Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0032 Target's In-store Shopping and Mobile

Quick one for you but an important one and a good read.

Target is really working hard to use mobile to maximize the shopping experience while in-store.  Read more here to find out how:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/target-enhances-in-store-mobile-experience-with-weekly-ads-beta-shopping-list

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0031 ISIS vs. Merchants

Mobile Payments.

ISIS and NFC is in the news again with the American Express and Chase deal.  I've written about this one before and see a looming war between ISIS and MCX.  Which will win the hearts and minds of consumers?
The expected September 10 announcement by Apple of the new iPhone will be news for one thing: NFC.  Will it be included in the new iPhone or not?  If it is the momentum gathering for ISIS will continue.  If not, one battle in the war will be over in favor of MCX

Here is another analysis on the subject well worth your reading:

http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/article/218301/Will-Isis-NFC-bet-force-merchants-hands-Analysis

Here is a snippet from near the end of the article:

Walmart has partnered with other big box retailers such as Target and Best Buy to offer its own mobile commerce service, MCX, which is unlikely to use NFC because of resistance by U.S. merchants to invest in POS upgrades that include NFC. Merchants already know they will have to upgrade their POS systems by 2015 to accommodate EMV standards. EMV standards are new authentication specifications announced by Visa, MasterCard and American Express to further reduce fraud. The prospect of merchants having to upgrade their POS systems twice in a short time period represents a barrier to NFC adoption.

With recent studies suggesting that more than 50 percent of smartphones in the U.S. may be NFC-enabled by the end of 2014, it seems that Isis is betting on issuers and cardholders driving NFC adoption at the point of interaction with the merchants. It remains to be seen if the merchants will eventually give in.

Here is my previous blog entry:

ISIS to Launch Nationwide

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE**  More good reading from the Gemalto perspective here:

http://www.pymnts.com/briefing-room/mobile/mobile-payments/2013/behind-the-value-propositions-nfc-vs-cloud-proximity-payments/

Have a great Labor Day weekend 2013!

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0030 Microsoft

If you haven't heard about the planned departure of Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, by now you aren't following the daily news.  12 months or so until his departure and the search begins.

This ties in with the larger question looming about the future of Microsoft, something I've written about a bit in this blog (just search the labels for "Microsoft" and you'll see all entries tagged as such).  This latest piece on Bloomberg recommends an eventual breakup in to smaller units.

Here is a bit from the reading:

Steve Ballmer’s announcement last week of his retirement from Microsoft Corp. after 13 years at the helm leaves some puzzling questions for his successor -- about Microsoft’s epic decline, its uncertain future and the ultimate purpose of a public company. Resolving them may well prove impossible. And that’s OK.

...

All of which makes Microsoft look like the embodiment of Clayton Christensen’s “innovator’s dilemma,” in which profitable companies fight so hard to protect their established products that they fail to respond to innovations by smaller and nimbler competitors. To react more aggressively, Ballmer would’ve risked disrupting the parts of Microsoft that were still making a lot of money -- and will be for some time. It’s hard to blame him for resisting. Yet he leaves his successor in an unenviable position.

Here is the entire article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-27/microsoft-s-useful-life-may-be-near-its-end.html

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant

Tablet eCommerce Crushing Smart Phone mCommerce

New research by MarketLive, an eCommerce platform provider, detailed in Mobile Commerce Daily states online commerce on a tablet device is growing 8 times faster than on smart phone devices.

Here is the full article that writes up the research:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/tablets-reaffirm-commerce-might

Here is a bit from the article:

Tablets continue to drive significant gains in Web site traffic and ecommerce sales, with tablet traffic growing three times faster than smartphone traffic during the first half of 2013 and tablet revenue growing eight times faster, according to a report released today by MarketLive.

I've written about this before and fully expect to see this trend continue.  If you are in the business of building apps you have to know what platform relates to which services and build accordingly.  For retail merchants smart phone apps should focus on mCommerce only as a secondary concern, where tablet apps should focus on tCommerce first.

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0029 Holiday Season Strategies

Google Research is out with another good read.  While their research always seems to point the reader to greater use and inclusion of online search engines (such as Google) the reading is always informative.

http://www.google.com/think/articles/3-strategies-to-prepare-for-the-holidays.html

Here is a snippet from this one:

You could light a lot of menorahs and Christmas trees with the energy that shoppers will expend hunting for the perfect gifts this holiday season. It’s why the season accounts for as much as 40% of annual retail sales, according to the National Retail Federation. With so much at stake, now is the time for retailers to make preparations for a successful holiday sales season. Here are three areas you should be focusing on beginning in September, based on recent shopper surveys and 2012 holiday sales trends.

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0028 mCoupons, Loyalty, and Digital Wallets

Do you know what a Digital Wallet is?

The popular opinion seems to indicate this has to do with payments using your mobile phone.  While this is true it is only part of the story.  Gift cards can be enabled in a wallet.  Boarding passes.  Tickets to events.  More.  The focus of many efforts to date, in the mobile wallet space, has been on payments.  But that doesn't seem to really be the best area of focus.

Mobile coupons, or mCoupons, and loyalty are the key.

This article on Mobile Commerce Daily provides some incite in to the current state of affair in this area:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/retailers-lag-on-coupon-loyalty-opportunities-with-mobile-wallets-report

That entry references a study by Vibes:

http://www.vibes.com/

Here is a snippet:

Although mobile wallets do present a big opportunity for retailers, only 19 percent of consumers surveyed said they have noticed a retailer implementing offers and loyalty programs using the technology, according to a new report from Vibes today.

Food for thought.

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0027 Mobile Payments

Two entries today in the "Best Reading" category.

I find Karen Webster to be quite well informed in the arena of payments generally and this entry is a good one.

http://www.pymnts.com/commentary/six-forces-that-should-shape-your-2014-payments-plans/

Here is a short bit from her entry, emphasis added by me:

"...this isn’t payments as usual anymore and even payments the way everyone thought it would be even two or three years ago. There are six forces that will fundamentally reshape the way this sector operates over the next five to 10 years. You can bet all of the soft shell crabs in Maryland and salt water taffy at the Jersey Shore that these six forces will impact each and every player in this space in some way. And, there are only two outcomes: you can lead the creative destruction that these forces imply, or sit back and be the one who is creatively destroyed."

Are you going to be a leader or a follower?  Is following really even an option?

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant