Targeting the online back-to-school shopper

By FIONA SWERDLOW, HEAD OF RESEARCH, SHOP.ORG | Published: JULY 18, 2013

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It may only be the middle of July, but back-to-school shopping is on retailers’ minds. Parents with children in grades K-12 are expected to spend $26.7 billion this year, but that’s down from 2012 as consumers say that economic pressures continue to be important factors in purchasing decisions. In NRF’s initial survey about back to school shopping sentiments conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, parents noted that they’ll be looking for coupons and store-brand products to stretch budgets, not to mention evaluating what can be re-used for the coming school year.

This year, more than one-third of back–to-school shoppers will do part of their shopping online. With these factors in mind, here are tips to target these budget-conscious consumers:

Get online shopping basics right. Online back-to-school shoppers plan to spend an average of $896 on clothing, shoes, school supplies, and electronics or computer-related goods – or 41 percent more than all shoppers.

• What this means: Over half plan to do more comparison shopping online this year, so make your products easy to find by fine-tuning your product detail page. It’s also important to use video and customer reviews optimally to instill confidence and convey shipping and sales tax information right at the start of the checkout process. This will go a long way to ensure no last-minute surprises and to make sure customers don’t abandon ship.

Back–to-school shopping has already started. Over one-third of online back-to-school shoppers started two months before the start of school, compared with just 23 percent of all shoppers.

• What this means: If your online presence isn’t talking about back–to-school right now, you could be leaving significant money on the table. At the same time, there is an evolving trend whereby back-to-school shoppers don’t feel the need to finish shopping before school starts. In an era of fast fashion, some students may continue to buy well into the fall as new deliveries reach stores and kids figure out what’s “cool” among their peers.

Students will be spending some of their own money. Parents expect teens to spend an average $44 of their own money online, compared with $30 across all households. Furthermore, households shopping online expect even their younger children to spend an average $30.

• What this means: Opt-in text-messaging lists developed from in-store and social channels can be an effective way to reach teen-age customers about specials, in-store events and other offers. Mogreetnotes that text messages have a 95 percent open rate, with most opened within three minutes and a 14 percent click-through rate. Charlotte Russe last year reported tremendous success in growing their listby including a video in a text that also included a coupon. Text marketing – and marketing to individuals under 18 – is tightly regulated, so make sure you’re following all rules to the letter.

Leverage mobile. Our recent State of Retailing Online report reinforced that smartphones and tablets are changing the marketing mix. So it’s no surprise that online back-to-school shoppers plan to use these devices significantly to research products, compare prices, look up retailer information, redeem coupons – and, yes, actually buy.

• What this means: Ensure that your smartphone presence emphasizes what a consumer on the go will want most: retailer info such as location and hours, product and price details, and the ability to redeem coupons easily. A retailer’s tablet presence should take into account that the consumer is more likely to be using this device while at home and perhaps in less of rush. With this mind, provide rich product information and price information, and ensure easy purchasing capabilities by testing the checkout process to be sure that it is tablet-optimized. Use video to prominently feature information and tell the product story, and leverage additional features to support in-store purchases such as inventory availability, maps and directions, and more.

For the full survey results for back-to-school shopping, visit the Shop.org site.

via Shop.org Blog http://blog.shop.org/2013/07/18/targeting-the-online-back-to-school-shopper/

Cell phone culture: How cultural differences affect mobile use

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By Naomi Canton for CNN updated 5:55 AM EDT, Fri September 28, 2012 |

During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games a group of residents in one of the capital's old neighborhood gathered to watch the opening ceremony on a single shou-ji (hand machine).

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Cultural differences dictate ways in which mobile phones are used around the world
• Words to describe it and etiquette of how to use it differ starkly across cultures
• The Spanish, like the Italians, happily answer calls in restaurants, during business meetings
• While in Japan it is frowned upon to answer your phone in public places

Editor's note: Mobile phones have become an essential part of our everyday life. Through a special month-long series, "Our Mobile Society," we examine how phones and tablets are changing the way we live.

London, England (CNN) -- It is a device that three quarters of the world's inhabitants have access to, according to the World Bank, but the words to describe it and etiquette of how to use it differ starkly across cultures.

In the UK, it is called a mobile, in the U.S. cell phone, in Latin America celular, in Japan keitai (portable), in China shou-ji (hand machine), in Bangladesh muthophone (phone in the palm of your hand), in Sweden nalle (teddy bear), in Israel Pelephone (wonder phone) and in Germany a handy.

