Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0112 Mystery Mobile Coupons

The folks over at Mobile Commerce Daily have another excellent piece.  I love reading about the innovative ways marketers are using mobile to engage with their customers.

Lord & Taylor, makers of apparel, shoes, and accessories , have released a mystery coupon in their app.  The consumer won't know what the coupon is good for until the consumer enters the geo-located fence of a Lord & Taylor store.

Brilliant.

Here is the article:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/lord-taylor-builds-on-mobile-innovations-with-geolocation-mystery-coupon

Here is a snippet from that piece:

“The goal of the effort is to better understand excitement through ‘gamification’ and excitement through mobile couponing,” said Ryan Craver, senior vice president of corporate strategy for the department stores group at Lord & Taylor’s parent company The Hudson’s Bay Co., Toronto.

Sounds like they are experimenting a bit with this to see what works.  I wonder if they have grouped the coupons in to two types to see which performs better in similar markets?

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0111 New Digital Divide

Deloitte Digital has a very interesting new study out today on the influence of digital on brick & mortar retailers.  I'll post a link to the actual study near the bottom of this post.

I first found the study through a posting on MediaPost's 'Marketing Daily' website:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/224385/mobile-social-driving-36-of-in-store-sales.html

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Looks like retailers are still from Mars, and customers are from Venus, with $1.1 trillion hanging in the balance. A new study from Deloitte Digital finds that stores are pouring their money into m-commerce sites that don’t appeal to shoppers. And consumers are wandering around physical stores, nursing their digital disappointment.

I've located another good read, still derivative of the study, here on BizJournals:

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/prnewswire/press_releases/New_York/2014/04/28/NY14082

Here is a link to the actual study:

http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Industries/Retail-Distribution/DigitalDivide

There is an interesting and parallel study that I found through Mobile Commerce Daily:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/millennials-empowered-by-mobile-social

Here is a snippet from that piece:

The firm’s latest Cassandra Report reveals that one-third of respondents believe that browsing for items is more fun than actually purchasing them, while approximately half say they browse for items they do not necessarily plan on buying. With mobile and social technology both a means for millennials to express their strong sense of collaboration as well as driving an expanding ability to access information on the go, the findings suggest that retailers who continue to rely on traditional means of attracting and retaining new customers are likely to fall behind.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE** Deloitte has now released what they are calling their 'Digital Democracy Survey', the 8th Edition of the survey.
http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Industries/media-entertainment/digital-democracy/index.htm
Clearly Deloitte wants to be viewed as a thought leader in this space.  Their research is certainly informative and useful.

Amazon Prime Pantry - Non-perishable Grocery Delivery

One more post for the week and it is interesting news for all of you Amazon followers.

Amazon.com has launched an extension to their Amazon Prime offering:

http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/04/24/amazon-opens-its-pantry-doors-ordering-bulky-items

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Amazon.com Inc. launched Prime Pantry, a grocery-shopping digital storefront that allows Prime customers to virtually fill a 4-cubic-foot box with up to 45 pounds of items from the e-retailer’s new pantry section. That box is then delivered—as empty or full as the customer desires—for a $5.99 shipping fee, plus the cost of the items in the box.

Quickly lets do the math for this.

First the customer must be an Amazon Prime member at $99 per year.  Next the customer must pay $5.99 for shipping for this.  Finally, the set 4-cubic-foot box size drives cart filling.  So Amazon Prime customers that want bulk items that have significant weight, such as sodas or diapers, can now regularly fill their needs through this service.

The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) has released a study for subscribers that indicates ambient items such as packaged goods and non-food items that shoppers are currently stocking up on during regular, large, visits to supermarkets are the most likely to move to an online source.  Amazon.com is directly targeting those revenues with this move.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BLE Beacons and Coupons

A couple of news items worth sharing.

First up is the success story of one retailer and their use of Bluetooth Low Energy beacons.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/lux-beauty-boutique-enlists-mobile-to-streamline-high-turnover-sales

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Canadian retailer Lux Beauty Boutique upped in-store sales 20-25 percent this year for an anniversary sale thanks to the addition of a self-checkout mobile application.

...

The SelfPay mobile app uses geolocation and beacon technology to detect when a shopper is inside a store. SelfPay is a self-checkout app that lets shoppers scan in-store products from several retailers that they can then buy right on the spot.

