Mobile Commerce

The evolution of technology within the retail and e-commerce space is shaping how consumers behave and interact with brands and savvy, smart retailers know that understanding shoppers’ behavior is key for success. These retailers realize they can utilize technology to capitalize on consumer needs and customize offerings to help significantly increase their bottom lines. Here's how companies are using technology to provide added value to consumers. 

The unprecedented adoption of mobile devices will make this holiday season the most connected in history. Consumers are turning to their mobile devices for information, promotions and discounts, giving marketers the opportunity to transform each interaction into a personalized customer experience across every channel — email, SMS, apps, social and the web.

This year will mark a major milestone for tablets and their influence on Internet retailers. We believe tablets will draw even with smartphones, and account for 50% of the total value of U.S. retail sales made over mobile devices.

As the holiday season swings into gear so does competitive shopping, with consumers scoping out merchandise in physical stores and then comparison shopping for the lowest price on their mobile device, dubbed "showrooming." In an effort to combat or "embrace" this phenomenon, some retailers, led by Best Buy, have implemented strategies including price matching to convert more shoppers into buyers. Nobody is winning in this new game — not manufacturers, retailers or consumers.

The burgeoning mobile market continues to create new complexities for brands and retailers, especially as consumers increasingly use mobile devices to shop, and mobile payment, loyalty and gifting capabilities continue to advance. However, as mobile wallets continue to generate buzz, the rate of mobile payment adoption remains slow. For example, in its "Mobile Wallets for the Masses" report, research firm Yankee Group stated that while nearly 70 percent of consumers are interested in adopting mobile payments, less than 14 percent have actually completed a mobile transaction in the past six months.

Compuware Corporation, a technology performance company, today announced the top three mobile performance trends so far this holiday shopping season. This is based on its analysis of the mobile performance of top U.S. retailers between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. These trends reveal the critical importance of mobile performance during the holiday shopping season and the impact it can have on a business. 

U.S. shoppers made Cyber Monday the biggest online shopping day in history with a 20.6 percent increase in online sales, according to the latest cloud-based analytics findings from IBM. Mobile sales led the way, exceeding 17 percent of total online sales, an increase of 55.4 percent year-over-year. Cyber Monday also capped the highest five-day online sales period on record — from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday — which grew 16.5 percent over the same period in 2012. 

Rounding up the year's best tips to help you optimize your business.

As the year comes to a close, it's time for my annual roundup of omnichannel retail predictions for the year ahead. I'm focusing on a few interesting trends I saw come to light in 2013 that I believe will become even more widespread next year. Enjoy!

With the employee turnover rate typically high in the retail industry, particularly within brick-and-mortar stores, managing the process of finding and hiring qualified individuals is a challenge for many brands. It often proves time consuming and can be expensive. Such was the dilemma facing VILLA.