On November 28, 2012 I did a Google+ Hangout with Sean Stanleigh, editor of Small Business for The Globe and Mail. It’s all about how small and medium sized businesses should think about leveraging the mobile channel.
It’s a half hour video and you can find it here or embedded below.
This is a reprint from a piece I did in Mobile Commerce Daily on December 27, 2012. I figure it can’t hurt to re-post the abstract here, but head over to Mobile Commerce Daily for the full text.
_________
With more than 114 million U.S. consumers using smartphones as of July 2012, and retail being one of the fastest-growing sectors in mobile, smart devices are quickly opening new revenue channels for retailers.
However, although most retailers understand the importance of mobile and have started investigating ways to engage their customers, many have not used the medium to its full potential. This shift provides significant opportunities for retailers to drive revenue, but it requires a proactive rather than a reactive approach.
A retailer’s investment in its mobile application should return direct results by generating revenue. Based on my experience helping dozens of retailers implement mobile solutions, here are three specific ways retailers drive revenue in this brave new shopping world.
Go Big Data to deliver better customer experiences
Mobile apps hold vast amounts of real-time data. With mobile app analytics, retailers have access to customer behavior, giving them the ability to know and understand their customer better than ever, while creating the means to deliver a customized experience. Here are some specific ways to deliver better customer experiences:
• Customize communications: Communications can be timed to best meet a customer’s schedule and the content can be tailored to the user. Is the user more interested in a deal on jeans or a new store location close to her house?
• Influence purchase decisions in-store: App data on coupon usage or shopping habits can be used to offer in-store details or upsell the customer on specific items.
• Cater and streamline business: Retailers now have access to data on a customer’s reaction to their offerings, in the form of reviews and ratings. This data will allow retailers to be more agile, collect feedback quicker and cater their offerings to their customers’ wants.
Intelligent targeting: Use smarter push notifications
In today’s connected and mobile-driven world, traditional advertising alone is no longer sufficient to drive revenue. With the penetration of smartphones, retailers need to take advantage of the opportunity to connect with customers anywhere at any time.
Using push notifications, retailers can….
_________________
Head over to Mobile Commerce Daily for the full text.
The Xtreme Labs PR team was nice enough to slot me in for a segment on CTV News Tech Talk a few weeks back. We chatted about the recent firing of two key Apple execs, the recently released iPad mini, the Nike Fuel Band coming to Canada, and Windows8.
For some reason the CTV site doesn’t let you embed video 
Apple is set to announce the iPhone 5 tomorrow and it is expected that this new generation of hardware, and the accompanying software, will signal Apple’s intention to offer payment and other dedicated solutions in a brick and mortar retail environment.
One such signal was the news that in early August of this year Apple was granted a patent for an “on the go shopping list” app. What does this mean in the short term? In short, nothing. However, when you look at Apple’s new Passbook feature in iOS 6 and combine that with the “on the go shopping list” patent, you start to see signs that Apple is aggressively pursuing a bigger presence at the checkout.
iPhone 5 will/will not include NFC
NFC capabilities were widely expected to be included in the iPhone 5 until last week when an AnandTech analysis of leaked hardware concluded otherwise. Apple is the only major handset manufacturer that has not yet introduced NFC technology in their products. Given that users of Android, BlackBerry and other mobile platforms haven’t adopted payments via NFC en masse, Apple might actually be signalling something by not introducing NFC in the iPhone 5. It’s possible that Apple will attack this by developing a purely software-based solution, supported by their new Passbook product and the new shopping app patent. Then again, they could just be waiting for the right market conditions to present themselves before implementing NFC.
Apple Passbook
Apple, in contrast to their competitors has been patient (as usual) in its approach to mobile payments. Apple’s “Passbook” feature – which will launch with support for store/loyalty cards, gift cards, and coupons/tickets – is Apple’s wedge into the checkout process. Apple can use the “Passbook” to change user behaviour (towards or away from NFC) while at the same time cementing their place in the physical retail environment.
Apple “on the go shopping list” patent
Our expectation then, is that the Apple “on the go shopping list” will eventually be the glue that binds all of this together and makes Apple a truly disruptive presence in-store.
Using Passbook to gain a presence at the cash register gives Apple the opportunity to directly influence consumer behaviour in the retail setting. In doing so, they will give themselves the option to circumvent a technology which they don’t control in the short term (NFC) and/or implement a different standard such as Bluetooth 4 (which they have already included in newest line of macbook products). In either case, it appears that Apple’s app-centric approach will continue to be the standard, allowing retailers to better package their brand alongside payment and other solutions focussed on creating better in-store experiences via mobile devices.
Sharp PC-E500S pocket computer
I’ll be doing a talk at this year’s FITC SCREENS event in Toronto and figured now was the right time to add a little context to the above (admittedly) snarky title.
I think the audience at SCREENS will appreciate a discussion about the business challenges associated with developing a mobile strategy. Here’s what we’re going to do:
First, I thought it would be interesting to explore the top five reasons organizations create native mobile products:
You can see from the above that we’re dealing with a decision making landscape that runs from “I want it” to “I need it”.
Next, we’ll talk about how to handle the “I want it” requests, and how to act on the “I need it” realities as it pertains to your organization. In doing so we’ll explore:
Hopefully this session will leave the audience with some takeaways about how to approach mobile in their organizations, and ultimately, how to make money directly or indirectly in the evolving world of pocket computers.