Next is a story on Coupon.com and their latest digital efforts:

http://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/article/231529/Coupons-com-launches-new-retail-marketing-platform

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Coupons.com Inc. has unveiled Retailer iQ, a targeting and analytics platform for grocery, drug and mass merchandisers that the company says fundamentally changes the promotions and checkout experience for shoppers and retailers by making them digital, mobile and personalized.

According to the company, Retailer iQ combines several innovative components into one cohesive, omnichannel platform that is designed to drive consumer engagement, activation and shopping behavior for retailers and consumer packaged goods companies.

Apparently Walgreens' has implemented this technology with great success.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0110 Exoplanets and Humanity

This topic is a bit more esoteric (just a little?) than I usually delve in to here, but it was the best reading of the day for me yesterday.  I just couldn't finish it until last night.

The recent discovery of another planet in our galaxy that might be able to sustain life.  It is the first planet almost the same size as earth that is also located in the "habitable zone" or the area of a solar system most able to sustain life as we know it.

Here is the ArsTechnica article on the subject:

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/04/habitable-exoplanets-are-bad-news-for-humanity/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

What did not make the news, however, is that this discovery also slightly increases how much credence we give to the possibility of our own near-term extinction. This is because of a concept known as the Great Filter.

The Great Filter is an argument that attempts to resolve the Fermi Paradox: why have we not found aliens (or why have they not found us), despite the existence of hundreds of billions of exosolar systems in our galactic neighborhood in which life might evolve? As the namesake physicist Enrico Fermi noted, it seems rather extraordinary that not a single extraterrestrial signal or engineering project has been detected (UFO conspiracy theorists notwithstanding).

This apparent absence of thriving extraterrestrial civilizations suggests that at least one of the steps from humble planet to interstellar civilization is exceedingly unlikely. The absence could be because intelligent life is extremely rare, or because intelligent life has a tendency to go extinct. This bottleneck for the emergence of alien civilizations from any one of those billions of planets is referred to as the Great Filter.

The question of the Great Filter was very interesting to me so I delved deeper in to the links provided.  Click on 'Great Filter' above.  Here is a snippet from that piece:

Consider our best-guess evolutionary path to an explosion which leads to visible colonization of most of the visible universe:

• The right star system (including organics)
• Reproductive something (e.g. RNA)
• Simple (prokaryotic) single-cell life
• Complex (archaeatic & eukaryotic) single-cell life
• Sexual reproduction
• Multi-cell life
• Tool-using animals with big brains
• Where we are now
• Colonization explosion

(This list of steps is not intended to be complete.) The Great Silence implies that one or more of these steps are very improbable; there is a "Great Filter" along the path between simple dead stuff and explosive life. The vast vast majority of stuff that starts along this path never makes it. In fact, so far nothing among the billion trillion stars in our whole past universe has made it all the way along this path. (There may of course be such explosions outside our past light cone [Wesson 90].)

The fact that our universe seems basically dead suggests that it is very very hard for advanced explosive lasting life to arise. And if there are other radically different paths to expanding lasting life [Shapiro & Feinberg 82], that only makes the problem worse, by implying that the filter along our path must be even larger.

Very interesting reading.  I hope you enjoy it as well.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0109 Walgreens App

Interested in mobile apps and retail?

Interested in omni-channel retail?

Interested in how mobile apps can enhance the in-store experience?

Walgreens wants to be a leader in the industry as is apparent by their work on the Walgreens iOS app.  Their app is already one of the very best in retail in my opinion but it keeps getting better.  The folks at Mobile Commerce Daily have a good write-up on this effort and the most recent app update by Walgreens:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/walgreens-redesigned-app-boasts-store-specific-inventory

Here is a snippet from that piece:

The latest update to Walgreens’ iOS application uses store-specific offers to harness customer loyalty and brings added value through a more customized experience.

The new Weekly Ad feature introduced allows users to create their own flagship location from which they will be able to receive more relevant offers. Walgreens joins a growing list of retailers who are betting on in-store modes to engage with consumers while shopping.

The Walmart app has many of these functions, if not all, in place now.  We are seeing experimentation and fast-follow by retail leaders.  Some of this functionality will fail to pan out, but other pieces will work.

What's on your smart phone's first 2 screens?  The Walgreens app?

