Mobile Commerce If You Want My Business

"They should have a mobile app if they want my business!"  That is what my wife said to me today.  She was referring to a particular business focused hotel chain without a mobile app.  "I use my mobile Amazon app constantly.  I want to do business with companies that have mobile apps," she added.

Forrester Research reports that mobile commerce revenue is expected to reach $10 billion by the end of this year and will continue growing at an annual rate of 39 percent.

I wonder how many other people feel the same as my wife.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility in Fortune 500 Companies

Mobile Retailing Applications

On January 25th and 27th I will be the opening act for two webinars on the subject of Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility in Fortune 500 Companies - Ten Lessons Learned.  I would invite you to join me and the development and implementation experts from Smartsoft Mobile who will be sharing experiences and lessons learned from their deployments.  There are two dates for this webinar, so you can register for the one that works best for your schedule.  You can register here.

The folks who will be joining me on this webinar from Smartsoft Mobile were actually involved in the design, development, deployment and support of these mobile enterprise applications.  Smartsoft is an SAP Services Partner and they have developed mobile solutions for a number of large SAP customers now.  They have also developed multiple versions of mobile retailing applications and can share what they learned in version 1.0 and implemented in version 2.0.

I hope you will join us and bring your questions!

Register here - http://www.smartsoftmobile.com/moreinfo

 

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst

Phone +1 208-991-4410

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict 

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin: 

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Banking is Here!

Mobile Banking Apps

In the past couple of years, mobile banking has grown rapidly among smartphone users, and 2011 promises even faster growth.  During 2010, roughly 10 percent of households in the United States used mobile banking features on their smartphones.  Expect to see significant increases in those numbers in 2011.

During 2007 there were 10 million global users of smartphone banking.  By next year 150 million people will be checking their bank accounts on mobile devices, and by 2013 that number will increase to nearly 400 million. These figures are truly impressive.

With the rapid increase of mobile banking, financial institutions are realizing that customer satisfaction lies in mobile apps.  Approximately 1,000 U.S. banks now offer some type of mobile app for account management, but 29,000 more banks are expected to develop mobile banking applications within the next year.

Changing Attitudes of Mobile Shoppers

Mobile Shopping

Cameron Franks, area vice president of sales for the Americas at Sybase 365, an SAP Company, recently spoke about a survey they conducted with 1,000 consumers on mobile holiday shopping.  The key finding of the survey was that 32 percent of consumers, if offered mobile-based deals, coupons or alerts, could be persuaded to make a purchase on their mobile device. 

Another recent survey by mobile marketing agency Briabe Media and mobile-social networking company MocoSpace, they found that 30 percent of survey respondents said they expected to use mobile coupons during this holiday season.  Also in the survey, 62 percent said they planned to use mobile phones as a shopping tool prior to entering a store; and 46 percent stated they would use their phones for store or product research.

eBay Mobile Commerce - Real Time Data from Six Global Markets

Ben Lee over at Smartsoft Mobile Solutions recently directed me to the eBay Mobile Commerce site.  On this site you can see mobile purchasing data from six global markets in near real time.  Very interesting!  I watched for some time the interesting data coming across their digital ticker tape along the bottom of their chart.  Here is some of the data about eBay purchases via mobile devices:

• Australians bought the most sporting goods via mobile devices in December 2010.
• Auto parts were the top selling products via mobile devices on Cyber Monday in Germany.
• The iPhone was the leading mobile platform for mobile sales on December 12, 2010.
• Toys made up 8.6 percent of mobile sales in France on December 10-11, 2010.
• December 12 was the busiest mobile shopping day so far in 2010.
• In the USA auto parts made up 8.3 percent of mobile purchases in 2010.
• In the USA cell phones and accessories made up 6.5 percent of mobile purchases in 2010.
• In the USA vehicle sales made up 16.5 percent of mobile purchases in 2010.

QR Codes and Mobile Retailing Applications

Home Depot iPhone App

I was sitting in my office chair today reading mail.  I received a magazine that had a QR code prominently displayed on a page.  I grabbed my iPhone 4, opened my Red Laser application and snapped a photo of the QR code.  A message instantly popped up asking if I approved - I said yes.  Immediately, my browser launched and a person was talking to me about their product.  I LOVED IT!

