Localization and Expansion of Shopping Apps

Shopping apps are expanding to fill more niches, and incorporating customer feedback at the same time. Their evolution is similar to the evolution of movies. Movies started with silent film and became talkies, then branched out offering more options like animation and 3D. Shopping apps also started out basic and now they are taking it to the next level. Naturally, more and more apps are branching out to fill the gaps in their category’s services. Consumers want to have all of the information at their fingertips. They want to look at an item and get all of its product information, a picture, price comparisons at local stores and online websites, be able to tell if it is in stock and be told how to get to where it is from their current location. Basically, they want the shopping app that does it all. I am not sure if that exists yet, because it seems each app comes along with its own individual strengths. At the same time, the trend is also moving towards localization. This means driving as much foot traffic into local independent, small and medium-sized stores as to stores belonging to national chains. eBay has recently entered into these areas with its first shopping app acquired in the recent aquisition of Milo http://on.mash.to/lAHoOp. Milo’s partnerships with over 100 retailers enables it to deliver real-time information on inventory from about 50,000 stores. The app can show you if a nearby store has the product you are looking for on its shelves, and if it does, how its price compares with other local stores. Meanwhile Shopkick, an app known for its launch with national retailers like Macy’s, is now focusing its efforts on driving more foot trafic to local stores http://bit.ly/mDnQ9E. Through a sponsorship with Citi, Shopkick plans to install its hardware for free at the first 1,000 local businesses selected. The hardware senses when consumers using the app walk through the door of a participating store. Shoppers then get kicks or points towards purchases and rewards for browsing certain items. The last app is not really an app yet but is planning on developing a mobile component, which means it will probably become an app.

It is a website that is claiming the niche for reviews of common grocery products and product categories. Known as the ‘Yelp’ of packaged goods, its Consmr. Consmr is a recently launched website that aims to be the main source of packaged goods reviews http://bit.ly/kdwaVZ. Meaning if you ever find yourself at the store debating which product within a certain category is the best, or which brand of product is the best for a certain recipe, Consmr is where you would go for the answer. The website features brand pages for each of its 50,000 products, complete with reviews and ratings from regular shoppers as well as well-known bloggers. Men’s Health, Women’s Health and Prevention reviews are also incorporated. Unlike check-ins for other places and products, there is no barcode scanning or product in hand required. A simple check-in on the website is all you need to do. Chobani and AriZona, the site’s first two advertisers, are awarding Foursquare style badges (also known as pieces of flair like in Office Space) to those who complete certain tasks. Although there are few products and advertisers at this time, the site’s unique niche is sure to attract more to participate. You may ask, where is the localization component here? Well, that would be my suggestion as they evolve. Consmr will need to incorporate some type of access to grocery store inventory and prices to stay competitive in this age of localization. Each of these shopping tools provides a missing piece of the puzzle. Milo empowers consumers with store inventory numbers and price comparisons between stores and between stores and online sites. Shopkick drives more foot traffic into local stores and drives more foot traffic and attention to their featured products. Consmr hosts packaged goods reviews and ratings so that consumers find their desired product faster, with less time spent trying several products that do not suit them well. Two out of the three focus on independent, small and medium-sized local stores and the third may eventually adopt that trend to suit its purposes also. Shopping apps are evolving. No longer are they one-dimensional barcode scanners. A whole new generation of shopping tools is coming, and with them come new consumers. It is truly a new type of playing field.

Social Engagement Trends

Web clicks and website traffic used to announce that you had a lot of customers and people involved with your company and its products. These were valued as much as a Facebook user’s thousands of friends and ‘likes’ are now. However, it has since been determined that none of these are an indication of consumer loyalty. Debra Aho Williamson notes that “Likes are not a gauge of consumer involvement with your company or brand. But companies still insist on touting their total just like they touted ‘hits’ back in the early days of the web” http://bit.ly/ilKSqU . Votes of interest like these are merely starting points for consumer interaction and engagement. In other words, social engagement is not that simple. It takes a lot of work, a lot of listening and a lot of conversation and conversion to build loyalty. A few weeks ago I touched extensively on this in my Engagement Matters Most post. This trend is already branching out to mimic this social engagement through other platforms. The CW is working on closing the gap from commercial viewing to point of purchase by rewarding viewers for watching commercials http://bit.ly/lAli0H. Capitalizing on research that shows viewers always have their cell phone nearby when watching TV, they are utilizing cell phones to offer rewards. It works like this. Viewers download the shopping app Shopkick and let the app listen to CW commercials, much like using the Shazam app to listen to music in order to identify its title and artist. When a Shopkick-enabled commercial airs the viewer receives an “unobtrusive on-screen alert” prompting them to open the app to receive discounts for use inside the advertiser’s stores. By measuring how many people use the coupons they gain insight into how many people purchase their products as a result of watching their commercials.

In addition to being extended to cell phones, Pepsi-Co has extended social engagement to vending machines. With the launch of PepsiCo’s social vending machine prototype comes another platform for social engagement http://bit.ly/kjOSAa . A unique touchscreen allows consumers to buy a drink and gift one to a friend at the same time. Sound familiar? Reminds me of the advent of gifts on Facebook. Consumers can also record a short video message to go along with their gift. Additionally, ‘Random Acts of Refreshment’ allows the consumer to gift a drink to a stranger. An interesting concept indeed. Perhaps that could be an extension to our shopping and gifting someday. Kiosks at grocery stores that allow you to select a gift or gift card, send it, and personalize it with a short video message delivered to the recipient. Regardless, the point is that social engagement is venturing beyond the confines of social networking much like advertising advanced beyond television and print. Another way that we could see social engagement brought to other platforms would be to incorporate the iPad. Before long we may be able to stream television through iPads to have true on-demand viewing wherever we go. If or when that happens we could see deals worked into commercials there with a direct link to the website for engagement purposes. My prediction is that social engagement will become the norm for all types of interaction with consumers at all points of interaction with consumers. If it can happen in these examples, just think of the possibilities that are still untapped. The only limit is your imagination.