Archive for the ‘Mobile’ Category
How digital apps can drive e-commerce and m-commerce sales
With e-commerce spending reaching a double-digit share of all retail spending, online B2C marketers are devising push-and-pull strategies to grab the attention of consumers. These methods must provide assurance and convenience, while also standing out amongst other similar techniques in practice.
One way to do this is through digital applications, a slight shift from e-commerce to m-commerce. Not all shoppers are ready for this yet, but they soon will be and smart brands will be waiting for them when they arrive. Below are 3 ideas to drive online sales.
1. Blend Physical and Digital Interaction via a Unique Social Spectacle
Launch a provocative digital-based spectacle that causes consumers to gather in a physical space to engage with your brand and, ultimately, make a same-day purchase. Here’s how you do it:
- Connect the event with a phenomenon or cause (not related to the brand) that resonates with the target group.
- Include a digitally-based spectacle that consumers can interact with only through their mobile devices; the same tools they can then use to make a purchase.
- Bring consumers closer to the brand with a promotional offering they can’t resist.
Once they make the purchase on a mobile device via a digital application, allow customers to pick the most convenient route to obtain their goods (i.e. delivery or pickup).
While congregated, consumers can mutually influence one another’s purchases through group think, engendering effective social shopping.
If executed adeptly, the spectacle will wow the masses, including media. More importantly, it will induce multiple and instantaneous online purchases.
South Korean big-box retailer Emart did this with its ‘Sunny Sale-QR Code’ campaign. The stunt boosted sales and earned lots of free publicity.
Continue reading How digital apps can drive e-commerce and m-commerce sales
Comparing digital media device use by male and female shoppers
Shoppers are better armed than ever. An increasing number use smartphones and tablets in stores to not only read product reviews, but to consult with friends about purchases. Below is a comparison of in-store digital media device use by gender.
Stay tuned for more insights.
The ‘Wow’! It isn’t about the homepage.
Three seconds if you’re lucky. It’s all you’ve got.
You only have a few seconds to gain the interest of your visitor. It’s important to make those few seconds count when making a first impression. However, those few and precious seconds don’t always happen where you believe they are going to happen. Continue reading The ‘Wow’! It isn’t about the homepage.
Whose is using iPhones and smart phones?
The way users connect to the internet is changing radically over time. Not only do more people have smart phones, but added tools for feature phones are starting to blur the difference between the categories. According to a recent study by Pew on mobile access, 40% of adults now access the internet using cell phones – an increase from 32% in April 2009.
So people are using phones more to access the internet, and smart phone users are leading the way.
In the ‘smart’ phone camp, there are a few platforms to track including iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm and Windows Mobile. The interesting thing is that Pew research points out the demographic differences between these platform users. Why is that important? If you are going to develop a mobile app, it allows you to target demographic groups based on platform.
Here is the breakdown as provided by a Media Post report:
| Phone | Male | Female | Age | Income | Ethnicity |
| iPhone | 60.5% | 39.5% | 25-34 (34.3%) | $100K+ (47.1%) | White (74.4%) |
| BlackBery | 58.2% | 41.9% | 25-34 (26.1%) | $100K+ (42.7%) | White (74.4%) |
| Android | 57.5% | 42.5% | 25-34 (29%) | $100K+ (35.1%) | White (75.4%) |
| Windows Mobile | 64.8% | 35.2% | 25-34 (26.8%) | $100K+ (35.6%) | White (77.5%) |
| Palm (WebOS) | 57.2% | 42.8% | 25-34 (29.6%) | $100K+ (33.4%) | White (77.1%) |
The report also details the types of activities and the frequency in which they are done by each demographic group. Although the phone ownership is dominated by whites, minority cell owners are significantly more likely than whites to use most non-voice data applications on their mobile devices. They also take advantage of a wider range of mobile phone features compared with whites.
When it comes to accessing the internet via a cell phone the breakdown is 33% (white, non-Hispanics), 46% (black, non-Hispanics) and 51% (English-speaking Hispanics).
