A pilot of the Isis mobile wallet is scheduled to kick off this summer in Austin, TX, and Salt Lake City, UT. While the locations for the pilot and partners on the handset and financial services sides have been known for some time, this is the first indication of which retailers will allow shoppers to pay for purchases via the Isis wallet.

“There has been all this news about partnerships with hardware vendors and credit cards, but if you don’t talk about merchants and consumers, it is not going to happen,” said Nick Holland, senior analyst at Yankee Group, Boston.

“It is a step in the right direction,” he said. “It shows that they are doing their homework and are getting some traction.

“It is slightly telling that the national merchants are already Google Wallet merchants – this means there are not any sacrifices being made as far as the retailers are concerned.”

Isis did not respond to a request for comment.

Retail overlap
Mr. Holland points out that there is a bit of overlap between the retailers which are enabling consumers to pay via both major competing NFC-enabled mobile wallet solutions, Google Wallet and Isis.

Merchants partnering with both include The Coca-Cola Company, Champs, Foot Locker, Jamba Juice and Macy’s.

“It is not a big deal for these merchants to buy into Isis if they already have the right hardware for Google Wallet,” Mr. Holland said.

“Isis is in a handful of places within Austin and Salt Lake City – this points to the challenge with NFC, which is that it is hard to scale,” he said.

In total, Isis announced more than 50 merchants will be accepting mobile payments via the mobile payments app, including both local and national brands.

At the local level, there is a list of restaurants, book stores, entertainment facilities and other merchants in both Austin and Salt Lake City who will be enabling customers to pay via Isis.

Additionally, merchants in both cities who already accept contactless payments will be compatible with Isis. These include numerous grocery stores, gas stations and other merchants.

The mobile payments solution, a joint venture of AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, involves a mobile wallet application that uses near-field communications technology. Users can pay for a purchase, receive offers and redeem loyalty points by tapping their phones at supported POS devices at checkout.

Competition gets tough
When Isis was first announced in late 2010, it made a big splash because it was one of the first entries in the nascent mobile payments space.

Over the past year and a half, mobile payments have begun to take off with companies such as PayPal and Starbucks posting significant mobile transaction volumes.

At the same time, the number of mobile payment entries competing for the consumer’s wallet has grown significantly.

While having retailers on board is important in order for Isis to compete, it may not be enough for it to gain significant traction.

One issue is that consumers still have to have the right handsets that are NFC-enabled and work with the Isis mobile app to be able to tap and pay for their purchases.

Additionally, the proliferation of mobile payments solutions makes entering the space for any additional retailers a challenge because they may not want to invest in technology that is going to be obsolete in a few years.

Having a big merchant such as Starbucks, Walmart or Target to sign on could provide the necessary breakthrough. However, such a development appears unlikely since Starbucks is seeing significant success with its own mobile payments solution while Walmart and Target are reportedly working on their own mobile payments solution.

Key to the success of Isis will be its ability to provide couponing, offers and CRM solutions that make the wallet more than a credit card on a phone and offers a strong value proposition.

Per Mr. Holland, Isis may want to consider using an interim software technology such as QR codes to enable mobile payments while its waits for NFC technology to be more broadly available.

“There are a multitude of competitors that are compelling and have a much lower barrier to entry that Isis,” Mr. Holland said.

“Tying the wallet to NFC is going to be problematic for some and it is not going to change until merchants are forced to upgrade,” he said.

“The value proposition isn’t there yet and there are workarounds that are far cheaper for merchants that aren’t beholden to the credit card companies.”

Currently, the new service is being piloted via the new My Offers feature on the American Express iPhone app. During the pilot, consumers mostly in Los Angeles and New York will receive offers from merchants such as Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts.

“We are committed to bringing cardmembers and merchants closer together across social and mobile channels where they are already engaged,” said Luke Gebb, vice president of global network marketing at American Express, New York.

“Our mobile offer engine was created to cut through the clutter of a crowded deal marketplace, to deliver highly relevant, personalized offers to cardmembers,” he said.

American Express is a global services company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences.

How it works
American Express cardmembers can download the iPhone application to their device or update it.

From there, consumers can click to see offers that are available near them.

