Can mobile save the retail sector?
We know retail spending is down and there is less money in our pockets, both at home and at work. Not only are we all doomed (if you believe some newspapers) but soon we will be able to buy a semi detached house for a pound if we are lucky enough to find a bank to lend us one. Can the mobile save the retail sector and the world? No of course not, but it can help, Bristol based MyOxygen, a Mobile Applications company is convinced.
Andrew Farmer MD of MyOxygen Mobile comments “Mobiles are fast becoming feature packed with more processing power, hard drive space, bigger screens and now GPS. We can now do a majority of our PC functioning on our mobile phones, email, blogging, instant messaging and VOIP. These cultural advances as well as technological development will drive how companies use mobiles to communicate with their customers in the future.”
So where are we going and how can the retail sector make friends with this fast paced technology? We know how the common PC and the web entered our lives in the early 90’s. Today most of us are unable to live without checking our email, updating face book, blogging and now micro blogging with applications like Twitter every few hours (stick Twitter in your browser for more information.) Well let’s take a look at what’s been going on with mobile usage and a snap shot of the past and present including how the mobile may affect the retail sector.
SMS (short messaging service) is still the most used mobile application other than speech for communication. It’s easy to use and, for most services, costs no more than a 10p text for the user. For a good few years now it has been used for competitions, voting, news updates and dating. SMS will for the foreseeable future remain the method of choice for mobile communication. Although, there are many instant messaging (IM) solutions available and with data tariffs that provide all you can eat per month (within reason) IM could take over from SMS.
What about SMS in retail? Well for a number of years consumers have been able to interact via their mobile with brands by texting a keyword to a simple short code normally five digits. The consumer can receive further information on a product or get access to content from the brands website. It’s simple but very effective and the barriers to entry are low, especially for the under 25’s. SMS can also provide a secure and easy way to make micro payments, in the form of reverse billing. What do we mean? The consumer again texts a “keyword” to a shared short code and is then sent a number of premium rate messages to the value of their purchase, an effective way of taking micro payments. With near field communication (NFC) technology the likes of Nokia are planning on building this technology into their handsets making available fast, convenient, and secure mobile purchases by touching your mobile phone to NFC credit card readers. Further a field in countries like Japan the introduction of the QR or 2D mobile bar code has really taken off. Toyota developed the technology to help them manage their automotive inventory, as standard bar codes were limited in the amount of information they could contain. After releasing the technology for public use, QR codes can be seen on food packaging, movie posters and here in the UK on Royal Mail Packages. The QR code can take a user to a website or provide detailed information on a product and its, ingredients, Country of origin, fat and salt content and even provide recipes. Look out for the black square made of tiny squares and if you have an up to date mobile phone you should be able to scan the QR code to reveal further information.
The QR code also makes an ideal ticket or discount voucher that with the right scanning technology will let retailers scan the QR code direct from a mobile screen giving full redemption capabilities including one off usage.
Research shows that the mobile is the one personal item we would not leave the house without. Soon the mobile will provide us with a wallet, keys, and personal shopper. And the future isn’t far away. Payforit is the new payment service, supported by all licensed UK mobile operators, designed to make it easy to pay for low cost services on the mobile phone. Mobile payments have, in the past, been limited to micro payments of up to £5.00 and now can be as much as £30.00 which can be added to your mobile phone bill at the end of the month, this again giving customers a very, quick, secure and easy way of paying for goods, tickets or mobile content. This is still in the adoption stage but consumers are going to get more and more comfortable with paying for goods via their mobile and effectively using their mobile phone like a credit card.
Andrew Farmer continues “We see the future of mobile barcodes and redemption technology in retail becoming more and more common place, giving customers another convenient way of interacting with the retailer and it’s brands whilst away from the PC”.
Looking at the recent stats done by Infoplant in Japan perhaps gives us a insight into future usage here in the UK .
Q: Do you know about QR codes (2D barcodes)?
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I’ve used them
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73.3%
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I know about them, and have a reader feature in my phone, but I haven’t used them
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7.6%
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I know about them, but don’t have a reader feature in my phone, so I haven’t used them
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15.6%
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I don’t know about them
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3.5%
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Looking at the age breakdown, for both males and females almost 90% of the under 20’s use them, but the rate steadily drops down to end up at just about half of all the over 50s.
Q: For those who answered that they used them, in what printed materials have you used QR Codes?
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Business card
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5.7%
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Newspaper
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31.9%
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Magazine
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84.2%
|
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Advertising flyer
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51.1%
|
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Poster
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14.2%
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Direct mail
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25.0%
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Mail-order catalog
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24.8%
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PC web site
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20.7%
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Other
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13.1%
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There was no significant differences between the sexes, except for almost two and a half times more women questioned used mail-order catalog QR Codes.
Q: Which of the following QR Code-based services do you want to use?
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Easy phone book registration from a business card, etc
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36.8%
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Read a URL and access a site
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74.3%
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Replacement for company identification badge
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29.0%
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Cashless shopping at vending machines, etc
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28.3%
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Buying goods written about in magazines
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27.7%
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Replacement for tickets (concerts, travel passes, etc)
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32.5%
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Others
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5.5%
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Don’t want to use
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7.4%
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Myoxygen specialises in providing the Retail & Leisure Sector with mobile applications, including Bluetooth technology for delivering content, mobile barcode applications for vouchers and in store redemption technology.
www.myoxygen.co.uk
Myoxygen, Filwood House, Filwood Rd, Bristol, BS16 3RY, UK Copyright © MyOxygen 2008
Telephone +44(0)117 9657292
