Author: BWild

Mobile commerce will be used by 58 percent of holiday shoppers

| November 6, 2014

The most common purpose for shopping over smartphones and tablets will be to locate stores.

At a time in which there are scores of holiday shopping forecasts are starting to be released, the consensus appears to be that mobile commerce is going to be one of the most critical components of this vital season, despite the fact that a growing number of consumers will be headed to actual stores in order to make their purchases.

This implies that m-commerce and in-store shopping will complement one another, this year.

This means that it is important for brick and mortar shops to focus on mobile commerce not as its competition, but as a complement to its own ability to make a sale. Smartphones and tablets are set to play a very important role in the complete process of both shopping and decision making. Consumers will use their devices regardless of the fact that they will still go to stores in order to buy what they want.

For this reason, mobile commerce isn’t necessarily an independent shopping channel but one that works with others.

mobile commerce and holiday shoppingThat said, while shoppers are looking to their mobile devices to learn more about the products that they are considering, to compare prices, and to find the places that sell the item, they still often prefer the experience of going to the store and seeing the items in person before they buy them. They also like the opportunity to have the item that they have purchased in their hands, instead of having to wait for it to be delivered.

According to the 2014 holiday shopping study conducted by Deloitte, which included the participation of 5,000 American consumers, the average holiday spending this year will be $1,299, which represents an increase of 13 percent over last year. Among all U.S. consumers 72 percent will be using their smartphones for shopping purposes, though this does not mean online purchases, exclusively. The report on the mobile commerce survey showed that the devices would also be used for the following purposes:

• 58 percent – to find a store location
• 52 percent – to obtain and compare prices
• 48 percent – for browsing products online
• 47 percent – to obtain information about a product
• 44 percent – to read product reviews
• 41 percent – to check the availability of a product
• 41 percent – to obtain sale information, discounts, offers, and coupons
• 36 percent – to use social networks to discuss products
• 35 percent – to purchase a product or service online
• 32 percent – to receive text message based deals from retailers
• 31 percent – to scan barcodes such as QR codes to learn more about a product.

Athletes use wearable technology to gain performance advantage

| November 3, 2014

A growing number of sports pros are being spotted with wearables that have sensors meant to provide bio-feedback.

As wearable technology just starts to gain a little bit of interest from regular consumers, professional athletes are being spotted with these gadgets to help to gain an edge over their competition.

These devices are helping during the training sessions of the athletes, to better understand their performance.

Among the rising number of athletes using wearable technology have been Amar’e Stoudemire, from the New York Knicks in the NBA, as well as Dwayne De Rosario from the Toronto FC in Major League Soccer. They have each been spotted using performance sensors to get the most out of the understanding of the way that they are performing in practices so that they can make the appropriate changes in order to enhance their capabilities.

Some teams have been spotted with wearable technology on all of the players during practice.

Wearable Technology - SoccerFor example, the Toronto FC Major League Soccer club is now using wearables on all of its players during their practices in order to better understand the workload and heart rate of each individual player. The coaches and doctors for the team then use the data that has been collected through these devices to know when a player should be taken from the field or when to slow them down in order to be able to avoid injuries and to ensure the best possible performance.

That team is actually not new to wearables. In fact, it has been using them for around five years. At that time, players admitted that they didn’t see the point to it – including De Rosario, who has completely changed his opinion on the tech. He said that “Even the coaches and I were like, ‘This is a joke, you know?’”

That said, over time the opinion of wearable technology has changed. He added that “as the years have passed and it progresses, we take it more and more seriously… Things have definitely evolved in terms of the importance of tracking the data and how useful the therapists and the trainers are finding it.”