The Mobile Money Network™ Blog

What the mobile landscape means for business in 2013

This week our Marketing Director, Nick White, was on the panel for QuBit’s Breakfast masterclass that considered what the mobile landscape means for business in 2013. Nick urged people to think about how mobile can influence every part of the purchase. Some interesting facts came out of the discussion, including:

• 1 in every £10 spent in the UK is on a mobile device

• 47% of people will shop elsewhere if their mobile experience isn’t up to scratch

• 80% of brands don’t have a mobile website

We look forward to participating in more of QuBit’s masterclasses in the future.

PM backs mobile payments 

The profile of the mobile payments industry got a boost this week when David Cameron held up Alastair Lukies and Monitise (one of MMN’s major shareholders) as a major British success story in his closing speech at the Conservative Party Conference. It is great that, in Monitise, the UK has a true global leader in this exciting industry.

4 pointers for mobile success

Amazon is leading the way in terms of mobile commerce innovation and we enjoyed this article, (which attempted to explain their success with 12 reasons), because of their applicability to all retailers. However, we think it could be boiled down to four:

1. Product range – people go to Amazon invariably because they know they can get what they want there for a reasonable (not necessarily the cheapest) price.

2. Designed for mobile – Amazon’s merchandising and design are specific to mobile (it isn’t a lift and shift of their e-commerce proposition).

3. Easy to buy – Amazon offers one-click purchase. Last week in our blog we saw that the dropout from mobile sites is 75% more than from e-commerce sites. One-click purchase will massively reduce that dropout. (Of course, MMN are able to provide this capability to every retailer who isn’t Amazon!).

4. Barcode scanner – this is a brilliant example of how an online retailer can use mobile technology to successfully disrupt the High Street. Amazon are encouraging people to go into someone else’s retail store, barcode the product and see how much they could buy it for online. They’re using the store as a showcase for their products by offering the consumer a more convenient one-click experience.

Will Collect leave Facebook wanting?

Facebook are trialing a Want button and a Collect button. The Want button is an opportunity for Facebook to connect retailers with consumers, while the Collect button could be a way of putting a Pinterest-style collection together for the Facebook user, which would be a sensible defensive play against the upcoming social network. They have two challenges: the beauty of Facebook is the simplicity of the experience. If you add ‘Collect’ and ‘Want’ to ‘Like’, it undermines that simplicity and may confuse people, turning them turn off. Secondly, ‘Want’ seems to involve directing people away from Facebook to the vendor’s website. It would make sense for Facebook to offer a way to purchase within their environment but it’s contrary to their philosophy to hold data like addresses and bank details. Facebook hasn’t resolved their commerce solution yet, but these are baby steps in the right direction.

 

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Top 50 Mobile Innovators 2012

This week our inclusion in Mobile Entertainment’s list of Top 50 Mobile Innovators 2012 was announced. We’re proud to be listed alongside Blippar, Zeebox and Shazam.

Simply Tap unites retailers like MCX

Last week we mentioned the launch of the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) by a group of US retailers including Wal-Mart, Best Buy Co and Target Corp. In response, the Financial Times were among press who likened our instant mobile checkout app Simply Tap to the MCX initiative.

PayPal’s retail solution?

The big story of this week was that PayPal announced their mobile payments initiative with McDonalds in France. Following on from the Square/Starbucks tie-up last week, we’re seeing big brands adopting mobile payments. Once again it’s fast food: a couple of seconds makes a huge difference at the McDonalds’ till. However, this is just a trial in 20 French outlets and we haven’t heard about the user-experience yet. Last June PayPal’s Pizza Express collaboration didn’t produce a great user experience and we doubt this will prove much better. A question mark also remains over whether PayPal are offering retailers a solution or whether they’re a solution looking for a problem. Traditionally PayPal haven’t had access to High Street sales: mobile will help them grab a piece of the retail pie by nicely bridging online and offline.

Loyalty schemes value in mobile payments app

It’s great to see big chains in the States trialling new technology. Dunkin’ Donuts, who I worked for 15 years ago, have followed Starbucks by launching a mobile payments app. It’s not a ground-breaking solution but the Starbucks’ app got a million users in the States, I expect they’ll have similar success. This isn’t just about speed at the till: the loyalty scheme is crucial in keeping those customers coming through through the door.

Is video a catalyst for m-commerce sales? 

This Forbes feature proposes that video is a catalyst for m-commerce sales because it’s consuming over half of internet traffic on mobile devices, however it’s a tenuous argument and we’re doubtful of their conclusion. Video consumes a significant proportion of data because of the bandwidth it requires, much more so than Facebook or text-based articles. In the UK, video isn’t effective on the High Street because the quality of our mobile phone networks means you can’t stream reliably. Video works much better in places with a Wi-Fi network. Interestingly Forbes doesn’t mention whether the bandwidth consumption is taking place over Wi-Fi or by the mobile networks themselves. 4G is an opportunity for the UK networks to improve their bandwidth, increase coverage and quality of service. Once this has been achieved we can start to look at the role of video in driving m-commerce sales.

