Technology in Education
Study: Millennials Prefer Traditional Classrooms Over Online Ones
Jun 20th
The following excerpt is from an article written by Vignesh Ramachandran for Mashable.com. Ramachandran offers results from a recent study regarding Millennials’ preference for obtaining classroom knowledge. View his full article to learn more about the mode of education they favor.
The students polled were from a random sample among Internships.com’s millions of registered users.
About 36% of students said that online learning benefits the balance between work and class. But despite their openness, almost 78% still think it’s easier to learn in traditional classrooms than through online courses and tutorials. This split perspective could perhaps be due to the presence of technology in the classroom; about 84% claim to use laptops or desktop computers, and 19% use tablets and iPhones. About half of the students sampled view technology as necessary to education, while the other half does not.
Despite millennials‘ lukewarm opinions about online education, 39% still foresee education becoming more virtual. Of the students sampled, 19% predict social media will be used to engage in the classroom in the future.
“Millennials understand that the future of education is online and since they were brought up with the internet, they are prepared for that change,” said Dan Schawbel, the founder of Millennial Branding, in a statement. “Education should not be a one-size-fits-all model, because everyone learns differently, regardless of age, occupation and location. More online courses should be offered to cater to those who learn better in a virtual classroom.”
How do you think this preference reflects on course material choices? Share your opinion in the comments section below.
JC Penney Using iPod Touches to Revamp Customer Service
Apr 12th
The following excerpt, from the article How JC Penney is using iPod Touches to revamp customer service in 1,100 stores, was written by Todd R. Weiss and published on CiteWorld.com. View the full article for more information on how JC Penney is using their mobile technology and their future plans for the POS option.
Before they begin their work shifts selling merchandise each day, sales associates in J.C. Penney’s 1,100 stores across the United States now have to be sure that they head onto the sales floor with a work-issued Apple iPod Touch on their belt.
They’re not carrying the devices for their music and entertainment value, of course. Instead, since November 2012, J.C. Penney has been giving salespeople the devices so they can help shoppers anywhere inside the stores.
“It’s a customer service initiative,” said Kate Coultas, a spokesperson for the 111-year-old retailer. “We want to make the process of shopping at J.C. Penney as easy and seamless as possible.”
“Our associates want to be able to be out on the floor helping customers,” said Coultas. “It doesn’t help if they are stuck behind the registers. Now, if you are on the floor, you need to have an iPod Touch with you.”
The iPods were first distributed back in November and are in about one-quarter of Penney stores. The full rollout to all of the stores is expected to be completed by the end of this month, said Coultas.
So far, the devices have been a big hit with the company’s salespeople, she said.
“Some have nicknamed them ‘Libby,’ for ‘Libby the Liberator’ because they can be assisting customers without being chained down to a register,” said Coultas.
Penney’s salespeople can scan purchases and check them out using their iPod Touch. The devices are equipped in a special plastic case that incorporates a UPC code scanner and a credit card swiping device, so customers never have to go to a cash register counter. Customers can “sign” their purchases using their fingertip on the screen.
“This is great because it’s an easy way for them to check-out and because they don’t have to wait in line,” said Coultas. “It was definitely a great success for us on Black Friday last year. On Black Friday, associates would just walk up to people in line and say, ‘hey, I can check you out right now.’ Customers loved it.”
While the cash registers will never disappear entirely, the iPod Touch devices are a wave of the future for Penney’s as the company moves to introduce the new mobile check-out option to consumers, said Coultas.
In some of the specialty shops being built inside some Penney’s stores, such as Levi’s shops, the company is also experiminting with Apple iPad tablets for customer interactions, she said.
Overall, the program so far has been a smash-hit, said Coultas. “The issue was delivering better customer service and we were able to do that through this initiative.”
Mobile POS isn’t only available to big name brands like JC Penney. MBS can help your store go mobile with three unique options including one that operates through the iPod Touch! Talk with your Systems Representative for more details.
For Many Students, Print Is Still King
Feb 5th
The following excerpt, from the article ‘For Many Students, Print Is Still King,’ was written by Jennifer Howard and published on The Chronicle of Higher Education. Although the media often stresses that eBooks outnumber print books, Howard reminds us with her relevant examples that this simply is not the case in the realm of higher education. Take a look at some real testimonies from publishers and professors alike in the following excerpt then read the full article for further insight.
