Mobile Commerce

eBay is entering the territory of mobile shopping app shopkick with the latest update in the e-commerce giant's barcode scanning app, RedLaser. eBay is adding geofencing to its RedLaser application and partnering with Best Buy to allow users to see special offers, browse open-stock items and view items relevant to them right when they step into one of the electronics retailer's 1,100 locations.

Square's $200 million Series D and $3.25 billion valuation yesterday may have risen expectations massively for where mobile payments will ultimately go, but for now the vast majority of us are still pulling out our cash, cards and checks to buy things. A study from Deloitte, notes that today in the UK only 1% of mobile consumers have ever used a handset to pay for something in a retail location. However, it also provides some convincing evidence that we are at least well on our way to linking mobiles - specifically smartphones - to retail purchases anyway.

For the first time, customer experience analytics company ForeSee has begun measuring mobile satisfaction when it comes to the retail experience. As you may know, ForeSee has been measuring online retail satisfaction for some time now. According to ForeSee's report, Amazon, Avon, and Apple are the top mobile sites in terms of customer satisfaction (both on smartphones and tablets).

Despite the buzz on the exhibit floor at Shop.org's Annual Summit in Denver yesterday, retailers remain prudent in their mobile financial investments, according to the 2012 Shop.org/Forrester Research Inc. State Of Retailing Online survey that was released here.

Over the last few years, we've had a lot of conversations with retailers about their mobile strategies and how to drive more in-store shopper engagement. The dominant theme is that retailers need to create their own app — one that reflects the branded experience and not a third-party app — that aggregates multiple retailers, provides limited service and is loosely related to the retailer. 

Branded shopping apps are the strongest driver behind unplanned purchases, branded content on social networks drives people to try new products, and texts and social media are most likely to influence where people shop, according to a new study released today by Ryan Partnership, an integrated marketing agency that is part of the Hyper Marketing, Inc. network. The 2012 Ryan Partnership Digital Retail Study comes out just 18 months after the company's last retail study.

Mobile payment app LevelUp helps its users save money through incentives, loyalty programs and special offers. Now, the app has introduced a way for users to share a bit of their savings with their favorite causes. LevelUp launched Causes last week, becoming the first mobile payment ecosystem to integrate charitable giving. The Causes feature is a simple way to give a portion of your LevelUp rewards to a nonprofit of your choice.

This week's top article as determined by our readers (i.e., what they clicked on) deals with one of the hottest topics in the retail industry and one that only figures to grow in importance as time goes on. That topic is mobile commerce. Rodger Desai, co-founder and CEO of Payfone, offers three tips for retailers to increase their mobile conversion rates. If your company is selling its products or services via a mobile website and/or app (you should be), it would be wise for you to check out Rodger's article.

Wal-Mart is testing a system that would allow shoppers to use their iPhones to scan items and then pay for them at a self-checkout counter at a store in Rogers, Ark., near the company's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. The retailer's iPhone app already allows shoppers to create lists and see which items are in stock, but doesn't currently include a payment function.

CrossView, Inc., a cross-channel commerce solutions and services provider, released the results of its 2012 Cross-Channel Readiness survey that looked at retailers across a variety of categories, gauging improvements and declines in enabling customers to shop in-store, online, in call centers and via mobile with a consistent brand experience. This year's study showed improvement in several key areas from last year, particularly in mobile commerce, social sharing and consistency in marketing promotions.