Category: Mobile Marketing

Flipboard begins approaching the mobile commerce field

Flipboard, a social magazine application for iOS and Android devices, has been updated recently in the hopes of extending itself further into the mobile commerce space. Flipboard has taken an interest in mobile commerce due to the revenue potential that it represents. In March of this year, the application was updated with a feature that allowed users to create their own magazines. Now, the application has introduced a catalogs category to this service, which may help it break into the mobile commerce field.

New tools designed to generate commerce activity

The newly added catalog tool is designed to expand the application’s curation capabilities. Catalogs are meant to act as a way to display and seek out purchasable items. These products can be purchased through a mobile device and users can share the catalogs they find through the application. Flipboard has launched 11 product-oriented magazines in order to generate initial mobile commerce activity. It has also begun collaborating with celebrities in order to generate more awareness concerning it efforts.

Competition is fierce in the mobile commerce arena

Mobile commerce has become quite popular among consumers, but it does represent a very competitive field. Breaking into mobile commerce is no small feat due to the number of start-ups and large companies that are all trying to establish a strong foothold in this sector. Like other entities that are new to the mobile commerce field, Flipboard is taking a somewhat cautious approach rather than jumping headlong into the competition and risking failure.

Expansion of marketing tools may be a boon for brands

Flipboard will continue to generate revenue through its advertising model rather than imposing stringent fees on its catalog tool and mobile commerce initiative. Flipboard plans to expand its advertising in the near future and introduce better tools to marketers that will allow them to develop more targeted campaigns. Numerous brands have been using Flipboard as an advertising platform for some time and the expansion of the application’s marketing features may help these brands reach higher levels of mobile engagement.

This acquisition, which was for a reported $260 million, is an effort to expand in the Asian market.

Groupon has just announced its acquisition of Ticket Monster, along with its Q3 results for 2013, as a part of the reveal for its latest strategy for mobile commerce growth, particularly within the Asian marketplace.

They have purchased the company with its specialty in both local and travel offers in this region.

The purchase was for $260 million in both cash and stock. This helps Groupon to obtain a more solid mobile commerce foothold on the local and travel market in the Asian region. The Korea based online company also specializes in product offers. Ticket Monster was first launched in 2010 and its deal with Groupon is expected to close in the first half of next year.

At the moment, Ticket Monster Is owned by LivingSocial, but this mobile commerce deal will change that.

Ticket Monster has experienced year on year billings growth that has been steady and consistent, as its annual figures have come in at $800 million. It was the mobile commerce success, however, that caught the eye of Groupon and that drew it for purchase. The reason is that more than half of the Asian company’s purchases originate from smartphones or tablets. The company currently boasts over 1,000 employees and has over 4 million active customers.

This mobile commerce deal has arrived just as the Q3 financial data was released by Groupon. Its daily deals service during the period that ended on September 30 raked in a record nine million downloads of its app, bringing its overall total to 60 million. This has also helped to contribute to the fact that over half of the sales made in North America are completed by way of smartphones and tablets.

Moreover, mobile commerce at Groupon makes up 40 percent of its total global processed sales. Its active consumers showed a year over year rise by 10 percent, reaching 43.5 million, total. Clearly, this channel has become exceptionally important to the company and it is aiming at progressing in that direction with this latest acquisition.