The list of offers will be ranked based on relevance – such as a cardmember’s spending history and current location.

In addition to relevance, consumers can also browse offers by expiration date.

Via the new mobile service, cardmembers can browse the My Offers dashboard to see what deals they can add to their card, how much they have saved and when the offers expire.

To redeem an offer, cardmembers can add an eligible American Express Card and then use their card to make the qualifying purchase.

Savings are automatically delivered via a statement credit within three to five days.

“We’re launching with our iPhone app, and cardmembers can take advantage of My Offers by downloading or updating the American Express iPhone app,” Mr. Gebb said. “After cardmembers download or update the American Express iPhone app, and log-in, they can click to see ‘Offers Available for You.’

“The list of offers will be ranked based on relevance – taking into account the cardmember’s spending history, their spend graph, and their current location,” he said.

Going social
To help ramp up its mobile offers service, American Express has also enhanced its Go Social offer entry tool for merchants.

Go Social lets small merchants create social and mobile offers, as well as reach cardmember segments and receive detailed reporting on their offers.

“Millions of Amex cardmembers are using our iPhone app,” Mr. Gebb said. “At American Express, we are focused on going where our cardmembers are engaged, and technology is at the center of fulfilling our cardmember, merchant and partner commitments.

“We want to connect and facilitate both experiences and commerce that are relevant, convenient and valuable for our cardmembers and merchants, and My Offers allows us to do just that,” he said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York

Are consumers paying for apps?

Speaking to a bigger issue from marketers to monetize content, 20 percent of revenue from mobile applications comes from three percent of users, according to a new study from ABI Research.

ABI Research’s “Wave 3 U.S. Survey Results – Mobile Applications” report looked at both in-app and mobile Web advertising and found some interesting trends on how consumers pay for content. Additionally, the study outlines a few takeaway points for publishers trying to monetize content.

“If viewing this from a mobile marketer’s perspective, then the appeal of free apps is of course the flipside of the fact that relatively few people spend meaningful sums on apps,” said Aapo Markkanen, London-based senior analyst for consumer mobility at ABI Research.

“Mobile consumers love apps but they are generally price-sensitive, which means natural demand for ad-funded content,” he said.

Stingy users
According to the ABI Research study, approximately two-thirds of app users have paid for an app, which includes everything from an in-app purchase or a paid download.

These paying users had a mean monthly spend of $14, showing that consumers are willing to pay for a somewhat substantial amount of content.

However, when looking at the median spend for the group, the monthly amount drops to $7.50. Although there are some consumers who are willing to pay for a large chunk of content, the majority of consumers are picky about what content they are willing to buy.

In particular, freemium models that let consumers download an app for free and pay to upgrade later is increasingly being used by publishers to monetize content. However, some mobile experts question how long the freemium model can sustain itself.

Additionally, utility apps for business purposes have been successful at monetizing content.

Mobile net
With the uptick in HTML5 development, more companies are looking to develop rich mobile Web sites to reach a broader group of consumers that have any type of mobile device.

Therefore, more marketers should be looking at the mobile Web as a source of revenue, per the report.

For example, The Financial Times recently announced that they would be eliminating its iPad and iPhone apps to further propel its HTML5-based strategy (see story).

Even though the switch from apps to mobile Web sites might make sense for a publisher, other industries such as gaming thrive on the engagement that is only available from an app.

Many publishers are rushing to see how they can make money off of mobile efforts, but it still might be too early for marketers to be thinking in revenue-only terms.

“One prediction that I’d make is that the share of consumers spending money on apps should gradually increase over time,” Mr. Markkanen said.

“First, more apps will become a part of their users’ daily lives, which should reflect well on conversion rates – loyal, closely engaged users are understandably likelier to pay up if compared to newer and more casual ones,” he said.

“Second, once payment methods in app storefronts – especially Google Play – evolve and become user-friendlier, spending money on apps will become more commonplace.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York 

To use the app, consumers need to have a registered online account that can be synced via their devices. In addition to the new Android app, Citizens Financial Group also has an app available for iPhone devices.

“Given the increasing popularity of mobile and online banking, we continue to make investments that provide customers with additional options and convenience for managing their money,” said Jim Hughes, senior vice president and head of media relations and social media at Citizens Financial Group, Boston.

