Samsung may be the biggest shipper of smartphones, but the Galaxy line so far has not been able to inspire consumers to shop via mobile the same way that the iPhone has, something Samsung hopes to change with the new Galaxy S4.

The Galaxy S4 is the first smartphone to use technology from Mobeam enabling retailers to accept mobile payments, coupons and loyalty cards without the need to invest in new scanners. Additionally, the phone includes near field communication capabilities, is the first Samsung device to come pre-loaded with the Visa payWave app and includes Samsung’s mobile wallet app, which lets users to store coupons, loyalty cards and tickets in one place.

“Right now, you can scan 2D content like QR codes at only a handful of locations,” said Marcia Donner, chief operating officer of mobeam, San Francisco. “Mobeam’s technology on the Samsung Galaxy S4 opens the door to an entire market that is in place now.

“For consumers, more than 500 million people around the world are expected to receive mobile coupons this year, representing an increase of 30 percent increase over 2012,” she said. “Until now, barcoded coupons you received via email needed to be printed out or manually entered for redemption because tradition point-of-sale scanners cannot read a bar code on a mobile screen and 2D capable scanners are a costly upgrade for the store.”

Legacy POS systems
The Galaxy S4 will work anywhere that uses traditional 1D bar code scanners, such as department stores, grocery stores and convenience stores.

To date, mobile payments have typically been accomplished via 2D bar codes or NFC technology, both of which require retailers to purchase new POS equipment.

The necessity for such an investment on the part of retailers has been one of the factors holding back the adoption of mobile payments as retailers wait to see which solutions will gain the upper hand before deciding where to put their money.

Consumers will have a couple of options for using the technology that will largely depend on the retailer, and the specific coupon or loyalty card being used.

Offers may be baked into a retailer’s app and consumers would be able to select the coupons they want to use in the store. Or, offers may be pushed to users via Samsung Wallet, or other similar apps.

There is also a way to beam bar codes received via email and SMS.

Light source
Mobeam uses a light source on the phone to “beam” the bar code data to the sensor on a POS laser scanner as a direct light source rather than a reflection of the scanner’s laser light.

The light source can be any LED on the phone, such as a message waiting indicator, a charge indicator or the infrared LED used in proximity sensors. That LED will transfer information from the bar code to the retail POS scanner system, enabling payments, coupon redemption and loyalty transactions.

Mobeam is also partnering with Procter & Gamble with the goal of creating a mobile couponing system that is simpler and faster for consumers and retailers.

“With a mobeam-enabled phone, when it’s time to redeem a coupon or use other bar code information, you simply point the phone’s light source to the scanner and press the beaming button,” Ms. Donner said.  “The bar code data is instantly sent to the retail POS system.

“The only real difference is that instead of keeping wads of paper or plastic cards in your wallet or purse, you’ll store them in an app on your phone,” she said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York

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There’s no doubt that Pinterest is generating considerable amounts of referral traffic for businesses. Many people were using Pinterest for business by finding ways around the settings meant for personal users, but now Pinterest is officially opened up to the business world. This is a great opportunity for brands that have been waiting to join to get involved with Pinterest.

Already have a Pinterest account that you’ve been using for business? Here’s how to convert yours: Log on to the network’s business page, where you will be prompted to convert your personal account to business by following the steps outlined below:

1. Choose your business type. Here you can choose from Professional, Public Figure, Media, Brand, Retailer, Online Marketplace, Local Business, Institution/Non‐Profit and Other. Since you will be in the section with all of your profile settings, this is a good opportunity for you to take a look at your profile description to make sure that it accurately states what you do and includes great keywords surrounding your business.
2. Agree to the business terms. Pinterest created two sets of terms of use — one for users and one for businesses. Pinterest said on its blog, “The business terms help guide businesses on how to use Pinterest. They also enable us to separate the provisions meant for businesses from those meant for regular people.”
3. Verify your website. After you agree to the new terms, you will be prompted to verify your website. This will allow your website address to show up in your profile as a clickable link rather than just the world icon that was there previously. This will make it easier for users to go to your website directly. To verify your website, you will need to download the HTML file that Pinterest has provided for your account and upload it to your website server. Once you have done that, go back into Pinterest and verify it under settings, and once the file is detected, you are all set! If you happen to skip this step or exit out of it, you can always find where to verify your website by going into settings, and under your website address, you will see a prompt that says “verify website.”
4. Use the Pinterest tools on your website. Now that you’re converted to a business account, Pinterest gives you access to a Follow button, Pin It button, Profile widget and Board widget to embed into your site to make it easier for your website visitors to pin your content and build your traffic. Pinterest will also give you access to case studies of brands that are finding success with using Pinterest. You will also find best practices for what works for businesses on Pinterest. A few of these ideas include sharing your values, celebrating seasons and by showing how your company is different. For a complete look at what works well on Pinterest, check out this handy guide from the network.

