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Archive for the ‘Mobile’ Category

Cyber Monday 2011 Was The Biggest Online Shopping Day Ever

December 1, 2011 by John Suder

Cyber Monday 2011

The data is in and it looks like 2011 was the biggest year ever for the day online merchants have dubbed ‘Cyber Monday’. According to Comscore, sales were up over 22% from the previous year. This can be partially attributed to the fact that people aren’t purchasing more products online – but that are are more people purchasing online that ever before. Also, the ubiquity of purchasing via mobile devices seems to be coming into its own.

Let’s look at the numbers:

• Purchases on Monday totaled over $1.3 billion dollars

• Cyber Monday 2011 was only the second day ever of one billion dollars purchased online in a single day (just over $1 billion was purchase on the same day on 2010)

.• Spending was up 22% over last year

• 28 percent of consumers reported shopping online (versus 21 percent last year)

• 7% of all purchase were made with mobile devices

• Consumers spent 89 dollars more online as compared to last year (267.71 vs. 1987.83 in 2010)

• Electronics posted the highest growth – 10% (no real surprise there, but what’s interesting to note is that as the electronics industry matures, prices go down, so there seems to be an uptick of the quantity of electronics purchased online vs. other categories)

• The main reason given by shoppers at to why they shopped on Cyber Monday was to ‘comparison shop’ (29%, up 6% from last year).

Online still has a way to go to catch the traditional brick-and-mortar ‘Black Friday’ numbers – but a billion dollars is a good start.

Sources: NPD Group, IBM Benchmark, Comscore

 

 

The Friday Five is curated and written by John Suder, SUMO Heavy’s Head of User Experience and Minister of Propoganda. If you’ve got a story idea or see something  feature-worthy for the Friday Five, contact John at john@sumoheavy.com. 

 

 

Tesco Tests a Virtual Store in South Korea

October 5, 2011 by John Suder

Challenge

Tesco, the global supermarket and general merchandise retailer, wanted to expand their market in South Korea. Their main competitor is E-Mart, the oldest and largest discount retailer in the country. South Korea is a unique market, so Tesco experimented with an idea to see if it could grow their market share without building additional stores.

Opportunity

South Koreans are the second-hardest working population in the world. Their weekly shopping trip is a dreaded task, so Tesco decided to bring the stores to the people.

They built a ‘virtual store’ (rebranded as ‘Homeplus’ for the experiment) in the subway system to allow commuters to ‘shop’ online using their mobile devices. These virtual stores blended the traditional shopping experience with the convenience of buying online.

How It Works

The shoppers would browse the ‘aisles’ of the virtual store, featuring over 500 products, which were actually large graphic panels, featuring full-size photos of the actual products and a QR code on the ‘shelf’. Using the Homeplus app, they’d log in and begin their shopping trip, scanning each item they’d like to purchase. Once the customer checked out, their items were delivered right to their door at a time of their choosing.

Results

Customers could shop at Tesco/Home plus whenever they wanted, without visiting a store. Additionally, it repurposed “waiting time” into “shopping time”, basically monetizing a captive audience. The Homeplus App, which now allows Homeplus customers to scan and place orders at the virtual store, has already been downloaded by 600,000 people since launching and July online sales have increased 200% compared to April 2011. Currently, this places Homeplus number No. 1 in the online market (and a close No. 2 to E-Mart in the offline market).

Another reason this worked so well is that smartphone use in the South Korean is ubiquitous and millions take the subway each day. This would never replace traditional shopping – rather it augments it and creates a new distribution channel.

There’s something to be said about using that wasted time in the train station efficiently. Could this work in the states? Given high rates of vandalism in our subways, probably not, but it certainly gives food-for-thought (pun intended) for unused spaces and idle time to provide new channels and convenience for your online customers.

Magento Launches Mobile Platform: Reach More Customers via Smartphones.

June 24, 2010 by John Suder

The Magento Team has announced the launch of Magento mobile, a new product that will allow Magento merchants to easily create branded, native mobile storefront applications that are deeply integrated with Magento’s market-leading eCommerce platform.

Here’s an overview of what Magento Mobile offers:

Seamless Storefront Integration The Magento-mobile admin will allow you to bring the functionality of Magento eCommerce to your mobile commerce channel.

This includes full integration with your store’s catalog, checkout, inventory, reporting and more.

Magento Mobile Storefront

Easier, Hassle-free submissions Magento manages and handles the App submission process, allowing you to focus on running your business.

Easily Manage Multiple Devices One installation allows you to manage multiple devices.

Fully Customizable Device-specific features and branded themes can be deployed with just a few clicks. Easily update the colors and appearance of your app with the new Magento mobile admin, even after customers have downloaded your app.

Smartphones are the best way to create deeper relationships with your customers. Combined with Magento’s mobile platform, creating apps for your storefront just became easier and more efficient.

SUMO Heavy Industries can help you lead the way with a custom Magento storefront app. Contact us to get started!