Mobile Commerce

Retailers face a multitude of questions and options when developing a mobile strategy. One of the key debates is how to "go mobile" — i.e., whether to invest in the development of a mobile website or a mobile app to reach customers and prospects. A company's decision to build a mobile-optimized website or a stand-alone, branded app, or even both, should be made based on what the ultimate goal is for the target audience as well as the available resources to support the constantly changing content, either in conjunction with or independent of the main website.

MarketLive, a provider of multichannel commerce technology and services solutions, released the results of its fourth annual Mindset of a Multi-Channel Shopper survey. The report gives retailers timely insights into the rapidly changing arena of shopping online (including increasingly via mobile devices), as well as strategies to help merchants prioritize and improve return on investment as they head into the holidays, the most crucial time of the year for many businesses.

There's been a lot of hype around the battle between physical stores and the online realm. There's the rise of showrooming (i.e., consumers trying out merchandise in-store then going online to buy it), the inability to match prices and a whole plethora of other issues that are seemingly killing brick-and-mortar retailers.

There’s a lot of hype surrounding mobile payments, but is it just that? In general, consumers have been slow to embrace the technology. With no definitive leader in the mobile payment space, the fact that there are so many options available to consumers only seems to add to the confusion. And let’s face it, is it really that much easier to pay with a phone? What do companies like Google, PayPal and the like have to do to convince consumers to put away the plastic and pull out their mobile phone? Head over to Retail Online Integration's Twitter page to join the discussion.

Everyone from Google to every major cell carrier in the U.S. really, really wants consumers to start paying for things in stores with their mobile phones. And yet adoption of the technology in the U.S. has been slow. Similar "mobile wallets" have been available in Japan since 2004, and yet by the end of 2010, in a typical month only 10 percent of Japanese consumers were using their phones to make a purchase. So what's wrong with people?

An "exponential" growth in shopping via smartphones and an increasing customer awareness of price promotions are some of the key retail trends identified by separate new reports from eBay and Nielsen. According to the latest eBay Online Business Index, nearly half of Australia's top eBay businesses said they would optimize online content for mobile. Almost a quarter (24 percent) said they would develop a mobile website, while more than 20 percent said they would develop a mobile app. According to eBay Vice President Deborah Sharkey, mobile commerce in Australia is growing at an exponential rate.

Earlier this week we shared how today's consumers expect more — much more — from mobile sites. They told us so in our recent research survey, What Users Want Most From Mobile Sites Today. We'll share more results, with some great examples of businesses giving mobile users what they want. Whether you're a Fortune 500 company or the pizza shop down on the corner, creating a mobile-friendly site is a critical step: 67% of mobile users say that they're more likely to buy a product or service from a mobile-friendly site

As the tablet wars ratchet up for the holiday season, mass merchants are kicking the competition off the shelf. Wal-Mart is dropping the Amazon Kindle (and all Amazon.com products). That follows Target's spring dismissal of Amazon and its Kindle as the online retailer becomes ever-more competitive. Now, Toys"R"Us, encouraged by the hot-selling children's tablet it sold exclusively last year, is introducing its own branded tablet and ditching Nabi, leaving the next-generation Nabi 2 to be sold by Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart.

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, released a study on U.S. smartphone shopping behavior based on data from its comScore Mobile Metrix 2.0 service. The study found that four in every five smartphone users — 85.9 million in total — accessed retail content on their device in July. Amazon.com sites led as the top retailer with an audience of 49.6 million visitors, while multichannel retailers including Apple (17.7 million visitors), Wal-Mart (16.3 million visitors), Target (10 million visitors) and Best Buy (7.2 million visitors) also attracted significant mobile audiences.

At Design Within Reach, we make authentic modern design accessible. Rob Forbes founded the company in 1999 when he tried to furnish his apartment with the clean, simple classics he'd come to appreciate while living in London, but found that many of his favorite designers weren't accessible in the United States. Design Within Reach quickly took off and today has 44 retail locations across the U.S. and Canada.