3 Fave Mobile Shopping Summit Articles on Brick & Mortar, Context & More

Our Mobile Shopping Fall Summit show is wrapping up today and after two days of sessions some great articles have emerged in the press. Our friends at Mobile Commerce Daily and Mobile Marketer are reporting live on the scene (sadly I could not be there myself else I would bring you my thoughts and tweets too!) Here are three highlights of what you missed.

Mobile Commerce Daily: PayPal exec – Multichannel shoppers are a challenge in mobile
AUSTIN, TX – A PayPal executive at the Mobile Shopping Fall Summit said that following consumers across multiple screens can be a challenge for marketers.

During the keynote session “Mobile And The Omni-Channel Shopper: Leveraging The Digital Wallet To Enable A Smart And Customized Payment Experience” the PayPal executive spoke about how consumers are shopping through multiple devices. Additionally, the session presented a look at how payments play a role in the mobile shopping journey.

“It’s hard to manage and track the same customer that is going through all these different channels,” said Kent Griffin, senior project manager at PayPal, San Jose, CA.

“People are going across these different channels – it is a real problem to try and understand your users on any one journey across multiple channels,” he said.

“The hard part is figuring out who your customer is across those channels, and as soon as you identify who your consumer is, you [have to] make sure you can give them things that are relevant.”
Read the entire article here.

Mobile Marketer: Express exec – Center mobile around context
AUSTIN, TX – An Express executive at the Mobile Shopping Fall Summit said that the brand views mobile as how it relates to consumer context and stretches across all of the company’s mediums.

During the “Customer Behavior and Your Mobile Strategy – Assessing How One Drives The Other” panel, executives from Southwest Airlines, Mutual Mobile, Express and Mobile Marketer spoke about how mobile is fundamentally shifting how brands and retailers service their consumers. The session was moderated by Amy Romagnoli, head of mobile commerce business at Barclaycard, Wilmington, DE.

“The way that we look at mobile is really in the context of how our customer is interacting with us – whether that be at home, in our store, couch surfing or snacking on content while waiting for a train or bus – we are trying to take into account the context that they are using their device,” said Eric Gohs, director of online marketing at Express, Columbus, OH.
Read the entire article here.

Mobile Commerce Daily: Walmart exec – The biggest asset in mobile are bricks-and-mortar stores
AUSTIN, TX – A Walmart executive at the Mobile Shopping Fall Summit said that although the brand initially focused its mobile strategy around optimizing its dot-com experience, the company is now eyeing the in-store service as the best way to take advantage of the medium.

During the “Getting The Green Light: How To Gain Buy-In From The C-Suite For Mobile Advancements” session, executives from Walmart, Restaurant.com and Sephora spoke about how mobile is changing their businesses from different perspectives. The session was moderated by Jim Huempfner, vice president of the industries solutions practice at AT&T, Dallas.

“When I took on mobile strategy about two years ago, the organization was really thinking about it in a narrow way – we were thinking about it primarily as mobilizing our dot-com site, bringing that online experience to customers through smartphones and tablets,” said Wendy Bergh, senior director of mobile and digital strategy at Walmart, Bentonville, AR.

“While that is a great opportunity, it wasn’t leveraging the assets that Walmart has,” she said. “Our biggest asset is the 4,000 stores that we have across the nation.
Read the entire article here.