Oscar H. Castro

At the Technology Association of Georgia Georgia Technology Summit this morning, Daryl Plummer dropped a gem: “Time saved ≠ value created.” AI isn’t just about productivity… it’s about scale. It’s about discovering new value, not just doing the same work faster. Start with where you extend: market reach, new revenue streams, opportunity creation. Treat productivity as a side effect, not the main event. #GeorgiaTechSummit #AI #BusinessGrowth #ScaleOverSpeed

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There’s been a lot of noise about AI in franchising lately, and for good reason. At this year’s Franchise Leadership & Development Conference (FLDC) in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to join Samantha Tacca, Michael Ackley, and Loren Eckart to discuss how AI and technology are reshaping franchise lead generation. What became clear is that the real power of AI isn’t just in automation. It’s in personalization. At Batteries Plus, we’ve used AI to make our development process smarter and more efficient, shortening our lead-to-close time to around 10 weeks. We’re also using it to create short, personalized videos that greet prospective franchisees by name, a human touch powered by technology. I shared during the panel that there’s a key distinction between reactive and proactive AI. Reactive AI helps us manage tasks and respond faster, while proactive AI predicts buyer behavior and allows us to deliver a more tailored experience. That’s where the real potential lies. Yes, AI can be costly and complex, but the reality is that you can’t afford not to use it. As more tools emerge, the barrier to entry will fall and the opportunities for creativity will grow. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gr_m-2xg #Franchising #Leadership #AI #Innovation #LeadGeneration

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𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘀? It takes expertise in higher ed. In this episode of The Higher Ed Marketer Podcast, Troy and I talk with Kesha Boyce Williams of University of South Carolina Upstate about why this work is different. Higher ed marketing is complex. It combines B2B and B2C, multiple audiences, long recruitment cycles, and high expectations. That is why schools need partners who understand the unique challenges of higher ed, not just agencies that build websites for anyone. 🎧 Excited to share this conversation about the strategy, patience, and expertise it takes to get a redesign right. Full episode link in comments. #HigherEdMarketing #WebsiteRedesign #EnrollmentStrategy #MissionFit #HEMPodcast #HEMCommunity

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Ulta’s shopper isn’t calculating price per ml. They are reacting to the number on the shelf tag. We pulled pricing data across Ulta.com and found the same pattern everywhere. From top search terms to sponsored placements to bestsellers across skincare, makeup, and hair, most winning products sit between 20 and 40 dollars. That $20 to $40 window is where growth is happening without discounts. It is where products convert and where the shopper says yes, even when the price per ml is higher. A $26 mini outselling a $52 full size isn’t a fluke. It is strategy. If you are launching at Ulta or trying to scale, absolute price matters more than you think.

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LOSING LOYALTY So this article from WSJ’s MarketWatch suggests that retail loyalty programs are ‘ground zero’ for surveillance pricing. That merchants are using programs to gather data, profile your behavior, and work to maximize the price you pay for products. This follows recent articles that Instacart has run pricing experiments designed to understand the individual shopper’s price sensitivity - with a goal of maximizing revenue. As a lifelong retailer I can understand the thought-process involved: If we understand each shopper’s buying behavior we can work to maximize the revenue realized from each shopper. While in theory this may be true, in real life it cannot be more wrong. Retailers - or companies like Instacart - thinking like this treat shoppers as commodities, one interchangeable for another. But true practitioners of loyalty - of whom there are too few - understand that loyalty has always been about an understanding of human behavior, not just economics. I will always remember the famous Norman Mayne, President of Dorothy Lane Markets, saying that loyalty programs are not about making shoppers more loyal to the retailer. Indeed, they are about the opposite: A way for retailers to be more loyal to their shoppers. As one of the earliest loyalty practitioners, and creator of the first true marketing personalization solution for retail over twenty years ago, I am a staunch defender of Norman’s philosophy. The use of differentiated - customer specific - pricing to simply increase margin is not the way to become more loyal to your shoppers. I am proud of the growing number of retailers using Birdzi’s platform, specifically its Visper solution, to provide true, incremental, savings to shoppers. These retailers have taken on the responsibility of funding savings on products each shopper wants to buy - not just offering deals on what vendors want to promote. By adopting a TRUE CUSTOMER FIRST philosophy, these retailers are earning increased loyalty from their shoppers. And the results they are seeing prove that out. Retailers looking to simply harvest data from their loyalty programs to directly increase margins or sales through differentiated pricing will find the initiative will come back to bite them. Shoppers are not stupid. They will understand the value proposition - or lack thereof - and make their own decision to participate or not. So who are you loyal to? #retail #grocery #supermarkets #CPG #FMCG Birdzi, Inc. Shekar Raman Pasquelo Tate Joseph Dahari Courtney Adams Ron Bonacci Center for Advancing Retail & Technology (CART) #bionicretail #CEO #CMO #CIO #loyalty #marketing #tech #innovation #AI #transformation #disruption https://lnkd.in/gzUBGKTd

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"Payra is the only AI-enabled software that meets traditional businesses where they are and helps them to modernize and drive ROI within their existing tech stack.” - Managing Partner, Christopher Sugden ⚡ Did you catch PAYRA's interview with Nashville Business Journal yesterday? Co-founders Riley Lovingood and Thomas Cecil spoke with reporter Ella Castronuovo on how Payra plans to expand the team, spend the $15M capital, and stay true to their "middle American heartland business" roots. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/g78By4S9 #tnfintech #payra #embeddedpayments #americanbusiness #middletn

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