Amber Wallor is the president and co-founder of Left Hand Marketing in the Chicago area. She specializes in social media training, social media management and video marketing.

Office Depot is using QR codes on products to deliver content designed to help customers get organized in the new year.

The QR codes are part of a multichannel effort that includes a microsite featuring tips from experts on how to organize any home or business as well as videos. To drive engagement from in-store customers, QR codes have been placed on products marked “Organize Me 2013 Expert Pick” that link back to the content.

“Office Depot customers are very tech savvy and are often shopping our stores with smartphones in hand,” said Owen Torres, communications manager at Office Depot, Boca Raton, FL.

“With the ‘Organize Me 2013’ campaign, Office Depot is offering its customers a value-added shopping experience by not only helping them navigate through the store, but also by offering expert videos, providing organization tips along with product suggestions,” he said.

“This way, we are helping them not just to buy products, but also offering a more comprehensive solution to their organizational needs.”

Great organization tools
To kick-off the campaign, organization tips, product suggestions and videos are being provided by a home and office organization expert and the author of a book about gadgets.

In addition to acting as an activation tool, mobile also plays a role in this effort as the focus of product recommendations showing how mobile can help users get organized.

The campaign also features a contest to search for the next great organizer. To enter the contest, customers can submit a video of their best organizing tips at www.facebook.com/officedepot.

Office Depot will pick 10 finalists during the week of January 20 and give Office Depot’s Facebook fans a chance to vote to determine two winners, who will each receive a $2,013 Office Depot gift card.

Additionally, customers who visit Office Depot’s Facebook page can take a quiz to determine their organization type, as well as receive a coupon good for a free calendar, redeemable at Office Depot stores nationwide.

Enhanced shopping experiences
Office Depot’s mobile strategy includes a mobile site and a mobile app, which features a bar code scanner.

The retailer recently revamped its iPhone application recently to enhance the mobile shopping experience by enabling users to order ink directly from their mobile phones (see story).

Last year, Office Depot became the second big box retailer to test PayPal’s point-of-sale program that lets shoppers pay for in-store purchases by typing in their mobile phone number and a PIN, which it later rolled to all of its stores (see story).

“Our customers engage with Office Depot across a variety of channels,” Mr. Torres said. “Many visit us both in the store, on our Web site and our mobile app.

“With ‘Organize Me 2013,’ we are offering our customers a value-added shopping experience, with the ability to access video tips from our organizational experts, regardless of how and where they would like to shop with us,” he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York

via mobilecommercedaily.com

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Little Caesars Pizza is using mobile advertising to get consumers amped up about its latest products and deals.

The company is running the mobile campaign within Pandora’s iPhone app. Little Caesars has been steadily building up its mobile presence over the past few years.

“The ad completed by Little Caesars was a clear action oriented ad with two very well stated deals, the fine print could cause a hiccup with the wording ‘available at participating locations only’ – when the ad is clicked through to the mobile optimized site, the locator section could be GPS enabled for quicker access to the nearest location, and having the locations tagged with a notice that the offer promoted is available could save drive time or a need to call the nearest location prior to the trip,” said Marci Troutman, CEO of SiteMinis, Atlanta.

Ms. Troutman is not affiliated with Little Caesars Pizza. She commented based on her expertise on the subject.

Little Caesars Pizza did not repsond to press inquiries.

User interact
Little Caesars is running full-page audio and expandable ads.

The mobile ads promote the company’s $5 Hot-N-Ready Pepperoni pizzas, as well as the $8 Hot-N-Ready 3 Meat Treat pies.

When consumers tap on the mobile campaigns, they are redirected to the company’s mobile site where they can look for the nearest location.

Additionally, consumers can browse the company’s menu to browse what other items it is offering and users can also learn more about the company.

An initiative such as this helps build brand awareness.

Consumers are constantly on their mobile devices and marketers who incorporate mobile advertising into their campaigns can reach them.

In this case, Little Caesars is offering deals and specials, which is a great incentive to get that click-through.

Similar stories
Little Caesars is not the only pizza franchise turning to mobile advertising to drive sales.

Companies such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s have relied heavily on the channel to get consumers to their mobile orders up.

