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While the overall marketing mix tends to be more balanced for best-in-class retailers, mobile is consistent across all three kinds of retailers. Television and online channels vary the most with Print being relatively consistent as well.

The study found that only 4% of the adult, Internet-using population has used any kind of location-based service, and just 1% of all adults check into a location at least once a week.  By contrast, more than 11% of Online adults have used Twitter, and an estimated 28% of all Internet users have signed up for Facebook. Diving deeper into the demographics of LBS apps, the study found that users are likely to be 19- to 35-year-old, college-educated males who are “influential among their friends and family.”

From: MobileMarketingWatch Posted on 27 July 2010

SAP employee Timo Elliott has unveiled a prototype for an augmented reality business intelligence iPhone app. He emphasizes that it’s a prototype, not a supported product. It’s not available for download yet, but Elliott gives us a look at what an augmented enterprise could look like. Elliot released some proof-of-concept mock-ups on his blog earlier this year (see our coverage), but the project is now in development at SAP in the BusinessObjects Innovation Center, which Elliot says is based on Google Labs.

The app prototype enables users to mashup location information with any sort of corporate data available in an enterprise’s BusinessObjects OnDemand account. The use case Elliot demonstrates is locating the nearest customers and displaying supplemental information.

Mashing up location data with CRM data has obvious, if limited, benefit – but what other sorts of uses are possible? The current limitation of the app is the precision of location based services. Elliot’s previous mock-ups presented some extremely interesting use cases that would require considerably greater precision:

Imagine pointing a smart phone at a piece of equipment or merchandise and pulling up information about it from an ERP system, and being able to update that information from the same interface.

What could really be useful for enterprises is the intersection of augmented reality with the Internet of Things. Google Goggles can already recognize objects (and people), but what sort of use cases would open up if an AR app could identify individual objects and communicate with the objects themselves?

Written by Klint Finley / July 27, 2010 / ReadWrite Enterprise

Why Mobile for Luxury

• The audience is on mobile devices
• One out of two mobile phones in use by next year projected to be Web- and application-enabled smartphones
• Consumers don’t simply talk and text on mobile phones – they browse, shop and buy
• Mobile devices give what consumers seek in the relationship with brands – control
• More content consumption on mobile – news, in particular – offers opportunity for contextual advertising
• Part of the multichannel experience
• Steve Jobs – the No. 1 influencer today of product design, marketing, commerce and customer experience

What Consumers Want from Mobile

• Ease of communication with friends, family, coworkers and brands
• Ability to search, shop and buy on the device
• Receive SMS-based offers, updates and retail traffic drivers when opted into mobile CRM programs
• Browse mobile Web sites and applications for product information, store location, pricing, inventory availability and in-store merchandise reference
• Same experience as online
• Rich media experiences on tablets such as the iPad

Crafting a Mobile Strategy for Luxury Brands

• Study audience habits – buying and media-consumption patterns
• Is the product or service suited to mobile marketing or mobile commerce?
• Discuss channel conflict issues internally
• What have you done on the traditional Web?
• Will the luxury experience and brand values translate well to mobile?
• Marketing or sales, or both – make objective clear
• Mobile is a medium comprising many channels, but it also serves well as a traffic driver to retail or online experiences
• Dedicate the resources – HR, budgets, time and patience

Luxury Marketing with Mobile

• Establish a mobile-friendly Web site, even if it’s a simple landing page and a couple of other pages reflecting the brand values and core information
• Apply for a common short code to begin SMS marketing that ties in with the brand’s overall loyalty marketing efforts
• Run targeted mobile advertising on reputed publisher sites and across mobile ad networks with banner ads, rich media units and video
• Mobile search optimization – work with Google, Microsoft and Yahoo
• Deep pockets? Build a full-fledged mobile site and application with shopping and transactional capability
• Use retail stores and catalogs to drive mobile database buildup
• Employ SMS to opted-in consumers to push traffic to stores
• Promote short code signup and application downloads in print, television, mail, online and catalog ads
• Repurpose runway material on mobile to extend the luxury experience

