Author: BWild

Consumers prefer to shop from multiple devices

More people are starting to use their mobile devices to make purchases, according to a new report from Criteo. The report draws on analysis of 1.4 billion transactions made in 3,000 online, retail, and travel businesses. Notably, most consumers prefer to use a variety of different devices to do their shopping, but a growing number of people are beginning to use their smartphones to shop online and in physical stores.

Report shows that consumers prefer to shop for products on tablet devices

The report found that cross-device purchasing accounts for 40% of all transactions being made in the retail space. Of those purchasing on multiple platforms, 41% of these purchasing are being done on mobile devices, while 37% of these purchases are being completed with a desktop. Tablets are proving to be more popular than smartphones when it comes to mobile commerce, as the report shows that 43% of purchases are being made on these platforms. Consumers appear to favor tablets because they offer a more enjoyable and convenient shopping experience.

Retailers continue to look for effective ways to engage mobile consumers

Retailers are finding it difficult to effectively engage mobile consumers. Providing consumers with an enjoyable mobile experience has proven challenging and retailers have yet to find an effective service that can meet their needs. Retailers may have to focus on improving the mobile shopping experience by optimizing their websites to be more mobile friendly. They may also benefit from launching applications that support mobile commerce.

Mobile commerce may eventually become the favored way for people to purchase products that they are interested in

While mobile commerce has begun to grow aggressively, traditional transactions are still significantly higher. Consumers continue to favor using physical currency and payment cards to make their purchases and have expressed some concern over the security of mobile commerce. As mobile payment services become more secure, the behavior of consumers is expected to change, with more people opting to use their mobile devices to shop for and purchase products, both online and off.

A cloud based application could help scavengers to clear out a great deal of the garbage piling up in Jakarta.

Jakarta may soon be following in the footsteps of Bangalore, India, in the use of a mobile app that would help to empower scavengers who play an important role in reducing the rising garbage problem that is piling up in the city.

The mobile application that is designed for this purpose has been called “I Got Garbage”.

The project manager for “I Got Garbage”, from Mindtree IT services company, Prashant Mehra, has designed the mobile app to make it possible for scavengers to offer services of track picking to households that are seeking improved waste disposal options and additional garbage management services. The scavengers simply download the app and register with it so that they can start the process of taking part in the service that will allow households to hire them for their services.

This mobile app is geared primarily toward rag pickers who will receive training from the company.

Mehra explained that “A group of rag-pickers can register their group on our application. We then will provide them with one-day training on the dos and don’ts on doing their jobs, how to keep themselves safe [from dangerous substances in the garbage] and how to act politely with their clients.”

Every scavenger who wants to take part in this program is equipped with a smartphone based on Android and that has the I Got Garbage app installed on it, as well as one of the company’s uniforms.

Residents who choose to use the service can also download this mobile application, which is equipped with geolocation technology, making it possible for the homeowner to connect with a worker who is located nearby. From that point, the app user will “enter into a service contract, which requires each house to pay around US$2 per month for the service.” The rag pickers who are hired by this program can serve as many as 200 houses.

At the moment, the mobile app has 6,500 participating scavengers serving around 100,000 houses in Bangalore. This is quite the accomplishment as it has been only two years since the creation of the program.