In Japan, train commuters receive a barrage of recorded announcements telling them to switch their mobiles to silent or vibrate, referred to as "manner mode". Using a mobile in public is frowned upon in a land where collective needs are put above the individual's.

"Japanese culture highly values social harmony and social disturbance is heavily sanctioned," explains Satomi Sugiyama, associate professor at Franklin College Switzerland.

If someone tries to board a bus while taking a call, the driver will not let them on, adds cultural anthropologist Mizuko Ito. "In Japan your phone shouldn't be a nuisance to others," she says. "This means generally keeping it on manner mode when out of the house, and not taking calls in cafes and restaurants. If somebody's phone rings, they will be flustered and silence it or take a very quick call," Ito explains.

Open Mic: Is cell phone dependency bad?

The density of urban spaces, the high use of public transportation, and the relative lack of privacy in homes contribute to ways of communicating that don't impose on others, she explains.

Texting, mobile email, games and novels are more popular than voice calls among the Japanese.

In Spain and Italy, in contrast, mobiles are used everywhere and people discuss are not averse to discussing their personal lives in public. Renfe, the state-owned train operating company in Spain, once promoted its journeys on a poster depicting conversations people can have with their partners on cell phones from the train.

Smartphones are the new wingman

The Spanish, like the Italians, happily answer calls in restaurants, during business meetings, conferences and even sometimes during concerts. Discreetly texting or instant messaging under the table during meetings is also commonplace, Amparo Lasén, professor of sociology at the University Complutense de Madrid, says.

Spanish people have always discussed their private lives in the streets, so doing so on mobile is just an evolution of that. "Sometimes Spanish people leave movie theaters just to check what is happening on their phone," Lasén says.

Open Mic: Mobile devices in Kenya

"You have an obligation to be available to close friends, colleagues and customers. There is an obligation of accountability," she adds.

However, it is not the Spaniards but the Finns who are the chattiest on their mobiles in Europe, clocking up an average of 257 minutes a month, according to GSMA's European Mobile Observatory 2011.

Then again, it is the homeland of Nokia. Austrians follow closely behind the Finns at 240 minutes of use, while the Maltese spend the least time talking -- an average of 46 minutes per month.

In parts of India and Africa, there is also a culture of split-second calls known as "flashing" or "beeping." Jonathan Donner, a researcher at Microsoft India who published a paper on "The Rules of Beeping," said: "Beeping is simple: A person calls a mobile telephone number and then hangs up before the mobile's owner can pick up the call."

The mobile owner can then phone them back, thus picking up the tab for the call.

Donner first came across "beeping" in Rwanda and tracked it's use across Africa. He said the practice has many different meanings from "Come and pick me up", to "Hi", to "I'm thinking of you" to "Call me back."

Read related: Seven ways mobile phones have changed Africa

As blogger Shashank Bengali writes: "There are unwritten but deeply observed rules for flashing. When your mechanic wants to tell you your car is ready, for example, he can flash you -- it's your car, after all, and if you want it back, you'd better call him.

"It's also hierarchical: an employee calling a superior, who makes more money, is justified in flashing -- unless he really needs a favor."

He sounds a note of warning though: "If you're trying to woo a lady, don't flash her. Ever."

Read more from Our Mobile Society

In India it is common for people to take calls inside a movie theater. People don't know if the call is important so they pick up, Umang Shah, of PhiMetrics, a telecom audit and consulting firm in India, says. Like in Spain, few Indians have or use voicemail, he added.

Another quirk about India is that the caller may get to hear a Bollywood song, chosen by the subscriber instead of a ringing tone. Known as caller tunes, the subscriber is charged for this monthly and according to Shah, they are a big money-spinner. This is also common in parts of Africa where a caller might hear a quote from the Bible.

In both continents, it is also common for people to take calls inside a movie theater. "Even at highly official functions, during speeches and so on people in India take the call," Kadira Pethiyagoda, visiting doctoral student at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, says.

"Indian society has a long tradition of tolerance, including in terms of allowing others to infringe on what those in the West would consider one's personal space," he says. This is why phone use in cinemas and crowded trains, is tolerated, he adds. "Indian society is also more communal than the West which, in part, leads to an increased importance of constantly staying in touch," he adds.

"People pick up their phones everywhere in Africa. The only places they don't are the mosque or the church," Abdullahi Arabo, BT research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, explains.

"Part of it is showing off that they have the device and if the call is from far away they like to show it's an international call."