Citizens Financial Group operates both Citizens Bank and Charter One financial institutions with more than 1,460 branches and 3,800 ATMs.

Money management
According to the company, the Citizens Financial Group iPhone app has been downloaded more than 12 million times since it was launched in 2010. The company launched the Android version to reach approximately 50 percent of the smartphone market.

Users can download the Citizens Financial Group app for free from the Google Play Store.

Consumers can transfer money across Citizens Bank and Charter One accounts via the app.

Clients can also set-up the app to pay bills. Users can store contact information inside the app, type in the amount of the bill and pay instantly.

The app uses a device’s location to find the nearest branch and ATM for consumers.

Additionally, consumers can contact a bank directly via a click-to-call function.

New banking
In addition to rolling out the new Android app, Citizens Financial Group has also updated its iPhone app and online banking site.

For example, the company’s online banking site has a feature that lets users send money to friends and family via an email address or mobile phone number. The feature is expected to be rolled out to mobile in the coming months.

Additionally, the iPhone app has been updated to view images of checks, include more transfer options and view images of checks.

Mobile banking is quickly becoming a prime way that consumers access their finances. Additionally, consumers expect more from their banking experience than just being able to view their accounts. Instead, consumers want to be able to complete complex tasks such as depositing checks, transferring money and using their device’s location to find the nearest bank.

For example, a recent study from Juniper Research found that 88 percent of current mobile bankers will want to pay bills via an app by 2016 (see story).

“We know from listening to our customers that they value and need flexibility, simplicity and efficiency as they manage their personal finances and run their businesses,” Mr. Hughes said.

“We continue to see double-digit growth in mobile banking use by our customers and as such, continue investing in and exploring additional technologies in this space,” he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York 

Mobile data traffic takes off, outpacing revenue opportunities
As smartphone penetration continues to grow, average mobile users will consume over eight times as much social media and 14 times more megabytes of applications by 2016, according to a new report from Informa Telecoms & Media.
Please click here to read the entire story on Mobile Marketer

Webinar on May 24: How Warner Bros. and Flixster generate revenue and consumption via mobile
Register for this free, hour-long webinar May 24 on how movie studio Warner Bros. and Flixster generate revenue and consumption via mobile. Panelists from Warner Bros., Flixster, comScore and sponsor MMA.
Please click here to read the entire story on Mobile Marketer

Sunkist ramps up mobile CRM efforts to build stronger brand engagment
Fresh fruit brand Sunkist Growers has tapped Hipcricket to power its mobile strategy as the brand continues to focus on mobile point-of-purchase campaigns and building a database of opted-in consumers.
Please click here to read the entire story on Mobile Marketer

Hollywood Reporter showcases Cannes Film Festival content via iPad app
The Hollywood Reporter is letting entertainment buffs stay up to date on news from the Cannes Film Festival on their tablets.
Please click here to read the entire story on Mobile Marketer

Tums helps consumers fight heartburn via mobile campaign
Tums is using mobile advertising to promote its new product and incorporating social media into the mix to help spread the word out.
Please click here to read the entire story on Mobile Marketer

ITV sees 50,000 mobile TV ad interactions via Shazam-enabled initiative
ITV, Britain’s commercial television network, saw 50,000 viewers use the Shazam mobile application to tag Pepsi Max and Cadbury ads in just 60 seconds of airtime during the “Britain’s Got Talent” finale.
Please click here to read the entire story on Mobile Marketer

American Express taps app for exclusive insider’s guide – Luxury Daily
Luxury Daily today – American Express taps app for exclusive insider’s guide; Marc Jacobs pushes menswear via desert-set social video.
Please click here to read the entire story on Mobile Marketer

Marketing your mobile products by leveraging social media
Some of the ways that marketers with a mobile play can go beyond the norm with social media and more meaningfully connect with consumers.
Please click here to read the entire story on Mobile Marketer

Please click here to sign up for Mobile Marketer for free

Amex London app

Marc Jacobs pushes menswear via desert-set social video
Apparel and accessories brand Marc Jacobs is bringing its spring/summer 2012 menswear collection to the desert in a social video that highlights sunglasses, clothing and bags in a rugged setting and provides item pricing.
Click here to read the entire story on Luxury Daily

