While retailers continue to get their heads around e-commerce, the world of m-commerce is waiting and fast approaching maturity. The quick and creative will profit...
M-commerce grew extensively in 2010 and all signs point to this trend continuing in 2011. Companies that don’t act are likely to find themselves lacking a valuable growth opportunity once the mobile market matures. How can retailers take advantage of Mobile Commerce?
· Build a fully mobile-optimised website. The retailer’s normal website must translate to a smaller mobile screen, with special care taken to reformat and promote product pictures. Opinion is divided, but it appears that the days of mobile-only websites that stand alone from ‘normal’ websites are limited as mobile browsers improve and consumers demand enhanced experiences on their smartphones and PDAs.
· Social content on the web or via iPhone and Android apps. It’s important to build areas where customers can share reviews, pictures and stories, as well as get more information and interact with brand both pre- and post-purchase. Retailers need to consider how to integrate mobile into each step of the purchase journey.
· Mobile ‘push’ marketing. With good CRM (at a minimum collecting customer data and histories, and segmenting customers appropriately) retailers can begin to push appropriate products, offers and vouchers to them based on their interests. The CRM part of this is crucial though – with it, you’re adding value, without it, it’s just spam.
· QR codes. In terms of facilitating consumer interaction with your brand from out-of-home and out-of-store environments, QR codes are an excellent vehicle to drive customers from offline to mobile engagement. Benefits are (1) accountability for offline advertising, (2) ability to get an opt-in to your CRM activities, (3) ability to drive consumers directly to offers and seamlessly link out-of-store and in-store experience (through reviews, mobile commerce shopping, etc).
· Mobile instore. Although the previous techniques have focused on the consumer’s mobile, there is benefit for the brand to run mobile applications: for instance, queue busting (using mobile devices to scan items for customers and hold sales until they reach a till to pay) and mobile transaction points (taking payment on the shop floor). This can be coupled with email receipt services like yReceipts to create an Apple store-like experience.
A strong mobile presence will helps to drive footfall in-store, enhances the retail experience, enables consumers to engage with and experience the brand out of store, and facilitates additional purchases and word of mouth beyond the retailer’s bricks-and-mortar environment. Acting sooner, as we have seen with the web, gives first-movers significant competitive advantage and solidifies positive brand perceptions.
Retail IT and Cegid are constantly innovating in this mobile space – Cegid continues to unveil new mobile, PDA and touchpad technology. We understand the need for strong CRM, and that’s why the CRM functionality in Cegid is simple to use, highly flexible, and second-to-none on features (and we're continuing to invest in developing even more CRM functionality via mobile).
Call us on 020 8605 9768 for your free demo!
· Build a fully mobile-optimised website. The retailer’s normal website must translate to a smaller mobile screen, with special care taken to reformat and promote product pictures. Opinion is divided, but it appears that the days of mobile-only websites that stand alone from ‘normal’ websites are limited as mobile browsers improve and consumers demand enhanced experiences on their smartphones and PDAs.
· Social content on the web or via iPhone and Android apps. It’s important to build areas where customers can share reviews, pictures and stories, as well as get more information and interact with brand both pre- and post-purchase. Retailers need to consider how to integrate mobile into each step of the purchase journey.
· Mobile ‘push’ marketing. With good CRM (at a minimum collecting customer data and histories, and segmenting customers appropriately) retailers can begin to push appropriate products, offers and vouchers to them based on their interests. The CRM part of this is crucial though – with it, you’re adding value, without it, it’s just spam.
· QR codes. In terms of facilitating consumer interaction with your brand from out-of-home and out-of-store environments, QR codes are an excellent vehicle to drive customers from offline to mobile engagement. Benefits are (1) accountability for offline advertising, (2) ability to get an opt-in to your CRM activities, (3) ability to drive consumers directly to offers and seamlessly link out-of-store and in-store experience (through reviews, mobile commerce shopping, etc).
· Mobile instore. Although the previous techniques have focused on the consumer’s mobile, there is benefit for the brand to run mobile applications: for instance, queue busting (using mobile devices to scan items for customers and hold sales until they reach a till to pay) and mobile transaction points (taking payment on the shop floor). This can be coupled with email receipt services like yReceipts to create an Apple store-like experience.
A strong mobile presence will helps to drive footfall in-store, enhances the retail experience, enables consumers to engage with and experience the brand out of store, and facilitates additional purchases and word of mouth beyond the retailer’s bricks-and-mortar environment. Acting sooner, as we have seen with the web, gives first-movers significant competitive advantage and solidifies positive brand perceptions.
Retail IT and Cegid are constantly innovating in this mobile space – Cegid continues to unveil new mobile, PDA and touchpad technology. We understand the need for strong CRM, and that’s why the CRM functionality in Cegid is simple to use, highly flexible, and second-to-none on features (and we're continuing to invest in developing even more CRM functionality via mobile).
Call us on 020 8605 9768 for your free demo!
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