P2PSummit’s agenda offers six main stage keynotes, a half-day symposium and more than 30 panel discussions, case studies and seminars exploring e-commerce, digital, retail innovation and shopper marketing best practices. The six main stage presentations come from Google, Walgreens & WSL Strategic Retail, BuzzFeed, RangeMe & Brandless, and Meijer.

MMW can now confirm that this year’s event takes place March 12-14, 2018 in Chicago, IL with early bird rates available through January 31, 2018.

To learn more and register for P2PSummit, visit Path2PurchaseSummit.com.

The post 2018 Path To Purchase Summit Registration Now Open appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Today’s retail brands are turning to location data to understand what’s “top of mind” for their customers.

Key findings include:

Gap vs T.J. Maxx

The post PlaceIQ: Visitation Patterns of Retails Shoppers Revealed appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

They are exploiting the Internet of Things (IoT) and deploying exciting new technology in-store while empowering their “connected associates” with training and technology to improve employee engagement and reduce turnover, as well as increasing sales and customer satisfaction.

That’s according to an iSource Media 2016 report, retailers who know more sell 87 percent more.

SOTI Inc., a leading provider of Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), just announced the 2017 mobile retail trends it will discuss at the Retail’s Big Show.

“Brick and mortar stores are increasingly investing in new mobile technologies to draw customers to their stores and create a smooth shopping experience,” said SOTI spokesperson Oscar Rambaldini, Vice President of Product Management at SOTI. “The connected associate can easily service, upsell and assist customers with purchases and quickly check them out to create the ultimate shopping experience.”

To learn more about the latest retail mobile and IoT trends download SOTI’s “The Connected Associate” white paper.

The post SOTI Unveils 2017 Mobile Retail Technology Trends appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Despite rarely being acknowledged for doing so, the Amazon Marketplace creates opportunities for sellers, brand owners and entrepreneurs to reach customers around the world.

FBA items shipped worldwide grew more than 50 percent during the holiday season, while Prime members ordered millions of items from sellers in the Seller Fulfilled Prime program offering free two-day or next-day shipping.

“2016 was a record-breaking year in sales worldwide for sellers on Amazon. The Amazon Marketplace empowers brand owners and retailers of all sizes, many of them small businesses, to reach customers around the world,” said Peter Faricy, VP for Amazon Marketplace. “In fact, according to our economic studies, sellers have created over 600,000 new jobs outside of Amazon. Sellers are choosing Amazon because we help them build and grow their businesses with impactful programs like Seller Fulfilled Prime, and we’re proud of the fact that sellers are reinvesting their success into their local communities by creating jobs.”

“As a growing business and brand owner, the Amazon Exclusives and FBA programs helped us accelerate our business to achieve more than 100 percent growth in sales this year,” said Ben Arneberg, co-founder of Willow & Everett. “The FBA service handles the work of packaging and shipping orders to customers, which gives us the time to create new products that customers will love. We had our most successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday ever, and on Prime Day earlier in the year our sales boomed more than 10x compared to last year.”

The post Amazon Sellers Coming Off of Record Year, Says Online and Mobile Retail Giant appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

When it comes to combining in-store visits and online product research or purchase, Generation Z (ages 18 to 26) leads all other shopper age groups in the US, lending some spark an otherwise flat “omnishopping” environment.

That’s according to recently-released findings from GfK’s annual FutureBuy study.

The study shows that nearly half (46%) of all Gen Z shoppers in the US have researched an item on a mobile device and then bought it in a store – a strategy known as “webrooming.” That level is up 5 percentage points from 2015 and beats other generations by 12 to 27 points.

One-third (32%) of Gen Z US shoppers report they researched a product in a bricks-and-mortar store and then bought it online via a mobile device (“showrooming”). This compares to 24% just a year ago, and bests other generations by 11 to 20 percentage points.

