In today’s M-Retailing newsletter we’re looking to the future of mobile commerce. The Internet of Things has long been considered an important step forward for multichannel retailing: today it’s becoming a reality and we report on the arrival of the connected Amazon Dash Button and the related Dash replenishment service which enables connected devices, from washing machines to printers, to order their own supplies automatically.
As with all innovations, it’s a service that initially looks a bit odd – a Dash button by the toilet roll holder must surely provide a temptation for smaller members of any household to press it several times a day, if not an hour. Endlessly cancelling orders doesn’t make for the most convenient retail service. But Amazon’s figures from the US suggest the service is used, although as yet quite slowly at a relatively low two orders a minute. For us the replenishment service for connected devices that order their own refills seems more likely to be succcessful, since it removes a task, of remembering and reordering. Will this be a hit, a miss or a maybe in the UK? We’ll be interested to see. Either way, it’s certainly a significant step forward for the Internet of Things, and its practical use in retail and one that other UK retailers will be watching with great interest.
Today we also look to another industry to see what the future will bring for m-comnmerce. A Kapersky Lab study suggests that consumers are turning away from banking apps because of security fears, something that could have knock on effects for retail.
That leads nicely into a guest comment from Gillian Hughes of Veoo, who considers how retailers must deal with such security fears as they use data to offer shoppers a truly personal experience, and comes up with some hands-on advice to improve the experience.
That’s the kind of practical approach that also features in our round up of 12 steps to mobile commerce. Today we also report on how Google is cracking intrusive interstitals to improve the mobile search experience, and how Burberry is rated the top multichannel retailer for mobile commerce in a new Ampersand report.
