17
Nov 2016
0

Mobile gift rewards can have an impact this holiday season

Developers , , , , I. Romero

One of the most talked about gifts this holiday season might not be a physical one, but a digital one. According to a recent Mercator Advisory Group study, egifts accounted for 18 percent of the reported gift card loads in 2015, an 80 percent increase from the previous year. With the rise in popularity among consumers, retailers are beginning to leverage egifts for more than just products to sell and are incorporating them into reward and rebate programs.

Electronic gift cards, or egift cards, are delivered digitally, including via email, SMS text, social media or app, and can be redeemed either in-store or by using the gift code online. Ease-of-use, personalization options and fast delivery are a few of the reasons egifts are quickly increasing in popularity.

Here’s why, in addition to being a valuable gift option, egifts are also a valuable rebate reward or incentive option for retailers and consumers around the holidays.

Omnichannel flexibility

Savvier shoppers combined with innovation in retail have transformed the landscape of holiday shopping into an omnichannel experience. Consumers quickly move from shopping at brick-and-mortar stores to shopping online or on their mobile devices and back, and want to do so seamlessly. According to a recent study by the Retail Gift Card Association, omnichannel flexibility is key for consumers, with 87 percent of gift card recipients wanting to be able to redeem their cards online or in-person as they choose. Egifts responds to this desire better than other promotional rewards.

Holiday shopping or gifting with egift rewards

Around the holidays, some shoppers may like to use loyalty program and rebate rewards to help offset the cost of holiday shopping and gift giving. Retailers can make it easy for shoppers to redeem and use their rewards via various channels or even gift them to someone else. Once an egift reward is received, the recipient can print it out, store it on their phone, save it to their mobile wallet—or, in some cases—re-gift it to someone else entirely.

Elevated brand interaction

When a traditional reward check is cashed, a consumer’s experience with the brand is over. With egifts, however, the brand can remain top of mind for much longer. First, the reward is received via email, text or app, and the retailer’s messaging is present. Next, as the reward is saved or stored, it acts as a mini billboard in the recipient’s mobile wallet or inbox. Finally, when the reward is redeemed, the recipient is reminded of his or her engagement with the retailer.

Directing spendback is also valuable during the holidays. Unlike checks, egifts offered by retailers as rewards incent shoppers to return to that store (online or in person) and, according to the consumer gift card survey by RGCA, the consumers surveyed typically spend more than they have on a gift card by $20.

As retailers plan their holiday promotional and loyalty strategies, egifts should be considered for inclusion in the reward mix as a win-win option. Recipients will appreciate the flexibility, ease-of-use and fast delivery. Plus, retailers can find value in the additional opportunities for brand messaging and interaction with their consumers during the hectic and crowded holiday marketing season.

Source: http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/articles/mobile-gift-rewards-can-have-an-impact-this-holiday-season/

30
Aug 2016
0

Mobile Wallets vs Retailers offerings

Developers , , , , I. Romero

Mobile wallets are slowly gaining adoption, but retailers’ offerings are currently the winners because they can be easily integrated with loyalty programs, providing an incentive to use them.

Many experts believe that mobile wallets will  continue to grow, and by the end of the decade, be universally adopted. Retailers such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks are leading the charge in terms of brand-led mobile wallets and are seeing significant adoption rates while platform-led services such as Apple Pay and Android Pay mobile wallets are lacking in comparison, but will likely see more users in the coming years.

“For merchant wallets, the vested interest in making them work and the ancillary benefits around marketing data garnered from wider use creates a broader demand in an organization to put incentives to put them in place and the mobile wallet investments successful,” said Joseph Walent, senior analyst of emerging technology advisory service at Mercator Advisory Group. “In my opinion, the main reason for the drag in universal wallet space remains lack of acceptance, be it real or perceived, coupled with a lack of marketing effort beyond the initial set-up the phone.

“While merchant specific wallets will likely top out in the next couple years, the usage of universal wallets will expand dramatically by the end of the decade,” he said.

Loyalty and mobile
Retailers can leverage mobile wallets to shape consumer behavior by prompting them to come in stores and purchase with rewards and the process of earning rewards. Mobile wallets and loyalty offer incentives for using the program, therefore consumers are more likely to leverage retailers’ mobile wallet programs as they have more to offer.

The mobile wallet applications are highly beneficial to retailers beyond just rewards programs. Retailers now have the ability to garner a wide range of data to better serve consumers and have the capability to send push notifications and keep them fully connected.

“Mobile wallets are a highly effective customer engagement tool,” said Danielle Brown, vice president of marketing at Points. “Through mobile wallets, marketers can reach consumers at the point of sale, through a channel that is most convenient and relevant to them.

“Not to mention, the convenience of being ‘mobile’ enables marketers to target consumers with greater precision and deliver hyper-relevant offers through geo-location targeting,” she said. “Additionally, when loyalty rewards are integrated with mobile wallets, they can be used to drive specific consumer behaviors.

