be returned to Cracker Barrel.
However, it can be hard to estimate the demand for merchandise -- a major Halloween pop-up chain can probably store any overstock from year-to-year, but a smaller business doesn't have the same resources available.
British publisher Dorling Kindersley ran into trouble last year after hugely over-estimating the demand for merchandising spin-offs from the film Star Wars: Episode One.
Thus "Gabba -related products arrived in exclusive retail settinGabba -related than usual, demonstrating consumer demand to other merchandise products.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Disney promised that the unmet demand for Rey merchandise will be addressed with a release of toy lines in January.