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Amazon and Taxes - Shifting Consumer Behavior

Big news is hitting thanks to Ohio State University.  States where Amazon.com has begun charging for tax are seeing a significant decrease in buying on the Amazon.com website.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/04/22/how-amazon-losing-its-sales-tax-advantage

Here is a snippet from that piece:

The total amount spent with Amazon, No. 1 in the 2014 Top 500 Guide, in those states decreased by 2.8%, says the report, “The ‘Amazon Tax’: Empirical Evidence from Amazon and Main Street Retailers.” Those five states enacted online sales taxes in 2012 and 2013.

This has been an interesting one to follow.  Amazon.com has not been the real cost leader (low cost) for some time now but the perception has remained in place they are.  The implementation of sales tax charges has appeared to damage that perception and impacted behavior.

I've experienced this personally in Massachusetts.  That quick buy of the latest Blu-Ray is now less likely to happen through Amazon.com and I'm increasingly looking at local brick & mortar retailers to fill these needs.  Why not go back to the days where I'd combine a couple errands with a stop at a local Target, or whatever, to pick up that movie I wanted?

In response Amazon.com appears to be moving to a convenience model rather than a low cost model.  Their increasing investment in Distribution Centers (DCs) and shipping capability (trucks) has increased their ability to deliver on a next-day basis or even same day.  Their business model is evolving and consumer behavior is shifting, yet again.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0108 Aereo TV

Are you familiar with 'Aereo'??

Aereo is a service where your local, over the air, television broadcasts are captured as a DVR recording, stored in the cloud, then made available to stream to any device you wish.

Sounds pretty amazing right?

Well it may not be legal and television broadcasters are up in arms about it.  Legal challenges have now gone all the way to the United States Supreme Court that will be reviewing the case today.  I'll post an update once the news breaks.

Here are two articles that explain what is going on here:

http://www.cnet.com/news/why-the-aereo-supreme-court-case-over-tvs-future-is-too-tough-to-call/

http://recode.net/2014/04/21/why-the-aereo-case-has-cloud-computing-companies-worried/

I think the 2nd of those articles is the most interesting as it shows the threat to cloud computing in general this ruling may have an impact on.

Here is a snippet from one of those:

Here's the problem: Aereo doesn't pay the broadcast TV companies for storing and delivering their hit shows to consumers. And that has the broadcasters furious -- and afraid (Disclosure: CNET is owned by CBS, one of the broadcasters suing Aereo). Aereo says it is simply setting up antennas and DVRs on behalf of customers and plugging them into the Internet for their convenience. The only difference between Aereo and the same setup in a customer's own home is the length of the cord, the company says.

Here is one more to read:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101599314

More soon.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE #1**
The Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments pro and con today.  The decision isn't expected for several weeks.  Aereo claimed they are merely hardware providers while:

"...counsel for the broadcasters said Aereo's attempt to argue that it doesn't publicly perform programming is "like magic.""

Here is a link to the entire story:
http://www.cnet.com/news/with-aereo-supreme-court-digs-into-copyright-nuances/

**UPDATE #2**
ArsTechnica has a good write-up of the back and forth between the Justices and the lawyers.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/at-oral-arguments-supreme-court-isnt-sold-on-aereo/

Here is one bit from that:

[Justice Breyer] "And then what disturbs me on the other side is I don't understand what the decision for you or against you when I write it is going to do to all kinds of other technologies."

Next update will be the resolution unless I find something compelling to include in here.

Misc. News - Tablets Going Mobile, Mobile Payments, and Kroger

I'm writing about three pieces of news and analysis that I found interesting today.

First up is the increasing demand for and supply of truly mobile tablets.  Carriers such as AT&T and Verizon are finding mobile hotspots through smart phones are greatly increasing in use.  So why not monetize that by adding carrier coverage for the tablets being enabled through those hotspots?  Who wouldn't want one more contract right?

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/223943/tablets-the-next-connectivity-battleground.html

Next is a great bit of infographics on mobile payments:

http://www.mobilepaymentsinsider.com/2014/04/15/mobile-payments-to-replace-plastic-all-together-infographic/

Most surprising to me was the statement by consumers about when and how they are most likely to use a smart phone for payment:

"Likely Situations Consumers Say They Would Use Mobile Payments Is In:"

1. Groceries at a supermarket
2. Clothes at a retailer
3. Phone bill at a local wireless store
4. Coffee at a local coffee shop
5. Sofa at a furniture store
6. Taxi ride

Next and last is the big bet Kroger is making in the U.S. emulating Tesco and Walmart.  Bigger is better.  They are increasing the number of large stores, and stores with 'extra aisle' merchandise not traditionally found in a supermarket.  Kroger calls these 'Marketplace' stores and these will provide:

"...everything from apples to appliances, lettuce to lawn chairs and cantaloupe to clothing."