Mobile Marketing for B2B Companies
Business-to-business marketers always seem to be taking a backseat to consumer marketers. From their lag in adopting the latest marketing technologies, to just lacking that cool and creative element. But why does this have to be the case? Isn’t good marketing, good marketing…as long as it supports the overall corporate strategy (and I guess it probably should get results and be measurable too, right?)
Take mobile marketing for example. Are B2B marketers going to wait years to catch on to what consumer marketers are now just starting to tap into? Or did we forget that B2B targets are consumers too…equipped with the latest smartphones that they use continuously?
A recent article in B toB Magazine, B-to-B marketers cautiously explore mobile marketing, indicated that total mobile marketing spending was up 43% in 2009 from the year before. Further, the research anticipates a 27% compound annual growth rate through 2014. This sounds like a huge opportunity that no marketer – be consumer or business-to-business – can afford to ignore.
Mobile marketing, where do you start?
I suggest starting off small. Setting up a simple, yet effective texting campaign can be a springboard to achieving increased sales. For example, if you sell products to customers who to install them in the field, I’m certain those installers, from time-to-time, have forgotten to bring your product to the job site with them or didn’t order enough product to fulfill the order.
If you want to demonstrate great customer service, while also selling some incremental product, why not allow installers to text you the part number they are looking for and you kick back a message that includes the closest dealer and pricing. In fact, you can take it a step further and deliver the product right to him/her on the job site.
Return on Investment
Quantifying return on investment in mobile marketing can sometimes be unclear, but in the above example, your ROI gets a little closer to measuring purchase decisions. And if you don’t have mobile numbers in your database, use your other marketing tools to promote and drive an opt-in for customers to receive mobile messages from you.
The bottom line is this: just get in the mobile marketing game. Start small, but get started. There are several low risk options to get your mobile marketing off the ground, such as iPhone applications, display advertising, texting, tradeshow tie-ins and conference registrations. Just remember to be relevant to your audience.
Mobile Marketing and Commerce HOT Amongst eRetailers
We recently came back from the annual Internet Retailer Conference and Expo in Chicago. This is a conference created to bring together the Top 500 Internet Retailers and the brightest technology vendors in an attempt to provide a learning/networking event that everyone can benefit from. I walked away with oodles of PowerPoint slides all chock full of great data. This post discusses one of the hottest topics at this years show – mobile. Below are some data charts and graphs that illustrate the adoption of mobile marketing and commerce platforms amongst retailers and consumers.
Click on the images to enhance the size for a better view.
This chart illustrates the growth, in terms of dollars that online retail has experienced over the last 9 years. The growth is incremental year-over-year yet sustainable and not to mention this was in a poor economy.
This chart illustrates the percentage of growth that Internet Retailers have experienced year-over-year since 2001. Hard to believe it has only been 10 years for this industry.
There was a lot of focus placed on mobile marketing and commerce at this years event. Seems like mobile has been hot for a few years now. Back in 2005 I worked on the PayPal Text-to-Buy product launch and we thought that 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 would all be the year that mobile would take off. The reality was that the devices just were not there yet. Mobile browsing was cumbersome and slow at best. With modern smart phones like the iPhone, BlackBerry and the latest, KIN by Microsoft, it seems that this may be the year for mobile. So even with the expensive price tags, consumers continue to buy and use smart phones more than ever. In fact, a recent statistic from Forrester points out that “88% of US smart phone owners were satisfied with their most recent purchase via their phone”.
Mobile coupons were by far the hottest mobile topic as retailers lined-up to hear several technology vendors share tips for mobile marketing best practices. I look forward to seeing how retailers adopt mobile heading into the 3rd quarter of the year.
If you are a brand I am interested in getting your comments and thoughts regarding your interest in mobile. Is it something you have on the agenda to implement in 2010? 2011?
If you are a consumer do you see yourself using your mobile device more for retail purposes these days? How many of us have used our mobile phone to send a text to someone for purchasing advice or even to buy a product?
