The impact of mobile commerce on the savvy customer
 A lot of discussion over the past week has centred on how consumers are using their smartphones to interact with your business. Apple's iPhone, the Blackberry, Palm Pre and their ilk has put the internet into the hand of the savvy shopper. And it appears they are more than willing to use them to get the best deal possible.
Mobile commerce is going to be a greater challenge than pure eCommerce for one simple reason: the on and offline channels merge in your physical premises. Customers are going to be able to research your offer in real time and compare it to your competitors. They are going to be well informed, not just because they have done the research before they entered the store, but because they are doing it while they are stood looking at the product they want to buy.
Clearly this is going to have wide ranging implications for those who have real-world premises, and it will go beyond technical niceties. For the moment, just to start the process, I would strongly suggest considering the following technological issues:
having a smartphone friendly website is a must. Smartphones cannot generally show the fully functional website with smart Flash animations that desktop and laptop computers can, both a technical limitation of their browsers and the fact download speeds are slower. Whilst having eCommerce online is a nice-to-have you must allow consumers to locate stores, check pricing and stock and reserve items for collection;
consumers will check instore for product reviews and price comparisons. Make it easy for them with a WiFi hotspot and clear signage on where to find product reviews;
consumers are also going to check your instore versus your online price, and may look for discount coupons and vouchers. Make sure your offline staff can access your online promotions and offers, and it can be a good idea to ensure you can offer those same discounts when people walk in the door, even if you don't publicise them.
I am going to come back to the human aspect because I think this is going to be truly challenging for some. But that will be for another day.
Previously on this blog...
the global leader in Contact Center Consolidation 2.0
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Setting up shop in a new country: beyond the website
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Why call centre staff deserve your respect
If call centre staff set the first impression for your business, why do we treat them so badly?
Becoming a Specialist? A hard decision to make ...
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The quest for quality in Agile Software Development
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