Despite the hype about e-books, the classic textbook hasn’t gone away. In fact, the hold-it-in-your-hands book remains the first choice for many instructors and students.
Even as publishers scramble to produce new kinds of content for a digital learning environment, print is still king for many of the biggest-selling textbooks.
Students want cheaper textbooks and have gotten more creative about acquiring them, but most aren’t calling for a digital revolution, according to some recent surveys. “The vast majority of students still prefer print,” says Michael Wright, director of college sales at Norton.
Even publishers that have invested more heavily in new digital features say they’re not doing away with books but making them part of “customizable learning experiences,” to borrow a phrase from Pearson, the biggest player in the field. “We still print everything,” says Jerome Grant, the company’s chief learning officer for higher education. Pearson’s aim is not “to bias print or digital but to offer the experience in multiple formats.”
Think of this as the era of “print-plus,” when the most popular textbook option remains a book—often printed and bound, sometimes digital—plus whatever extras and enhancements professors and students are willing to pay for.
The ‘Comfort’ of Print
Julie K. Bartley, an associate professor of geology and chair of the geology department at Gustavus Adolphus College, hears the sentiment from her undergraduates. “Our students don’t really want to have e-books,” Ms. Bartley says. “What I hear from them a lot of times is that they feel some sort of comfort in being able to hold the thing in their hands.”
Her department’s decision to stick with a classic textbook has been driven partly by students’ preferences, partly by the college’s pedagogical philosophy. The “Principles of Geology” course that Ms. Bartley and her colleagues teach satisfies a core science requirement and serves as an introduction to the major. Any textbook it uses has to appeal both to general-ed students and rising science majors. The assigned text, Earth: Portrait of a Planet, Fourth Edition, published by Norton, “is neither excessively complicated nor excessively simplified,” Ms. Bartley says. “It’s right at the reading level of most of our students.”
The book requires some careful reading attention, which remains a priority for the college. At Gustavus Adolphus, Ms. Bartley says, “we feel that every college student should be able to read a relatively complicated, unfamiliar text.”
Students’ major concern about textbooks isn’t format but cost. “Probably the second biggest complaint in northern Minnesota after the weather is the cost of textbooks,” Ms. Bartley says. The department has used the book for several years. To accommodate the desire for used-book options, the instructors phased in the latest edition of the book so that the older edition could stay in use a little longer.
So far, supplemental online material hasn’t been a deciding factor in choosing a textbook, according to Ms. Bartley. “We don’t feel like it’s central enough to the way we teach,” she says, because the course revolves around what happens in the classroom.
‘A Fast Transition’
Pearson, too, has placed bigger bets on new kinds of digital services. Jerome Grant, the company’s chief learning officer, describes how, at Pearson, “print is simply one of the outputs” of a program that emphasizes combinations of content, applications, platforms, and services. “Today the dominant model is a sort of text-media value pack,” he says, “where people use something like MyLab for homework or remediation.” (MyLab offers interactive content designed to draw students into course material and help them test their knowledge.) Those “value packs” often include a textbook, bundled with digital materials and services.
Mr. Grant does not expect print products to vanish. “Do I envision a time when people won’t buy print? No,” he says. “Do I envision a time when the predominant distribution mechanism is digital? Absolutely.”
Over at John Wiley & Sons, Tim Stookesberry sees signs of “a fast transition from a print to a digital world.” He serves as Wiley’s vice president and editorial director for global education. Less than 50 percent of the company’s higher-education revenue still comes from “pure print products,” he says, down more than 5 percent from two years ago.
Decline does not spell doom for the old-school textbook, though. “Increasingly the issue is not either/or,” Mr. Stookesberry says of the nagging print-versus-digital question. “It’s a both-and-all conversation.”
Why Printed Books Will Never Die
Jan 30th
The following is a short excerpt from the article, Why Printed Books Will Never Die, which was written Josh Catone, editorial director, and published on Mashable.com. Cantone’s perspective offers insights into the argument on why printed books will never be replaced by their digital counterparts. He brings up several key points, a few of which are displayed below. To view his full argument, click here.
Measured en masse, the stack of “books I want to read” that sits precariously on the edge of a built-in bookshelf in my dining room just about eclipses 5,000 pages. The shelf is full to bursting with titles I hope to consume at some indeterminate point in the future.
It would be a lot easier to manage if I just downloaded all those books to an iPad or Kindle. None are hard to find editions that would be unavailable in a digital format, and a few are recent hardcover releases, heavy and unwieldy.
