Category: Apps

The company is refocusing both its application and mobile site on search, personalization, and local.

Although Groupon has been very successful in mobile, it has been struggling since it became a publicly traded company and has been working to overcome those challenges through the use of geolocation technology and other mobile friendly techniques.

Since the CEO of the company, Andrew Mason, was sent packing, the company’s revenue has declined.

In fact, since that time, there has been a steady reduction in the daily deal site’s income. This has occurred as consumers seem to be growing immune to the emails of flash sales, either shying away from them or completely ignoring them. However, the current CEO, Eric Lefkofsky, has a new strategy in mind, which includes everything from geolocation technology to a highly personalized consumer experience.

Geolocation technology has become increasingly important in the mobile marketing environment.

Both the mobile website and the app have now been changed at Groupon with a considerable shift in their focus. They are now aiming directly at the places in which people actually look for their deals. Therefore, there has been a considerable swing toward personalization, geolocation technology, and search. These redesigns appear to make a great deal of sense and could make all the difference in turning the company’s revenue trend around, to an upward direction.

In fact, the geolocation technology based “Local Explorer” feature has opened up a number of new opportunities as it automatically pops up content within the user’s current city. This was once served only with a “nearby” tag. Now, it detects the user’s location and alters the background, sending targeted deals by way of push notifications, as well. These provide users with reminders of the existence of the app while they’re on vacation or travelling; times in which they are most likely to want discounts in places such as restaurants.

Moreover, beyond geolocation technology, there is also now a search bar at the top of all of the mobile screens, which place a greater focus on searching, which has never been there, before. Along with the personalized greetings and deals, this suggests a considerably enhanced experience for the customer.

Mobile commerce is growing

Mobile commerce has been showing strong growth around the world, but not everyone is making mobile payments. This is largely due to a lack of experience with mobile commerce platforms. While many consumers spend a significant amount of their time on a smartphone or tablet, relatively few of these people are comfortable with the concept of mobile commerce due to lack of exposure to the concept itself. Hailo, a venture capital-backed company that matches taxi drivers and passengers through the use of mobile applications, believes that there is a promising future ahead for mobile commerce.

Hailo helps expose consumers to new concepts

Hailo can find a person a taxi in many of the largest cities around the world. The application even allows passengers to pay cab fare using only their mobile device. Hailo believes that the service is quite beneficial to those that have somewhere to go in a hurry and it has certainly become useful to those that are too inebriated to drive safely. Hailo’s line of applications are not, of course, strictly designed to function as mobile commerce platforms, but they may be exposing more users to the concept of mobile commerce than many people realize.

Application may provide a much needed introductory step to mobile commerce

Hailo CEO Jay Bregman believes that mobile commerce will change the way people live their lives. Hailo’s impressive popularity is enough to suggest that this may be the case, as it has won praise from consumers for its mobile commerce capabilities. Bregman claims that the Hailo application can open up new doors in the future within the realm of mobile commerce, with the application itself serving as a low-impact first step for those that are unfamiliar with mobile payments in general.

Mobile commerce may change the way people pay for goods and services in the future

While many consumers have expressed interest in the idea of mobile payments, most do not participate in mobile commerce because they are uncertain of how to do so. The Hailo application can be considered as an introduction to mobile commerce, showing how consumers can pay for services that are quite valuable to them without actually using any form of physical currency.