50pc luxury goods spend from Asian markets: Bain & Co
Factors including increased investments in emerging markets and ecommerce are the prominent factors that are expected to propel luxury goods spend 6-9 percent each year until the middle of the decade, according to findings from a study from Bain & Co.
Click here to read the entire story on Luxury Daily

Harrods customizes summer shopping via e-boutique
London-based department store Harrods is pushing summer fashion and beauty in a digital shopping guide and e-boutique presented by occasions that affluent consumers would likely celebrate.
Click here to read the entire story on Luxury Daily

NowManifest acquisition to improve Condé Nast Web presence
Condé Nast subsidiary Fairchild Fashion Media will acquire Fashion Networks International, best known for its curated blog portal NowManifest, in a move that is likely to increase the publishing giant’s Web presence at a crucial time.
Click here to read the entire story on Luxury Daily

American Express taps app for exclusive insider’s guide
American Express is using a mobile application for an insider’s look to London that offers special discounts, reviews and events only for cardholders.
Click here to read the entire story on Luxury Daily

Bergdorf Goodman shows off beauty counter in direct mail catalog
Bergdorf Goodman is continuing its focus on beauty in a niche catalog that shows fragrances, cosmetics and creams from luxury brands such as Prada, Chanel, Valentino and Tom Ford.
Click here to read the entire story on Luxury Daily

Saks, Paul Smith, Millennials and menswear – News briefs
Today in luxury marketing – Saks shares pummeled after luxury giant misses revenue expectations; Paul Smith returns to China; Millennials: Young, broke and spending on luxury; Retailers bullish on Father’s Day.
Click here to read the entire story on Luxury Daily

Marketing your mobile products by leveraging social media
Some of the ways that marketers with a mobile play can go beyond the norm with social media and more meaningfully connect with consumers.
Click here to read the entire story on Luxury Daily

Tony O. Pham is vice president of marketing and engagement at Life360

By Tony O. Pham

Mobile is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and, as such, competition in the mobile space is soaring.

In December 2011, The New York Times reported that the number of mobile applictions surpassed 1 million with more than 15,000 new apps being released each week. In this environment, the need for companies to market their mobile products in new and innovative ways becomes more important than ever.

Most consumer brand companies know the importance of leveraging social media platforms to increase their presence within the industry and their engagement with target customers.

However, what gets overlooked is that there are opportunities with social media that go far beyond an online social presence. Here are some of the ways that marketers with a mobile play can go beyond the norm with social media and more meaningfully connect with consumers.

Creating integrated campaigns
Instead of thinking of mobile apps and mobile Web sites in one bucket and social media channels in another, look at how you can integrate them and, therefore, strengthen the approach to promoting your company and its products.

When Jackthreads launched its mobile app in January, it not only sent a dedicated email to its 1.6 million members, but it also promoted the debut to the company’s 23,000 Twitter followers and 104,000 Facebook fans.

Not only was the Jackthreads app downloaded 65,000 times in the first week of launch, 20 percent of total company sales during that week came through the app.

Sharing across social media platforms
Social media is all about building relationships by participating in conversations.

While it may seem obvious to talk to your customers, if you look, it probably will not take you long to find a brand Facebook or Twitter account that has unanswered comments and questions. These are the basics.

Assuming you have that down, consider providing prompts in your mobile products to encourage users to share through their social media channels.

For example, an app can include a bonus freebie such as a music track, which will provide motivation for a customer to post download links to their social networks.

You can give further incentive by offering extra goodies if the customer hits a certain number of people adding the app based on his or her referral.

Leveraging user testimonials
Companies leverage user testimonials because the most important opinion about your company is that of your customer.

However, it can often be challenging to identify and make contact with the people behind your most compelling user stories. Social networks are a great outlet to quickly and easily obtain feedback from your users.

Ask your social networks to tell you about a positive or unexpected experience they have had with your product.

Additionally, by asking your social media followers for candid feedback and more closely engaging with them, you have created an authentic public dialogue on what makes your app useful. What better way to promote your app than having users do it for you?