But there’s something about print that I can’t give up. There’s something about holding a book in your hand and the visceral act of physically turning a page that, for me at least, can’t be matched with pixels on a screen.
Yet the writing appears to be on the wall: E-books are slowly subsuming the printed format as the preferred vehicle on which people read trade books.
For those who prefer their books printed in ink on paper, that sounds depressing. But perhaps there is reason to hope that e-books and print books could have a bright future together, because for all the great things e-books accomplish — convenience, selection, portability, multimedia — there are still some fundamental qualities they will simply never possess.
Books have physical beauty.
That’s not to say that electronic books can’t be beautiful — as a medium, e-books are still new and designers have yet to fully realize their potential. But for paper books, we’re already there. As Craig Mod points out in his essay “Hacking the Cover,” the book cover evolved as a marketing tool. It had to grab your attention from its place on the shelf. For that reason, the best designed covers were often beautiful art pieces. Not so in the digital world.
“The cover image may help quickly ground us, but our eyes are drawn by habit to number and quality of reviews. We’re looking for metrics other than images — real metrics — not artificial marketing signifiers,” he wrote. And though that might eventually free book designers to get more creative with their designs, you can’t display a digital book, even if you wanted to. Any electronic book that boasts beautiful design, does so only ethereally.
Web entrepreneur, designer and novelist Jack Cheng, who recently funded the printing of his book through Kickstarter, told me that printed books just offer a more robust experience to the reader. “I feel like with e-books, you often just get a meal on the same white plate as all the other meals,” he mused. “But a nice hardcover is like having a place setting, having dinnerware selected to suit the food. The story is still the main thing you’re there for, but the choices around it — the paper stock, the way the book is typeset, the selection of fonts — they add their own subtle flavors to the experience of that story.”
Books have provenance.
Your favorite books define you, and digital versions don’t seem to impart connections that are quite as deep.
“I think print and paper has a lasting value that people appreciate. Pixels are too temporary,” said Praveen Madan, an entrepreneur on the Kepler’s 2020 team, via email. Madan and his cohorts are attempting to reinvent the business model for independent bookstores, including ways to sell and offer services around e-books. “Books have been around for a very long time and people have a deeper relationship with some books than most digital content,” he said.
Books are nostalgic.
The PBS website MediaShift recently asked a group of book lovers in Chapel Hill and Durham, N.C. which they preferred: printed or electronic books? Those who preferred printed books cited things like the smell, the feel and the weight as reasons.
“Paper books don’t get replaced by e-books, because there’s just part of the experience you can’t reproduce,” said one man. (Of course, nostalgia is generational.)
Conclusion
E-books are not simply a better format replacing an inferior one; they offer a wholly different experience.
Brian Haberlin is one of the co-authors of Anomaly, an ambitious printed graphic novel, augmented by a smartphone app that makes animations leap off the page while you read. I asked why he chose to print the heavy, unwieldy and expensive hardcover edition. His answer was simple: “Because books are cool! I love print, always will. I love digital, always will. But they will continue to be different experiences. It’s a different texture, a different experience and that alone warrants their existence.”
Yes, Anomaly is one of those beautiful, collectible art pieces. But it also highlights why print is here to stay. The experience of reading Anomaly on your iPad is vastly different than the experience of reading the printed version. The story is the same, but the medium affects the way you read it. It’s not totally unlike the difference between watching the movie version of Les Miserables and watching it performed live on stage.
There may come a time when we look at electronic books and printed books as similarly divergent mediums.
In a recent Fast Company column titled “The Future of Reading,” author and comedian Baratunde Thurston made a compelling case for why books might just be better in electronic form. Superior annotation tools, easier discovery, interactive content and shared reading experiences are just some of the things made possible because digital publishing has allowed us to, as Thurston put it, network our words “and the ideas they represent.” For Thurston, this is an either-or scenario. Digital books or printed books. And while he lamented our diminished attention spans — the result of distractions embedded in the digital format — he concluded that it’s all worth it because of the great things e-books can do.
But the choice between e-books and printed books is not a zero sum game. Print books do not have to disappear for e-books to flourish, and e-books don’t have to be the only choice.
“Printed books are for people who love printed books. Digital books are for those who love digital books,” Haberlin told me.
Maybe it’s just that simple.
To read more reasons why Catone believes print is here to stay, view the full article. Then tell us your opinion in the comments section below: do you think print and digital texts can thrive together? Or will one eradicate the other?
