eCommerce Growth Correlates to Greater Smartphone Ownership
Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Michael Essany.
It looks like smartphones and shopping are the new peanut butter and jelly.
All signs suggest that this inseparable tandem will continue to fuel tremendous growth in online shopping for 2012 and beyond.
According to the latest projections from Digital Marketer, advertisers are poised to rapidly direct more of their scarce marketing dollars to the mobile platform in response to the undeniable correlation between smartphone ownership and eCommerce.
A Key Player
“Smartphones are a major driving force in eCommerce today,” independent business analyst Mike Randazzo tells Daily Deal Media, “but not just because consumers are making more purchases directlythrough their smartphone.“
Randazzo asserts that greater smartphone ownership is helping eCommerce by creating more productexposure opportunities.
“Many consumers use their handsets in stores to check competing prices online,” he says. “They often don’t pull the trigger until they are back home and infront of their computer or laptop. Regardless, smartphones are a direct contributor and indirect catalyst for eCommerce.”
Consequently, advertisers know that smartphone owners are generally favorable to online shopping. And with Nielsen reporting that 43% of Americans with cellphone service now own smartphones, mobile marketing dollars are about to balloon.
“In 2011,” Digital Marketer reveals, “only 0.9% of advertising dollars went into mobile advertising; however, the mobile ecommerce statistics should start to improve in 2012. With the sheer number of smartphones being purchased, methods for purchasing using smartphones will surely be improved and then advertising should follow.“
The Hype Persists
No shortage of big names are stepping up with bold predictions for what 2012 will mean for smartphones, online shopping, and the anticipated mobile commerce boom.
Just this week, eBay chief John Donahoe revealed that nearly 900,000 new eBay shoppers made their very first eBay purchase in 2011 through the company’s popular mobile apps. That figure represents a 113 percent increase year-over-year for the online auction giant.
Industry-wide, the research shows that eBay isn’t alone when it comes to possessing and trumpeting bold expectations.
A recent survey conducted by Market Strategies International indicates that seven in ten smartphone owners have now shopped or at least browsed for products via the mobile web.
“Smartphone users are shopping and purchasing through their smartphones at the rate we expected. However, we were surprised to see that users are buying physical goods at about the same rate as apps, indicating that the technology is on the verge of widespread adoption,” said Ann Graham Hannon, vice president of the financial services division at Market Strategies.
Conversely, Randazzo believes that the trend will not only continue, it will be aided greatly by the efforts of smartphone makers to increase the size and clarity of their screens.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about mobile commerce having been hindered in the past by smaller smartphone screens,” Randazzo says. “This will be less of a hurdle in years to come as the screens get slightly larger and shoppers grow more accustomed to browsing and purchasing on their handset.”
Sources: Digital Marketer, Market Strategies International
Facebook Acquires Social Guide Gowalla
Facebook isn’t talking, but according to unnamed sources, the social networking giant has acquired Gowalla, the location based startup that launched in 2009.
In September Gowalla reported a redesign of its mobile app in a move to change its focus from check-ins to a socially powered guide to cities, parks and regions around the world. Josh Williams, co-founder and CEO of Gowalla told Huffington Post reporter, Bianca Bosker that the move was prompted by an industry wide move toward combining check-ins with discounts and rewards, and that it was never a goal for Gowalla to enter the daily deals space
“We wanted to go back to our passion, which is inspiring people to visit new places and visit the world through the eyes of someone they trust,” he said. “I think the check-in industry is going to be doing interesting things around loyalty rewards and daily deals, but that’s something entirely separate from what we’re trying to solve.”
Bosker speculated that there might be more to the company’s change in direction, citing competition by sites like Foursquare, Groupon and Google all looking to deliver location-based offers to consumers’ mobile devices.
According to CNNMoney, Williams and most of the Gowalla staff will be moving to Facebook’s offices in Palo Alto where they will be working on the new Facebook Timeline feature.
When asked about the acquisition, Facebook’s only comment was “We don’t comment on rumors and speculation.” Gowalla was not available for comment.
Source: Huffington Post, CNNMoney
Daily Deals News Bites for November 27-December 3 2011
Singapore’s Sprooki, a location-based app, says it will make it easy for consumers to find local deals, make purchases via their mobile device such as iPhone or iPad and then redeem the deal without the need to print out a voucher. The app was designed with malls and retailers in mind, allowing them to promote offers to shoppers in the near vicinity.
Sprooki users can follow their favorite merchants and receive special offers. This provides the merchant with the added opportunity to gain repeat customers and build brand loyalty.
According to Terence LEE from SGEntrepreneurs, there are those that think shopping centers have fallen by the wayside when it comes to ecommerce, but he said this is far from the truth.
“…I like how this company has not forgotten the fact that malls still hold much sway in the Singapore retail industry. Sprooki is smart to leverage on them to promote their own app, while at the same time offering malls a tool to promote their brand alongside the merchants under them.”
