Mobile Commerce

Fast Retailing Co.'s Comptoir des Cotonniers division, a French fashion brand, has launched a new service, Fast Shopping, which allows European shoppers to purchase items in 20 seconds on their mobile devices via an application from Powa Technologies. Shoppers using the PowaTag app can scan items they see on ads in various places to make the purchase and with one click complete the transaction and have the goods delivered to their home within 48 hours.

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced last fall that Angela Ahrendts, whom he called one of the smartest people he's ever met, would assume control of all things retail at One Infinite Loop "sometime in the spring of 2014." That moment arrived around May 1. Will Ahrendts move the needle for retail at Apple and provide more value to investors? She has big shoes to fill. The first de facto head of retail there was legendary former CEO Steve Jobs, who developed the Apple Store concept way back in the pre-iPod days. 

Over the past year, we've followed HSNi on its journey to create boundaryless retail, including insights from data, engagement, trust, collaboration and innovation. The retailer's first quarter 2014 sales decreased 1 percent, however digital sales grew 5 percent and digital penetration increased to 38 percent. During the quarter, mobile grew 44 percent, now representing 15 percent of HSNi's total business and its highest ever customer levels at HSNi. Unique customers purchasing via mobile and new customers to HSN via mobile both had large increases year-over-year. 

Gone are the days when marketers could simply check the "mobile box" with a one-size-fits-all mobile website or app. Mobile must be personalized and integrated throughout all consumers’ interactions with a brand. Mobile can be used to drive synergies with in-store interactions and improve retail associates’ productivity and customer service capabilities. Smart retailers are making mobile a top priority to capitalize on these opportunities. 

Approximately six months ago, online flash-sales retailer Gilt.com made the decision that it would be a "mobile first" company, recalled Jason John, Gilt's vice president of online, mobile and social marketing, in a session he presented at the Mcommerce Summit in New York City yesterday. In reality, the retailer's customers were forcing its hand. With more than 40 percent of its revenues now being transacted via mobile device — smartphone and tablet — and that number growing steadily year-over-year, Gilt really had no choice.

Nearly every shopper bounces from store to store with two personal items at the ready: their wallet and mobile phone. While some traditional retailers might only focus on the first part of that equation, savvy brands must realize that the latter is of near equal importance. Here's what I've learned about retailers using mobile to build brand loyalty, improve the customer experience and boost sales:

Big data has been a buzz phrase within the retail industry for the past year or more. That said, get 10 retailers in a room together and you might get 10 different definitions for what the term means. For Rue La La, an online flash-sales retailer of women's fashion apparel and accessories, big data meant connecting information across vendors to help it create targeted marketing campaigns to reactivate dormant customers. 

When it comes to tallying up retail sales, it's easy to overlook the impact of mobile. Although millions of consumers spend hours a day on their smartphones, only a small number of transactions are actually completed on the tiny devices. In 2013, for example, $235.3 billion was spent online, according to comScore. Among this number, only about $25 billion was attributed to mobile transactions. While these numbers pale in comparison to the over $3 trillion that was estimated to have been spent last year on in-store sales, the opportunity for smartphones is much larger than it appears at first glance.

During the 2013 holiday season, Perry Ellis deployed Starmount's mobile selling and customer engagement solutions to better focus on line busting, engaging customers throughout the store and completing transactions on mobile devices. The solutions were rolled out in 60 Perry Ellis stores, boosting adoption rates and increasing the average transaction amounts for sales conducted with mobile devices. The top Perry Ellis stores conducted up to 16.4 percent of all transactions on mobile devices, enabling associates to deliver the high level of customer service for which Perry Ellis is renowned. 

This webinar discusses the trends that are impacting the world of omnichannel eCommerce and how you can deal with them.