Taking On Amazon, Target Expands Online Subscriptions Program To More Categories, Lowers Prices

Target has significantly expanded its subscription-based e-commerce service, first launched last fall as a response to Amazon’s popular “Subscribe and Save” program, by increasing the number of online items available for subscription purchase from just 200 to now 1,500. While the company’s original focus was on baby-care items, the now revamped service offers similar savings for other everyday purchases, including cleaning supplies, health and beauty aids, pet treats and training pads, grocery items, home and offices supplies, and more.

The Minneapolis-headquartered retailer first debuted “Target Subscriptions” as a pilot program in September, with just 150 items related to baby-care, like diapers, wipes, training pants, and other regular purchases designed to appeal to new parents. Customers were able to order these items to be delivered in four, six, eight, ten and twelve-week installments, but unlike with competitor Amazon, there was not an additional savings for ordering on a subscription basis at the time of launch.

That has now changed.

Previously, customers were offered free shipping, and those paying with the Target card or Target VISA could save an additional 5 percent on purchases. Those programs remain in place today, but now the retailer is offering an additional 5 percent discount on all subscriptions orders. That means those paying with their Target cards could save a total of 10 percent on their orders while also not paying shipping.

In addition, some items have extra savings attached to them on a promotional basis – for instance, a special offer found on several items across the site (like this Tide detergent, e.g.) is promising a $10 gift card to those buying three items from the “Household” category. The move is likely meant to encourage users to sign up for regular shipments, which, over time, would be worth more to the company than the initial $10 loss.

Target also tells us that the subscriptions service grew quickly after its initial launch, and now accounts for more than 15% of online sales for eligible items. To be clear, that’s not 15 percent of total sales, but 15 percent of the eligible items’ sales on Target.com.

The company declined to break out its online sales figures, however.

Target also last fall introduced a pick-up program, similar to other online retailers including large competitor Wal-Mart, which allows shoppers to buy online and then pick-up at the store. That program began with 35,000 items and has since grown to 60,000, and now accounts for 10 percent of Target’s online business.

Tiles Is An Easy-To-Use 3D Design Program That Lets You Print Your Own Objects

Tiles by Cadigo is a 3D modeling program for kids that lets the wee tykes drop blocks, walls, and pixels into an environment and then output the object for 3D printing. Designed to be dead simple, you basically create a shape in 2D and then “extrude” it into 3D, adding features as you build.

The software costs $25 for an early “Founders” edition with free updates, larger canvas and more block options. Less expensive versions reduce the size and shape of the objects you can create. The company is looking to raise $30,000 and will make the software available on PC, Mac, and Linux and iOS and Android if they reach their stretch goals.

To create objects you simply place LEGO-style bricks in virtual space. Once you’ve built your model you can export to an STL file for printing on a Makerbot or similar printer. Aimed at the very young, Tiles offers a number of building styles including additive building by dropping blocks and “chip-way” that lets you remove material from a larger block. Unlike tools like Printcraft, which translate game worlds into STL files, this is a true CAD tool, albeit one with considerably reduced complexity.

Tiles was created by Cadigo, a 3D model marketplace, and is the company’s first software offering. They also allow users to upload objects to their library so you can share your blocky creations with the world. Like TinkerCAD, Tiles lets the extremely inexperienced try their hand at 3D modeling and, once they get good, to graduate into more complex tools. If there is one thing holding back the average 3D hobbyist its an understanding of 3D design and Tiles is doing its best to remedy that.

via 3Ders

Noora Health’s Training Program For Patients And Caregivers Improves Recovery And Reduces Readmission Rates

If you’ve ever had a major surgery or medical event, you know that the education around recovery leaves much to be desired. When I had a C-section with the birth of my daughter, the hospital gave me a piece of paper that listed some of the medical issues that could take place if my recovery wasn’t going well. But I really had no idea how to handle the recovery–in fact, I made several calls to my physician (and had an untimely ER visit) because of complications.

Noora Health wants to change this. The nonprofit graduating from Y Combinator is building hospital education platforms for patients and their family members to teach them the skills needed to recover from a major medical event (like a surgery) or manage chronic conditions like diabetes and palliative care. Using an iPad app, Noora Health works with hospitals to offer patients and their families combination of videos, quizzes and interactive content to teach skills to aid in their recovery at home.

The problem Noora is tackling is real. In the United States, patient 30 day readmission rates for hospitals are at 20-30%. Medicare alone spends roughly $17 billion per year on return visits that are preventable with proper education and training.

Noora Health will actually supply iPads to be put on patient’s bedside tables post surgery. Patents then self identify themselves by entering basic information related to their condition and an interactive education program is presented to them based on their condition and circumstances.

Part of the program involves giving family members 24-hour access while the patient is in the hospital so they can actually practice some of the skills (i.e. changing a dressing of a bandage) before they go home. Doctors and nurses get reports on the patient’s progress and can see which skills patients are succeeding and struggling with and follow-up with the patient accordingly. Each program has a different focus, and for now extend to heart failure patients (vascular, surgery), new mothers, Alzheimer’s patients, diabetes and pneumonia.

Eventually the organization’s technology will become more customizable to each patient’s specific condition, we’re told. So the program will start taking into account certain medical history data points like whether the patient is a smoker.

The non-profit was founded by Edith Elliott and Katy Ashe, who met while developing a program in India at Stanford’s d.school. Once they thought of the idea for Noora Health, Ashe and Elliot thought India would be a good start to bring better health education to a developing country. Specifically, the healthcare infrastructure in India can’t keep up with the growing demand for health services, and there is a need for more doctors and healthcare professionals in general.

Through a partnership with a chain of low-cost hospitals in India, Narayana Health, Noora provided their training program to over 6,000 patients and family members. Results were impressive–there was a 23% reduction in readmission for open heart surgery patients. As a side note, Noora’s name derives meaning from the Arabic word for light and was the name of one of the first family members Elliot and Ashe interacted with in the early stages of their nonprofit’s development.

With this program in place, Noora Health is now extending this to US Hospitals. Currently, coordinating content and programs with 8 institutions including Stanford Hospital, and with Santa Clara Valley Hospital (a program for new mothers). Early data shows that the program is reducing readmission rates, increase knowledge retention, and boost patient satisfaction rates.

What Noora Health is offering is compelling for hospitals considering the recent changes in reimbursement with The Affordable Care Act. Patient satisfaction and readmission rates are now calculated into the costs for Medicare, Medicaid and MediCal patients. So hospitals are looking to increase satisfaction and reduce readmission rates.

As Elliot and Ashe explain to me, Noora Health’s simple goal is to empower patients with the information they need to truly take care of themselves through design and technology. “Patients and caregivers don’t ever go through a training course like CPR yet are being put in these very scary situations post surgery,” explains Elliot. Ashe adds that especially in small villages in developing countries, there is no education. But even in the Western world, she says, patients are confronted with critical decisions and changes following surgery that impact their health for the remainder of their lives. Education and skill training is the best way to help empower patients and families.

As someone who did go through a major surgery recently, I would most certainly have benefitted from a better education around recovery.

Care In Action from Noora Health on Vimeo.