Brands That Get Mobile

Tiffany & Co. marries mobile with interactive to sell engagement rings
Ferrari Maserati dealership taps mobile for added customer touch point
Chanel taps iPad’s unique capabilities to showcase watch collection
Jimmy Choo taps mobile to make print ad more interactive
Rolex taps mobile to make rint ad more interactive
Rogers & Hollands Jewelers mobile program drives repeat business
Gilt Groupe iPad app comprises 3 percent of sales in first 2 days
Mobile is a wrap for Diane von Furstenberg
Bergdorf Goodman enters mobile commerce
Nordstrom, kate spade, T-Mobile use mobile to boost in-store traffic
Waterford Crystal extends brand to mobile with new app
Gucci enters mobile commerce arena with one-of-a-kind app
Bloomingdale’s fall fashion campaign taps mobile to engage customers in-store
Tiffany & Co. targets luxurious ladies via smartphones
Dolce & Gabbana dresses marketing strategy with mobile

from: Mickey Alam Khan Mobile Marketer, June 28, 2010

Amazon is now offering its one-click shopping technology to other retailers, and why not: it has a database of an estimated 94 million names, many of whom will overlap with other retailers’ customers.

Search. Take a look at any Amazon destination across mobile, be it the mobile site for BlackBerry, iPhone or Android devices or the iPhone or iPad applications or even its own proprietary Kindle devices – the search field is prominent on every page.

Here’s what retailers should know: browsing has become synonymous with searching. A site or application without a decent search engine is toast. Amazon gets this pattern of behavior, as does Google.

Amazon understands that mobile shoppers do not have the time nor the energy to thumb through tens of pages on mobile sites or applications. Shoppers on mobile visit their retail destination with some determination of what they want. Alternatively, the mobile-shopping mood is “Surprise me – but don’t make it a slog.”

It’s often been remarked that Amazon is a technology company, and not a retailer. And the search engine is proof of that. It is designed to be as intuitive as can get and mobile is a beneficiary of that investment over 15 years.

A cursory look at the top searches on Amazon’s mobile applications and sites show a preference for HDMI cables, xBox 360, Kindle DX, headphones, PS3 and Starcraft 2 games, iPod Nano, authors Nora Roberts and Charlaine Harris, and, yes – the girl with the dragon tattoo.

It won’t be a stretch to imagine that these are some of the same items being searched on over the flagship Amazon.com site.

Comparison shopping. Now here’s the interesting corollary to that search-engine investment: mobile shoppers are visiting Amazon’s sites and applications to research prices of products – while in other retailers’ stores.

In effect, Amazon is on its way to becoming the best mobile comparison shopping engine. And what are people comparing? Prices and availability.

Hence another unusual shopping pattern is developing: mobile shoppers are placing orders on Amazon at all hours of the day, and not just in the evenings or during lunch or over weekends.

Imagine how vulnerable most retailers are if this pattern becomes entrenched behavior. It threatens not just mobile retailers, but all those bricks-and-mortar chains that compete in Amazon’s retail categories.

Mobile database. By sheer dint of investing millions of dollars in mobile technology, Amazon has ensured that it grows its database of shoppers to include a new category: mobile.

Of course, as is the case with most retailers, it is hard to quantify mobile or online orders as incremental to the overall revenue picture. But even if it’s a channel shift, better to cannibalize your own self than have a rival retailer take the mobile order.

As more consumers shop and buy on Amazon’s mobile sites or applications or via Kindle, it is recording patterns of shopping behavior for remarketing purposes. Expect soon offers on mobile that are tied to past purchases with the same accuracy as it has done online.

Another major advantage of encouraging more mobile shopping and buying will manifest itself over the upcoming holidays. Holiday shopping is all about gifts, and that process is incomplete without the recipient’s address.

So, with more mobile purchases for self and others, Amazon shoppers are already making life easier for themselves and the retailers by having the gift recipients’ addresses stored for future sales via mobile devices.

Indeed, this is something most retailers forget: it is not easy to shop for others with a credit card in one hand, phone in the other and the gift recipient’s address missing or on another piece of paper.

Backend integration. While most retailers fuss over the front end of their digital operations, Amazon’s growing mobile commerce sales has given it much practice in integrating the mobile order-taking process with online.

To gain billion-dollar status in mobile commerce must mean that Amazon has efficiently tied its order management, warehouses, and fulfillment and shipping systems into one seamless operation. The returns process is also seamless since it follows the same protocol as an online order – email confirmation of order and address labels in package.

THE POINT OF all this is simple: every day that passes is millions more dollars in Amazon’s mobile pocket. If consumers get used to shopping and buying from Amazon’s mobile properties, that retailer could soon become the dominant standard for mobile shopping.

A major danger for retailers still sitting on the sidelines of mobile commerce is that price often trumps brand loyalty in tough economic conditions. And Amazon is a past master at offering prices that few can match. Top that with enviable customer service and you have the ideal killer app for mobile.

from: Mickey Alam Khan Mobile Marketer, July 26, 2010