YOU ALREADY TOOK the first step toward making an imprint in the booming mobile market by hopefully creating an innovative and substantial mobile offering, along with setting up profiles on the most popular social media platforms.

Now, get the most out of all the channels at your disposal to stand out in the face of ever-increasing competition.

Tony O. Pham is vice president of marketing and engagement at Life360, San Francisco. Reach him at tony@life360.com.

The updated version not only lets fashion-savvy consumers browse by brand, but also features an image swatch functionality for consumers in Britain. The app is available for free download in Apple’s App Store.

“As mobile commerce continues to grow, eBay is staying ahead of the curve by creating tailored and personalized shopping experiences for consumers – leveraging user insights to give shoppers exactly what they want,” said Steve Yankovich, vice president of mobile at eBay, San Jose, CA.

“We’re using our mobile and tablet innovations to empower people to shop and find the best deals – anytime, anywhere, any way they want – from the comfort of their couch or on the go,” he said. “For example, we know shopping on smartphones occurs in short bursts, of less than two minutes, throughout the day – we call this activity snacking.

“To satisfy this trend, eBay Fashion added browse by brand allowing shoppers to pinpoint exactly what they want in a shorter amount of time by searching for brands within the category – a functionality eBay mobile fashionistas requested.”

EBay lets users buy and sell on its platforms around the world.

Update features
The company decided to roll out new features, after consumer demand.

By letting consumers browse by brand, eBay is helping users find what they are specifically looking for in a much easier way.

Additionally, the image swatch functionality lets consumers in Britain take a photo that inspires them or use one in their iPhone library and discover items on eBay Fashion with similar colors.

The updated mobile app also features enhanced visual displays along with streamlined sharing capabilities options to share via SMS, email, Twitter and Facebook.

“Mobile shopping has grown exponentially over the past several years and continues to remain a priority for us,” Mr. Yankovich said.

Payments success
In 2011, eBay mobile announced $5 billion in mobile volume transacted – more than double what the company did in 2010 and five times what its revenue was in 2009.

This year, eBay predicts $8 billion in mobile volume transactions.

“EBay platforms present new opportunities for eBay to deliver seamless shopping experiences,” Mr. Yankovich said.
“EBay will continue to innovate on behalf of its customers, creating personalized commerce features that benefit their on-the-go lifestyle,” he said.

Final Take
Here is a demo of the eBay Fashion iPhone app

TV loyalty app Viggle lets users redeem points for retail gift cards

Users of television loyalty application Viggle have redeemed their points with reward partners such as Amazon and Starbucks more than 375,000 times, pointing to the synergy that can result when mobile and TV are leveraged simultaneously to engage consumers.

Viggle users earn points for checking into TV shows via their mobile device, with the points redeemable for gift cards and other rewards from retailers such as Best Buy, iTunes, Amazon and Starbucks. With as many as 50 percent of consumers using a mobile device while watching TV, second screen apps including Viggle, Shazam and others are quickly gaining steam with both consumers and brands.

“We are really pleased with where the redemptions are at this point,” said Jason Reindorp, vice president of marketing at Viggle, New York. “We have an enthusiastic customer base that is earning and burning through the rewards, in particular gift cards from Amazon and Best Buy are really proving to be very popular.

“It really lets the person convert their points into whatever it is that they especially want,” he said.

Viggle was created by Function(x) Inc., New York.

Battleship promotion
It is common these days to see brands such as Walgreens, Chase and Geico advertise their mobile apps or other mobile offerings in their TV advertising.

However, there is also a growing opportunity for retailers to use the two mediums together to drive brand engagement and loyalty.

For example, Shazam gives marketers a way to leverage their TV spots with voice recognition to add relevant content to an ad and is being embraced by Old Navy and other marketers.

GetGlue works similarly to Viggle and gives consumers an incentive for watching their favorite TV shows.

Viggle has more than 625,000 registered users and the average session length is longer than 93 minutes. Additionally, users have engaged more than 142 million times with various in-app activities.

Viggle is available to download for free from the Apple App Store. The app identifies and automatically checks TV viewers in the content they are watching.

