Galveston Capital Tourism And Marketing: 10 Historical Facts You Probably Don't Know About Galveston10/9/2017 As you may already know, Galveston's rich history is one of the many things that makes us a one-of-a-kind destination. From the spectacular Victorian homes to the wonderful people whom have molded Galveston in to what it is today, there is just so much to learn and discover. Here are 10 historical facts about Galveston that you have probably never heard before:
Number 1, Galveston is the home of the inventor of condensed milk. Gail Borden was named Galveston’s first customs inspector in 1837. Borden would later achieve fame by inventing condensed milk. Number 2, Galveston is home to Texas' first bakery. Irish immigrant Christopher Fox opened a bakery in Galveston in 1838. It was the first bakery in the State of Texas. Number 3, Galveston was once the leading port of Texas. In 1842, Galveston received the first cotton press in Texas. By 1899 Galveston was the world's foremost cotton port and the fifth most important port in the United States. Number 4, Galveston was the first city in Texas with light. Galveston was the first city in Texas to have gas lights (1856) and later the first city to have electric lights (1883). Number 5, Galveston is home to Texas' first opera house. The first opera house in Texas opened in Galveston in 1870. It was on the corner of Tremont and Market Streets. Below are past and present images of Galveston opera houses. Number 6, Galveston had the first telephone in Texas. The first telephone in Texas was installed in Galveston in 1878. It was installed in the office of Colonel Belo, founder of the Galveston Daily News, the oldest surviving newspaper in Texas, founded in 1842. Number 7, Galveston is home to the oldest medical college, now UTMB. The oldest medical college in Texas opened in Galveston in 1891 followed by the first school for nurses in 1894. Originally known as the Texas Medical College, today it is known as the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). Number 8, prior to the 1900 Storm, Galveston was the 2nd richest city in US. On the night of the Great Storm of 1900, Galveston was the second richest city per capita in all of the United States. The only city with more wealth than Galveston was Newport, Rhode Island. Number 9, Galveston was raised in grade after the 1900 Storm. After the Great Storm of 1900, a seawall was constructed to protect the city from future storm surges. After construction of the seawall was completed, 500 blocks behind the seawall were raised to even the grade. The task took eight years to complete. Number 10, Historic Ashton Villa's fence is mostly underground. Half of Ashton Villa’s historic iron fence is underground. Set into concrete when installed in 1859, the Brown family allowed half of it to be buried during the grade-raising. The gates and newel posts were removed and then reinstalled once the grade was raised so that they could maintain function.
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Shopping via apps will rise and rise
This is an easy one. It’s a no-brainer that online sales will continue to grow. And mobile’s share of that will continue to rise, as more and more customers adopt a mobile-first strategy. Predictions of the actual magnitude of this growth vary wildly, with some experts expecting m-commerce to grow by over 200%.Even many of the more conservative estimates exceed 100%. Whatever happens, it’ll be huge. And mobile apps will deliver a growing percentage of that. While Web will be the primary platform for discovery, apps will be the platform of choice for loyal, repeat customers. They offer better communication, better UX, and a much slicker shopping experience, which in turn results in better conversion rates, more customer engagement, and higher sales compared to mobile Web. Apps probably won’t surpass mobile Web in 2017, but it’ll definitely get closer, perhaps as much as 40% of m-commerce.s Retailers who aren’t offering mobile sales in 2017 are really going to lose out, and retailers without apps will be missing out on the biggest growth area of all. Delivery will be a primary deciding factor Customers aren’t just interested in whether they can find what they want at the price they want. They want more choices on how to actually get their stuff.Over 80% of customers expect a same-day shipping option, and 65% expect their goods to be shipped within three hours. Importantly, they don’t expect it to cost extra.Over 60% want a same-day delivery option, while 82% want to be able to buy online and pick up in-store. 45% of customers want to buy in-store and have goods delivered to their home or office.Currently, less than half of US or European retailers offer any of those options. Meanwhile, Amazon have just announced their first successful drone delivery, with just 13 minutes from order to arrival.That’s raising the bar for everyone. Retailers who can offer fast shipping with multiple delivery options, preferably free, will enjoy a huge competitive advantage over those who don’t. In 2017 this will become the norm. Mobile fraud will become more common The USA has finally begun to adopt secure Chip and PIN technology, which will massively reduce fraud in stores.This is obviously great news for consumers and retailers, but there’s a hidden downside. Fraudsters will turn their attention towards sales that don’t involve a physical card reader.Online sales of all sorts will be affected: already there’s been a 26% increase in online fraud in just six months, and mobile fraud can be expected to grow. Currently, only 29% of US stores can accept chip cards, which suggests that what we’re seeing is only the beginning.As old-style swipe cards get phased out, online and mobile fraud will keep rising. As Forrester points out, “Mobile offers fraudsters more options than any other channel.”2017 will be the year that retailers start to take mobile fraud prevention as seriously as other forms of online security. Alternative payment systems will become standard On a related note, customers are becoming wary of making card payments via mobile.It’s often cumbersome and error-prone, and there are serious security concerns. Instead, they’ll turn in increasing numbers to other forms of payment, especially outside the US and Europe.WorldPay estimates that payment systems such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Wallet, AliPay, MoPay, Square, direct app payments or pre-paid accounts will account for a massive 59% of m-commerce transactions in 2017.PayPal and AliPay alone will account for almost 40% of worldwide mobile sales.Mobile abandonment rates exceed 80% when customers are asked to input their credit card details.If you’re still forcing your mobile customers to use their credit cards in 2017, expect to see them drift away to competitors who offer a safer, easier alternative. AI-backed systems will start to dominate AI is no longer science fiction. It’s happening now. Consumers expect shopping sites to be much more than just categorised or a searchable list of products.They expect sites to know what they want, to make recommendations, to highlight the products they’re looking for, and to interact with them proactively. They won’t accept mass email promotions blasted out to everyone: they want personalised, targeted notifications telling them about the products and offers they want to see. And when they have questions, they want answers right away. Email is no longer fast enough or personal enough.As a result, more and more retailers are turning to smart chatbots for front-line customer support.They’re not perfect yet, but chatbots can typically handle 80% of all inquiries, which cuts operating costs while allowing human staff to focus on more complex customer service issues.In 2017, as more artificial intelligence is deployed worldwide they will get smarter, more human-like, and better at delivering increased sales and happier customers. |