54% of U.S. Kids Have Never Read an e-book: New Report
Jan 23rd
The following excerpt is from an article written by Laura Hazard Owen, who covers book publishing, paywalls and magazines for GigaOM, and was based on the results of a new report from Scholastic. You can view more findings from this study here.
Scholastic, the world’s largest children’s publisher, released its biannual report on children and reading Monday morning. The study, conducted in partnership with the Harrison Group in fall 2012, surveyed 1,048 U.S. children ages 6 to 17 and their parents about their families’ reading habits. A few of the findings:
Most kids still haven’t read an ebook.
46 percent of kids have read an ebook, up from 25 percent in 2010. (That’s actually a higher percentage than their parents: 41 percent of parents had read an ebook, up from 14 percent in 2010.) This means, of course, that 54 percent of kids still haven’t read one.
57 percent of girls who had never read an ebook said that they wanted to, compared to 46 percent of boys. I’ve asked Scholastic if the company also broke down the percentage of children who had never read an ebook by gender — I’m curious to know if there is a gender gap in terms of access to e-reading devices.
Huge growth in reading on tablets.
The most popular device for e-reading was a laptop or netbook, which 22 percent of children surveyed had used to read an ebook. The largest growth came from tablets — not surprising since the iPad launched in 2010, the last time this survey was conducted.
Kids claim they’d read more if they had more access to ebooks.
“I really need an iPad so I can read more,” wily children tell gullible parents. Just kidding! Although possibly a factor here.
What do you think about the results? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
Facebook Joins Textbooks in Classrooms as Nevada Colleges Adapt to Tech-Savvy Generation
Dec 21st
The following excerpt is from the article ‘Facebook joins textbooks in classrooms as Nevada colleges adapt to tech-savvy generation’ written by Lenita Powers for the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Students in Judy Strauss’ marketing classes at the University of Nevada, Reno are as likely to use Facebook as they are textbooks to complete their assignments.
They use e-portfolios — a collection of the student’s work captured digitally — to grab the attention of potential employers instead of submitting online resumes or paper resumes.
And for their final exam for Strauss’ Internet Marketing class, the students organized a flash mob performance last May at Reno Tahoe International Airport to raise awareness for Rett Syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes mental and physical developmental problems.
Welcome to higher education in the tech-savvy 21st century.
It’s a brave new world in which students use interactive platforms for class projects, learn in virtual classrooms and access Massively Open Online Courses that are free for anyone in the world with a computer and a connection to the Internet.
Ever-changing forms of delivering knowledge will play an important role as higher education struggles to educate students who can compete against growing global competition while dealing with state and federal budget cuts, rising tuition and poor graduation rates.
“I think something very remarkable is happening with higher education in the arena of e-learning and technology and innovation,” said Chancellor Dan Klaich, who oversees Nevada’s public higher education system.
“It is clear technology is going to play a very significant role in higher education in the next decade.” he said.
E-learning has been around for almost 20 years but, in most cases, whether to use it along with textbooks, lectures and other traditional forms of instruction is up to the instructors.
“We are going to have to keep an open mind and be open to change,” Klaich said. “I think that is important because higher education, just like many large institutions, doesn’t like change, and sometimes we fear change.”
He said the Nevada System of Higher Education, which comprises the state’s seven academic campuses and a research institute, is is doing a study on the future of e-learning and classroom technology. The final report on how the system can use that technology to increase student success will be presented to the Nevada Board of Regents early next year, Klaich said.
“The fundamental changes we’re talking about and already seeing will change the face of higher education. The administration, the faculty and the students on our campuses have to be open to those changes,” Klaich said.
It’s not just changes in the way academic instruction is delivered that will influence the success of higher education as it evolves in the 21st century, he said.
As technology affects future jobs, Nevada’s campuses will have to graduate students with the skills and knowledge to fill them, Klaich said.
But churning out workers trained to do specific jobs will not be enough to compete globally.
“We need skilled workers, but more than that, I think the concept of turning out students with broad liberal arts degrees is still valued,” Klaich said. “At the rate new knowledge and technology is being produced in the world today, it’s more important than ever that we teach our students to think critically, which will help them react as society and technology changes.”
Kevin Carman, hired in October as UNR’s new provost and executive vice president, has said UNR must engage in online education to survive.
“To stick with the traditional classroom alone is a death sentence for a university,” he said.
