Tesco South Korea Taking Customer Loyalty To New Heights

This is one of the most forward-thinking customer loyalty programs we’ve ever seen! Tesco Korea has enabled their customers to do their grocery shopping literally while they’re waiting for the train. Using a smartphone, all it takes is a scan of the QR code next to the product you want, and once the customer has checked out, all of the items in their order are delivered to their home, same day. The program now has a membership of over 13 million South Koreans, which is over 25% of the entire national population – incredible penetration for any customer loyalty program. Since implementing this technology, Tesco’s sales through their Homeplus site have increased 130% and taken over the number one spot in South Korean e-commerce.The obvious question for North American retailers is how could this type of program be enacted locally. Train stations are an obvious choice on the East coast, but here on the West coast it might work best in places like airports, buses, office parks and stadiums.

Tell us what you think! Would you use a technology like this if it were available in your area?

Google’s New Virtual Wallet Expected Thursday

Sources close to Google are reporting that the company will announce the release of a Virtual Wallet with NFC (Near-Field Communication) functionality, available on Sprint’s Nexus S smartphones using the Android operating system. The primary functionality will include the ability to pay for goods with a simple swipe of the phone, as well as redeem coupons and rack up points in a loyalty program; working with Google to make this technology possible are VeriFone and ViVO Tech. The news is expected to be broken tomorrow, May 26th, at a press event in New York City. The list of retailers who will be participating in the early stages of this release includes Subway, Macy’s and American Eagle Outfitters, which should bode well for the generally younger, more tech-savvy user base of Droid smartphones.

This release should also serve as a wake-up call for retailers and grocers, and underscore the need for mobile device functionality at their stores. Smartphone and financial payment technologies are clearly converging and will certainly be tied to social media and location based services like Foursquare and Gowalla in the very near future. One example of a retailer with good intentions in the area of customer engagement is Target, which has been making great efforts to meet their customers on their smartphones. Interestingly they are holding off on mobile payments for the near-term, citing uncertainty in the smartphone mobile payments landscape and somewhat slow user adoption to this point. With Google entering the space on one of its most popular Droid devices, the issue of user adoption could be solved very quickly, and retailers who grasp this reality and are able to get a head-start over their competition (for example by using software like ours!) will be in a great position to win more business and delight their customer bases.

Android Continues to Storm Smartphone Market

In a not-so-surprising report from comScore, it was revealed that the Google Android OS now enjoys a 7.6% lead in market share over its nearest competitor, Research in Motion. In 3rd place is Apple, which achieved a .5% boost from Q4 2010 and now commands 25.5% of the market. More disappointing news for Microsoft and their Windows Phone 7 efforts as they lost nearly another full percentage point of the market and now stand at 7.5%. It stands to reason that their recent acquisition of Skype, valued at $8.5b, will likely play a role in Redmond’s attempts to somehow keep this sinking ship afloat. Many Skype users are already voicing fears that with the buyout, Skype will no longer be fully supported on competing devices, as was the case with Internet Explorer when Microsoft discontinued new software releases for the Mac in 2003 and ceased all support of the platform in early 2006. It seems very unlikely that a similar strategy will prevail with Skype, largely due to the increasing popularity of Google Voice, and everything seems to be pointing toward more sustained growth for the Droid and iPhone in the near future. Developers/retailers/consumers stay tuned!

Google Launching NFC “Wave-to-Pay” Mobile System

Expected to be released later this year, Google has teamed with Mastercard and Citigroup to build a near field communication (NFC) mobile system on their Android OS that will allow consumers to use their smartphones as credit cards. People with Citigroup credit or debit cards would simply need to download an app on their Android phones and authorize their smartphone to communicate with their bank. Google’s position in the ecosystem appears to be centered around enabling retailers to target their customers more effectively by selling ad space and the opportunity to pitch discounted offers to people near their stores.

This move by Google and co. is an extension of the recent success that Starbucks has enjoyed with their NFC-enabled payment application, and with the proper privacy considerations should be a big hit with retailers and consumers, alike. The biggest question on the table is with the notion of “targeting” offers. What are the criteria available to assure the offers are relevant? Will it be made up of purchase history, internet browsing history, surveys, or all of the above? What’s your take on all of this? Would you use this technology or does it seem too invasive? Send us your comments and reactions!

Foursquare and AmEx Advance LBS Marketing – What Else is Possible?

The location based services leader Foursquare has teamed up with American Express to offer Groupon-like discounts to users who check-in at participating retailers, such as $10 for the price of $5. In effect, the hope is that this type of real-life connectivity will draw more interest from retailers looking to increase customer engagement and encourage trips to their locations by leveraging LBS.

Early feedback on the benefits and functionality appears very positive, particularly from consumers. The potential applications for this type of LBS-payment duality are virtually limitless, and could be particularly interesting for grocery retailers looking to drive increases in customer traffic and encourage consumers to explore new areas of their store. Imagine a grocer offering a promotion where shoppers earn $5 in their personalized digital wallet, to be used at that grocer any time they chose, for checking in at the store and scanning the barcode of a certain product or group of products on promotion. With Accelitec software much of this is possible today, and could be a very powerful way for brands and retailers to cooperate in the launches of new products, while simultaneously rewarding their customers and driving loyalty to the brands and retailers alike.