“As mobile is so relevant to real time action companies must think about the engagement with the consumer and minimize the risk of a poor customer interaction,” Ms. Troutman said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York

Apps still present significant opportunities for marketers

By Chantal Tode

January 8, 2013

Apple’s App Store reaches 40 billion app downloads

As mobile continues to grow, marketers are beginning to explore emerging channels such as the mobile Web, video and social, but recent numbers from Apple point to the continued relevance of applications as a marketing vehicle.

Apple revealed this week that its App Store had more than two billion app downloads in December 2012 – a new record. In total, Apple reports that the App Store has seen 40 billion app downloads, with 20 billion of those taking place in 2012 alone, pointing to the growing popularity of apps with consumers.

“What we are seeing is the exponential growth of the app market, which is indicative of future growth,” said Josh Martin, director of app research for the global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics, Newton, MA.

“We are moving into a era where content is being consumed through apps and not the open Web. We will see more of this as there is still opportunity for a lot more app experiences for the services and content that is out there,” he said.

Brand real estate
Marketers are embracing apps in a number of different ways, including corporate branded apps, campaign-driven apps and also as the focal point of new services for customers.

Apple reports that brands such as Major League Baseball, Autodesk and Marvel continue to expand their app strategies on iOS. For example, Autodesk now offers 20 apps to iOS users and has seen more than 50 million downloads.

Additionally, app developers continue to develop new services for iOS users, including Uber, which lets users request a private car in any city where the service is available. Other services include Flipboard, a social-network aggregation app in a magazine format, HotelTonight, which offers last minute hotel deals and AirBnB, which lets users find private apartments and other accommodations.

“Apps are extremely valuable to brands for several reasons,” Karl Stillner, CEO of Appolicious, Chicago. “They afford your brand real estate on the most personal device a someone owns – the phone.

“Simply having a prominent icon on a home screen provides value,” he said. “They also allow brands the ability to offer utility to users in non-conventional ways.

“REI’s Snow and Ski Report application is a great example of an app that provides users huge utility around skiing conditions while building brand affinity with them. I get an alert every morning there is more than three inches of snow at my local ski resorts – that prompts me to engage with the REI application, and the brand, multiple times a week.

Ongoing engagement
While the app market is expected to continue to grow, marketers do face several challenges in crafting a successful app strategy.

For example, there is the continued fragmentation of the market and the need to decide which platforms to develop for. The numbers from Apple show that iOS still offers strong reasons why developers should make it one of their top priorities.

The growing number of apps also makes discovery an issue for users. In a recent assessment of leading application distributors, Microsoft beat out Apple when it comes to innovating the app discovery process (see story).

The growing selection also makes it that much more imperative for brands to deliver strong app experiences and keep them refreshed.

“Apps will continue to be a focus,” Mr. Stillner said. “However, brands will realize that their mobile apps will need to offer users more utility to ensure they return.

“The days of focusing on simply generating downloads are past; the next phase is ensuring ongoing engagement over time,” he said.

In-app advertising
Brands in retail, travel and financial services are likely to continue to invest in mobile apps because customers are likely to interact with these apps on a regular basis.

However, brands in other verticals need to make sure they offer users a reason to use them and that they are properly funded.

“You could probably count the number of successful apps launched by CPG brands on one hand,” said Bill Clifford, chief revenue officer at SessionM, Boston.

“We’ve seen too many instances where brands either create great apps and then run out of money to promote them, or they spend a ton of money promoting horrible apps,” he said.

“With more than 1.5 million apps available to download, and that number is still growing, it’s an incredibly ambitious and expensive endeavor to successfully launch an app. And once it’s downloaded, it’s increasingly difficult to retain users.”

In some cases, it may make more sense for brands to take advantage of the significant growth in apps by partnering with an existing app or investing in in-app advertising.

“Instead of building apps, brands are becoming smarter about partnering with existing apps, either through direct integrations or by taking advantage of innovative new in-app advertising solutions that scale,” Mr. Clifford said. “Ultimately this paid media will drive users to a rich mobile Web destination.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York

Augmented reality vs. QR codes: Which delivers most bang for the buck?

By Chantal Tode

January 8, 2013

Walmart’s augmented reality app

QR code use skyrocketed last year because of how easily the technology bridges digital and real-world engagements. On the other hand, augmented reality offers a more exciting way for brands to interact with consumers, but may not be the right choice in all cases. 

Magazine advertisers and publishers, consumer packaged goods brands, catalogers and ecommerce providers have all embraced QR codes to deliver content and support virtual shopping experiences. The number of brands embracing augmented reality is currently smaller but some unique experiences driven by augmented reality are starting to appear.