You can learn more about Sprooki by visiting the site at www.sprooki.com. – SGEntrepreneurs
Koobflog.com, a site described as a social network for golfers says it has added an online store just for golf gear and accessories. The store is divided into categories to make it easy for shoppers to find exactly what they’re looking for, such as accessories, gloves, balls, bags, clubs and even training aids.
With the holiday shopping season in full gear, you may be wondering what to get that special golfer in your life. Koobflob may have the answer.
“Finding the right gift around the holidays can be difficult, but there is an easy solution for the golfer on your gift list,” said Anthony Westrup, Koobflog co-founder.
Koobflab also provides a place for users to connect with other players through their forum, research information on golf courses and book tee times with on-line Tee Time reservations to over 3000 courses in partnership with GolfNow’s booking engine (over 4 million tee times booked!).
“In our on-going commitment to providing the most comprehensive golf site on the internet, offering a shopping venue is a logical value added choice for our community,” said Westrup.
You can find the Koobflog online store by going to the main site and clicking on the Golf Store link. – PRWeb
Frugalo, yet another mobile app looking to help consumers sort through the confusion of managing their daily deal vouchers, launched this past week. The app links to users Facebook friends allowing them to share deals, get alerts when a Facebook friend makes a purchase and lets users get together to take advantage of special promotions.
The app connects with Gmail accounts and imports all users’ purchases from major deal providers such as Groupon, LivingSocial, kgbdeals, GiltCity, Bloomspot, and BlackboardEats.
Founded by two former Digg employees, Michael Cieri and Scott Reynolds, earlier this year Frugalo is backed by funding from AngelPad, a mentorship program founded by a team of ex-Googlers.
To find out more about Frugalo, you can check out the site at www.frugalo.com – Social Barrel
Blip A Deal Finds Deals Worldwide
We know we all love local daily deal sites. Deals on stuff we can just run out and get, or trying a new restaurant, but do you ever wonder what’s going on in the deals world around the globe? Ever wonder if you could get a great deal on a piece of jewelery from India or a wool scarf from New Zealand? “Blip a Deal” is here to help you with those global purchases, or just to provide you with 
information about what kinds of deals are happening in other parts of the world.
“Blip a Deal” is an Australian start-up, and a global deal aggregator, that ensures both English speakers and non English speakers are able to access deals worldwide from a single site, or their mobile device, on which you’re able to set language preferences. “Blip a Deal” has only had a mobile app for a short period of time, but they’ve already seen more than 30,000 downloads in Australia alone.
What countries provide the deals? “Blip a Deal” currently collects deals from the following countries: Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Deals are available in 500 cities world wide.
Dang that’s a lot of deals!
So you ask, “Why would I need to find deals in New Zealand or Hong Kong?”
Eric Friedman on the Evolution of Foursquare
Foursquare initially wanted people to check in so a database could be built of what is around, what is popular and what your friends like. The latest Foursquare is for the ios5 which places users on a so-called to do list where users are notified with activity updates. Merchants are currently requesting a way to generating money from Foursquare check-ins with a variety of lucrative offers but Foursquare insist they stay a free service at this time. They realized early on that competing in the marketplace was extremely costly, so they took the “software route”. They partnered with companies already possessing the business aspect and attracting customers and created a mutually beneficial relationship for all involved without making users learn a new skill.
What will govern the new Foursquare Radar push notifications?
Foursquare uses the information users have already given them based on the opt-ins users follow such as lists and friends. Enter in the Foursquare radar. Now, Foursquare additionally has data regarding time-based service. The radar can make a good guess as to where a user is likely to want to go at 9 am verses 9 pm. Thus if a user walks by a nightclub at 12 noon, the radar will know not to notify the user of that venue based on the time of day. This is currently being expanded into a full form of radar features incorporating issues such as weather conditions at a given place, at a given time.
Introducing the New “Merchant Offers”
Foursquare offers deals for merchants to place and notify users of. These offers will now, more than ever, essentially reward users with a built-in loyalty program for frequent check-ins. Additionally, merchants are given analytics of their usage with Foursquare merchant offers to best select the deals to run for a particular location, day of week and time of day. Analytics through the new Radar system will enable better deals and better sales figures.
Current Issues
Information overload is a constant with everyone today, especially those with iPhones or those who work in the technology sector. Foursquare wants to keep this information relevant to the users, including offers at places or purchase each user frequently visits.
Upcoming Channels
Many industries have potential to use Foursquare for their advantage, which the company hopes to use in the future. Large brands such as Costco and insurance companies are next on the list, however these companies do take longer to setup in this check-in processes.
Make sure to be on the look out (or sign-up with our newsletter ) for our exclusive 1 on 1 video interview segment with Eric Friedman, Business Development Director of Foursquare!
