BRotD - Entry 0240 Mobile Loyalty as Currency

Best Reading of the Day

Great little article over on Mobile Commerce Daily regarding the future of mobile payments.  Is it all about loyalty?  Maybe.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/why-loyalty-points-may-become-mobile-wallets-primary-currency

Here is a snippet from the piece:

The staying power of consumers’ wariness regarding security and digital wallets has prompted a slew of brands to enable customers to make mobile purchases using loyalty points, a trend likely to catch fire in 2016.

As the perception of mobile security continues to be a hotly-contested topic by consumers and experts alike, brands are seeking out ways to fuel digital wallet adoption and in-application purchases. One way of surmounting consumer dissent about mobile wallets is to ensure that loyalty plays a starring role in completing transactions.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

How to Make Retail Mobile Apps Better

The UK is a good market to follow for technology and this blog post by the CEO of one of the app developers there is worth the time.

http://www.mobileworldlive.com/apps/blog-apps/guest-blog/

Here is a snippet from the post:

So why are the majority of retail apps underperforming?

The research unveiled a number of common mistakes that retailers make when developing an app. For example, it found that many are not very easy to use, with 56 per cent of shoppers claiming that functionality could be better.

Another recurring problem is that the apps are frustratingly slow and unresponsive. Our research found that as many as 60 per cent of those surveyed would delete an app if an issue with speed or responsiveness cropped up. Retailers cannot afford to get this wrong.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Mobile Apps that Work

McDonald's has been in the news quite a bit recently.  This one focuses on the success of their mobile app and the use of appropriate incentives to drive customer engagement and participation.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/mcdonalds-7m-app-downloads-highlights-effectiveness-of-welcome-incentives

Here is a snippet from the piece:

During this week’s earnings call, McDonald’s revealed it has seen more than seven million downloads of its mobile application since the fall 2015 launch, proving that welcome offers are directly correlated to high registration rates.

The food and beverage marketer introduced the app to United States markets approximately three months ago, after experiencing a lackluster year in sales. The seven million-strong downloads, however, have been able to fuel consumer purchasing behavior by prompting users to activate their welcome offers in-store.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Digital Marketing by the Numbers

Great little read over on eConsultancy.com.

https://econsultancy.com/blog/67452-nine-exciting-us-digital-marketing-stats-from-the-past-week/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Nine exciting US digital marketing stats from the past week

Strategy, design and culture most important to CX success

When it comes to creating a great customer experience, marketers rate strategy, design and culture as the three most important factors, according to our new Quarterly Digital Trends Briefing report in association with Adobe.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Is the Marketing Stack Dead?

In today's increasingly complicated marketing and advertising world is it best to go with an all-in-one solution, or create flexible solutions for your unique circumstances?  I can tell you just about every senior executive in marketing today would prefer the latter.

Some other folks agree, and know much more about the subject than I do.  Read on:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/267497/the-marketing-stack-is-dead.html

Here is a snippet from the piece:

For as long as I've worked in the marketing industry, prognosticators have been saying that advertising and marketing were due for some industry consolidation.

And guess what, it never happened.

In the 1980s and ’90s, ad agency holding companies started acquiring PR agencies, direct marketing agencies, sales promotion agencies and other marketing service companies in an effort to consolidate marketing for larger marketers under one holding company. However, most marketers ended up unbundling their accounts.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Geo-relationship Engagement - Geomarketing With Beacons

Great little article by the folks over at Mobile Commerce Daily, yet again.

Beacons, beacons, beacons right?  Yeap. I've referenced geomarketing here already.

Read on:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/mobiles-biggest-opportunity-is-not-advertising-or-an-app

Here is a snippet from the piece:

For most brands, the use of mobile as an effective messaging vehicle is still an enigma, and beacon technology is not even close to being taken seriously by brands or shoppers.

Despite Google’s prediction that 85 percent of the top 100 retailers will have beacon technology in place by the end of 2016, true mainstream adoption on either side is still probably a couple of years away. Why? Well, like most new tactics, brands are simply not applying the right strategies to employ beacons effectively.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Dropshipping eCommerce and Omnichannel in 2016

One of the most overlooked and misunderstood aspect of online commerce, eCommerce, is dropshipping.

Know what it is?  You might skip this, but scan through the following article to get updated for 2016.

Read on:

https://econsultancy.com/blog/67406-what-is-dropshipping-and-is-it-right-for-your-business/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

We live in a time when it’s easier than ever to set up a fully working shop, albeit a virtual ecommerce one.

One of the things that makes it so easy is the fact that, unlike in the past, you don’t actually need to own or store any stock in order to start selling to customers.

How is that possible? One of the most popular ways is through dropshipping.