“Hands down, QR codes are the better value for anyone looking to connect the real and virtual worlds. Dan Roche, vice president of marketing at TalkPoint, New York. “At TalkPoint, we see our customers use QR codes to drive viewership to webcasts on a regular basis through print and on-site conference promotion among other outlets.

“Augmented reality creates an interactive experience that is more fun and immersive, and those are great qualities for a campaign that provides a lot of creative options,” he said.

“I do, however, think that QR codes are more pragmatic than augmented reality. QR codes are able to provide a comparable – although maybe somewhat less – engaging experience with the benefit of being a bit more versatile to help drive revenue dollars directly into your program.”

The practical side
QR codes and augmented reality each has its own set of pros and cons.

There is still no standard format for 2D bar codes – which minimizes consumer awareness – and users do not always know what to expect when they scan a code. Additionally, QR code readers are not standard on all mobile operating systems.

On the plus side, QR codes require little effort on the part of the consumer to use and offer a great way to see a product in action before making a purchase. From the marketer’s perspective, they are relatively inexpensive to implement.

“There will be continued growth in QR codes usage,” Mr. Roche said.

“I do not see the QR code as a game changer that will have meteoric rise,” he said. “However, I do see practical, controlled-use cases that really fit well with QR codes because they are convenient, helpful and can generate hard dollars.

“Their usage in retail outlets, on subways, trains and buses and at conferences help make them a practical choice for customers wanting to control the user experience. They provide a way to offer coupons, product reviews and outlet locations.”

The excitement quotient
Augmented reality can be an awkward experience, with users required to hold up a phone in front of their face to find the digital overlaps for physical objects. On the other hand, unlike with QR codes, there is no need to download a special reader to interact with the physical world.

The production costs for augmented reality can also be high, but the investment can be worth it when the end result is a fun and immersive experience that users remember.

Another issue with augmented reality is figuring out how to measure its return on investment.

“I think that 2013 will see a lot of buzz and interest in augmented realities, but more as a novice and clever concept,” Mr. Roche said. “They are great, but their ‘soft’ ROI creates an uncertainty about using them for core promotion.

“Some retailers, like Starbucks (with its Cup Magic), have done a good job using them to augment their holiday efforts,” he said.

Retail is one area, in particular, where QR codes and augmented reality have taken off, as merchants looks to push customer experiences beyond the physical and into the digital while bringing some added excitement to their stores.

For example, Walmart has been embracing augmented reality to create in-store experiences around retail promotions for popular films such as Spider-Man and The Avengers (see story).

“The use of augmented reality and QR codes will continue to increase in 2013, all in the name of shopper convenience and retailers’ revenue,” said Kevin French, executive director and general manager of G2 Philadelphia.

“2013 will mark the most dramatic shift to every touch point becoming ‘retailified’ by bridging the gap between physical experiences and digital experiences to provide as much convenience to shoppers as possible,” he said.

“Both technologies will find their appropriate use in the value exchange between shoppers and retailers.”

Google Glass
In 2013, brands will continue to use QR codes as a practical way to engage users and deliver useful content while augmented reality is likely to be used as a means to drive some excitement for the user.

Already, excitement is building for Google’s Glass project, which will offer an augmented reality-like experience via glasses that users wear.

“QR codes are really just about a quick short-cut to a digital site,” said David Bryant, chief creative officer at Organic, San Francisco. “They’re still useful – but interest in them has dropped naturally as they are no longer ‘news’

“We believe there will be an upswing in interest in AR with the advent of Google Glass,” he said. “People have started to develop applications using the SDK – the platform is solid and has enormous company behind it plus the love and attention of one of the Google’s founders.

“Although not pure AR, it has many AR-like features and will certainly restart interest in it.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York

Donut, Eclair, Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean: It’s enough to make Kate Moss hungry.

Google has released five major Android updates since 2010, most named for some kind of food. Today, Android’s developer site revealed that for the first time, more than 10 percent of Android smartphones in the market are running Jelly Bean, the latest version.

Source: Google

Android system distribution

A major developer complaint about Android has always been its version fragmentation. While iPhone users typically update their devices to new software versiosn from Apple very quickly, Google’s position as the provider of a free and open-source mobile operating system has led to much less power with carriers, who can in many cases block Android system updates.

That’s led to a situation in which the majority of Android smartphone owners are still using older versions of Android. In fact, 47.4 percent are still using Gingerbread, which Google released in December of 2010.

Google announced Jelly Bean in late June last year — a few days before the previous version, Ice Cream Sandwich, reached 10 percent penetration. That took almost nine months, which means that Jelly Bean’s achievement of the same level has happened significantly faster.

That’s at least some good news for developers, who have to keep multiple operating systems in mind while building apps.