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2014/04/16/kroger-bets-bigger-stores/7805015/

I found this to be an interesting approach.  What we've seen the last 20 years in the U.S. is an increase in supply of groceries with only the minor increase in demand expected from modest population growth.  The result is excess capacity for supply so all of those neighborhood supermarkets are left with too much floor space.  It seems to me they will need to re-purpose this space and diversity as some have done by increasing fresh supply including options such as an in-store restaurant.  Kroger is taking a very different approach to diversity.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Target Subscription eCommerce Grows

Target is in the news around their subscription service for online ordering.

Need diapers?

How about a standing order to have them delivered to your house courtesy of your neighborhood Target store?  Amazon.com has been in this space for a while but the big box retailers see opportunity there as well.

Here is a piece from Internet Retailer on this story:

http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/04/17/target-beefs-its-online-subscription-service

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Target Corp. is sweetening its online subscription offer to better compete with Amazon.com Inc.’s Subscribe & Save program. The retail chain announced today it has expanded the selection of items available by subscription via Target.com from about 200 baby care products to more than 1,500 products that also cover household essentials, health, beauty, pets, grocery, home and office and personal care.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0107 Gap and Omni-channel

Gap Inc., has made public to their investors some of the effects and ongoing work they've been doing in fulfilling their concept of multiple channels of operation (omni-channel).  Chain Store Age has a write-up on it here:

http://chainstoreage.com/article/gap-details-omni-channel-strategy-global-growth?ad=technology

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Gap Inc. highlighted its use of technology and innovation to bridge the growing digital world with its physical stores at the company’s annual meeting with investors. In new initiatives, the retailer is expanding its reserve in-store service to all U.S. Gap stores by the end of the second quarter, enabling online and mobile shoppers to now reserve items at more than 1,000 Gap and Banana Republic store locations.

The connected world is a different place and the mobile internet is changing fundamental processes.  Gap is one of the leaders in this space, innovating and 'failing fast' to ensure they don't fall behind.  What can other retailers learn from their example?

Retail Information Systems has a good write-up that coincides with this thinking though you'll have to register to download the report.

http://risnews.edgl.com/reports

Here is one snippet from that I found interesting:

One final point and a big one: the best-of-breed approach to software, long the dominant architecture approach, is in a state of flux. It is not going away any time soon, and, in fact, it is not being supplanted by any alternative, such as integrated solutions suites or software as a service. (See Figure 4.)

However, evidence indicates it may no longer remain the dominant force it has been for the last two decades. This year, 38.1% of retailers chose best-of-breed software to describe their architectural approach to software, a nearly 20-point drop from last year’s 57%. Conversely, using in-house IT resources to develop software jumped to 44.1% and first place on the list, which is up from 31% and last place in 2013.

Why the dramatic year-over-year swings? Call it the innovation effect. If you can buy a best-of-breed solution off the shelf, so can all of your competitors.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE**  Another story on Gap Inc., and their digital efforts:
http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/gap-prioritizes-responsive-web-as-part-of-300m-digital-investment

Good read.

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0106 Boomers and Mobile

Pretty interesting reading over on Mobile Commerce Daily:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/older-generations-adopt-a-shopping-initiated-move-towards-mobile-study

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Older generations including boomers and seniors are embracing the use of mobile devices throughout the shopping experience, according to a new report from The Local Search Association.

The info-graphic referenced in that article can be found here:

http://www.localsearchinsider.org/mobile-goes-universal

Very interesting news.  You'll certainly see plenty of anecdotal evidence that contradicts this story (just talk to your parents or grand parents right?).  However the trend is accelerating towards more mobile usage across all generations.  That is a sea change event.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

LevelUp Reaches Break Even on Payments

If you live in an around Boston you definitely need to try out LevelUp.

https://www.thelevelup.com/

They are in the news a bit today:

http://www.pymnts.com/news/2014/levelups-march-to-free-payments/#.U06RoVVdU1I

Here is a portion of that article:

LevelUp stirred the pot in 2012 when it launched with its “Interchange Zero” campaign. Moving money, said LevelUp’s Chief Ninja, Seth Priebatsch at the time, was pretty much a commodity and of little value. (Well, he actually said no value, but I sort of disagree with that. Moving money is really valuable, it’s just that a lot of people are in the business of doing it and so it has become a commodity.) Seth felt strongly that the real value of any mobile payments provider was in their ability to track customers and capture data about their transactions; data that could be mashed up with other data, like the weather, to deliver targeted campaigns that helped merchants drive more foot traffic – and therefore, more dollars, into their stores. And, of course using the mobile device to enable all of that, including payment at the point of sale.

