Great Mobile Expectations

Retailers are expecting a lucrative holiday shopping season in 2016, and perhaps a sizable piece of a larger holiday pie. But vendors who are first to energize the mobile crowd — with convenient apps for product research, rewards and fast checkout — will be enjoying seconds of that dessert pie at the dinner table, while those who lag behind will be left with the dishes.

Chatbot DIY Consultants

For consumers who want advice on a bathroom cabinet or paint colors for a living room, they need look no further than a Home Depot chatbot. The home improvement icon is pursuing beacons and chatbots for mobile consumers, who account for 50 percent of the company’s online traffic, according to Mobile Commerce Daily.

In a presentation at the MMA SM2 Innovation Summit 2016, an executive for Home Depot stated that the growth in mobile is inspiring exploration of IoT technologies to drive sales. Home Depot’s core customer base is Baby Boomers, but by focusing on mobile platforms, the company hopes to attract younger consumers from Gen Y and Gen Z, who Home Depot calls “mobile prodigies.”

According to Yvette Davis, manager of media strategy for Home Depot: “Mobile prodigies value personalization, and they use mobile for shopping inspiration. Everything that we’re doing is keeping those mobile prodigies in mind.”

Home Depot is also experimenting with beacon technology and creative optimization but claims it still has a ways to go. “We have our beacon technology that we’ve acquired, but … we have to get mobile right. Mobile significantly drives foot traffic to my physical retail locations,” Davis added.

At the same conference, an executive from Verve addressed “mobile prodigies” and their annual spending power of $250 billion–$260 billion. This group of users willingly offers their data for use by brands because they are expecting a personalized experience. Julie Bernard, chief marketing officer of Verve, said: “It’s more than predictive personalization; [mobile prodigies] are seeking anticipatory inspiration. They know they are sharing lots of data; they expect us to use that data to know their hobbies, interests and pull all that together.”

Also presenting at the conference was Allstate. Sanjay Gupta, chief marketing officer of Allstate, noted that few people use their smartphones to interact with insurance companies. Gupta emphasized three marketing concepts that Allstate had integrated into its app strategy: mobile, shared economy and video. The insurance firm’s apps, in addition to providing information on insurance status to users, gives safe driving rewards, records images of homes, cars and insured possessions and drops a pin wherever users park their car. The app is also Uber-inspired and tracks a tow truck in real time.

Allstate has done its homework in the world of mobile; the app offers insurance options for the houses of Airbnb hosts and the cars of Uber and Lyft drivers.

Video Groove

Video is the way to go. And gimmicks, particularly for the holiday season. Most likely a one-minute wonder, Snapchat is about to start selling sunglasses with a small camera capable of recording 10-second video clips for $130. According to The Wall Street Journal Magazine, Snapchat Chief Executive Evan Spiegel said that the Spectacles are a toy, meant to be worn for fun at events.

However, the image records a wider view than a smartphone to give a circular image that is more like one from the human eye to reflect the concept of a memory. Snapchat confirmed that it is all about the experience: “What if you could go back and see that memory the way you experienced it? That’s why we built Spectacles.”

A user taps a button on the side of the glasses to record, and the clips are then downloaded to the Snapchat app using Wi-Fi for Android devices or Bluetooth for Apple. Snapchat is experimenting with the technology, while “figuring out how they [the glasses] fit into people’s lives,” according to Los Angeles Times.

The move is reminiscent of Google’s foray into Glass some years ago, which came to an abrupt end following consumer privacy concerns about cameras on eyewear. According to Chicago Tribune, the young audience that the Snapchat Spectacles are targeting may be less concerned with the implications of cameras and privacy, particularly considering that the app’s primary function is to share photos and videos.

Statista reported that U.S. teenagers polled in 2016 said that Snapchat is the most important social network of their generation, ahead of Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Snapchat is poised for an IPO next year and has an estimated value of $16 billion.

Square’s SME Fix

Square has fixed a problem related to its Australian launch in March. The company offered a $19 device that plugged into a device’s headphone jack and that could read debit and credit cards for a merchant fee of 1.9 percent. Square was targeting small businesses with the device, but the company had overlooked the popularity of “tap and pay” among Australian consumers.

Square reacted and announced a new device that offers contactless transactions, although it is more expensive at $59. It will be released through vendors in “the near future.”

Ben Pfisterer, country manager for Australia for Square, told Business Insider: “If you go to a bank for card [capabilities], you get judged … [the banks] are more reluctant to give small businesses a go … but we don’t think you should be disadvantaged as a small business.” Square claimed that 80 percent of its Australian customers had not accepted credit or debit cards before signing up.

Consumers Are Wearable Weary

Consumers may be getting a little perplexed with the surfeit of emerging payment technologies and may just stick with their phones this holiday season. American Express has a joint venture with fitness tracker company Jawbone, and wearers of Jawbone wristbands can use them to pay for goods, as well as for measuring their fitness.

In Australia, Visa and Heritage, along with menswear label MJ Bale, have introduced an Australian merino wool suit, and wearers can pay by swiping their sleeve. However, consumers seem nonplussed, according to Financial Times. Well, at least the sleeve is not going into a plate of food.

Samsung, Sensory And Security

Security is an area of concern for mobile payments users, and Samsung is advancing its forays into biometric authentication for mobile devices. The company reported on Sept. 23 that Samsung SDS is working with Sensory to integrate features, such as a front-facing camera and voice recognition, to devices for authentication.

Holiday Groceries In Record Time At Sam’s

Sam’s Club members can now get around the aisles quickly and check out even faster with the new scan-and-go mobile checkout service for Android or iOS. Shoppers scan item barcodes, and the app updates a digital cart. The customer can then tap and pay and receive a receipt on their device, which is shown to a Sam’s Club employee when the customer leaves the store.

Rumors abound that Walmart is piloting a similar mobile checkout, but there are also reports that Sam’s parent company is on the fence, perhaps because Walmart Pay is already available and checking everyone’s card on the way out may negate the speedy checkout.

Uber Gift Cards

And if all that mobile holiday action has shoppers worn out, Uber has a way to take the weight off their weary feet and a gift for those who have everything but a chauffeur to drive them home. The Uber gift card has been announced ahead of the 2016 holiday season. The cards carry a value from $15 to $500 and will be sold in Target and Walmart stores. Uber’s competitor, Lyft, introduced gift cards in the summer and was selling them at select Starbucks locations.

Cards Vs. Cash

Lastly, Euromonitor International has predicted that card payments may surpass cash in 2016, and a busy holiday shopping season will certainly help. Euromonitor reported that consumers will spend about $23.2 trillion in card payment transactions and $22.6 trillion in cash in 2016. However, according to Kendrick Sands, a senior consumer finance analyst for Euromonitor: “There’s always going to be a portion of the population that will even pay more to use cash.”