Mobile Commerce Minute

Remember Christmas 2013 and all the hoopla and media attention showrooming was getting? Here we are a year later and I really haven't heard that term in the media this time around. That begs the question: Is showrooming still a thing? The Harris Poll has the answer and Chuck highlights the results from a recent report on the impact of mobile on consumer purchasing habits. According to this study there is something far more impactful than showrooming. Watch to find out what that is.

More and more studies are emerging on the changing role of retail sales staff and they all point in the same direction. The latest report, this one by CES entitled "Enhancing the In-Store CE Retail Experience Using Mobile Devices" paints the same picture as many of the other reports we've covered here before on this topic: The in-store sales role is being slowly usurped by our devices. Chuck let's us in on the results of the report and a few helpful suggestions on what this dwindling employment segment needs to do to adapt to the changing mobile shopping landscape.

Dollars are one way to judge mobile's adoption rate but Juniper Research may be on to a metric that really shows how the majority of us use our smartphones (which, as we know, is NOT payments). A new research paper gives us a glimpse into the transaction growth that mobile is undergoing - not commerce transactions, straight up interactions like taps and bumps. This number is growing and could be the metric to watch as we move our lives to our devices.

Do beacons work? Do they help customers find product? Do they help stores sell more product? Do they make customers more loyal? Do they increase basket size? Do they annoy customers? Do they build businesses or break them? Boston-based Swirl Networks - the company responsible for some of the largest retail beacon rollouts in North America has some answers and they are good -- very good -- for the early adopters.

Here is the definitive number for you in the ongoing "mobile app versus mobile web" battle being waged in retail provided by Skava: 90% of revenue comes from the mobile web. That is a crazy high number that really does show the importance of nailing that experience for your customers. The problem? If you are a retailer you still need both the mobile web AND a mobile app - unless you can afford to give up the other 10% of revenue (and 15% of visits) that come via the app. These numbers, and more, are what we cover in this episode.

This past Thanksgiving weekend may have been the first true test of beacons in retail outlets. There is no doubt that beacons have infiltrated the retail mindset - something Chuck highlights in this episode. From airports to banks, here are the latest uses in the wild today.

Reports are rolling in on the impact that mobile had on our Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping binges and we summarize them right here for you. Reports from BrandingBrand, Custora, Rue LaLa and IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark - all the numbers in one tidy little package.

Malls are quickly becoming the petri dish for mobile marketing experimentation. They are unique in the world of retail because they themselves are a destination so the question begs: How do the stores in the malls attract the people hanging out at the malls? One company is hoping that the free in-mall WiFi is the answer and they have started rolling out their service in a number of Taubman malls across the United States. Chuck gives us a quick rundown on what they are doing and what this means for retailers and malls alike.

Now that the hype around scanning QR and UPC codes has fallen from the mainstream media it is time to take a closer look at the reasons and impact behind each scan done today. ScanLife, makers of the ScanBuy app, recently released the results of a survey of 15,000 users and we present the key numbers here.

How much do you spend through your smartphone? Well, according to a recent eMarketer study that number is set to double by the end of next year. Chuck highlights the numbers that will see us breaking all kinds of mobile payments records this - and next - year. The biggest thing that will break, though, is your bank according to these numbers.