“Technology in a variety of manifestations can be used to deliver academic programs, but it should enhance, not replace, the traditional interaction of faculty and students to ensure the sense of campus community,” Carman said.
Class adapts to changing world
Strauss decided to modify the way she taught her classes at UNR because the Internet and social media have revolutionized the marketing industry.
Consumers, instead of passively being bombarded by advertising telling them what products are the best, are writing their own reviews of restaurants on Yelp and posting videos on YouTube of malfunctioning products such as a laptop’s battery catching fire, Strauss said.
“So now businesses are concerned about how to get their websites or messages found online and how they can use the Internet and social media to engage in a dialogue with consumers,” she said.
Ross Martin, 22, graduated last week cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He took several classes from Strauss, including one on the principles of digital marketing.
He said Strauss’ use of the Internet and social media prepared for jobs in his field, and he credits that with helping him land an internship last summer with a major film company in Los Angeles.
“I got an internship with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and worked in their motion picture marketing department in Beverly Hills,” Martin said.
He helped with the marketing distribution of the latest James Bond film “Skyfall” and the upcoming movie “The Hobbit” to markets in Senegal, Bulgaria, Finland and parts of Europe and Africa.
To land the internship, Martin had listed his e-portfolio website along with his semester-long study on introducing products into different countries.
In his final report for one of Strauss’ classes, Martin compared the online presence of two film companies, Lionsgate and Fox Searchlight Pictures, noting how many impressions they were getting, how long visitors stayed on their sites, how many were new visits, and the two companies’ use of Facebook and Twitter.
Martin said he had been trying for a year and a half to get the internship, and he credits finally succeeding to the experience he got from Strauss’ classes.
“I think they definitely helped,” Martin said. “I was offered the internship during my second phone interview, and I was going up against local candidates from USC and UCLA who were able to come in person for their interviews.
“In Judy’s class, you just don’t read something and take a test,” he said.
“I told her I wanted to get into the film industry, and she has her students use e-portfolios and blogs to expand our interests,” said Martin, now an intern at the Glenn Group in Reno.
“That makes us more marketable down the line to employers.”
College stores can help expand students’ experiences in these areas, too. Do you allow student employees to help with social media or marketing for your store? Tell us about your experience in the comments section!
Forget The Register: Stores Use Mobile To Make Sales On The Spot
Dec 18th
The following article was written by Wendy Kaufman for NPR.org.
The women’s shoe department at Nordstrom’s flagship store in Seattle is bustling. Shoppers are trying on everything from stilettos to rain boots — and when they’re ready to buy, they can pay up right where they are.
The sales associate simply whips out a modified iPod Touch and scans the shoe box’s bar code. The handheld device contains a credit card reader, too, so the customer can just hand over the plastic and sign with a fingertip. There’s no trek to the cash register and no line to wait in.
At department stores like Nordstrom and at other traditional retailers, mobile devices are slowly beginning to supplement, and even replace, other methods of payment. In many cases, buying something is becoming more efficient and more personal.
No More ‘Clunky’ Cash Registers
“We think the days of the big clunky cash register … anchoring down a department are really going away,” says Colin Johnson, public relations director for Nordstrom.
“We are always going to have a place for the cash and we’ll certainly take care of however the customer wants to pay,” Johnson says. “But we do see the future as essentially completely mobile.”
Mobile payments certainly make shopping easier. And while customers like it, retailers benefit, too. When shoppers pay on the spot, they don’t have time to change their mind and decide they don’t really need what they are about to buy.
In addition to boosting sales, mobile technology is often less expensive than the old-fashioned kind. And removing cash registers also frees up valuable real estate inside the store, say industry experts like Brian Brunk of Boston Retail Partners.
“There isn’t a retailer we talk to that isn’t embracing at least a blended, if not an ‘all-in,’ approach to mobile point-of-sale,” Brunk says.
But the changes taking place in retail go well beyond checking out via handheld device, he adds.
“You have to embrace the online — the digital world,” Brunk says. “It’s really now, how are you going to blend those two together? Because that’s what the customer is really expecting.”
Getting Goods To Customers Who Want Them
Take inventory, for example. It wasn’t all that long ago, says Nordstrom’s Colin Johnson, that customers found it charming when a clerk called around to different stores in search of an out-of-stock item.
But “those days are long gone,” Johnson says. “You’ve got to be rapid, you’ve got to be on the spot. You have to have that information at your fingertips.”
