Consumers are notoriously fickle and, in today’s world, armed with a mobile phone and more data, they are empowered and emboldened to shop around. Brand and retailer loyalty is at an all time low as online shoppers are trying to get the best deal in terms of price and convenience. So if this is the case, why do retailers keep on trying to push consumers to use the retailer’s exclusive mobile app? This clearly benefits the retailer, but not necessarily the consumer. In a blog

The other day I noticed that my Tesco shopping trolley had a monitoring device on it. On the back of the basket there was a small black box with a sign on it that said, “We’re working to understand how customers shop so we can serve you better.” Yikes, I am being tracked! Digging into it deeper, being physically tracked through a store isn’t that unusual, it’s called “indoor positioning” and sophisticated retailers are using this capability. With the help of the Wi-Fi signal

An interesting blog about the future of mobile was hosted by Forrester and it made some very good points about what shoppers expect from their digital device. In the article “2016 Mobile Predictions: Alternative Ecosystems Beyond Android and iOS Will Emerge”, Forrester states that mobile experiences have become static and brands are too complacent in serving customers in an online environment that most benefits the user, where they already are. Why do brands assume that consu

Today’s buzz phrase in e-commerce is “frictionless transactions”. Why is there a heightened interest in smooth functioning e-commerce? Well, it has to do with where consumers are in the e-commerce technology adoption curve. Using Everett Rogers’s technology adoption lifecycle, we’ve moved past the “early adopters” and in fact, are hitting the plateau in the “early majority” phase. Today’s online shopper not only includes the online bargain hunter, but also the time-poor consu

Greta Paa-Kerner is interviewed by the Cambridge Marketing College about the dynamic world of e-commerce. She discusses online retail trends and shopping influencers for their radio show on Star Radio. #ecommerce #internetretailing #commerce

Recently Facebook announced that it would give free beacons to US retailers that sign up to participate in its Place Tips program. Place Tips is a feature in Facebook that allows users to explore more about a place they are visiting, whether it’s exploring their friends’ photos or moments about which they have written. These locations can be stores or businesses and this connection is what Facebook is looking to exploit. Hence, Facebook is connecting the user to the store not

There has been a noticeable change in the way we buy. While in the past we may have flipped through the pages of a magazine or browsed the shelves of a store for inspiration, today we are getting these great ideas from places that didn’t exist a few years ago, like Pinterest or blogs. Digital plays an important role in this shopping journey and it isn’t always about finding the best price. This new paradigm isn’t really about the mundane purchases like groceries and household

It’s not very often UK consumers can snub their noses at their consumer cousins across the pond and say, “You mean you don’t already have that?” However, the US only recently announced a single loyalty programme where consumers can earn points across multiple companies ranging from paying phone bills to buying groceries. It’s called Plenti (@plenti)and it is part of AmEx, although you don’t need an AmEx card to participate. In the UK we may not now have a coalition government

Consumers are notoriously fickle and, in today’s world, armed with a mobile phone and more data, they are empowered and emboldened to make a switch. Brand and retailer loyalty is at an all time low as online shoppers are trying to get the best deal in terms of price and convenience. So if this is the case, why do retailers keep on trying to push consumers to use their mobile app? According to research conduct by commerce platform @MozuCommerce, 50.3% of retailers believe that