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.

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?

Kmart Introduces Real-Time Consumer Interaction via Twitter

Something interesting happened on the way to Fashion Week in New York City; Kmart is now allowing certain participants at this year’s fashion summit to interact and request products from them simply by tweeting. The retailer has equipped a limited number of influencers and bloggers with what they are calling “survival kits”, loaded with an assortment of items to help them get through the week in style. The list includes items such as “lip balm, breath mints and stockings”, and by communicating with the Kmart twitter feed they can get a refill on any of these items almost immediately. This is a novel example of a retailer not only recognizing but leveraging the utility of social media at a major event.

Did other retailers notice what Kmart has done here? This could be a powerful tool for all grocers, small and large, to allow shoppers within their stores to tweet questions, comments, suggestions and ideas directly to the store, enabling real-time give and take between shoppers and retailers. What do you think? If your local grocer or favorite retailer were using a tool like this, would you use it to communicate with them while you shopped?

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.

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.

iPhone Organizes Customer Loyalty Cards with scanaroo App

iPhone owners with $.99 can now consolidate all of their loyalty, membership and insurance cards in one place – their smartphones. Scanaroo is available in the iTunes Store and lets users shed the majority of the plastic cards in their wallets and on their keychains with the goal of making life easier and simpler. The next step is aggregating purchasing history data and then allowing complimentary companies to reward customers simultaneously via social media; a member of Gold’s Gym buys a double cheeseburger at McDonalds and gets a Facebook message addressed from their personal trainer offering them a month of free membership if they sign up for a new pilates class; a family rents a movie on Netflix and are instantly offered a special on 2 large pizzas and a 2 liter soda from their local Little Caesars.

Product Recall Automation and Customer Loyalty

Two pieces of news the other day caught our eye.

First, Kroger reported strong quarterly earnings by “focusing on service to keep its current customers instead of slashing prices to attract new ones”  – a core business philosophy we heartily endorse. Kroger has spent the last several years growing its loyalty program using customer purchase history and interests to deliver personalized marketing messages and promotions; this really underscores the legitimacy of customized messaging for grocers of all sizes.

Second, Capitol Hill has now produced a bill on recall legislation has that would require food retailers to notify shoppers about recalled products. A number of retailers have recently beaten their chests seeking recognition for sending emails to all of their customers during a recall.

Narrowing the scope of these messages to only those customers who are known to have purchased a recalled product and have opted into email notifications is a fundamental starting point, but what is the customer supposed to do with the recalled product? In our experience, this is a tricky question that often leaves customers thankful to know they have a recalled product, but unclear about what to do with the information.

An effective solution that drives customer affinity for the retailers and benefits existing loyalty customers is one that not only notifies consumers that they have purchased a recalled product, but also informs them that they have store credit loaded on to their loyalty card to purchase a replacement.  No receipt required, since the underlying technology knows which guests are within the window of entitlement, and no confusion about what to do with the recalled product thanks to the instant credit.

Accelitec has a proprietary solution tying store credits to customer loyalty cards for recalls in just such circumstances. Retailers can begin delivering this important customer service benefit without being required by federal legislation, and potentially turn an unfortunate recall into a positive experience for their loyal customers – doing so may actually help them win new customers, as well.

Upscale Restaurants Taking Wine Lists to the iPad

The latest iPad-inspired trend? A number of restaurants, including Bone’s in Atlanta have now started to publish their wine lists on the popular Apple gadget. This not only allows diners to scroll through the available selection, but more importantly to read reviews and ratings of the various options as well. Some owners are reporting as high as 11% increases in wine purchases per diner, with no other plausible explanation than the technology shift itself. The tech company behind this new trend, Incentient, also has developed solutions for spectators at stadiums to order food, track stats and buy tickets for upcoming events, and cruise lines or hotels wanting to improve customer service by automating check out, scheduling wake up calls or ordering room service at the touch of a screen. This appears to be a great start for the young Long Island company, but some are already voicing concerns that these iPads could become a distraction to the experiences they’re attempting to enhance. One way to potentially reduce the distraction would be to marry the iPad app with a customer loyalty system specific to each restaurant. This would mean that when you log into the application at the table, it immediately knows what types of wine you’ve selected in the past, what you thought of them, and what you might like to try this time around based on the meal you’re planning to pair it with.