Lamorinda Businesses Turning To Technology — Slowly

Dave Simpson is not a man who’s easily overlooked.

Energetic, well-spoken and enthusiastic, his personality fills the room when he speaks – oh, and he drives a great big, bright blue bus.

Simpson’s business, the , is housed inside that big blue bus following the closure of his non-wheeled business, the Lafayette Bookstore, in August 2010. Big Blue, his traveling shop’s nom-de-rue, is vintage Detroit, but the technology he uses to let his customers know where to find Big Blue is the latest business trend. “We are definitely using social media,” he says.

Businesses over the last eighteen years have enjoyed technology-driven efficiency gains in nearly every aspect of their operations, but none more so than how they reach out to their customers. Brandon Bloom, lead technician at the , a computer service and support store in Moraga, says that businesses are much more likely to use social media tools like Facebook than they were even a few years ago.

“I think Facebook has made things (like marketing to customers) a lot easier,” he says.

Jay Lifson, executive director , points to Simpson and the Bay Area Bookmobile as an example of how technology can affect local businesses in both positive and negative ways. Online stores, such as Amazon.com, have taken a toll on local merchants, since many customers can research and buy products and services from their homes and often at prices sustainable only by selling in very large volume.

However, Lifson says that shop owners increasingly are exploring technology to find different ways to maintain relevance as local merchants.

“Right now what we’re dealing with is social media," he says.

He points out that the Internet not only provides a platform for small, local companies to compete globally, it also provides tools that can differentiate services and build communities of loyal customers. The Lafayette Chamber of Commerce was a bit behind the technology curve, according to Lifson, but it’s now using some of those same communication tools to promote and differentiate Lafayette as a commerce destination through the Try Lafayette First campaign.

Back on the bus, Simpson is following a similar tact with technology. He says he uses Facebook on a weekly basis to let customers know where to find the bookmobile and to provide book-related news or event information to the book-loving community that supports his shop. All of that cutting-edge marketing technology came by benefit of “Facebook for Dummies,” much to the amusement of this 22-year-old daughter, admits Simpson.

But he realized that given the mobile nature of his business he needed to explore new ways to do the things his business required. Obviously, the bookmobile is mobile and computer connectivity is difficult compared with a stationary storefront.  So Simpson uses a mobile-data-enabled iPad to post to his Facebook page, research books for customers and check inventory at warehouses.

Clearly, the nature of Simpson’s business has changed from a traditional brick-and-mortar location to a store on wheels, but his savvy use of technology has allowed him to stay in business.