In a recent promotion on Viggle, users can earn points for watching a clip of the Universal Pictures movie Battleship. The points can be redeemed with Fandango for tickets to the movie; when users enter their code with Fandango, they are taken to a Battleship specific page.

Rewarding experience
The rewards portion of the app is important to the success of Viggle.

The app’s initial focus has been on gift cards, music downloads and other rewards that do not require users to wait a long time before they have earned enough points because this is what the company’s research showed consumers want.

Points are associated with the amount of time a viewer spends watching a particular show. There are also check-in bonuses and bonuses for engaging with ads that appear in the app.

However, with users quickly accumulating rewards, Viggle is beginning to experiment with different reward options. For example, it has tested giving users the ability to redeem points to buy a discount on a larger purchase.

Viggle is also beginning to add larger ticket items to the rewards catalog, such as a cruise for two and is investigating sending out targeted deals to users.

The success Viggle has seen is beginning to attract retailers who want to be featured in the rewards catalog.

“Things are definitely moving very quickly in terms of how retailers perceive the value of a program like Viggle,” Mr. Reindorp said. “Rewards partners are seeing the role that Viggle can play in the marketing mix.

“We can take the precision aspect of mobile, combine it with TV-sized audiences and really play this role that historically channel marketing has played,” he said.

“We can target users in the moment, deliver an experience that is contextually relevant and push to download an app that will cement the brand or retailer relationship or give digital coupons to users that they can take into the retail channel and really drive people into the stores.”

The Make Change, Not Waste iPhone app

Whole Foods Market is rewarding shoppers who practice an ecofriendly lifestyle with mobile coupons as part of a campaign to increase awareness of poverty.

Whole Foods Market shoppers can earn the mobile coupons from companies including Organic Valley, Stonyfield and Nature’s Path by completing tasks in an iPhone application. The app is being run by Whole Foods Market-owned nonprofit Whole Planet Foundation with the goal of ending world poverty through microcredits.

“Mobile shopping apps are certainly an element of digital strategy that retailers should be exploring in order to drive consumers to increase store visitation,” said Seth Elliott, CEO of Engagement Media Technologies, Miami, FL.

“However, for the most part, an app needs to offer more than simply shopping capabilities or couponing,” he said.

“Strong mobile offerings provide utility that users find valuable and create activation via integrated call-to-action components.”

Mr. Elliott is not associated with Whole Foods Market. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Whole Foods Market did not respond to press enquiries.

Give back on mobile
The Make Change, Not Waste iPhone app is available for free download from Apple’s App Store.

The app includes a virtual check list with more than 40 ecofriendly tips including composting, recycling and carpooling. Consumers can sort through the list and learn more about the impact that each activity has on the environment.

For every ten items that a user checks-in to, they receive a coupon on in-store product from the app’s sponsors. Users can then choose to either use it or donate a portion of the coupon’s value to Whole Planet Foundation.

To redeem a coupon, the offer is emailed to the user, which can be printed out and used in-store.

An Organic Valley mobile coupon

Users can also view an interactive map to see case studies of how the nonprofit is working to end global poverty. Whole Planet Foundation claims to have given more than $15.5 million to microfinance partners in more than 50 countries.

Pay it forward
Whole Foods Market also has apps for its grocery stores available on iPhone and Android devices as well as a mobile site.

However, up until now the majority of the company’s mobile initiatives have been used for branding. By putting the focus on its nonprofit work, the company is proving that it can think outside the box with its mobile initiatives.

Additionally, by letting consumers choose to either use a mobile coupon or donate to an organization, Whole Foods is able to keep the focus on the app’s mission to educate consumers about a specific issue.

Giving real-world rewards for interacting with an app’s content is a great way for a company to get consumers to come back to an app on a regular basis.

“Many consumers and users have developed app fatigue leading to an erosion of app usage after download,” Mr. Elliott said.

“In some cases this reaches an extreme where users have a host of what we at Engagement Media Technologies call zombie apps – applications that are resident on a consumers device but see no active usage,” he said.

“Rewards can be used to create engagement with users and foster a desire to open and utilize the application – it remains to be seen whether coupons are substantive enough to encourage consumers in this regard.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York