Frequency of showrooming is also higher among the younger generations, with Gens Y (ages 27 to 36) and Z much more likely to say they showroom at least once a week. Generation X (ages 37 to 51), on the other hand, tends to fall into the “once every few weeks to once a month” category.

Overall, webrooming – reported by one-third (34%) of all US shoppers – is much more common than showrooming (21% of US shoppers), the report announcement reads.

To learn more about the study and its findings, click here.

The post Gen Z Shoppers Stand Out with Strong Omnishopping Growth in US appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Now comes news that inMarket’s beacon platform, which reaches 50MM monthly active app users, influenced as much as $14.5 billion in consumer spending in physical stores during Black Friday Weekend 2016.

Today, more than 84 percent of shoppers use their mobile devices inside stores, with 55 percent of shoppers saying they use their phones specifically to bolster purchase decisions. In fact, beacon-triggered mobile moments perform 5 times better than traditional mobile engagements.

“inMarket’s beacon detections were up 370 percent on Black Friday in 2016 versus 2015,” said the company in a release this week. “The spike in detections is a direct result of consumer location adoption, beacon rollouts in top retailers, and proven consumer experience enhancements.”

According to inMarket, hardware is “only half the equation to create a successful ecosystem.”

“Beacons require apps to “listen and respond” to complete the circuit. As of Q4 2016, inMarket reaches more than one out of every four smartphone owners in the United States via top apps,” notes the company.

This is the reason why beacon-based mobile campaigns have become a top priority for the world’s largest advertisers. For instance, inMarket experienced a 223 percent growth in clients on its beacon platform in 2016 and now serves more than 200 top brands and retailers including Heineken, Clorox, Energizer, and Rite Aid. One client, Johnsonville Sausage, experienced a 24 percent sales lift versus control stores, thanks to in-store mobile engagement via inMarket.

“Over our six-plus year history, we’ve seen a lot of trends in the echo chamber. The guiding light for us has been to drive value for consumers enabled by new technology. We focus on the user, not the tech or the hardware,” said Todd Dipaola, CEO of inMarket. “The world has never experienced a more disruptive or relied-upon technology than mobile, and I have never seen anything as powerful within mobile as the precision data and personalized experiences created from beacons. The hundreds of partners in our beacon system agree.”

The post Beacon-Triggered Mobile Moments: inMarket Platform Impacts $14.5 Billion Black Weekend Sales appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

That’s the opening word in a provided statement to MMW from the authors of the inaugural NewStore 2016 Mobile Retail Report.

Those behind the release say that they have taken a holistic research approach in the first in-depth analysis of 112 luxury, lifestyle and fashion brands to evaluate their mobile acuity online and offline.

Achieving an overall grade of C-minus, the retailers showed mixed adoption and integration of key technologies connected to how today’s consumers want to shop.

To determine the industry’s mobile retail grade, NewStore sent a team of secret shoppers to New York City to follow the customer and store associate journey, from app to aisle.

“For each retailer, we analyzed as many as 500 data points. We wanted to experience a brand from start to finish through the eyes of a consumer, while also analyzing the tools made available to store employees to fulfill their expectations,“ said Michael Waldron, VP of Marketing, NewStore. “The grades may seem harsh, but this report is not intended to be fear mongering. What this data doesn’t show is the momentum of the industry in the area of mobile retail. Many industry players are still in the process of mobilizing their brands and over the next 18 months we expect to see significant improvements in each category.”

The NewStore 2016 Mobile Retail Report details the modern shopping experience for the consumer and the store associate experiences, including the integration of mobile technology in searching and shopping, while praising “Top of the Class” brands in each category, and providing expert guidance for brands on “How to Make the Grade.”

So what did we learn?

“While consumers are living in a mobile-first world, the retail industry is stuck in the past. Brands know they must adopt a mobile mindset and incorporate mobile strategies to achieve the full potential of omnichannel commerce, yet few are doing so effectively,” said Stephan Schambach, CEO and founder of NewStore. “While technology solutions are readily available, many retailers are either not using them optimally or are still running on antiquated systems and processes. The only way to make omnichannel a reality is through mobile. The retail industry continues to buzz about mobile, but it lags in the implementation of such technologies in every aspect of the customer experience.”