“For example, marketers can incentivize mobile wallet use by incorporating existing loyalty programs and making targeted offers.” 

Millennials and mobile
Mobile wallets will likely see an uptick in consumer usage once all retailers have accepted NFC terminals and more NFC-enabled phones arrive on the scene. Apple is seeing growth with Apple Pay numbers, but mainly outside of the U.S.

Once consumers in the U.S. have gotten used to mobile payments and mobile wallets, there will be a drastic change with bricks-and-mortar retail. For now, the growth is steady and will likely see significant usage by 2020. 

Another significant factor for mobile wallet adoption is millennials and their spending. Millennials are not spending and valuing deals and savings rather than purchasing, but they are the demographic most likely to take on mobile wallets as they are more comfortable with technology.

As millennials grow older in age and become more comfortable with spending, mobile wallets will likely see greater adoption.

“Mobile wallets are growing steadily, Apple just reported some fairly strong results, particularly in non-U.S. markets,” said Thad Peterson, senior analyst at Aite Group. “Growth will continue as the next generation of NFC-enabled phones come online and as NFC-capable terminals are installed. It’s not going to be a ‘hockey stick’ growth rate, look for steady growth until around 2019-2020, then usage will ramp up. 

“We need three things to enable mobile wallets,” he said. “Critical mass of NFC-capable terminals at POS, critical mass of NFC-capable smartphones and millennials to move into a spending phase of their lives.

“Once those pieces are in place, mobile payment growth will accelerate.” 

 

Source: http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/mobile-wallets-to-see-universal-adoption-by-end-of-decade

29
Aug 2016
2

Ecommerce Advantages

Developers , , , I. Romero

When you read the following list of advantages of ecommerce for businesses and customers, you will get the sense that ecommerce is the holy grail of retail.

1. Overcome Geographical Limitations

If you have a physical store, you are limited by the geographical area that you can service. With an ecommerce website, the whole world is your playground. Additionally, the advent of mcommerce, i.e., ecommerce on mobile devices, has dissolved every remaining limitation of geography.

2. Gain New Customers With Search Engine Visibility

Physical retail is driven by branding and relationships. In addition to these two drivers, online retail is also driven by traffic from search engines. It is not unusual for customers to follow a link in search engine results, and land up on an ecommerce website that they have never heard of. This additional source of traffic can be the tipping point for some ecommerce businesses.

3. Lower Costs

One of the most tangible positives of ecommerce is the lowered cost. A part of these lowered costs could be passed on to customers in the form of discounted prices. Here are some of the ways that costs can be reduced with ecommerce:

  • Advertising and Marketing
    Organic search engine traffic, pay-per-click, and social media traffic are some of the advertising channels that can be cost-effective.
  • Personnel
    The automation of checkout, billing, payments, inventory management, and other operational processes, lowers the number of employees required to run an ecommerce setup.
  • Real Estate
    This one is a no-brainer. An ecommerce merchant does not need a prominent physical location.

4. Locate the Product Quicker

It is no longer about pushing a shopping cart to the correct aisle, or scouting for the desired product. On an ecommerce website, customers can click through intuitive navigation or use a search box to immediately narrow down their product search. Some websites remember customer preferences and shopping lists to facilitate repeat purchase.

5. Eliminate Travel Time and Cost

It is not unusual for customers to travel long distances to reach their preferred physical store. Ecommerce allows them to visit the same store virtually, with a few mouse clicks.

6. Provide Comparison Shopping

Ecommerce facilitates comparison shopping. There are several online services that allow customers to browse multiple ecommerce merchants and find the best prices.

7. Enable Deals, Bargains, Coupons, and Group Buying

Though there are physical equivalents to deals, bargains, coupons, and group buying,online shopping makes it much more convenient. For instance, if a customer has a deep discount coupon for turkey at one physical store and toilet paper at another, she may find it infeasible to avail of both discounts. But the customer could do that online with a few mouse-clicks.

8. Provide Abundant Information

There are limitations to the amount of information that can be displayed in a physical store. It is difficult to equip employees to respond to customers who require information across product lines. Ecommerce websites can make additional information easily available to customers. Most of this information is provided by vendors and does not cost anything to create or maintain.

9. Create Targeted Communication

Using the information that a customer provides in the registration form, and by placing cookies on the customer’s computer, an ecommerce merchant can access a lot of information about its customers. This, in turn, can be used to communicate relevant messages.

10. Remain Open All the Time

Store timings are now 24/7/365. Ecommerce websites can run all the time. From the merchant’s point of view, this increases the number of orders they receive. From the customer’s point of view, an “always open” store is more convenient.

11. Create Markets for Niche Products

Buyers and sellers of niche products can find it difficult to locate each other in the physical world. Online, it is only a matter of the customer searching for the product in a search engine. One example could be the purchase of obsolete parts. Instead of trashing older equipment for lack of spares, today we can locate parts online with great ease.

