Tag Archives: Mobile

Best Days

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January 16, 2012

Forget the Chronicles of Narnia, this festive period it’s all been about the Hitwise Christmas Retail Trilogy reports.  The big news this December was that visits to retail sites were at their highest ever level, up 4.8% year-on-year.

Across the month, there were over two billion visits and a total of 343m hours spent shopping on these sites. Interestingly, time spent was down from last December, implying that we have become quicker at browsing and buying. What’s Hot has surmised that this is not only because of faster internet speeds and sites with easier navigation, but also because consumers are increasingly confident about buying online.

Boxing Day was the biggest day ever for traffic to retail sites – 96.2m visits, up 19.5% on 2010. According to Hitwise, the large increase was down the fact that Boxing Day was a Monday, traditionally the busiest online day of the week. However as Boxing Day 2011 was a non-working day – traditionally quieter for online shoppers – we’ll have to wait until next year when Boxing Day is on Wednesday to see which is the bigger driving factor for traffic.

Boxing Day searches this December were also interesting. Only a small 0.9% contained the word “sale” or “sales”.  In 2011 many retailers started their sales pre-Christmas – and online searches for sales actually started increasing as early as 17th December.

Cyber Monday – the term coined for the busiest online shopping day of the year – fell on December 5th in 2011. As you’d expect, traffic was sky high, exceeding 84m visits, up 18% on 2010.  And we did not see the usual trend of falling traffic in the approach to Christmas Day as delivery dates became unattainable. Eager retailers extended delivery dates so much so that the only severe drop was in the week before Christmas.

Within this is the growing platform of m-commerce. This week, IBM reported 11% of all online retail sales in December 2011 originated from mobile devices, doubling from 5.5% a year earlier. Mobile shoppers generated 14.6% of all online sessions on retailer websites, up from 5.6% in December 2010.

Apple’s iPhone and iPad collectively accounted for 9.5%of all mobile device retail traffic last month. In addition, shoppers using the iPad continued to drive more purchases than consumers across other devices, with retail conversion rates reaching 6.3% compared to 3.1% on rival smartphones and tablets.

So is this the final death knell for the high street? In a word, no. You’ll still have some keen bargain-hunters queuing up in the cold on 26th December 2012. That said, the iPad was a big Christmas gift this year  once again – and the future of Christmas shopping may well be tablet-shaped.

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Hear me now – the7stars Q3 RAJAR update.

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October 28, 2011

The reach of all radio has remained above 47m for the third consecutive quarter, with all radio listening hours increasing by 2% YoY, and with almost 91% of the UK population tuning in.

Commercial radio has seen a slight QoQ decline of 0.9%, but still boasts a 43.3% share of all radio hours.

Capital London has won the battle for top London radio station this quarter, knocking Magic 105.4 into third place, following another burst of TV advertising pushing the Capital brand. Heart 106.2 also surged passed Magic, claiming second place, with LBC 97.3 and Kiss 100 completing the London top five respectively.

Following investment in station consolidation, many of the radio networks are performing well. The largest commercial network in the country is the Heart Network, delivering 7.6m listeners, followed by Capital with 7m, Kiss UK with 4.1m, Magic UK with 3.8m, Smooth Radio UK with 3.3m and Total Real Radio with 2.6m. Smooth and Real Radio networks reported their highest ever weekly reach this quarter.

Classic FM remains the most listened to single commercial UK radio station, despite a poor quarter. Talksport remained largely flat in hours QoQ.

Absolute Radio’s network hours have increased by over 11% YoY but have dropped 16% QoQ. Absolute 80s delivered over 1m listeners for the first time, and is now the 10th biggest UK commercial station.

When it comes to local radio, commercial radio delivers 27m listeners, compared to 9.5m for the BBC’s local and regional services. First Radio, who represent 120 of the UK’s local radio services, report that 6m adults tune in to one of their stations for an average of 8.7 hours per week.

Digital listening has grown once again, and now accounts for a 28.2% share of all radio listening, up from 26.9% QoQ, no doubt helped by RadioPlayer.  Over 20m adults also claim to live in a household with a DAB receiver.

In terms of mobile listening, 16% of adults and 32% of 15-24s now claim to listen to radio on their mobile phone. A recent RAJAR study also found that over 20% of all smartphone owners have a radio app.

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The great outdoors

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October 26, 2011

This morning at the7stars HQ, we had a bit of a catch up on the outdoor market. Want to know what’s going on?

Well, first of all, we’re buying loads of it. As an agency, the7stars’ outdoor spend was up +233% YoY compared to Q3 last year. We are buying a hell of a lot – and making it work hard for our clients. Recently you may have seen our big impactful Converse sites, Discovery’s ‘Alone in the Wild’ as far as the eye can see, many new album launches…and also keep an eye out for our special builds for Phones4U and our Cocosa Bond Street digiwall in the near future.

Looking at the market more holistically, on a macro level, investment in digital outdoor has increased by 12% in Q3 of this year. This mirrors a trend that has run across the whole year, with spend on traditional sites down somewhat, but spend on digital sites increasing. Overall, avails for Q4 are looking very tight as clients from every industry sector gear up for the busy Christmas period. Other things to keep an eye out for include a roll out of new formats; including digital 6 sheets at bus stops, jazzy new ‘social’ digital screens in bars and nightclubs, and some upgraded large formats, such as those in Euston Station and in Manchester.

