Tag: retail

Categories
Americas Data Driven Channels Europe Global Mobile UK

Mobile loyalty cards to reach 3bn by 2020, doubling over five years

mobile apps apple pay, loyalty cards go mobile article

Loyalty cards linked to mobile apps experience rise in activity rates.

The new research, Mobile & Online Coupons: Redemption, Loyalty & Consumer Engagement 2015-2020, found that brands and retailers are increasingly responding to consumer demand for mobile integration, with many now offering customers the opportunity to store their loyalty cards within a dedicated digital wallet.loyalty marketing

Crucially, the research argued that the improved targeting and personalisation made possible by digital coupons was leading to greater activity rates, thereby resolving a key failing of traditional schemes where the lack of relevant offers had resulted in a downturn in usage.

Loyalty cards – digital integration

However, the new research found wide variations among retailers and other reward card providers with regard to the extent of digital loyalty integration. In the UK, it observed that around 40% of Nectar card holders had acquired the loyalty app by late-2015, but less than 4% of Tesco Clubcard holders. It found a similar disparity between US retailers Walgreens, where 61% of card holders had linked their card to an app, and Target which had only 27% of cardholders linked.

Research author Dr Windsor Holden said: “These disparities are likely to result from a number of factors. While in part they may reflect the level of satisfaction with the app and/or the features it offers, they may also be attributable to a greater degree – or greater success – of retailer marketing of their digital loyalty options.”

The research warned that retailers that did not offer mobile integration were likely to have far lower levels of visibility on consumer activity. As a result, it cautioned that they would be at a disadvantage when seeking to tailor offers and thereby increase the lifetime value of the consumer.

The complimentary whitepaper, ‘Coupons ~ Personalisation Goes Hyper’, is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full research and the attendant Interactive Forecast Excel (IFxl).

Categories
Data Driven Channels Europe In the News UK

Online retailers bullish as competition intensifies

Online consumerThe confident outlook builds on the sales success of 2015. More than seven out of ten (74 per cent) SME e-retailers increased their sales last year. This is the highest level in the last three years: 58% reported increased sales in 2014 and 49% reported sales growth in 2013.

Online retailers are also confident about their customer satisfaction levels: 63% believe their customers have become more satisfied in the last year.

The most common factor in driving customer satisfaction is on-time delivery, voted by two-thirds (66%) of those surveyed, behind the quality of products (62%) and the price of goods (57%) as key drivers of customer satisfaction.

An easy payment process – particularly important for mobile commerce – leapt up in importance this year. E-retailers now rate the payment process as the fourth most important factor for customer satisfaction, up from eighth place in 2015.

Online retailers’ competition increasing

The overall increase in confidence in the market comes despite 53% claiming competition is more intense this year. Many have already identified new factors for competition this year: the rise of smartphone shopping (47%) and price promotions which lead shoppers to seek out the best prices (44%).

However, the main drivers of competition remain the same this year, with consumers’ price sensitivity and an increased number of websites as the main reasons for increased competition (both at 52%).

To address increased competition and increase sales in 2016, seven in ten online retailers plan to increase the number of channels they sell through: 85% are planning to list on additional online marketplaces. Half of SME online retailers intend to launch their own website.

Royal Mail Parcels managing director Nick Landon said: “Confidence is continuing to grow this year and that technology is playing an ever more important role in the retail world. Technology is influencing how people shop, where they shop and what they define as an excellent shopping experience. Our research shows that SME online retailers are plugged in to the needs of the shopper and they are taking actions to enable them to meet the demands of the discerning online consumer.”

Categories
Data Driven Channels Europe Global In the News Mobile UK

UK: farewell cash and cards, my mobile will pay

mobile article, payments

Research from Visa Europe reveals that UK mobile payments are projected to hit some £1.2bn a week by 2020, with six in ten expecting to use their mobile devices in the UK for payments at least once a week in the next five years.

The average shopper reckons they will spend £27 via mobile each week by 2020, £10 more than today, and nearly a quarter predict they will spend around £50 a week using their mobile by 2020.mobile phone payment

While apps and music are still the items purchased most frequently via mobile devices now, Visa has seen an increasing number of consumers already buying higher-ticket items, with electronics (23%) and clothes (22%) among their top-five most bought m-commerce items.

Payments via mobile

The British embrace of digital payments is a sign of shoppers’ growing comfort with new methods to pay as they become more widely available, easier to use and better understood. With the increasing publicity around m-commerce options, digital wallets and contactless payments, 43% of shoppers say they would be interested in using a mobile wallet service and nearly half (47%) are interested in using their smartphone to make everyday contactless payments in a shop.

