Category: Mobile Marketing

Research in the United Kingdom has shown that smartphone shopping is considerably on the rise.

Absolute Digital Media’s online marketers have conducted an analysis of eMarketer data and have discovered that mobile commerce sales in the United Kingdom are expected to make up 26.5 percent of overall online sales by 2017.

The company published a report that has provided a great deal of digital sales insight.

The article that was published was entitled “Mcommerce Takes 15% of UK Retail Ecommerce Sales”. What it showed was that digital sales, such as online and mobile commerce, in the United Kingdom, are making up a larger proportion of total retail sales than is the case in the majority of countries worldwide. It is expected that smartphone and tablet based sales, alone, are expected to reach £6.61 billion.

The research went on to reveal a great deal more about mobile commerce and its impact on shopping overall.

For example, it was predicted that the sales would make up 11.5 percent of total British retail sales by the end of the year. This, compared with the 10.2 percent, which was the figure last year. eMarketer had predicted that among digital shoppers, 58.3 percent will browse or research the products that they are considering this year.

Using this data, the Absolute Digital Media marketers, who work at length in the retail sector, have looked more deeply into what the figures mean in a practical sense. In their article, they wrote that “The UK has always had relatively high online shopping rates, but it’s interesting to see such a sharp growth specifically in mobile sales. It highlights the importance for those in the retail industry to ensure their websites are optimized for mobile, smartphone and tablet devices in order to take advantage of this.”

The data from the eMarketer study has made it clear that there is a great deal of importance in retail for mobile commerce. This means that companies that wish to succeed will need to focus on making sure that they use the right marketing strategies and that they provide the right optimized online experience for people who are looking into products by way of their smartphones and tablets.

Skycore has allowed quick response barcode using advertisers to be able to detect digital wallet scans.

Leading mobile technology provider, Skycore LLC, has just revealed that it is adding smartphone wallet detection to its mobile marketing platform through the use of the scans of QR codes.

Whenever a barcode is scanned, the SaaS platform from the company offers detection.

When there are scans of the QR codes, the SaaS platform can selectively display web content to standard barcode reader applications or issue pass files to wallet apps. This technology makes it possible for brands to be able to use a single barcode for consumers to use, instead of having to create one to pass issuance and another one for the web content.

This announcement aligns with the company’s belief that iOS 7 will enable scanning of QR codes within the Passbook app.

Skycore intends to release a similar functionality based on QR codes within the Android app from PassWallet, which is currently in its beta release.

Typically speaking, when QR codes are scanned by the majority of reader apps, the URL that is embedded will launch web content. However, by adding passes instantly to wallets, then the URL that is embedded will point directly to a specific pass file, instead. It will be easier for consumers to add passes using wallets that offer barcode scanning. However, at the same time, they will pose a challenge for brands to be able to support both web content and instant passes using a single barcode.

According to the CEO of Skycore, Rich Eicher, “By detecting whether the scan source is a wallet or a standard scanning app, we can selectively serve the proper pass file or alternatively serve mobile-optimized web content. This enables brands to display a single QR code at the point of interest.”

The mobile marketing platform at Skycore uses QR codes, SMS/MMS, and smartphone optimized web pages and emails for pass delivery. The company is based in Boston and first opened in 2003 to help to leverage mobile commerce and payments. It is designed to help to make it more convenient for both companies and consumers to be able to use these services by way of their mobile devices.