The same folks have a great read on Omnichannel in 2016:

https://econsultancy.com/blog/67410-the-three-best-ways-to-win-at-omnichannel-in-2016/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Mobile App Transactions

Great little article on the use of mobile for eCommerce and the transition to brick & mortar.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/first-time-mobile-app-transactions-jump-across-verticals-report

Here is a snippet from the piece:

In a reflection of the growth in using smartphone applications to complete commerce-related transactions, first-time transactions increased across the banking, car ride and restaurant industries, according to a new survey from Verizon.

The results suggest that if first-timers have satisfying, convenient experience with mobile app transactions, they could be back for more in 2016, helping to further spur mcommerce growth. The fastest-growing category in 2015 was car ride apps, per the report.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

CES 2016 by AdAge

I like reading the folks over at AdAge.com for their unique perspective.  Ads.

Here is their take on the big Consumer Electronics Show that just wrapped:

http://adage.com/article/print-edition/takeaways-ces/302072/

This is the one that really caught my eye as an indication of the new "mobile first" world we now live in:

Vertical video is here

The agency world has been talking about vertical video -- the video format that Snapchat, for instance, uses -- for some time now, but this year at CES, some agency executives noted that companies like Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo were all showing up to meetings with vertical video to show, something that wasn't done universally at last year's event. One exec noted that some of the companies even flipped TV monitors vertically to mimic the way most of us consume video now on our mobile phones. This proves what most of us already knew: The world really is moving to a mobile-first way of life.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

JCPenny's In-store Pickup Successes

Great little article over on Mobile Commerce Daily:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/how-jc-penneys-in-store-pickup-triumphed-while-others-struggled

Here is a snippet from the piece:

JCPenney is attributing a portion of its holiday success to an online order, in-store pickup program even as a number of other retailers ran into obstacles with similar omnichannel strategies.

For retailers it is difficult to make a mobile order and in-store pickup program work flawlessly, as there are many steps that can go wrong from the time the order is placed until the customer picks up the product. JCPenney saw a 3.9 percent increase of holiday sales compared to last year, a large portion of which was made up by in-store pickup due to the retailer’s focus on creating a seamless omnichannel experience.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Smartphones top Tablets

We have been incorrectly grouping "mobile" as all things tablet or smartphone.  These are two strongly different segments and should be split out as I've written previously.  Here is a piece that speaks to the rise of smartphone usage relative to tablets.  With "mobile" taking a majority share and smartphones a majority of that, the chunk to focus on is smartphone first, with tablet a close second.  Then everything else.

Read more:

https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/shoporg-forrester-research-find-smartphones-top-tablets-driver-of-sales-traffic

Here is a snippet from the piece:

The growing use of smartphones by consumers, a shift in investments by technology companies and continued optimization strategies from retailers has officially landed smartphones on top as a driver of sales and traffic for retail companies. According to the State of Retailing Online 2016, conducted by Shop.org, Forrester Research Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) and Bizrate Insights, mobile as a percentage of both online sales and traffic is now led by smartphones and not tablets. 

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

ComScore Numbers on Mobile Shopping

I nearly missed posting this one but dug back through my near-holiday emails to find it.

How big was "mobile" during this year's holiday shopping season?  Huge.

Read more:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/mobile-shopping-spike-spurred-holiday-retail-sales-comscore-1.2729695

Here is the piece:

It was the year smartphones saved Santa.

As expected, numbers out Friday from research firm comScore confirmed mobile shopping, which includes smartphones and tablets, jumped in November and December, spurring on holiday retail sales this year.

Total online spending during November and December rose 13 per cent to $69.08 billion from $61.29 billion last year, slightly short of the 14 per cent rise comScore, based in Reston, Virginia, was expecting.

Spending on desktops rose 6 per cent to $56.43 billion, also short of comScore's expectations of an 8 per cent rise to $58.3 billion.

But mobile commerce helped make up some of that shortfall. Shopping on smartphones and tablets jumped 59 per cent to $12.65 billion, well above the 47 per cent rise comScore was expecting.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Macy's and New World Retail

A couple of stories about Macy's are worth looking at.  I've been following their work as a digital leader in retail.  Their physical stores aren't doing tremendously well though.

Here is news on that front:

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/macy-s-cut-thousands-jobs-major-restructuring-n491556

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Department store Macy's announced Wednesday it will cut thousands of jobs and close some stores as part of restructuring to trim costs and reverse what it called "disappointing 2015 sales and earnings."

Here is a great little story that puts their overall efforts in to perspective:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/macys-spurs-omnichannel-push-as-broad-physical-retail-contraction-looms

Here is a snippet from that piece:

With Macy’s online sales growing at a brisk pace during the recent holiday shopping season while in-store sales contracted even more than expected, the retailer is scaling back its bricks-and-mortar business and reinvesting the savings to accelerate its omnichannel strategy in 2016.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant