Tag: m-commerce

Mobile marketing is reaching millennials

| May 5, 2014

As adoption of smartphones and reliance on these devices skyrockets, marketers are connecting with this generation.

The adoption of smartphones is clearly taking off throughout every age group, but while mobile marketing is presenting a tremendous opportunity, marketers continue to struggle to discover exactly which tactics should be used to make sure that they continue to connect with mass audiences.

They are seeking to be able to engage consumers in a meaningful way as they have through traditional means.

A recently released report from The Intelligence Group has shown that the “Millennials” generation is particularly open to receiving mobile marketing ads and promotions, and are among the most likely to engage with brands by way of their smartphones and other portable gadgets. That said, the report indicated that as that group continues to mature, marketers will need to keep on top with their evolving expectations.

The importance of mobile marketing, particularly to this generation, has been outlined in a growing research body.

mobile marketing - millennialsThe Intelligence Group chief strategy officer, Jamie Gutfreund, stated that “Brick-and-mortar retailers need to integrate mobile into their offerings as much as possible to provide a more streamlined and manageable in-store experience.” Failing to make the necessary adjustments for this generation, and failing to keep up with their changing needs will only cause businesses to suffer.

This is underscored by another study conducted by the Vivaldi Partners Group. Its CEO, Erich Joachimsthaler, added that mobile marketing will not simply be a matter of social media strategies. He explained that “Unless Facebook evolves, mobile marketing will not be as dominated by Facebook because Facebook is useful for only a specific task and set of activities today, and it does not cover a large part of the consumers and their activities and needs online.”

Joachimsthaler also pointed out that it will be up to marketers to identify specifically which consumers should be targeted, and how they will best be able to engage them. The reason is that mobile ads and efforts to engage consumers will be considerably different from one consumer to the next, depending on a number of different factors, such as age.

Mobile commerce campaign from Lord & Taylor’s brings print to life

| May 2, 2014

This smartphone marketing strategy brings digital capabilities into the real world.

The Lord & Taylor’s smartphone app now gives consumers the ability to use their devices to scan print ad photos to be able to learn about them and purchase them over mobile commerce, without ever having to visit its website.

The goal of this smartphone shopping strategy is to engage customers and boost sales.

The retailer is aiming to boost the engagement that they achieve with their customers, while they encourage a larger number of sales over mobile commerce through the use of the standard, traditional form of print advertising that has nearly always been used. The parent company of Lord & Taylor’s, the Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC), had implemented its mobile app back at the start of this year. Now it gives consumers the opportunity to scan the pictures that they see in print, using their smartphones, so that they can purchase those products right away.

This mobile commerce strategy stops shoppers from having to go to the retailer’s website to look up the item.

The point is to provide a more seamless experience and reduce the number of steps that are required in order to make a purchase. Instead of requiring a consumer to remember what they saw in a print ad and take the additional steps to actually look it up and buy it from the website, later on, they can make the purchase right away with their smartphones, eliminating that extra step.Mobile Commerce - Lord & Taylor

According to Ryan Craver, the HBC senior vice president of corporate strategy, this m-commerce move is “about making everything in the store shoppable off someone’s mobile phone.” He went on to add that being able to engage customers who already find a product in an ad to be interesting is among the most vital goals in the current marketplace.

Being able to make purchases over a mobile commerce platform gives customers the ability to instantly follow through with the inclination that they feel when they are interested in a product that they see in an ad that has been printed in an ad circular, a newspaper, or even in a magazine. Craver pointed out that if consumers need to wait before they act, retailers risk losing a sale.