Google still has a ways to go, however: In one day, Apple had higher uptake of iOS 6 than Google has achieved in six months.

The developer site for Android also revealed the latest data on screen sizes and resolutions. By far the majority of Android smartphones are now using high-density and “extra-high” density screens, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S III’s 306 pixels per inch, if not quite at the iPhone 5′s 326.

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography via photopin cc

Hat tip: The Verge

ShopWiki redid its sites using responsive design

With mobile traffic continuing to grow, merchants are looking for the best way to provide a mobile-friendly Web experience and are increasingly considering responsive design, which offers its own set of benefits and challenges.

While some retailers have invested in creating separate sites for tablet, mobile and desktop users, others are exploring using a single site with flexible design that can adapt to the device being used to access it.  The main benefit of this strategy is that it is less expensive to maintain but, responsive design also presents challenges, such as the complexity of designing a site that truly provides a strong experience across devices.

“There are plenty of benefits with going down the responsive route,” said Yoav Schwartz, CEO at Uberflip, Toronto. “Namely, a single code base for your website that delivers to any screen.

“Making a change to a page? You only have to do it once,” he said. “That’s a great use of resources/time.

“The cons come by way of customization. On mobile if you’re trying to create a native-app-like feel, it will be challenging to have a desktop-Web site-feel on larger screens. This is where a lot of JavaScript customization comes in to play and complicates the otherwise clean, mostly HTML5/CSS3 responsive site you’ve built.”

Good experiences
Responsive design sites offer other benefits besides being less expensive to maintain and requiring a single code base. They can also help merchants improve their SEO, offer a single URL for all devices and provide a consistent experience across devices.

As result, some merchants are finding responsive design can help drive mobile results for them. For example, ShopWiki reports mobile clicks jumped 24 percent following a responsive design revamp of its site (see story).

While merchants goals should be to ensure that every user, no matter what device they are accessing a site from has a good experience. However, this is not always the reality with responsive design, with tablet experiences often faring better than smartphone ones.

Some sites created using responsive design may offer a better smartphone experience than the traditional desktop site with bigger images and a cleaner look.

However, the type can still be too small for a smartphone user to read. As a result, users end up having to pinch and zoom – the very thing that developing a mobile-friendly site is meant to avoid.

One of the issues with responsive design is that it is still so new and has not yet been widely adopted. As a result, there are not a lot of best practices yet for merchants to follow.

“It’s unlikely that responsive design will be a simple solution for an existing larger scale merchant, as there will be IT politics and debate for how / if their CMS will play nicely with a new design,” said Jonathan Greene, managing director of mobile and social platforms at R/GA. “Perhaps more importantly though is consideration of the potential impact a design change will have on actual revenues.

“Today there are only a few examples of responsive design in commerce, so it’s hard to suggest there are common pitfalls or even frankly best in class practices specific to commerce,” he said.

Navigating a better experience
One of the common challenges with responsive design sites is getting navigation right for smartphones.

Other challenges presented by responsive design include the need for new content management workflows and new image optimization processes.

“Navigation is probably the trickiest aspect to responsive design,” Uberflip’s Mr. Schwartz said. “On desktop – and most tablets – you have lots of room to lay out your navigation.

“But on phones, you’ll likely want to go with a single icon that loads the navigation options overtop of the content to reduce clutter,” he said. “This can definitely be achieved with CSS media queries but simply hiding/showing elements depending on the screen size.

“But if it’s not planned out in advance you may find yourself hacking away at the end to make it work.”

Information flows
In general, the entire process of creating pages is more complex and time-consuming.

“Responsive design definitely has its drawbacks – there are limitations with how much you can tailor experiences for specific screen sizes – i.e. phones or tablets,” Mr. Schwartz said.

“We’re going to see a lot of sacrificing to design objectives this year in order to make sites responsive,” he said.

Responsive design works best as a long flow of information, per Mr. Schwartz. This way, when smartphone users load a responsive site on your phone all the information is available to scroll.

“The core of your message should be available on the initial screen,” Mr. Schwartz said. “This can be a very effective way of delivering a message, but expect some sacrifices on the desktop or tablet experience as you’re going to have to make it work for all cases.”

Despite these challenges presented by responsive design, many believe it is the wave of the future.

There are a few sites already using responsive design and more are expected to launch in the coming year.

“If planned properly, I believe responsive design is the future and is only in its infancy,” Mr. Schwartz said.

“The Web sites of tomorrow will be a beautiful blend of responsive design with touch specific elements mixed in for a true mobile experience,” he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York

via mobilecommercedaily.com