 

Source: https://www.thebalance.com/advantages-of-ecommerce-1141610

25
Aug 2016
2

56% of online retail searches take place on mobile devices

Developers , , , I. Romero

Smartphone and tablets dominate retail search queries for location-specific keywords, such as “where to buy” and “24 hours.”

The majority of online retail searches are made by consumers on their mobile devices, according to a new study from web measurement firm Hitwise, a division of Connexity Inc.

56% of online retail searches are made on a smartphone or tablet, according to the study, which looked at hundreds of thousands online search queries across 3.5 million smartphones and tablets between April 10-May 7 and made by consumers based in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. Hitwise considers smartphones and tablets as mobile devices.

When looking at specific keywords retail consumers search, location-based retail searches are the mostly made on mobile devices, according to the study. 82% of searches that include the words “24 hours” are made on mobile devices. Other mobile-dominated location keywords include “where to buy …” (84% mobile), “near me” (79% mobile) and “hours” (82% mobile).

Many retail mobile search queries occur while consumers are in a physical store, according to the study. 77% of retail searches that mention the words “coupon,” “return policy” and “price match” are made on a mobile device.

“Especially for traditional brick-and-mortar establishments, the smartphone has become an indispensable shopping tool providing consumers—sometimes within feet of a register—with information or offers that could seal or jeopardize a transaction,” says John Fetto, senior analyst, research and marketing, at Hitwise.

73% of searches with the words “sale” and 68% of “discount” searches are made on a mobile device, according to the study. However, 59% of searches that include “promo code” are made on a desktop.

In addition, 82% of retail searches with the word “reviews” are made on a smartphone or tablet, and 82% of searches for “engagement rings” are made on a mobile device.

While more than half of retail searches are made on mobile devices, mobile devices’ share of overall search is lower than many other industries, such as food and beverage, in which 72% of searches are made on a mobile device. Other verticals with higher mobile search queries include health (68% of searches are mobile,) sports (68%), news and media (64%), lifestyle (62%) and automotive (62%).

Source: https://www.internetretailer.com/2016/07/26/56-online-retail-searches-take-place-mobile-devices

24
Aug 2016
0

Smartphones: The Future of Retail Trading

Developers , , , , I. Romero

MUMBAI: Stock trading through mobile phones is fast picking up across the country as the increasing popularity of smartphones has made it simpler for investors to execute trades through the device. Turnover through mobile trading as a percentage of turnover clocked by retail investors, who mostly use smartphones to trade, has almost doubled in the last two years, according to an ET study.

Almost 30% of trading by retail investors in the cash segment is taking place through mobile phones. In futures and options, about 35% of the retail activity is happening through such apps.

“Many a days, a quarter of the trades is happening through mobile platform,” said Chaitanya Shahare, head-products, IIFL Markets.

Brokers say the highest growth in mobile phone trading is from smaller towns, mainly where there are no branches.

Out of the 7,00,000 downloads of IIFL’s trading apps in the last one year, majority has been done from the tier-2 and tier-3 towns.

Market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) allowed brokers to launch mobile trading in August 2010. The average daily turnover through mobile trading on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in the cash segment has jumped to Rs 600 crore in the last two years. That is about 3.2% of the total turnover. In June 2014, it was less than 1% or Rs 116 crore. Brokerages attribute the trend to the growing usage of smartphones.

Geojit BNP Paribas Securities has seen an 85% growth in mobile trading turnover in the last two years. “Today 28% of our cash transaction and 35% of the F&O trading are done through mobile application,” said A Balakrishnan, technology head, Geojit BNP Paribas. “The numbers are increasing rapidly as more and more users adopt smartphones,” he said.

Trading through smartphones is more convenient for investors unlike the conventional route of getting trades executed through brokers or relationship managers. Brokers say retail investors enjoy the anonymity and speed of trading through their own smartphones.

The outlook for mobile-based trading appears to be rosy with brokers expecting such trades to contribute around 50% of their total trading within a year or two. “Currently, we get close to 20% of our daily turnover by volume from mobile and we expect this to increase to 40% by 2017 and later grow to 60%” said Vinay Agrawal, CEO, Angel Broking.

Kamlesh Rao, CEO, Kotak Securities, agrees that the mobile trading should see robust growth over the next one year. “Mobile trading is one of the fastest growing business segments. I expect web-based trading to remain flat for the industry over the next one year, but mobile trading should see a growth of 30-40%.”

Brokerage fees on trades done through mobile trading is cheaper than those executed by the brokers. For instance, Angel Broking offers a discount of 20% for trades done through their mobile app and online platform. “With massive mobile penetration across India, mobile trading is going to change the broking industry forever in a positive way, introducing more people to stocks at a fingertip and disseminating more information than ever,” said Shahare.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/computing/Smartphones-emerging-as-the-future-of-retail-trading/articleshow/53279097.cms