To learn more, check out the full report here.

The post Retail Brands Dropping the Ball on Mobile? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Steadily climbing consumer confidence and retail sales growth have U.S. retailers feeling optimistic ahead of this holiday season.

Respondents of BDO USA’s 11th annual Retail Compass Survey of CMOs predict a bullish 4.7 percent sales increase this holiday season, tied with the highest projection in the survey’s history.

“This is also more optimistic than the National Retail Federation’s expected 3.6 percent increase,” reads a report announcement provided to MMW.

Not only do retailers expect consumers to have greater flexibility in their spending for the 2016 holiday season, but nearly a quarter (23 percent) of CMOs themselves have increased marketing and advertising budgets this year.

“Conditions seem favorable heading into the holiday season this year,” said Natalie Kotlyar, National Leader of BDO’s Consumer Business practice. “But the pressure is on for retailers to identify the optimal mix of promotions and pricing across channels. It’s arguably the toughest decision retailers will make—and the most critical factor in their holiday season success.”

As for the nitty gritty, check out the full report here.

The post Optimism Behind The Marketing: Retail CMOs Anticipate ‘Cheerful Holiday Season’ appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

But escalated wages aside, the real story here in the mobile world is that retailers are seeking more mobile advantages in the hiring process.

The new report report in question indicates that hiring managers want more mobile assistance as they pursue part-time help in retail positions during the holidays.

In particular, the provides insight on the top technologies on retail hiring managers’ wish list to streamline their holiday hiring process.

Mobile job applications and a mobile app for hiring managers to view pending tasks remotely were cited as some of the top tools that hiring managers think will be the most effective to help hire temporary employees, along with an online interview scheduling system that syncs with email and calendar applications.

“Hiring managers also expressed interest in recruitment marketing software to send automated emails and social media posts, and video interviewing and video cover letter software to make holiday hires more quickly and effectively,” the report summary reads. “Among hiring managers who currently use an applicant tracking system (ATS), 100 percent agreed that their company needs to do more to integrate mobile recruiting technology into its current ATS.”

“With 48 percent of retailers planning to hire more seasonal workers, employers should not only rely on hiring software and recruitment marketing technologies, but offer unique perks to attract and retain talented temporary workers,” said Susan Vitale, chief marketing officer at iCIMS. “We wanted to provide employers with the tools and tips they need to make hiring decisions for the holidays, as retail and online sales are expected to be higher than last year’s sales.”

Job seekers looking to get hired this holiday season can view the full report here, and employers looking to enhance their holiday hiring process can reference these tips.

The post Mobile Matters This Year for Holiday Hiring in the Retail Industry appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

All told, the 2016 Holiday Consumer Insights Report reveals gift giving trends, brand and shopping preferences for millennials and other demographics.

One of the study’s key findings is that the majority of consumers are planning to buy gifts through online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay (42%) and in-store (43%), while just 15% plan to purchase through retailers’ websites directly.

Of these consumers, the report authors note, 88.9% of the top earners with household incomes over $150,000 plan to shop through online marketplaces, while none in in that same income group expressed intent to buy through retailer sites directly.

When asked about reasons for choosing an online marketplace over a retailer’s website, ‘price’ was cited as the top reason with ‘trust’ and ‘variety of options’ coming in as the other top reasons, the study explains.

“Marketplaces have become dominant over the past couple of years, which is a trend that poses many challenges to retailers,” said Udayan Bose, CEO of NetElixir. “While marketplaces offer benefits like access to a huge customer base, retailers need to weigh these benefits against risks like commoditization and steep price cuts on their products when selling through such platforms.”

Want to know more? Click here.

The post New Study Shows Mobile Matters to Retailers appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.