A round-up the digital / social media stories from the last seven days that have caught our eye, this week focusing on news from the retail sector.
Supermarkets first, in the week that the battle for your mobile handset steps up a gear, with several of the biggest chains announcing new plans for their mobile shopping services. Tesco, for instance, have revealed plans to launch their first transactional app, which will allow shoppers to browse the store’s full range, and create / update shopping lists. Mobile commerce is likely to become a huge priority for all the players in this field, with Tesco having made £136m profit from online sales last year, and recent research suggesting that the number of people shopping via mobile handsets will reach 106.8m worldwide this year. The app will launch next week on the Nokia Ovi store, rather than via Apple’s App Store, in a bid to target a mainstream mum audience rather than the typical iPhone user.
- Full story with additional info can be found here: www.nma.co.uk/news/tesco-brings-mobile-shopping-into-the-mainstream/3016603.article
In addition Asda have confirmed this week that they’re looking at ramping up their mobile offering, which will likely soon include an iPhone app, which will bring their services more in line with those of competitors such as Marks and Spencer, and Ocado, the latter of which has reported that their iPhone app has generated 4.4% of orders since it launched last year. Waitrose have also launched an iPhone app and mobile website following a rise in consumers accessing Waitrose.com via mobiles. Both will offer exclusive recipes from Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal, and details of latest in-store offers.
To add some context as to how lucrative mobile commerce is becoming, Amazon’s most recent earnings report revealed that the etailer has just become the first company to generate over $1bn solely through mobile channels. Crucially, as well as a dedicated iPhone app, Amazon has covered all bases with a mobile optimised website, to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. The site also now had Facebook Connect capability, allowing shoppers to share information on their purchases / wishlist with their friend network.
- iPhone app vs mobile-optimised site? Story is from Feb but a useful snapshot: http://econsultancy.com/blog/5481-mobile-commerce-should-you-have-a-site-or-an-app
Sainsburys, meanwhile, unveiled their big digital campaign for the summer this week, which is taking place on their Facebook page on a new ‘Summer Ideas’ tab, and will see weekly recipe episodes showing the ‘Tiny Taste Team’ challenging shoppers to try new recipes. Clicking through to Youtube from the page, however, reveals the to date the first video has been viewed just 1,329 times, with only 258 of the views coming via the Facebook page, suggesting this one might be a slow-burner rather than instant hit.
- If you need a ‘Scrummy Picnic Idea’ for the weekend the Facebook page can be found here: www.facebook.com/sainsburys
This week Argos have kicked off a London-only trial of a same-day delivery service, which claims to be able to deliver items from a 14,000-strong product range within 90 minutes. This follows a recent announcement that 22% of total sales were coming via customers using the online store and reserving items for pick-up, so can be seen as a natural extension of this offering. Curiously, this new development will put Argos on a similar footing to the high-end fashion retail site Net A Porter, who also offer a same day delivery service within London. So, if you wished, you could order a gorgeous Argos ring and a lovely Gucci snood in the morning, and have both delivered to wear around the office in the afternoon. Tempting I know.
And finally… not strictly a retail story, but one we wanted to include for the nostalgia factor: Nestlé has kicked off a major integrated campaign to launch a new version of Milkybar aimed at adults: Milkybar Raisin and Biscuit. The Ungrow Up campaign, which began this week, prompts adults to impersonate the iconic Milkybar Kid by uploading their own versions of the Milkybar theme to milkybar.co.uk. Visitors to the site can also record a version via a webcam which superimposes the Milkybar kid’s glasses and hat on them plus access downloadable content to advise on how to create the most distinctive videos.
- The (very slow to load) website is here: www.milkybar.co.uk
