By Ronald Margulis, Managing Director, RAM Communications
One of the highlights of the National Retail Federation's Annual Convention & EXPO is always the technological innovation introduced on the show floor and this year's event, held last week in New York, was no exception. I saw some interesting new solutions on partner collaboration, demand business intelligence, customer experience enhancement and supply chain visibility, but the most compelling technologies focused on mobility retailing or more precisely, using cell phones to market to existing and potential customers.
Using cell phones to engage the customer is something of a holy grail in retail at the moment. With about 2 billion mobile subscribers in the world, nearly one-third of the planet's population, it's easy to see why. Technology vendors even remotely related to the mobile issue were talking up how cell phone marketing is changing the retail landscape.
Two companies in particular caught my eye - Motorola and Cellfire. Cellfire, which offers valuable coupons from a list of local and national retailers within the cell phone user's geographic region and allows the user to access those coupons on their cell phone, is an interesting content play. It's totally opt-in -- when people are interested in checking out their offers, they click on their phone's Cellfire icon, scroll through to the coupon of their choice, press "use" and then show the coupon to the cashier for redemption. There is also a "call-in" feature that allows a person to click on a local offer, such as "$3 off large pizza" and the phone will automatically dial the closest participating pizza location at which time the redemption will be given. The service is up and running in pockets around the country and is actively recruiting retailers to partner with.
Motorola's booth was jamming every time I walked by, indicating I wasn't alone in my interest in their solutions. The company featured several advances on the technology that was formerly Symbol, as well as the traditional cell phone business. One new product even combined the two technologies, featuring a voice over internet protocol (VoIP)-enabled wireless scanner that is designed to improve customer service and increase worker productivity. Called the CA50, the device enables retailers to fill the communications gap found on store floors by providing more employees with real-time access to people and information. It can conduct price and inventory checks, among other business critical activities, and allows employees to place or receive calls anywhere in the building.
Discussion Question: What impact will mobile retailing have on retail in 2008? Do you expect more advancements in consumer applications or for store employees?