Google address mobile search with Playbook

Google have just updated their UK Mobile Playbook to address the pressing question: ‘How should I invest in mobile?’ rather than the outdated: ‘Why should I invest in mobile?’ The new report mentions our partner Carphone Warehouse as an example of a business which is ‘embracing local consumers by offering features and functionality tailored specifically to potential customers nearby’. The fact that Google have created a Mobile Playbook is interesting. Mobile is the biggest threat they’ve experienced since launch because it offers new ways to search and changes the way we consume data. In the future, search will involve scanning images with your smartphone rather than just inputting text into a PC and targeted, local searches will become more relevant because your phone is always with you (unlike your PC). As the search and consumption model changes with mobile, can Google adapt and convince their customers that they remain the de facto standard?

Photo by Salim Virji

 

 

 

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Welcome to The Mobile Money Network blog. Rather than just using this space to talk about the exciting things we’re getting up to, we’ll also be providing insightful opinion and thought leadership about the business of mobile commerce. Things are developing rapidly in this world and we’ll be analysing how these changes affect retailers, banks and multi-channel media companies.

The story so far

If you want to know more about our business then watch Mobile Money Network: The Story So Far. Featuring contributions from our chairman Sir Stuart Rose and Retail Week‘s George MacDonald, it serves as an introduction to the mobile payments revolution which is changing the face of retail right now. This year, 35% of retail traffic will be via mobile and by 2020, Visa expects 50% of transactions to run through mobile devices.

The Economist on QR Codes 

QR Codes have been failing to become the next big thing in the UK for a while, but according to The Economist, they’re finally taking off. One of the reasons they haven’t worked is that consumers need an incentive to scan, be that a competition, giveaway or the opportunity to buy. The feature crucially ignores what happens when you monetize QR codes. Purchasing with a QR code turbo-charges the offering and gives the consumer an instant hit.

Booming in-store smart phone usage

Mobile Commerce Daily says we’re addicted to using our smartphones and 33% of us would apparently rather play with our phones than have sex! When it comes to shopping, the figures are even higher. A report from Tradedoubler found that 42% of smartphone owners in Europe are going online in stores to check prices, read reviews and get product information. The next step for retailers is to capitalise on the smartness of these phones by offering the consumer a virtual shop assistant on their mobile. While consumers won’t want to download an app for every retailer in the land, our Simply Tap app can offer this service, and undoubtedly, the virtual assistant will be better informed than its human counterpart.

Mobile banking snack culture

This week a Forrester Report said that US banks were spending one third of their digital budget on mobile this year. We’re surprised the figure isn’t higher. In the UK, mobile banking has become an accepted channel, in fact NatWest customers are making more log-ins via their mobiles than their computers. They’re using their devices in different ways to interact with banks – mobiles use is characterised by ‘snacking’ for example, checking balances, making payments on the move, while bigger screens are used for more in-depth tasks. The upshot is that consumers are becoming more in-touch with their finances and building a familiar and trusting relationship with mobile banking and payments.

PayPal can go further

One of the benefits of mobile payments is that you won’t have to remember to take your wallet out with you. This week PayPal released a video showing how much easier it will be to go shopping in Aurora stores and Pizza Express with a mobile phone. While we’re all for mobile payment iniatives, we’re keen to look at the whole retail process. For the retailer, payment comes right at the end of a journey which includes marketing and getting the right consumers and products through the door. To develop the mobile payment space and benefit consumers and retailers, we need to innovate at each stage of the chain.

Media coverage

Mobile Money Network was in the media last week when our Simply Tap/Thornton’s Best of British offer was mentioned by Lorraine on her daytime ITV show.

We’re also gaining attention in social media land with the innovative Virtual Vinyl Store which has been produced from a collaboration between Simply Tap, Liam Gallagher’s fashion label Pretty Green and Universal music. As well as offering music lovers the chance to purchase classic vinyl and participate in a music quiz, we’re offering a great trip to see the Stone Roses play in Japan.

In an incisive piece in yesterday’s Guardian, our MD, John Milliken, called for retailers to respond quickly to the fundamental shift in consumer behaviour that is being caused by mobile phones. The article has been creating some noise on social, and is definitely worth a read and a RT!

Out and about

This week our team are attending Etail Europe and the British Retail Consortium’s Retail Symposium. Please come and say hello if you’re there too. We’re keen to exchange information and ideas across the industry, and actively encourage you to pass our blog onto your colleagues. If you want to contribute, please post a comment or contact us. Follow our journey here or @theMMN for daily hits.

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