Using Mobile to Hail a Taxi
Last year, Megan Hauer from Optiem wrote about using Google Local on your Mobile Device. I find that it is a great technology to use on your mobile phone.
With the increased popularity of the iPhone, more functions are easier for the mobile web. However, the iPhone is growing but still only has a 0.3 percent market share in August 2008.
What if you don’t have an iPhone. What other services are out there to help you leverage your good old standard mobile device.
I recently discovered #TAXI.
There are several times when I have been visiting a new city and wanted to get a cab, but had NO idea what the local cab numbers are. If you don’t know the name of a company #TAXI will recommend one for you.
The one drawback is that the service is available only to Alltel, AT&T, Boost Mobile, and Verizon customers. It does work in both the United States and Canada.
From a brand standpoint, it is a great idea to have such an easy to remember way to access the technology. The company has also formed a relationship with MADD and MADD Canada as part of their Tie One On For Safety campaign.
Hedgehog Concept: Good To Great Technology – Part 4
In my continuing discussion of Good To Great Technologies, I started looking at the Hedgehog Concept. As part of the hedgehog concept, a company is challenged to understand what it is the best at doing. Not what it will be or can be, but what it does the best.
A company that leaps to mind in this regard is 37 Signals. It has focused it efforts on creating a suite of productivity tools such as Basecamp and backpack.
As it has expanded its product offering, it has kept itself in the same realm of product offerings that surround the concept of communication and project productivity. It works on refining its programs and listens to its customers.
This company definitely figured out what it was best at doing. So much so that it has a 94% approval rating from customers.
When considering this, it makes the constant expansion of Google, Apple and Microsoft seem counterintuitive. It also helps account for some less than profitable ventures by those companies.
Another company to look at is Distributive Networks. The company made Deloitte’s 2007 Rising Stars list and is focused on Mobile. They work on Mobile technology, content and mobile donations.
They list Barrack Obama as a client. Their singular focus on a specific industry and the three elements that will make it powerful and accepted has helped them rise through a very crowded market space.
I think there is merit in also looking at companies who didn’t have a hedgehog concept has suffered. The first example I think about is AOL. While they were trying to diversify their company, they lost focus of their core business – internet access. The company got left behind in the internet access world as DSL and cable invaded their space – maybe to never recover.
As a matter of fact, McKinsey Quarterly just wrote an article about Where software vendors should focus and said their findings suggests that “they do better when they focus on specific capabilities that are crucial for their particular products and customers, rather than trying to be great at everything. A self-assessment can help identify strengths and shortcomings.”
Merging Experience, Technology and Mobile
When I was on the way to a Web Association meeting last week, my co-worker pulled out his iPhone to check for directions after we hit an unexpected detour. I think that specific feature is one of the strongest assets of the iPhone.
However, a map is helpful only when you know where you are going? What if you want to explore?
Enter Lonely Planet. Lonely planet is an organization committed to “independent travel, trustworthy advice and editorial independence.” Basically, it creates some of the best travel guides in the business. As a matter of fact in October 2007, BBC Worldwide acquired a 75% share in Lonely Planet.
So you are thinking – great I can get a Lonely Planet travel guide and look up the map locations on my iPhone or SmartPhone. Well Lonely Planet was thinking, we will give you the guide on your smart phone and tap into your GPS to give you a map as you explore.
I really like how a company with a sense of adventure realized how to take the next step. It understood how to merge several columns of Web 2.0 technologies – the web troika effect – and create a useful and innovation tool.
With more and more mobile phones being equipped with GPS; and Nokia projecting that half of mobile phones will have GPS in two years, Lonely Planet is nicely positioning themselves to be a leader in mobile interactive content.
Monday links – 2008-06-30
- Blogger rolls out new features
- The new Digital Divide – mobile
- Next generation designs for One Laptop Per Child
- Mobile blogging app adds Pownce & Twitter
- Tag Galaxy – explore Flickr in the shape of planets etc.