Intermediary Customer Purchasing from the Product Producer

Sell Steps: Sell steps include the activities Intermediary customers take in selling and delivering the product to their customers. These activities include their own customer recruitment and product delivery.

B.
Resources: Reduce resources required for the use of the product

2. Time – Reduce the time the customer must spend with the product

a. Reduce steps the customer must use with the product
Reduce customer steps in the product process

Move information electronically

No.	SIC	Year	Note
1	3571	2001	Palm is developing eWallet technology, designed to replace the standard card swipe used to pay at retail stores. Palm wants to let users beam credit card data from Palm devices directly to cash registers.
2	5499		Wireless phones have become a tool for cashless vending. C-Mode machines are the result of a collaboration between Coca-Cola and Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo. All users have to do is wave their phones over a sensor and the price is added to their phone bill. These machines are also in Hong Kong and Germany, but the concept hasn't caught on in the U.S. yet.
3	6141	2005	J.P. Morgan Chase announced plans to issue millions of new credit cards that can be waved or held in front of a special reader. The "blink" technology would use terminals to avoid swiping. American Express introduced ExpressPay versions of the same technology. The cards contain a chip that is recognized by a merchant's terminal. The major companies have agreed to a standard that enables all the readers to accept any card that is equipped with the feature. The new payment method does not require a signature since the cards are equipped with encryption software to prevent duplication. Since the customer is not required to hand the credit card over to the cashier, there are fewer chances for theft. This effort may encourage customers to switch from cash to credit for common purchases and will speed up transactions. CVS, McDonald's and Regal Entertainment have signed on to accept the new cards, at a cost of $150 per terminal.
4	6141	2005	New Visa and MasterCard's by J.P. Morgan Chase do not have to be swiped across a magnetic-strip reader but must pass within a few inches of a scanner that is wired to receive low-frequency radio waves emitted by an embedded chip. This is made possible by radio frequency identification technology which has been adopted by retailers to track inventory from factory floor to store shelf. This will speed up lines in convenience stores, theaters and fast-food restaurants.
5	7372	2004	High-tech shopping carts used by online retailers often use Macromedia Inc.'s Flash animation software. One of the first retailers integrating such technology into their websites is TJX Companies Inc., which will offer the Flash-based cart on websites for its T.J. Maxx and Home-Goods chains.

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