M-Commerce Solutions
deployment plans or are you going to surrender your market share to fast-moving competitors? The answer depends on the vision you have for the future prospects for your company. If the vision doesn't include shrinking, merging with another company or going out of business then M-commerce needs to be on your immediate action plan list.
With smartphone adoption growing fast and picking up momentum as it grows, the implications are enormous for retailers. Smartphone adoption opens up a new channel for retailers and holds the promise of engaging shoppers in a uniquely personal way, while fostering a new level of social engagement.
In 2010, retailers are poised and ready to become involved in M-commerce at an accelerated pace compared to the rate of adoption of e-commerce less than 15 years ago. Clearly, at this early stage, there are reasons to be concerned about such issues as security, lack of technology standards, consumer trust and limited sales potential. But the wait-and-see period is quickly coming to an end.
Cross-Channel Digital Commerce
Top department store retailer JCPenney is driving its cross-channel digital commerce strategy with ATG. Late last year, the retailer announced plans to deploy ATG Commerce in order to create personalized, branded experiences via rich digital content in stores, the Web, on mobile devices and social commerce. "We are committed to providing the most compelling customer experience possible, and we selected ATG to power our new digital platform because it was clear to us that ATG offers the strongest and most robust solution to orchestrate and drive the success of these channels," says Tom Nealon, executive vice president and chief information officer, JCPenney.
M-Commerce Delivers a Splash of Style
Women's fashion brand, Arden B, recently launched a new M-commerce storefront on the Digby Mobile Commerce platform following a successful implementation at parent company, Wet Seal. The mobile storefront complements Wet Seal's iRunway iPhone application, which enables shoppers to view thousands of suggested outfits using styles they find while in the store. Other features include access to new arrivals, the ability to browse and search across the entire catalog, rich product descriptions, address book integration as well as mobile optimized checkout and a store locator tool.
Fusing Personality into 2D Bar Codes
The innovative Microsoft Tag lets users snap a printed 2D code from their camera phone which links to online content and information. Custom Tags can fully integrate the company's marketing message and provide retailers with analytics into how, when and where Tags are being used. Microsoft Tags are specifically designed to provide an accurate read when dealing with a blurred shot or a poor quality lens. Mobile tagging can now be done across Windows Mobile, J2ME, iPhone, Blackberry and Symbian S60 phones and most recently on the Android.
Innovative Mobile POS
A mobile POS from Cornell-Mayo Associates (CMA) combines the Omnistore POS solution with the interface of an Apple iPod. Omniexpress provides full POS functionality in a pocket-sized handheld device. It includes a scanner and magnetic stripe reader (MSR) that can accept credit and gift cards and wirelessly print or e-mail receipts. The solution also runs the same code as CMA's POS applications for cash registers and other devices. Cornell-Mayo is one of the first companies to offer a fully functional POS application for a mobile Apple device as well as POS software that is natively portable to major platforms including Windows, Linux and Apple.