Author: BWild

A smartphone friendly trivia game has been launched through a SparkBridge partnership.

QR codes are being used in a new way to appeal to smartphone users who enjoy mobile gaming as different locations in the vicinity of Park Royal North, South, and the Village will be encouraged to scan quick response codes with the new Snappz app.

By scanning, the mobile device users will be asked trivia questions about pop culture and fashion.

When the QR codes are scanned and the questions are answered correctly, the users will be rewarded points. As they answer more correct questions and continue their mobile gaming experience up through the various levels of the game, they will be able to earn more points. These can then be converted into Park Royal gift cards that can be redeemed at brick and mortar locations through the use of the smartphones.

This use of QR codes is the latest element of a broader Park Royal mobile marketing strategy.

This mobile marketing strategy is designed to link the use of smartphones to the brick and mortar shops. According to the Park Royal communications coordinator, Amanda Eaton, “Park Royal is a leader in the beyond-the-bricksand-mortar strategy.” She went on to say that the Snappz is a perfect complement to their existing strategy. She described the mobile gaming experience as being “fun and hip” and that it is focused on the latest pop culture and fashion, which the company feels will be particularly appealing to the target market of the store, young female shoppers.

The latest statistics released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project has revealed that among people between the ages of 12 and 17 years, more than three quarters are now armed with mobile devices such as smartphones. In fact, almost half of the devices carried by individuals within this demographic are, indeed, smartphones.

The same source has shown that teen girls in the older years of that age span are most likely to say that those mobile devices are their primary method of internet access. This has encouraged Park Royal to focus on a mobile marketing strategy that will bridge the gap between their physical store locations and the digital world, by way of the devices that their primary market have with them at nearly all times. Through QR codes, this bridge is quite inexpensive and easy to build and maintain.

Mobile spending grows, but retailers miss out on a significant opportunity

The 2013 holiday shopping season has proven to be quite successful for most retailers and brands. A recent report from comScore show that online spending passed $46 billion during the holiday season while another report from the National Retail Federation notes that overall spending reached $601 billion. Mobile spending has grown significantly in 2013, but Jumio, a market research firm, has released a new report that suggests that mobile commerce has missed a major opportunity.

Mobile commerce misses out on $16 billion

According to the report from Jumio, mobile commerce missed out on $16 billion over the 2013 holiday season. Overall, the report shows that mobile spending has grown, but many consumers have reported a lackluster experience with their shopping experience. Mobile shopping platforms from retailers were launched late last year in order to attract the mobile audience, but these platforms were hastily developed and some were crippled by glitches that prevented people from purchasing products.

Abandoned carts may be the culprit behind the loss of revenue

The problem may lie with abandoned shopping carts. Carts are quite common in e-commerce and they serve as a place where products are stored before the checkout process has been finalized. Jumio suggests that consumers running into significant problems on mobile commerce platforms often caused them to abandon their online shopping carts. In many cases, platforms failed to store product information properly, causing consumers to abandon their digital shopping carts and start the process from the beginning.

Poor shopping experience cause consumers to drop mobile commerce

The report shows that some 51% of consumers opted to abandon their digital shopping carts because of security reasons. These people did not believe that a mobile commerce platform would be capable of keeping their financial information safe.  Some 47% abandoned carts because of difficulties regarding mobile payments, while 41% claimed that a mobile commerce platform they were using was simply too difficult to manage. Another 23% of consumers reported that their transactions would not go through during the checkout process, causing them to seek out more convenient forms of shopping.