Think of the way companies can change their marketing and sales approach by having their very best sales and marketing spokesperson deliver key product messages to anyone with a smartphone and internet connection anywhere in the world.  No longer do you have to ask the sixteen year old sales assistant complex questions.  You can simply open a mobile application that supports QR codes, click on a sign or advertisement and learn about the product from an expert.

Mobile Retail Applications a Transformational Trend

 I read an interesting article today in Bloomberg about mobile shopping and mobile retailing applications.  Here are a few excerpts.

• Almost 60 percent of mobile consumers expect to use their phones to help with shopping plans and holiday celebrations this season, according to the Mobile Marketing Association.
• Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm recently stated, “The phone is going to be the payment mechanism of the future.  You’ll probably just scan whatever thing it was that you’re buying. It will cause the checkout to happen. It will cause the security to happen, so that when you walk out of the door it won’t ring the bell.” 
• About eight percent of consumers in the U.S. have bought something with a phone. That compares with 32 percent in Taiwan, which tops the list of major industrialized countries, according to IE Market Research Corp.  Finland was No. 1 in Europe, at 13 percent.

The article highlights the fact that Best Buy, Home Depot and Amazon.com all have mobile retailing applications now.  I have had many discussions with the mobile retailing experts at Smartsoft Mobile Solutions, and I find this market very interesting.  It combines the following:

JiWire, Mobile Check-In and Mobile Retailing Applications

I was a guest speaker at the CIO Council 2010 sponsored by Panorama Capital in Las Vegas last week.  I was able to spend a couple of days with a number of high tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and a leading edge group of industry CIOs.  The main focus of the conference this year was enterprise mobility.

One of the most interesting discussion tracks at the conference was the increasing role that WiFi may have as MNOs (mobile network operators) increasingly have bandwidth problems.  There are more companies looking to add hotspots, expand coverage and other related services.  One of these companies is JiWire.

Mobile Retailing and NFC - Near Field Communications

The host of our CIO Council, Chris Albinson of Panorama Capital, today predicted that within one year mobile money will be on everyone's radar.  I asked for more details from several experts over dinner this evening and they predicted that iPhone 5 will have embedded NFC (near field communication) chips.  Google will announce mobile payment strategies, and so will other big players in the mobile money space like PayPal.  NFC are chips that can communicate personal data when they touch POS (point of sale) sensors.

What does this mean for enterprises in the retail space?  Who knows!  All I know is that everything from POS systems, to banking systems, EDI transactions and credit and debit card systems will be impacted.  Your smartphone will likely become your wallet.  The chip in the smartphone will uniquely identify you and provide you with the ability to pay for all kinds of things by just touching your smartphone to a counter top sensor.

Mobile Payments and the Mobile Money Ecosystem

More from last week's CIO Council.  Chris Albinson from Panorama Capital shared his predictions that mobile payments and location-based services are going to be the two hottest areas of enterprise mobility in 2011. 

Others at the event shared that they expect smartphones will soon be available with a specific NFC (near field communications) chip that will enable your phone to be used for mobile money.  The chip will be uniquely tied to you and your bank account in a secure way.

I also heard rumors that Apple may soon launch a mobile money capability through iTunes.  Just rumors now, but I can easily image Steve Jobs transforming banking through iTunes and everything "i".

Facebook and Mobile Retailing Applications

For about a month my Facebook wall was invaded by friends involved in raising money for their schools.  It seems Kohls' retail stores were running a program that would award a few schools with $500,000 each toward projects if their schools were able to get the most people to visit Kohl's website and "check in."

I most often browse Facebook from my iPhone or iPad.  By simply clicking on the Facebook link I would be sent to Kohl's website and encouraged to browse.  The browsing, however, was for a good cause.  The students, parents, families and friends all encouraged their networks of contacts to visit Kohls website and browse.  Although it got kind of old after receiving the 133rd Facebook message reminding me to visit Kohl's website to benefit the school, it was effective in getting thousands to visit.  I found the approach and program interesting. 

