Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

The nature of mobile’s power needs is such that very low-tech options could exist, depending on how widespread the power outage is. Do many associates live outside out the outage area? Could they bring the iPad—or whatever mobile device is needed—into the store from home? And then perhaps use staggered shifts to bring in freshly powered devices? Hardly efficient, but if it makes the difference between being able to operate or not, it’s worth considering.

Therein lies one interesting takeaway from Irene’s destruction: the level of marketing differentiation possible by a generator and/or creative power plans. When Irene hit areas not accustomed to long power-less durations—in our area of Northern New Jersey, stores that hadn’t seen outages of more than 50 minutes in two decades were dealing with as many as six or seven days of power-less retailing—most merchants just shut down. The few who had invested in high-end generators along with ample fuel to sustain operations for more than a week, however, found themselves the only game in town.

They were swamped with appreciative customers who spent far more than normal. Those customers were often first-timers who were impressed with the new store they discovered, powered partly by the emotional appreciation that the store had the foresight to invest in sufficient back-up power.

Typically, when a chain moves into a new town, it mimics what other merchants have done. “Should we get a generator? Only if the locals have, given that they know this community best.” Interestingly enough, it was the retailers who chose to go it alone that ended up benefitting the most.

Some veteran retailers remembered the pre-POS days, when they used mechanical cash registers immune to power outages. If only during daylight, most believed that, were it not for POS, they could have functioned. It made more than a few think hard about a mobile future.

Of course, even an almost perfect power-outage plan won’t guarantee an advantage over competitors who have gone dark. Two days after the storm passed, I had to make the rounds of stores, trying to purchase some repair products to fix storm damage. Most were closed due to lack of power. One store that had power—Home Depot—was inaccessible due to closed roads and washed-out bridges.

And even the generator route was challenging. There are two primary fuels for generators: gasoline and natural gas. Many gas stations sold out of gasoline, and closed roads prevented them from getting quickly resupplied, due to evacuation demand plus tons of consumers and businesses purchasing gallons of the stuff for their own generators. So the gasoline route would have required a retailer to have stockpiled a huge amount of gasoline. Those who stockpiled a more nominal amount found themselves running out of fuel within hours or a day or two.

Natural gas, though, has its own issues. It has a much better supply, is not bothered by closed roads and requires no stockpiling. But the flood waters caused disruptions in some natural gas lines.

Mobile and generators won’t be a cure-all for the next extended power outage. But if they could even salvage 20 percent of sales, that might be enough to cut losses and generate an awful lot of customer loyalty.