New Smartphone Market Leader in the US – Android

Nielsen reported today that the Google Android operating system is now controlling 29% of the US Market, with Apple and Research in Motion (RIM) sharing second place with 27% apiece. For many analysts, this news comes as no surprise given that unlike the iPhone, the Droid is available on myriad devices and networks, and consumers have been moving away from RIM’s Blackberry for several quarters running.

The piece of news that does qualify as somewhat unexpected is Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 falling to 10% of the US Market. This result comes on the heels of their $400m investment in the launch of their new mobile efforts, and their market share in the previous three quarters stood at 18%, 15%, and 14% respectively. This figure raises some serious questions about their ability to compete in the smartphone space. The folks in Redmond also recently announced a partnership with Nokia, as well as the launch of Bing mobile, now with the ability to aggregate location-specific deals for users. The question is will these recent efforts from Microsoft deliver any meaningful results in the way of smartphone market traction? Or is this quickly becoming a classic case of throwing good money after bad?

Starbucks Launches Mobile Payments App

Big news this week as Starbucks coffee drinkers can now use their smartphones as a payment method at nearly 6,800 of the Seattle-based coffee shops nationwide. The app allows users to attach Starbucks giftcards to a user’s Blackberry or iPhone and then scan a barcode on their phone at the point of sale, and can also be charged with value via PayPal or any major credit cards. The message coming out of Starbucks HQ seems to be that they’ve opted for a barcode-based payment system today, but are planning to take this technology in some pretty interesting directions, such as Near Field Communication (NFC) in the future. Starbucks also has the ability to add value to its customers reward cards for taking surveys, and will now presumably be able to complete this entire process of presenting a survey offer, accepting customer responses, adding value to the customer loyalty app and accepting payment all on a single smartphone. The functionality being utilized for this rewards app is very similar to the Digital Wallet software available from companies like Google and Accelitec, and the fact that Starbucks has now taken the lead should serve as sign to other brands and retailers that now is the ideal time to be targeting customer loyalty by creating and launching rewards applications for smartphones.

eBay Reports 233% Growth in Mobile Sales

This week’s sign of the times has to be the news that eBay saw their sales via mobile devices rise from $600mm to over $2b in 2010. The apps, which are available for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7 operating systems, have been downloaded by over 30 million people in more than 190 countries. Interestingly, the UK has been the fastest Eurpoean adopter of eBay’s mobile app, and combined with Germany they “generated nearly one third of all eBay’s mobile sales in 2010“. According to eBay, every minute there are 94 bids made for various products and 13 items of clothing/shoes/accessories are purchased. This really highlights the growing trend for consumers to do their shopping online and should resonate loud and clear with traditional, brick and mortar retailers.

The message being sent by the market is very clear – develop an online/mobile presence so that our shopping experiences are as fast and painless as possible, or we’ll buy from someone else who can. We’re already seeing the response to this trend from macro retailers like Target, Safeway and BestBuy with their expanding presences on Facebook, mobile applications, and location based services like Shopkick and Foursquare. For the mid-size and smaller retailers who are losing the tech-race, the time is now to start implementing solutions like the Accelitec software suite if they hope to close this growing gap and ultimately start winning back a percentage of these sales lost to online retailers.

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s Check-In Rewards Mobile App

CKE Restaurants, which owns Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s, has an iPhone/Android app that allows people to check-in at their local fast food locations to be rewarded with a chance to win free stuff. The interface is very clean and at first glance the prizes appear to be pretty substantial, including anything from a dollar off your next soda to free burgers. The Wheel of Awesome, which is also available on both companies’ Facebook pages, is able to ramp up the rewards that an individual is eligible to win based on their frequency of application usage. Once a coupon has been awarded, the winner has 7 days to redeem it by showing their “winning ticket” at the point of sale. This is a great example of a way for restaurants/retailers/grocers to reward their customers through location based services, leverage the functionality of social media, and ultimately increase brand awareness and customer loyalty by applying a simple and fun ‘game-layer’ to what would otherwise be ordinary, everyday coupons.

Google Rounding Out Mobile Strategy With Stealth Startup

It was announced this week that Google acquired Zetawire, a Toronto-based mobile payments-focused startup, in August. This is important and revealing news for anyone trying to understand the long-term mobile strategy for the Silicon Valley search engine behemoth. It’s widely known that the latest version of the Google Android mobile OS, known as 2.3 or “Gingerbread”, has been designed to include the functionality of a digital wallet for users to store value; Zetawire is a natural augmentation to the digital wallet because they bring vital pieces like NFC (Near Field Communication) and payments transactions into the fold. There isn’t a great deal of information available on the startup in question, but we do know that they had several very important patents around mobile banking, identity management and credit card/mobile coupon transaction processing - all of which points directly to the idea that Google is attempting to turn smartphones running on their OS into virtual, digital wallets. With Google now officially stepping into the mobile payments and LBS space, retailers need to keep an eye on ways to enhance their business by incentivizing and engaging  customers in/around their stores via Android smartphones.