Mobile Commerce Minute

In the nascent worlds of contextual conversation and beacons, two early leaders in their respective fields are coming together to build a deeper partnership. Urban Airship - one of the first push notification companies - and Gimbal - a leading beacon technology company - are working closely together to "maximize in the moment engagement." Chuck has all the details and the impact of this partnership on the industry.

There are certain categories of products that consumers are browsing - and buying - online. These products have an almost identical browse to buy ratio, this according to a huge study done by Nielsen. Part of the study also shows the product categories that attract higher browsers than buyers. Chuck covers it all quickly for you here.

Chuck has aggregated the most significant mobile numbers that everyone should know. It starts at 13 and ends 4.7 trillion so hang on!

When Thinknear released their first Location Score Index last quarter there was an audible gasp as a result of their findings. They are back with their Q3 index and the results are much improved. Chuck walks us through his highlights of the most important numbers you should know.

There is no doubt that beacons are making their way into every conversation around the executive board room tables of retailers small and large. Chuck has come up with a clear definition of what this technology is and should do. Plus, we explore how it can all go wrong if we aren't careful.

Quick. Your biggest complaint when you walk into a Home Depot is? Retail has given us big box stores, streamlined ecommerce platforms, mass emails, coupons and real-time web customer support but have you ever been so frustrated by the lack of in-store customer support that you've walked out, vowing to never return? Well, mobile may be the answer to this.

 

Sears and Zappos (independently) are working on making your in-store experience a good one when it comes to getting some real-time help. Chuck explains how mobile is bringing customer service back to the physical store using some connected smarts.

Quick. If I were to ask you what company is leading the way in accepting mobile payments who comes to mind? Apple? Starbucks? Amazon? HBC?

 

How about Subway?

 

It may seem odd but Subway is quietly becoming a poster child for mobile payments and Chuck explains why and what their strategy is in this episode. The big lesson here is, when it comes to accepting mobile payments, the answer should be yes - regardless of the provider.

It may take a behemoth to bring about habit change the kind necessary for everyone to move to mobile payments. Could that be Walmart? In the coming months, Walmart is moving wholesale to chip and pin payment technology and introducing a branded Mastercard. This may seem innocuous but Chuck sees it as one step closer to mass mobile payment adoption. Here's why.

Counter to our intuition, it seems that those north of 55 have very few hangups about using their mobile devices according to a new study by BI Intelligence. The study also lays out the portrait of the perfect mobile user and, of course, the difference between how men and women see the mobile shopping world. Chuck highlights it all for you here in under 2 minutes.

In a first of what will likely be many companies diving headfirst into beacons, Macy's has announced a huge rollout of 4000 beacons across their stores in the United States. They are doing it in partnership with Shopkick and Chuck has all the details of this monster initiative here.