Product Look-up, Mobile Couponing Are Most Popular Elements of Mobile Retail Platforms
According to a study from Aberdeen Group, mobile retail platforms have a number of essential elements, including product look-up features and mobile couponing. Retailers are also pointing to reporting and encryption tools as top planned back-end technologies.
Forty-nine percent of retail respondents surveyed in the “Mobile Retail is a Reality” study said the mobile Web for product look-up was a main element of mobile retail platforms, followed by 43 percent who said the same about mobile couponing and 37 percent who said the same about smartphone-specific mobile retail applications for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices.
Meanwhile, 35 percent of respondents said mobile transaction payments were a main element, 33 percent said the same of location-based messaging via mobile devices and 31 percent said the same of mobile chat (SMS or test messages).
Thirty percent of respondents said they have content management systems in place, while 30 percent have SMS technology in their back-ends. CRM manager (28 percent), mobile messaging gateway solutions (23 percent), campaign management system (21 percent), encryption technology (21 percent) and digital dashboard/visualization tools for performance reporting (18 percent) were also among the top back-end technologies for mobile retailers.
Digital dashboards/visualization tools for performance reporting are being planned by 62 percent of respondents, followed by 55 percent who are planning for encryption technology, 49 percent planning content management systems, 48 percent planning for CRM managers, 44 percent planning for campaign management systems, 43 percent planning for SMS and 41 percent planning for mobile messaging gateway solutions.
Better customer targeting (e.g., by region, demographics, etc.) was the most cited ROI benefit from mobile retail or mobile channel initiatives, with 14 percent of respondents saying so. This was followed by decreased marketing cost with 13 percent, response tracking with 10 percent, improved customer profitability with 7 percent, improved customer satisfaction with 7 percent, improved customer retention with 7 percent and improved brand image with 2 percent.
However, improved brand image is an expected ROI benefit by 88 percent of respondents, followed by improved customer satisfaction with 81 percent, improved customer retention with 78 percent, response tracking with 68 percent, increased customer profitability with 64 percent, better customer targeting with 60 percent and decreased marketing cost with 36 percent.
Decreased marketing cost was an ROI benefit not expected by 51 percent of respondents.
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