Jeremy Nicholds (pictured), executive director for mobile, Visa Europe, said: “While we’re excited to see consumers saying they expect to triple their weekly spend using mobile payments over the next five years, we at Visa think those VisaEuropenumbers could be rather conservative and that the actual adoption rate will be much higher.

“This is particularly true when you look at the growth in contactless usage, which saw European usage grow by 2x and spend grow by 3x over the last 12 months.

“Contactless and online commerce enhancements have been key in paving the way for the next generation of mobile payment technology. The environmental conditions are already in place to meet the demands and expectations for digital payments.

“It’s no longer a question of ‘if’ consumers will embrace this new way to pay – it’s when – and for us the next 12 months are when mobile payments become mainstream.”

People who are already using their mobile devices to make transactions are also open to other mobile money services. The research highlights that these ‘mobile money’ users are five times more likely to be interested in paying friends through a smartphone app compared to non-users (48% vs. 9%). One in five would be open to social media payments too, compared with only one in twenty non-users.

When looking at the main concerns about mobile payments, a third of respondents admitted that they simply didn’t know enough about it. As with other new technologies, this has resulted in apprehension about issues like privacy, fraud and security.

Nicholds continued: “We’re witnessing a huge surge in interest from consumers in the UK for faster and more convenient payment methods as mobile and online commerce technologies continue to evolve at pace. This is why Visa Europe spends more than €200 million in on innovation including a number of secure payment technologies such as tokenisation to address security and convenience.

“When it comes to money, concerns over control and security are understandable though a simple lack of knowledge is often an underlying cause and consumers are quick to see the benefits of convenience. We’ve seen this with contactless card adoption – once people learn about the technology, see others using it and get used to paying with it, usage soars.”

Categories
Data Driven Channels Europe In the News UK

Social media tracker shows UK supermarkets in ‘David and Goliath’ battle

social media tracker, branding article

Supermarkets Aldi and Tesco are in a David and Goliath fight for share of voice on social media in the UK, based on their relative market share, according to a ‘Talkability Tracker’ from big data product company DigitalContact.co.uk, which monitored millions of social media mentions during June.

Aldi is becoming the talk of the town on social and taking on Tesco for the top spot in this first supermarket online Talkability Tracker.

DigitalContact.co.uk has developed a snapshot view of the most talked about supermarkets online via analysis which ran for a five-day period between June 24 and 28 and found that Tesco – by far the biggest food retailer in the UK based on market share – topped the conversation list of supermarkets’ online presence. However, of the tweets, 15% of those received were negative, which was 73% higher than average – akin to the incident caused by their placing of Bacon flavoured Pringles in the Ramadan offer, a forbidden food for Muslims.

However, Aldi is getting value for money from its social presence, securing 17% of market share based on social conversations – despite only commanding 5.5% of market share by UK revenue. Aldi has been encouraging positive conversations about their brand by using #AldiChallenge, promoted using the hashtag to report any savings they have made by shopping there. The tracker shows that, if you take into account Aldi’s smaller market share, it is punching far above its weight, outperforming its giant rival by a factor of 2.3x. If you only look at positive mentions, the challenger is doing even better, beating Tesco hands down by a factor of 2.8x.

Social media tracker shows ASDA outshining retailers

As for other supermarket competitors, ASDA is also outshining a number of high street and traditional British retailers, featuring fourth on Digital Contact’s sentiment report, ahead of Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.

It is important to acknowledge that this data is a five day ‘snapshot’ of the most talked about supermarket brands on social media, only taking into account what their customers are saying about them, rather than the conversation they are building themselves. Despite only showcasing a short period, the research reinforces the changeable and powerful impact that conversations had by customers online can have on a brand.

Snapshot of retailers share of social media voiceDigital Contact CEO, Gareth Mann (pictured left), said: “Social media is the voice of the consumer and companies need to be listening to what it says if they want to stay one step ahead. Understanding what has been said about your brand should be paramount to any organisation. This calibre and depth of analysis can help businesses establish a better relationship with customers, understand consumer needs, see the differing trends from around the world and help predict future trends in their industry.

“As we can see, social media is making the fight for brand recognition a level playing field and, by understanding and capitalising on social media, many brands can take on the Goliaths in their markets.”Supermarket battle

 

 

Categories
Case Studies Europe Strategy and Management

Mobile marketing strategy: nobody shops for groceries using a phone – they will now, in Portugal!

mobile marketing strategy payments article

We buy most of our groceries at the supermarket. Very few buy them online and those who do rarely use a smartphone. That changes in Portugal this week, where El Cortes Ingles launched a mobile grocery-shopping platform powered by Grability, a New York City-based tech company.

This content is for Free membership members only.
Register
Already a member? Log in here