Leading point of sale (POS) solution provider DigiPoS has launched MobileShopper, a smartphone application that integrates online shopping with the in-store experience - and unlocks new revenue channels for retailers.
“This is the first truly transactional mobile app for retail,” says DigiPoS South Africa General Manager Regan Atkins. “It brings together in one place many services to make life easier for customers and retailers alike, from store location and navigation through self-service checkout to customised promotions and reward vouchers.”
With a mobile phone, says Atkins, “customers can be in your store and online at the same time - and many of them are making full use of the opportunity”. Motorola's 2009 Retail Holiday Season Shopper Study found that 51% of consumers between the ages of 18 and 65 had used their mobile phones for in-store activities, including comparison shopping, product information, coupons and getting peer feedback.
Now, for the first time, retailers can enjoy the benefits as well. Mobile Shopper offers true multi-channel integration, deploying a simple middleware application that links the retailer's existing systems to the customer's mobile phone.
“Mobile offers increasing and highly measurable ROI as other marketing channels lose their appeal to customers,” says Atkins. “Mobile Shopper is a 100% opt-in channel in which the customer controls their own level of engagement and interaction with the retailer. It enables relevant, tailored and timely personal marketing via a medium which is always on, always available and has a built-in purchase mechanism.”
For the consumer, the Mobile Shopper app turns their phones into a handheld scanner, self-checkout device and information portal all at the same time. It covers a full range of retail touch points, including ecommerce, a store locator, coupons, loyalty, advertising and promotions, price verification lists and in-store navigation.
The app has been developed initially for the iPhone, whose users are the most likely to purchase using their phones. Versions for BlackBerry and Android smartphones are already in development, however, DigiPoS is in talks with a number of major European and British retailers to launch pilot projects in early 2011.
The iPhone app and can be found at www.digipos.co.uk/msaas.html where it is free for shoppers to download.
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