Or, more precisely, on an iPod — which is how shopper Amidy Doolittle purchased some glittery flats and a pair of suede shoes. “I just had [the clerk] order some shoes that weren’t available in the store,” Doolittle explains. “He looked them up on his mobile device, and I paid sitting right here in my chair.”
What’s most remarkable about Doolittle’s purchase is that the sales clerk had access to Nordstrom’s entire companywide inventory on his device.
While that might sound pretty basic to many shoppers, Kasey Lobaugh, a retail expert at Deloitte Consulting, says some retailers have struggled to integrate inventories of in-store and online products.
All too often, Lobaugh says, shoppers would be told their desired item was out of stock, when the retailer did, in fact, have the goods.
And in another plus for retailers, he says, “If you are able to fulfill the item from the place where the items are turning the slowest, you’re able to decrease the markdowns that you have to take” if you were to sell that item at its original location.
In other words, winter jackets languishing in a Florida store can be quickly shipped to a Seattle shopper — and sold at full price.
Embracing ‘Showrooming’
Yet another change under way relates to something you see all the time: the practice known as “showrooming.” Increasingly, customers with smartphones are checking out products and competitors’ prices online as they roam the aisles of brick-and-mortar stores.
Early on, Lobaugh says, some retailers were unhappy about the trend and weren’t keen to embrace it.
But “our data would say don’t resist it,” Lobaugh notes. “Give them the capability. Enable Wi-Fi in your store so that the consumer can access more information, because the conversion rate goes up,” he says — meaning, smartphone-toting customers who do research on the sales floor are actually much more likely to make a purchase.
And by 2016, Deloitte projects, roughly one in five consumers will be using their smartphones in precisely that way.
Ready to go mobile? MBS can help! Our suite of mobile solutions, including the latest MBS iPad POS, can free your store from traditional retail boundaries, giving you the freedom to bust lines at rush or setup checkup at any campus location with a wireless connection. For more information on our mobile offerings, talk to your MBS Representative.
Top Mobile Commerce Predictions for 2013
Dec 13th
The following article was written by Rimma Kats, associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, and published on MobileCommerceDaily.com.
As devices and network speeds improve and more brands take on a mobile-first approach, mcommerce will continue to accelerate and build momentum in 2013.
This year, companies such as JCPenney – who promised to get rid of traditional point-of-sale mechanisms and incorporate mobile checkouts in-stores – have put mobile at the core of their marketing efforts. Mobile commerce has already grown more than imagined and although there are more leaps that need to be made, there is no doubt the space will make a bigger impact next year.
“I predict that many retailers that started with quick and dirty transcoded sites will move to API-linked integrated solutions that leverage and extend their ecommerce operations into the mobile space,” said Wilson Kerr, vice president of business development and sales at Unbound Commerce, Boston.
“Even today, the majority of retailers still do not have a mobile-optimized site catered to the 50-plus percent of Americans who own smartphones,” he said. “PayPal reported that mobile checkout transactions increased 96 percent year-to-year.
“Again mobile commerce will continue to accelerate and gain traction in 2013, as more consumers find better and faster experiences, when shopping on their mobile devices.”
Leaps and bounds
In 2013, social mobile efforts will be a critical way for retailers to drive in-store sales.
Mobile and social complement each other, however, next year marketers should think of more practical ways to marry the two to not only drive in-store traffic, but bolster consumer engagement as well.
“While tablet commerce is an obvious choice as the breakout star for 2013, I predict that smart retailers will start bridging the social-mobile engagement gap by linking physical stores to mobile experiences that offer the option for transactions when the intent to buy is the strongest,” Mr. Kerr said.
“Showrooming remains a big challenge and retailers should seize this bull by the horns by offering consumers experience that they control, with brand, store, or product mobile interactions serving as the trigger,” he said. “QR codes are an easy, low cost way to do this, and I predict NFC will also gain a foothold in 2013, especially if Apple finally sees the writing on the wall and gets onboard.
“Marketers should worry less about social media engagement and focus your attention on mobile commerce engagement that is integrated with your current and proven ecommerce operations and results in trackable ROI. Use physical triggerpoints such as point-of-purchase, print ads or even the products themselves to kick off this engagement.”
NFC
Many industry experts believed that this was the year of NFC. However, it was not. Furthermore, marketers believe that the technology will not be quite ready in 2013 either.
“Don’t hold your breath for ubiquitous NFC in 2013,” said Drew Sievers, CEO of mFoundry.
