Mobile Commerce Minute

It should be NO surprise that mobile will have an impact on the shopping habits of consumers. There were a record number of transactions that happened over mobile last year, and this year will be no different according to Josh Chasin of Comscore. The fact we are purchasing more from our mobile is not shocking, the influence it has on our decision making and buying process is. What are you doing to enable (or attract) mobile shoppers? Start thinking about that this very moment or it may be a bleak mobile shopping season for your company.

You would think that MasterCard would be solely focused on the transaction part of the mobile commerce path but that is not the case. The way Mung Ki Woo, MasterCard's EVP Mobile & Industry Alliances puts it makes it seem that the transaction is just simply the culmination of a series of commerce interactions throughout our day. A day that mobile plays an increasingly important part in. Here's a glimpse of that concept.

There are a handful of mega brands that are embracing mobile with every fibre of their business. We hear often about Starbucks and Lowe's but another you should watch is Coca-Cola. I've been blown away by their approach to mobile since I interviewed Tom Daly in early 2012 (found here) and the way they are currently focused on creating conversations through mobile - instead of the transaction - is something we can all learn from.

There is a battle going on right now around who owns the final payment but, as you'll see in this mobile minute, that is the WRONG place to be focused on right now. There are so many contributors to the eventual payment that, if overlooked, will doom any mobile commerce initiative. The transaction is a commodity, a result of the effort before it, not the strategy. Are you focusing in the right place? I hope so...

The iPhone 5s brings with it a slew of new features, none of which are more important to the mobile commerce industry than the fingerprint scanner. Why? Watch on.

Every once in a while, the connected consumer is faced with the rarest of retail experiences - the product they want is cheaper IN the store than online. How does this happen? When the consumer is armed with all the information available to them...actually, all you need is a smartphone and, well, that's it really. Here's a quick example of how this phenomenon happens.

Flint is another payment processor this time with a little bit of a new angle: It does't require any additional hardware, just scan the card like taking a photo, punch in the security number and you are done. The credit card number is not stored anywhere. The question is, do we need yet another mobile payment processor (YAMPP)?

Not shocking that this discussion is now raging among retailers. While the demand and download pace for mobile apps has grown, so has the need for a mobile website which has added a level of confusion and frustration. The answer to this riddle? You need both and here's why.

It seems as though consumers are beyond text when it comes to searching for products to buy. Photos have emerged as THE research tool for smart shoppers - whether it means they take pictures of products they want or make buy decisions from other people's photos. Either way, this is a trend that retailers and marketers cannot ignore.

It took them a while to come around but B2B companies are finally seeing the "mobile light" and are now starting to bring it into their businesses. The opportunities are great for those entrepreneurs and enterprising companies to build tools to help enable these companies from - and between - smartphones. Watch to understand how.