One more good link to read:

http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/article/231119/LevelUp-cuts-payment-processing-fee

I was on site visiting LevelUp during the 2012 time frame in question there.  It was shortly before the Interchange Zero campaign came in to being.  They are an energetic shop doing interesting things in the mobile payments and loyalty space.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Amazon Dash - Turn Your Home in to a Store

This is pretty interesting, cool & exciting, news from Amazon.com.

http://www.chainstoreage.com/article/amazon-dash-brings-store-home

Here is a snippet from that piece:

...

Dash is a portable wand-shaped device that allows users to automatically add items to their AmazonFresh shopping lists. Customers can scan items with the gadget, or speak them into a microphone for voice-based search. It reportedly recognizes more than 1 million items for sale on AmazonFresh and Amazon.com.

The idea is as soon as a consumer runs out of a replenishable item, like a gallon of milk or box of cereal, they use Dash to automatically enter it on their AmazonFresh shopping list, eliminating the need to go to the store to replace it. Take a moment to digest what this potentially means to paradigm of shopping for consumer goods and then read on.

What do you think?

The biggest problem Amazon.com has is the lack of physical stores.  This is a brilliant way to get around that.  This 'magic wand' turns your home in to a store.

Very interesting.

Immediately I have to think there will be issues with the 'wand'.  Lose one?  What do you do?  Why isn't this functionality merely an app on your smart phone?  Is it to provide Amazon.com with a controlled environment during these early days?

The world is changing fast isn't it?

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0105 Loyalty Programs?

Karen Webster on PYMTS.com has a good write-up that is worth your time.

http://www.pymnts.com/news/2014/so-you-want-to-do-a-loyalty-program-why/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

You’re the CMO of a major retailer trying to make some decisions about a new customer retention (aka loyalty) strategy that the CEO has been on your case about for the last couple of months. There are all sorts of sales pitches being tossed your direction – third parties that leverage mobile devices and apps and offer compelling data-driven campaigns. Some even come wrapped around payment options and include spiffy stuff like Beacon technologies and other location-based targeting triggers.

Your team has been vetting these programs and has come into your office this morning armed with a Powerpoint deck that you expect will narrow the field to a few relevant choices.

...

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Apple iPhone Predictions

Rumors are swirling and supposed photos from the Apple supply chain are just beginning to come in to view.  The iPhone 6 is beginning to come in to focus, but it is only the beginning.

I'm not one to speculate on the nuances of every Apple release but one piece of prognostication has spurred my desire to post here.  An analyst is saying Apple will include Near Field Communication (NFC) hardware in the iPhone 6.

I think this is complete hogwash.

Here is the story in question, merely citing a well known analyst of Apple products so don't hold that against the website:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/11/apple-could-finally-adopt-nfc-on-iphone

You get the main point of the story just from the URL.  That analyst is well known because he "has a solid track record of actually getting things right."

Here is another story that speaks to Google's moves on payments and how it has withdrawn from NFC:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/google-mobile-payments

Here is a pretty good story that tries to predict what Apple is up to in payments:

http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/article/230545/What-is-Apple-up-to-in-payments

With BLE having been such a strong play by Apple, and what I've seen companies do with those 'beacons' to make them emulate near field communications, I predict Apple has already made its play in this space and it is BLE.

NFC is dead.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

eCommerce, tCommerce, and mCommerce Data

Some new data is out on internet enabled commerce.  Here is the article:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/223399/us-m-commerce-sales-to-hit-578-billion-in-2014.html

Notice the use of the generic 'm-Commerce' for this article, incorrectly grouping tablets and smart phones together as 'mobile'.  That article references the study that can be found here:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Total-US-Retail-Sales-Top

Here is a snippet from that first piece:

A new eMarketer industry forecast projects retail m-commerce will increase 37.2% to $57.8 billion this year from $42.1 billion in 2013, and reach $132.7 billion in 2018. This year, it will make up about one-fifth of all retail e-commerce but just 1.2% of total retail sales.

