mobile » Pitch and Ship

HSN to Launch New Mobile Shopping Site Featuring WAP Technology on Thursday

Distribution Channel, Mobile telephone, Technology Comments Off

Jun 302010

HSN’s new site will be available on all internet-enabled mobile devices and is touted as a key element of the retailer’s “comprehensive, multi-channel strategy designed to provide consumers with a compelling shopping experience whenever and wherever they desire.” The new site is expected to feature much of the functionality currently available on HSN’s applications for the iPhone and Android devices — but without the download — and to narrow the gap between the shopping experiences on mobile devices versus PCs and Macs. HSN Press Release Jun. 30, 2010

Survey Says M-Commerce Sales Small But a Big Deal to Retailers

Distribution Channel, Mobile telephone, Research, Trends, Forecasts Comments Off

Jun 292010

Retailers with a mobile presence generate only 2.8% of their overall online, web-store traffic from their mobile phone browsers and only 2% of their online sales via the mobile devices, themselves. Given these small numbers, perhaps it’s no surprise that of the 84 retailers asked, almost two-thirds of them said that they either had no mobile strategy or were in the early stages of coming up with one. Still, they’re excited about the future potential.

These findings come from an annual state of online retailing study commissioned by the National Retail Federation’s digital arm Shop.org and conducted by Forrester Research, which surveyed a total of more than 100 retailers this spring. Before pooh-poohing the distribution channel, it bears recalling that online sales, themselves, took a good decade or so to catch on. One new retail wrinkle that may be more hype than anything else: social-media marketing. “Only 7% of retailers cited a social networking presence as one of their top three most effective tools for gaining customers last year, compared with 90% of them citing marketing through search engines such as Google.com.” The Wall Street Journal Jun. 29, 2010

ShopNBC’s Mobile E-commerce Platform Named “Best-in-Class by Acuity Group

Distribution Channel, DRTV Retailer, Technology Comments Off

Jun 112010

ShopNBC’s “Anywhere Strategy” won an endorsement from Acuity Group, which assists companies with their multi-channel commerce and digital marketing efforts. The service provider named ShopNBC’s mobile ecommerce platform for overall “Best-in-Class” in its mobile efforts as well as “Best-in-Class” for the mass merchant industry, crediting the platform’s consistency with the retailers web presence, among other factors. Commenting on the award, Carol Steinberg, Senior Vice President of E-commerce, Marketing and Business Development at ShopNBC, said, “We are appreciative of the recognition from Acquity. We believe it’s important to provide our customers access to our product offerings in ways that are most convenient to them. Because today’s customer is also seeking faster and easier ways to shop, our mobile site provides them with another interactive alternative. To date, our mobile initiatives have resonated strongly with them with strong customer behavior in orders per day, conversion rates, and average order values. Through the addition of mobile, we have been able to expand our ShopNBC Anywhere strategy, which empowers our customers shop and interact through our TV, online, social and mobile platforms.” ShopNBC Press Release Jun. 10, 2010