In Japanese movie halls, on the contrary, 45-year-old Tokyo housewife Kanako Shibamoto says "we are not allowed to even put phones into silent mode because the light of the screen might make other people annoyed."

Mobile manufacturers have also created double sim card handsets for the emerging markets so they can simultaneously benefit from the best data and voice deals. In general, Indians chat for an average of 346 minutes a month, benefiting from extremely low rates of 0.5 rupee (less than half a cent) a minute. Multiple sim ownership is common across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

In Africa, it is because most of the service providers are unreliable and they can't get a signal, Arabo says.

In the U.S., a Synovate market research poll found that 72 per cent of Americans considered loud conversations in public places to be the worst habits of cell phone users. Now the new gripe appears to be iPhone 4S users repeating simple questions to Apple's Siri, a robotic assistant.

"People seem to be accepting of phone calls but not of people talking to a disembodied voice on their phone," says Jane Vincent, visiting fellow at the Digital World Research Centre, University of Surrey.

Texting was initially slow to take off in America, because "differing networks did not work well together in the early days of mobile communication causing dysfunctional text messaging across networks," says Scott Campbell, professor of telecommunications at the University of Michigan.

"Texting is now as big in America as everywhere, " he says.

Campbell also said mobile internet has been slow on the uptake there as digital media tablets are becoming popular ways of going online.

"They have a larger screen and better interface than mobile."

Why SMS Marketing is a Must for a Younger Audience

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By Pavel Webb | Published: January 13, 2012

Image credit: Fotolia.com

The other day, I was in a popular national chain pizza restaurant enjoying a meal with friends.
While we dined, I noticed a number of younger people (under 34) showing their mobiles to the server before getting their bill. One family even had a teenage mobile user hold up her phone on behalf of the family.

Now, this particular chain of pizza restaurants does a lot of online marketing, especially email. In fact, many of my friends that evening had printed off 2-for-1 vouchers from the chain’s website.
Being in the SMS (mobile phone text messages) business, I was curious how the pizza chain’s program worked. I used my smartphone to search for the chain’s “mobile voucher.” What I observed at the restaurant and found online only served to strengthen the research I’ve seen on how effectively mobile SMS campaigns reach the younger demographics.

Using SMS to get them to spend

In the example above, the voucher code was for 25 percent off the food bill when you purchased at least two “adult” pizzas. It’s a pretty good deal, especially for those on limited budgets (like most young people), and a sure way to bring customers (who might be otherwise reluctant) into the restaurant for a meal by spending a minimum amount.

But discount codes are only one kind of SMS marketing tactic — there are plenty of other uses, such as:

• Free product offers
• Buy-one-get-one-free coupons
• Priority customer codes
• Special announcements
• VIP access

Like all good offers, you need to consider your audience for your product or service. For example: the local restaurant could offer a free bottle of wine with your next visit; an electronics store could announce when a popular game is back in stock; or a local night club could offer special access to mobile customers on a traditionally slow evening with “Free VIP access this Tuesday night! Show this text code when you get to the door VIPTUES121211″.

SMS messages are actually read

The New York Times reported that email use is declining in younger target markets (those under 34 years old), noting they prefer to use SMS messages to communicate. In a U.S. study conducted by eMarketer, over half of the respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 said that they would give their mobile number to a business in order to receive coupons or vouchers.

SMS is powerful for marketers as well: the average open rate for SMS messages is over 95% (Frost & Sullivan). you suddenly see how effective SMS marketing is when trying to reach younger segments of your audience.

Putting it all together

I signed up online for the promotion by entering my mobile number and immediately received a confirmation text message on my phone:

ABCPizza: Thanks for your interest in our 25% off voucher. To receive your code, reply “yes”. Standard network charges apply. See T&Cs on our website.

The pizza restaurant is using good practice here. The opt in to receive the code is a reassuring sign that I’m not enrolling in something suspicious. Also, the message clearly communicated what the charges would be (standard network rates).

I confirmed and received my code which explained how to redeem it and how long I had to use it.

ABCPizza: 25% off ur bill when you order 2 main meals. Show code to your server when you ask for the bill. 26e1A56 Exp 23.11.2011

Once we finished our meal, I showed my SMS message to my server, who took down the number to check against a live database, and then gave me the 25 percent discount.

What’s more, I told my friends to text to the opt-in short code to get the discount too. Which brings me back to a point I made earlier about considering your audience in your offers. A compelling offer will get shared and with most young people today carrying mobiles, this viral sharing of SMS marketing messages ensures your offers are read by this important demographic.