The following is a guest contributed post by Amanda Wilson, MobileBridge Vice President of Global Marketing

There was some great discussion at last week’s eTail West Mobile Summit in Palm Springs, CA, regarding how retailers are evolving their customer engagement strategies with mobile tactics. Having the opportunity to host one of the roundtable discussions focused on proximity marketing, I picked up some key takeaways on how mobile and proximity technology is impacting retailers. Here’s a quick summary of those discussions.

There’s an intrigue regarding proximity marketing

Very few retailers were using or seriously considering using indoor proximity marketing tactics. However, everyone seemed to be genuinely curious about it. I spent a good amount of time talking about how some of our customers are using proximity marketing like beacons. From the hypermarket wanting to gather more customer feedback via exit surveys to the automotive manufacturer Volkswagen China wanting to amplify their launch of the new model through event apps and driving footfall traffic in auto shops for test drives.

Mobile app or mobile web?

Most of the conversation discussions regarding mobile involved mobile web – responsive websites, mobile optimized content and emails and so forth. When asked, most retailers said they didn’t have a mobile app at all, and a few said they had one, but it didn’t perform or wasn’t in use anymore. While mobile responsive websites are critical to retailers’ e-commerce success, overlooking the power of the mobile app in their tool kit is a shame. Apps perform better in many areas, so a blend of web + app is crucial for a mobile optimized experience for customers.

Geo-fence or beacons? Which is better?

There are pros and cons to both location technologies. Geo-fencing is when you place a radius around a particular address or coordinate – say a quarter mile – and you can know when someone has entered or exited that specific radius. Beacon technology allows you to go much more granular indoors. You can know when someone is entering or exiting a specific doorway, and get discrete information about their location and traffic patterns inside a store. However, beacons require a mobile app with which to communicate. The beacon itself is “dumb” – just collects the necessary data and software to then do something with the information to make it actionable. So, retailers must evaluate their goals and existing technologies first before determining which location technology is best for them.

Challenges or roadblocks to adoption

The challenges of implementing location-based marketing tactics were widespread. In general, everyone felt the vision was there, but getting into the “how” was the tough part. For example, getting buy-in to invest in new technologies or projects to pilot location-based campaigns was one issue. However, others were concerned about the technical savviness of their in-store staff and the ongoing training and maintenance required. But one thing was consistent – everyone agreed at some point one must invest the time and effort to adopt the new approaches to stay competitive.

What if I’m e-commerce only?

A few times, online-only retailers chimed in and said, “We’re pure e-commerce, we don’t have stores so this isn’t relevant to me.” Ah but we quickly discovered that is a myth! Even online-only retailers benefit from proximity marketing tactics. Are there areas where you know your target customers might be, say a shopping mall or an event? How about competitors’ stores? Would you like to know when and how often your target customers were there? There’s a wealth of information to be learned from a person’s location that gives retailers – online only or not – insights into that customer to be able to engage and ultimately convert that person.

So, it was a pleasure to sponsor the Mobile Summit at eTail West this year and to host the roundtable on proximity marketing tactics. Thanks to all the attendees and hope to see you again next year!

The post Key Takeaways from eTail West Mobile Summit 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.

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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.”

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That’s according to April, 2016 research by mobile development firm PointSource.

“Almost 60 percent of U.S. retail marketing and IT professionals surveyed said their company used mobile coupons, the highest of any mobile tactic or technology,” reports eMarketer. “Another 51 percent offered mobile payments, and 40 percent said their company had a loyalty app.”

Retailers, however, are still experiencing “strategic uncertainty,” citing big challenges when it comes to implementing mobile.

“Retail marketing and IT professionals in the U.S. commonly said integrating mobile strategy into their company’s overall marketing strategy was one of the biggest challenges of executing mobile successfully,” notes eMarketer. “(More than) 50 percent cited strategy integration as the biggest challenge faced.”

Other hurdles? More than 40 percent also said uniting marketing and IT departments is difficult; another 24 percent found the lack of internal resources (staffing, for instance) were issues when trying to execute a successful mobile strategy.

Currently, eMarketer projects that this year 46.5 percent of U.S. retailers will offer mobile coupons, up from 42.5 percent in 2015. That share could reach 55.5 percent by 2020.

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The presentation (viewed through VR Oculus headsets) gave attendees at the CNP Expo a vivid and exciting overview of the “rich promise of global eCommerce.”

“We think the presentation will strike a personal chord with CNP attendees and we’re expecting it to be the must-see event of the show,” says Payscout CEO Cleveland Brown. “Virtual reality has the potential to transform payments, and eCommerce in particular. It is our pleasure to be the first to introduce it at the payments-centric CNP Expo, especially at this early stage in its commercial development.”

Brown believes virtual reality to be a tremendously important emerging technology. And others clearly agree.

Indeed, tech powerhouses like Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Sony, Apple, and Intel are all creating VR software and hardware to establish a platform they say will be as appealing and useful as the mobile phone—or even the Internet itself.

By some estimates, the market for visual reality will be worth $150 billion by 2020.

Consequently, it’s no surprise why the company brought its technology to the CPN expo.

“For these few days, it’s a crossroads for people seeking opportunities in global eCommerce, and that ties directly with Payscout’s mission to ‘support the entrepreneurial dream one transaction at a time’ and the company’s ‘Go Global Now’ turnkey boarding platform,” Brown added. “As a thought leading global payment processing provider, it’s the right place for us to be, and it’s the right place for the message we’re bringing. We are very pleased to be at the forefront of showcasing VR to our industry colleagues and the industry’s CNP customers.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Payscout to bring attention to how VR fits into our vision for global entrepreneurialism—we think people will be blown away by the presentation—and it will also help with educating the payments community about this up-and-coming technology,” Brown concludes.

The post Virtual Reality Poised to Revolutionize Retail, Check-Out Experiences appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

This capability allows marketers to leverage their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data to intelligently create segmented campaigns by delivering personalized media content and rebates based entirely on a consumer’s relative brand loyalty.

What’s more, Ibotta is partnering with LiveRamp, a leading provider of data connectivity and onboarding services, to further enhance its Dynamic Segmentation offering.

Ibotta’s 100 percent logged-in mobile platform allows retailers to ensure that each consumer is exposed to a unique offer and branded interaction that’s relevant to their prior purchase behavior. For example, retailers can show a loyal customer a more modest rebate and reserve the most compelling offers to entice new customers. Variable cost structures ensure that retailers’ marketing dollars are allocated towards promotions that support their primary acquisition objective, while still driving incremental trips and higher average basket sizes across loyal and occasional shoppers.

“We understand the importance of customer acquisition to our retail partners and know that they’re looking to partner with digital platforms that can support their strategic priorities,” said Bryan Leach, CEO of Ibotta. “Unlike other third party rebate or couponing apps, Ibotta helps retailers be smarter about their spending. This partnership further allows them to move away from a one-size-fits-all marketing approach and ensure that the appropriate amount of spend is allocated to new customer acquisition.”

Ibotta says it can easily ingest retailers’ CRM segments directly from LiveRamp to determine which Ibotta users should see which offers and media content. The data matching process requires minimal setup, and data is continuously updated in real-time as customer segments evolve.

“Retailers are increasingly focused on using technologies that can help them acquire new customers and measure incrementality,” adds Travis May, president and GM of LiveRamp. “Through our partnership with Ibotta, we look forward to helping retailers get the most out of their CRM data and drive truly incremental sales.”

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