Tag: mobile app

Mobile app index to launch by MasterCard

| October 2, 2014

The credit card giant recently announced the beginning of a massive database for mapping available applications.

MasterCard unveiled its intentions at the World Retail Congress to begin a Europe-wide mobile app index that will map all of the shopping applications that are publicly available in Europe.

The name of this effort will be the Mobile Top App Index by MasterCard.

The purpose of this mobile app index will be to help to identify some of the best shopping applications that are available throughout the diverse European marketplaces. It is also meant to help to pinpoint some of the ways in which consumers in that part of the world are adopting and using their smartphone and tablet technologies as the shop while they are on the go. The top mobile commerce apps in Europe will be broken down into twenty different categories and are going to be announced next March at the Mobile World Congress.

The company hopes that its mobile app index will help to highlight some of the winning solutions out there.

mobile apps - mastercardAccording to the MasterCard Europe president, Javier Perez, it has never been easier to purchase products and services through the use of mobile devices, “as innovation goes hand in hand with growing consumer demand.” He went on to explain that “MasterCard is a technology company connecting banks, retailers and consumers. Our Mobile Top App Index will highlight the most outstanding solutions in the mobile shopping app arena for the benefit of European consumers and retailers.”

The ratings in the index will be applied to mobile commerce apps across thirty six different countries in Europe. This will be the result of the efforts of a dedicated team of experts from the company, in conjunction with Associate Professor (Reader) in Digital Innovation, Dr. Carsten Sørensen, from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dr. Sørensen stated that the great diversity in m-commerce applications “fundamentally changes the way people think about their tasks.”

Dr. Sørensen also added that since shopping is among the activities that device users do quite regularly, this new index could potentially assist consumers in being able to find exactly the mobile app they require and it will become a driver for the industry as a whole.

Mobile commerce experience broadened at Macy’s

| September 24, 2014

The department store has revealed that it is boosting its use of smartphone friendly technology in-store.

Macy’s has revealed that it is keeping up with the times and is making sure that its shopping experience is compatible with the favorite device of most of its customers by enhancing its mobile commerce capabilities in a number of different high tech moves.

For instance, it has expanded its iBeacon mobile marketing messaging capabilities through Shopkick.

This will allow the location based marketing experience to be available throughout the holiday season not only at its flagship shops in New York City and San Francisco, but also to other locations across the United States. This could make it the most large scale retail implementation of iBeacon mobile commerce tech that has been seen so far.

That is only the beginning of its expansion of mobile commerce and shopping capabilities for consumers.

macy's mobile commerceThe retailer also announced that it will be bringing in the Image Search image recognition app, which was created within its Idea Lab. That stand alone mobile app has also been incorporated into the Macy’s application. Based on the customer’s images, this software will provide consumers with recommendations for items that can be found either in the store itself, or on their online or m-commerce website.

Moreover, in certain cities, items purchased online or over m-commerce will have same day delivery available. This has become possible through a partnership with a startup called Deliv, and will be available in Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Washington D.C., San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, as well as the state of New Jersey.

This is only the latest in several moves that have been made by Macy’s to ensure that it is keeping up with the smartphone and tablet based shopping experience. It also makes the retailer one of the first to have established its range of different mobile commerce capabilities in advance of the 2014 holiday shopping season. Beyond image recognition and iBeacon, it has also announced that Apple Pay transactions will be accepted at both its Macy’s and its Bloomingdales stores, and that beyond same day delivery, in store pickup services will be expanded.