One-fifth of all retail e-Commerce is happening on either tablets or smart phones (or phablets) through 2014 (projected).  Of that, currently two-thirds is on a tablet, sometimes called tCommerce.  That means roughly 13% of all eCommerce is happening on a tablet, 6.5% on a smart phone, and 80% on other devices such as desktops or laptops.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0104 The Digital Charge

I'm catching up on a bit of reading and writing.

CMO.com has a very good read warning about the pitfalls of letting technology lead your company's digital transformation.

Should you go where the technology leads you or focus on your customers first?  This seems obvious but it hasn't been so far.

Here is the article:

http://www.cmo.com/articles/2014/4/4/altimeter_group_don_.html

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Companies that allow technology to drive their digital transformation are making a big mistake, according to a new Altimeter Group study, "Digital Transformation." Instead, digital transformation should be driven by the expectations of digital customers.

People, process, technology.  Seems like the correct order to me.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0103 Brick & Mortar Apps

Very good article on the relative strengths of mobile apps created by traditional brick & mortar retailers vs. companies that got their start through their mobile app:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/223172/traditional-apps-still-trail-mobile-natives.html

Here is a snippet from that piece:

One takeaway that quickly emerges from a new Forrester report on the best and worst of mobile is that retailers and brick-and-mortar companies are clueless about mobile compared to their digital- or mobile-only counterparts.

The former are often used in the study authored by analyst Deanna Laufer as examples of what NOT to do in mobile, while the mobile natives represent the best of what’s out there. This is pretty much what you’d expect, given that companies like Flipboard and Shazam were built from the ground up as mobile experiences. If their apps fail, they fail.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0102 Tesco and iBeacons

The folks over on Mobile Commerce Daily have another excellent read.

Tesco has introduced a new approach to the use of iBeacon technology in stores.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/tesco-pivots-focus-of-ibeacon-towards-customer-service-will-others-follow

Here is a snippet from the article:

While much of the buzz about beacons has been around pushing offers to shoppers, a new pilot program at Tesco gives marketers a better understanding of the full scope of the location-based technology’s capabilities.

The British retailer is piloting iBeacon in its Chelmsford location with a stand-alone iPhone application specific to the store’s location. Tesco’s pilot indicates that retailers solely focusing on beacon-triggered sales are missing out on a bigger opportunity with in-store customer service.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0101 Mobile App Usage

Great data coming to us courtesy of a couple locations.

TechCrunch has a write-up that is a good read:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/01/mobile-app-usage-increases-in-2014-as-mobile-web-surfing-declines/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

New data from app analytics provider Flurry released today states that native app usage on smartphones is continuing to grow at the expense of the mobile web. The company claims that users are now spending 2 hours and 42 minutes per day on mobile devices as of March 2014, up from 2 hours, 38 minutes as of a year ago. Meanwhile, mobile app usage accounts for 2 hours and 19 minutes of that time spent, while mobile web usage has dropped from 20% of the U.S. consumer’s time in 2013 to just 14% – or 22 minutes per day – as of last month.

That data is coming from Flurry as is cited in the article.  Here is their write-up from last year:

http://blog.flurry.com/bid/95723/Flurry-Five-Year-Report-It-s-an-App-World-The-Web-Just-Lives-in-It

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Today, the U.S. consumer spends an average of 2 hours and 38 minutes per day on smartphones and tablets. 80% of that time (2 hours and 7 minutes) is spent inside apps and 20% (31 minutes) is spent on the mobile web. Studying the chart shows that apps (and Facebook) are commanding a meaningful amount of consumers' time. All mobile browsers combined, which we now consider apps, control 20% of consumers' time. Gaming apps remain the largest category of all apps with 32% of time spent. Facebook is second with 18%, and Safari is 3rd with 12% Worth noting is that a lot of people are consuming web content from inside the Facebook app. For example, when a Facebook user clicks on a friend’s link or article, that content is shown inside its web view without launching a native web browser (e.g., Safari, Android or Chrome), which keeps the user in the app. So if we return to the chart and consider the proportion of Facebook app usage that is within their web view (aka browser), then we can assert that Facebook has become the most adopted browser in terms of consumer time spent.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant