Mobile Commerce

During the 2011 holiday season, the top retail apps and websites combined — Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Target and Wal-Mart — reached nearly 60 percent of smartphone owners, according to Nielsen. “The majority of smartphone owners used their devices for shopping this past holiday season,” said John Burbank, president of strategic initiatives at Nielsen. “Mobile shopping has reached scale and is only going to grow as smartphone penetration continues to rise.”

Moosejaw, an outdoor gear and apparel retailer, is now equipped to perform customer checkouts from anywhere in its stores. The recently deployed devices offer faster and more convenient checkout options.

Square continues to update and improve its products for small businesses and blur the line between where "old fashioned" payments ends and the new world of mobile payments begins. This time the company is introducing a new Square Register, an iPad app aimed at replacing the traditional cash register and credit card terminal at brick-and-mortar stores.

Target, Wal-Mart and a slew of other retailers have reportedly joined the emerging battle over turning smartphones into virtual wallets. The two giant discount retailers along with about two dozen unnamed retailers are teaming up to develop a mobile-payments system in an effort to capture at least a piece of a market expected to surpass $600 billion by 2016.

eBay has announced a number of strategic moves including a new partnership with major carrier Three.co.uk; integrations with merchants such as Yotel and Entradas.com; and mobile app updates that evolve mobile commerce selling and shopping experiences for consumers. In 2011, eBay mobile commerce generated $5 billion in retail volume, and PayPal mobile generated $4 billion in payment volume. eBay’s mobile apps have been downloaded more than 70 million times, according to the company. 

Although it may be premature to say that the long-awaited day of mobile payments has arrived for all establishments, mobile payment options are definitely arriving. What's more, they're radically changing the way consumers and retailers complete transactions.

Bloomingdale's is proving that mobile plays an integral role in the company's overall strategy via a new catalog that not only promotes its recently launched iPad application, but also includes QR codes and SMS calls to action throughout.

Succeeding in mobile commerce requires more effort than just pushing out your web content to a connected device. Find out how consumer behavior and expectations, geotargeting, and follow-up communication are all part of a winning m-commerce strategy.

J.C. Penney is promoting its new fair and square pricing as well as ramping up its mobile commerce strategy via a new advertising campaign. The company is running audio and full-page ads within Pandora's iPhone application. 

Did you know that the average person in Philadelphia commutes 30 minutes a day on SEPTA, the city's public transportation system? That doesn't leave much time for grocery shopping. But what if you could do your shopping while waiting for your commuter train, bus or trolley?