“There are still too many conflicting interests, a lack of acceptance and too few devices that seamlessly deliver the perfect consumer experience,” he said.
Although NFC may take a while to adopt, consumers are getting comfortable making purchases – both big and small – using their mobile device.
Additionally, mobile applications such as Google Wallet and Apple’s Passbook are putting consumers at ease.
For now, Mr. Sievers believes that mobile banking will be very impactful next year.
Financial institutions such as Chase, Bank of America and Citi are investing a lot in mobile and are seeing how essential it is for their customers.
“I know I’m biased, but mobile banking will continue its nonstop march atop of the most-used financial application list,” Mr. Sievers said.
“New features, many wallet-based, will begin to convert mobile bankers into mobile payers,” he said.
In 2013, it is important that marketers experiment early and experiment often.
“Mobile is still a relatively low-cost and low-consequence environment for marketers,” Mr. Sievers said.
“The ones that jump into the fray, testing methods and creative concepts, will be the ones that lead the pack as the mobile channel matures into a real medium,” he said.
Mobile incentives
Mobile incentives will be big in 2013.
Nowadays, consumers will not click on an ad or opt-in to an SMS database if there is not incentive attached.
Therefore, marketers must remember to offer one in their future mobile marketing plans.
“I think 2013 will be the year of mobile incentives,” said Ritesh Bhavnani, chairman/co-founder of Snipp. “Specifically I expect to see mobile couponing and mobile loyalty come to fruition. “Mobile couponing and loyalty solutions are still in their infancy, although lots of companies are approaching the space from many different directions.
“2013 will be the year that companies will finally crack the diversity of retail POS systems and fragmented approaches to provide holistic couponing and loyalty solutions that work across multiple channels and retailers,” he said.
“We’re starting to see examples of that with Apple’s Passbook and other coupon/loyalty solutions, and mobile-based receipt processing solutions like Endorse and our own mobile purchase validation solution.
“The Holy Grail still remains a set of coupons that sit in a mobile wallet and are automatically redeemed upon purchase at any retail location – and upon purchase, an automatic credit for that purchase against the appropriate loyalty programs. We’re a long way from a universal solution for that, but in 2013 we expect to see more solutions that make the entire process of couponing and loyalty more seamless for customers and a corresponding increase in consumer usage of mobile loyalty and coupon solutions.”
Mr. Bhavnani agrees that 2013 will not be the year of NFC, but rather image-based mobile technologies that enable commerce and related activities will prosper.
“More companies will start leveraging mobile phone cameras as an effective way of interacting with their customers and/or providing or gathering information from them,” Mr. Bhavnani said. “For example, enabling customers to submit receipts by taking a photo of the receipt as opposed to mailing it in, or taking a photo of their credit card as a means of entering their credit card information.
“Another example would be using solutions such as augmented reality within store environments to automatically display available product coupons to users as they walk through the aisles,” he said.
“Get involved with mobile incentives. Experiment with couponing by working with a retailer and enabling use of discount codes or bar codes through the POS, or post-purchase through the use of mobile rebates. Mobile rebates are an easy way to motivate purchases and are retailer agnostic, so they can be done without deep POS integration.”
What to expect
According to Chris Mason, co-founder/CEO of Branding Brand, there will be more traffic coming from mobile devices than traditional desktops and laptops.
“Tablets will be big,” Mr. Mason said. “We already hear people talking about tablet-first site replatforms, rather than mobile-first or desktop-first.
“Although this is more of a play on words than a new philosophy, it clearly points to a fundamental shift of focus,” he said. “Pretty soon, the first touchpoint customers have with your brand will be through mobile.
“Design your online and offline marketing efforts with this in mind.”
The Future Of Digital
Dec 12th
The following article was written by Michael Brenner for his Blog, B2B Marketing Insider.
This week I attended Business Insider‘s Ignition conference where the topic was “The Future of Digital.” The topics ranged from digital content to advertising, to the rise of the mobile web and e-commerce to social media and technology start-ups.
The speaker line-up was one of the best I have ever seen including CEOs Andrew Mason (Groupon), Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn) and Jeffrey Bewkes (Time Warner), AOL Co-founder Steve Case, the Dr. Mehmet Oz, Futurists Jason Silva and Neil deGrasse Tyson and many, many more.
In this post, I will recap 16 of the best of the 137 slides presented by Business Insider CEO and Editor-in-Chief Henry Blodget on the state of the Digital landscape.
