Author: Dan Gendro

Sephora sees big results from mobile commerce

| January 23, 2013

Sephora Mobile CommerceSephora finds promise in focus on mobile commerce

Mobile commerce has been a very strong boon to the retail industry. Beauty products specialist Sephora has seen major gains through its focus on mobile commerce and consumers with mobile devices. Sephroa director of mobile and digital store marketing Johnna Marcus notes that the company saw a significant increase in mobile orders over the past year, as well as an increase in mobile traffic. The company is expected to see similar results in 2013 as it continues its focus on mobile commerce.

Company sees 167% spike in mobile orders

According to Marcus, Sephora saw a 167% increase in mobile orders in 2012 and a 75% increase in online traffic from mobile devices. The company attributes these results to its ongoing campaign to engage consumers through a variety of mobile initiatives and services tailored for mobile commerce. One of the measures Sephora has taken to engage mobile consumers comes in the form of an application, which provides users with an array of “personal assistant” features that could be useful in shopping.

Retail mobile commerce expected to account for $37 billion in 2013

A recent report from eMarketer, a leading market research organization, predicts that consumers will purchase more than $37.44 billion in retail goods this year. All of these purchases will be done from either a smart phone or tablet, thanks to the growing variety of mobile commerce services being made available to consumers. Sephora expects to see a significant number of its sales come from the mobile space.

Sephora not alone in focus on mobile commerce

Sephora is not the only retail company that has high hopes hinging on mobile commerce. Indeed, mobile commerce seems to be all the rage within the retail industry, with many companies working on ways to directly engage mobile consumers and encourage mobile shopping and spending. Much of the interest surrounding mobile commerce in the retail industry may come from the strong results retailers saw during the 2012 holiday shopping season, when many of their most ambitious mobile commerce initiatives paid off.

King.com dethrones Zynga

| January 21, 2013

King.com Mobile GamingKing.com overcomes Zynga in the social and mobile gaming space

Zynga has long been at the head of the totem pole in terms of mobile gaming, largely due to the company’s relationship with Facebook. Recently, the social network began loosening its ties to Zynga in an effort to break free from a company that has been facing very serious challenges. Now, the struggling developer has been supplanted by an up and coming social game studio known as King.com. The studio’s “Candy Crush” title recently eclipsed Zynga’s most popular games.

Candy Crush Saga has more than 9.7 million users

According to information from AppData, a service that measures daily active users for mobile and web applications, the “Candy Crush Saga” boasts of more than 9.7 million users worldwide. Julien Codorniou, head of European gaming partnerships with Facebook, notes that King.com has managed to become the second largest game developer on the Facebook platform in just under 18 months. King.com may be able to use this momentum to power major growth this year.

Cross promotion nets King.com major success and growth

Kimg.com attributes much of its success to the fact that it uses its existing games to promote its new titles. Thus, the 9.7 million people playing the Candy Crush Saga are exposed to the company’s latest games, increasing the chances of these people actually playing these games as well. While Zynga still holds dominance in the realm of monthly active users, those playing Zynga games typically only log in to the company’s titles for small periods of time throughout the month, lessening the developer’s opportunity to sell products to gamers.

Mobile gaming represents massive, lucrative market

According to a recent study from Flurry, a mobile research and consulting firm, free-to-play games accounted for 80% of the $10 billion mobile gaming market seen in 2012. There can be no doubt that mobile gaming is a force to be reckoned with, especially with mobile titles like Candy Crush Saga boasting of such a gargantuan user base. King.com is well on its way to becoming the next ruler of the social and mobile gaming space.