The Power Behind a Mobile Retailing Application

Mobile Retailing Apps

Most significant mobile applications are integrated with a powerful database application.  At the SAP TechEd conference last week SAP demonstrated an iPad business solution that considered the weather forecast in various regions as indicators of sales.  At TecEd I also met with Ed Krufka, EVP of Solution Services at Smartsoft Mobile Solutions.  He shared some of the complexity of applications he has been working on in the mobile retailing space.

These mobile applications are powered by sophisticated business intelligence solutions that are used to help sell more products to retail customers.  They use knowledge of the customer's history, buying patterns, the weather, locations etc., to change and customize the content on mobile applications.

Mobile Retailing and Location Aware Applications

The location based services market is forecast to reach $21 billion by 2015.  Location aware mobile applications can provide the potential for many businesses to reach mobile users at the right time and in the right place.  What does this mean?  It is 11:45 a.m. and you are thinking about lunch.  If an email or text message arrives to your smartphone with a coupon for your favorite sandwich at the restaurant just a block from your office, there is a very good chance that you will eat there.

Santa Claus Smartphones and Online Shopping

I read this in the Dallas Morning News online version today, "Last year, more than 60 million Americans were mobile Web users, up 33 percent from 2008, according to Nielsen. This holiday season, Nielsen predicts one-third of all mobile phones in use will be smartphones, up from 21 percent a year ago.

Location Based Services and Mobile Retailing Applications

There is a fast growing segment of the mobile applications market that is rapidly being adopted by retailers.  Retailers and consumer packaged goods companies like Best Buy, Disney, Procter and Gamble, Starbucks, The Gap, American Eagle, Sports Authority and Macy's are all involved in various location based services projects. 

Mobile Retailing - Macy's and Bloomingdale's Mobile Applications Strategies

Macy's and sister store Bloomingdale's recently announced that they have both recently revised and improved their e-commerce websites to better support their mobile retailing strategy.  When customers use an internet-capable mobile device to visit macys.com and bloomingdales.com, they now see larger and clearer images and click-through buttons so using the sites are faster and easier. Technology detects the type of mobile device a shopper is using and customizes the presentation of macys.com and bloomingdales.com to that customer.  They have added the following features to their e-commerce websites:

1. When consumers access their websites through a mobile device, they can view larger and clearer images and click-through buttons.
2. The site is faster and easier for mobile devices. 
3. New technology detects the type of mobile device and customizes the website accordingly.

Many of their customers come to the website after receiving email messages from Macy's or Bloomingdale's that they read on their mobile devices.  When they click the links they routed to the e-commerce website that is now optimized for their mobile device.

On the mobile retailing application side they have done the following:

1. Macy's upgraded and relaunched their iPhone application - iShop.
2. They are testing various marketing scenarios and strategies with shopkick and Foursquare.

Macy's new version of the iShop application for iPhones provides the following features.

• Loads faster
• Navigates easier
• Integrates in real-time with macys.com to provide an improved mobile shopping experience
• Browse through merchandise
• Place and track orders
• Read product reviews
• Explore gift guides
• Find store locations
• Access information on special events and campaigns

Macy's is also testing location based services.  Here is an excerpt from their recent press release: 

Macy's has begun piloting the use of shopkick -- a new location-based shopping app -- at about 150 stores in the New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago markets. By downloading shopkick free from the iPhone App Store, Macy's customers can earn "kickbucks" reward points by simply walking into a Macy's store with their mobile device. They also will receive offers on products or related to specific departments within Macy's. Kickbucks can be redeemed, at the touch of a button on the iPhone, for Facebook Credits to play games online, song downloads, in-store gift rewards at Macy's and other shopkick partner stores, magazine subscriptions, iPods and charitable donations.

I recently interviewed Dan Homrich, CEO of Smartsoft Mobile Solutions about mobile retailing applications.  Many of Smartsoft's largest mobility customers are global retailers.  Mobile retailing is a fast growing and emerging mobility market segment that compliments SAP's mobile strategy to touch over 1 billion users by 2014.  You accomplish that kind of ambitious goal by placing valuable mobile applications into the hands of consumers, not just enterprise users.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.