16 Slides On The Future of Digital Recap:
- While sales of PCs continue to increase, there has been unprecedented growth in the sales of smartphones and tablets in the last 2-5 years.
- Looking out to 2015, internet access from mobile devices including tablets will be a large majority of the broadband traffic. So the future is mobile.
- Many people said that people wouldn’t pay for digital content. But digital content is exploding. This is led by iTunes and Netflix but others like Zynga, Dropbox and Spotify are growing as well.
- Not everyone is celebrating. As news consumption moved online, some industries are being left behind. Print newspaper and magazine, as well as local and network TV advertising revenues are off significantly. While online and Cable TV advertising is up.
- The decline in Newspaper ad revenue has been dramatic: off 400% in just 3 years and now below the inflation-adjusted level of the 1950s.
- But after a dip in 2009, Total TV advertising revenue is up and looks healthy.
- In the coveted 18-34 demograhic, behavior is changing rapidly to time-shifted DVR, streaming video and gaming as viewership of live TV is down sharply. This forces the question of how long TV advertising will continue to increase.
- In the online advertising world, total online advertising is up and seems to be narrowing in on a 2-horse race between Google, Facebook and “other” as the main players.
- Drilling into online ad revenues, display sales are flattening and only Google appears to be gaining any traction.
- Although many predicted social advertising would finally bring down the banner, it is still a search-driven world as social networks accounts for a very small portion of referral traffic to e-commerce sites.
- Mobile is turning us into 24/7 content consumers as evidence by peak pageview traffic by hour. PC access peaks around noon, while tablet and smartphone peaks at bedtime.
- The gap between time spent and mobile ad dollars is making people bullish on mobile advertising.
- Mobile platforms is also a 2-horse race between Apple and Android.
- It’s the same story in tablets.
- But where are all the Android users. Mobile traffic to e-commerce sites is largely driven by Apple devices. It makes you wonder if Android buyers are using their device to browse or shop.
- Is the PC dead? No. Is TV dead? No. Is mobile the future? Yes. But we will continue to see the future of digital as a 4-screen world of TV, PC, tablet and phone.
You can also view and subscribe to all 137 slides from Business Insider on “The Future of Digital.”
Survey: 70% of Consumers Say They’re More Likely to Buy if You Have Mobile App
Dec 11th
The following article was written by Courtney Rubin, Business Writer, for the AMEX Open Forum.
Consumers are more likely to buy from you if you have a mobile app, according to a new report. Accenture Interactive surveyed 2,000 consumers (1,000 in the U.S. and 1,000 in the U.K.) age 20 to 40; 70 percent said a mobile app makes them more likely to make a purchase.
There’s an App for That
In the U.S., 65 percent said they compare prices on a smartphone or tablet while shopping in the store—partly because more than half think prices are higher in store than they are online. Even if they come to the store to inspect the product in person, 48 percent said they head home to buy the product online. Just 20 percent make the final purchase in the store.
U.S. consumers overwhelmingly are concerned about privacy—82 percent worried about websites tracking their online behavior. But they’re also aware that the tracking is required for them to receive personalized special offers—something 61 percent want.
Sixty-four percent said they were open to receiving text messages while visiting a store to let them know about offers related to previous items they’ve bought. More than half (60 percent) said they “strongly agree” with receiving advertisements on their phone if they’ve opted into them. (Read more on how coupons motivate online shoppers to buy.)
A Digital Personal Shopping Experience
“Consumer marketing needs to address the current disconnect between offline and online shopping and enhance the physical store front with tailored digital experiences,” says Baiju Shah, Accenture’s managing director of strategy and innovation.
He adds: “Consumers don’t want to shop online exclusively and our work with retailers shows that physical stores don’t have to compete on price alone but rather focus on the whole experience. Retailers need to create a seamless, multi-channel experience that blends the digital and physical, and delivers convenience, price and relevance.
Other findings: Nearly all consumers (92 percent) say they are more likely to buy from a company that uses social media. Their preferred social media channel? 67 percent say Facebook.
The Future of College Stores is Digital
College stores need to consider mobile and digital strategies in order to succeed in the evolving industry. Not sure where to start? We have solutions that can help. Our customizable mobile app, On The Go, offers you a way to connect with students outside the store, as well as to offer them price comparison from the palm of their hands. Talk with your MBS Representative to learn more about how you can make your store mobile.