So looking forward to 2012, what’s coming up? With a year jam-packed with big events, there’s a lot going on. Many of the Olympics outdoor sites have already been booked up by the official sponsors, with taxis in particular being in extremely high demand.  In addition to this, we have a shortlist of a few trends to look out for, namely…

  • Increased augmented reality interactivity with sites,
  • Social media integration,
  • Interactive gaming,
  • Mobile connectivity,
  • More live dynamic content.

The future’s looking bright – has there ever been a better excuse to get out?

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Google Wallet – Can a phone now burn a hole in your pocket?

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October 7, 2011

Google Wallet is the latest of the Near Field Communication (or NFC) systems to hit the digital world, perhaps signalling the end for the humble leather wallet. With the application, money and cards can be loaded onto your handset, allowing items to be paid for with a quick swipe of the phone without hanging around in long queues. The consumer can also be rewarded with the latest offers. No more holding onto paper vouchers and remembering to use them when in store. So why Google Wallet? Or more to the point… Why NFC at all?

 

Essentially the NFC system is a tool for convenience. The idea is undoubtedly exciting. The problem is seeing to what extent the benefits outweigh the dangers of keeping all your financial information in one, digital space. It may be convenient to skip queues, forget about vouchers, and transfer money at a click, but it may seem less convenient if your phone is lost or stolen, or perhaps if a merchant asks for cash – you thought you didn’t need your wallet anymore. Google rebuff the security argument by claiming that the digital wallet is in fact safer than the physical equivalent. The system is protected by a pin and secured with encryption, whereas a wallet’s only protection is often just a person’s trouser pocket. What if the phone is stolen you may ask? Well not everyone has the software to completely wipe their phone’s memory. This means you will still have to cancel your bank cards, even though you will still have them at home!

 

For any technology to become part of daily life, first and foremost it needs to be a better system than what is currently available. For NFC to make a truly social impact it must stay safe and simple. There is little argument against the simplicity of the technology. If you don’t mind syncing your bank accounts to the software then the tool appears easy to use. The interface is almost self explanatory, enter your pin, choose an account, transfer to another person/merchant’s account by holding your phone close to reader, and you’re done. The system will then also sync any relevant offers ensuring you have the best possible deal. All good then…

 

Well there are significant drawbacks that come with the Google Wallet compatibility. The problem is that this makes for a pretty extensive list:

  1. Model – For the time being the app is only available on the Nexus S 4G.
  2. Cards – The only cards taken currently are most Citi® PayPass™ eligible MasterCard® credit cards and the Google Prepaid Card.
  3. Merchants – Although many large corporations will take the system on, it will take a long time for the NFC readers to become universal and readily available.
  4. Battery – The handset must be on to complete the transaction.
  5. Digital – As with all apps there is the threat of malicious applications extracting data.

 

Google ‘Wallet’ is certainly a revolutionary tool in mobile purchasing, although not necessarily a major step forward. The system has some flaws and incompatibilities which detract from the obvious benefits of the application, until these are addressed then Google’s attempt at NFC may hit too many stumbling blocks. The recent law suit with their nearest competitor PayPal may not have tarnished their reputation much, but with a more integrated system PayPal may still reap the rewards. 

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CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE

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August 19, 2011

On Monday, Google announced it had bought Motorola development division Mobility for a staggering £7.7 billion. The deal comes seven months after Motorola split the business into two; Mobility that develops and manufactures mobile phones, and Motorola Solutions that covers wider technologies for corporate customers and government.

As a result of the acquisition Google will own all 17,000 technology patents that Motorola currently has the rights to. Essentially, this means that if another mobile system wants to use that technology they have to pay Google for the right to do so.

Recently Microsoft has been openly critical of Google and the handsets that use Android as an operating system – particularly HTC – as these handsets use Microsoft’s patent technology and therefore pays Microsoft every time an Android phone is sold.

So where does this purchase and associated legal issues, leave the rest of the mobile phone market? Apple, Blackberry and Microsoft have huge advantages in this space, as all own proprietary handset and operating systems. Android, despite its rapid growth, is an open source platform (used by handsets such as HTC and Samsung) and had been at a disadvantage for not owning a handset (and patents) to accompany the operating system to escalate it to the ‘iconic’ status that the iphone has attained. This could well now change.

Google intends to run Motorola as a separate business and to ‘Supercharge Android’ (according to Larry Page, Google CEO), whilst still keeping it as an open platform for other handsets to use. With the Motorola patents, mobile handset technology, Android operating system and the highest smartphone penetration in the UK, it like Google will be providing Apple with some serious competition! This could even reduce market domination by the iPhone – providing Google gets the handsets right.

The move really has has also shaken up the mobile industry and rumours are spreading about Microsoft acquiring Nokia for its patents and technology and Google looking at buying Blackberry for the addition penetration in the UK market. However, from where What’s Hot is standing Google has got an opportunity to dominate the market in the next year or so even without acquiring Blackberry. Exciting times ahead for the global mobile market indeed.

 

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Little by Little

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July 25, 2011

This week sees the release of the Absolute Radio app on the Apple and Android operating systems. While ‘company releases app’ isn’t shocking news per se, it brings us nicely to a quick review of what’s happening, available and working well in the mobile space.

Mobile commerce is moving into the mainstream. As of June this year, 36% of Brits were using smartphones. With this comes a boom in mobile advertising. In 2011, eBay is expecting to generate $4 billion through its mobile proposition. The UK buys more vehicles and fashion via eBay mobile than any other product category. Other major retailers such as French Connection and New Look have invested heavily in m-commerce and this is notable against the backdrop of a declining high street.

The phenomenon of group deals is also flourishing thanks to mobile. Check-ins are fairly obvious: a café signs up to Facebook deals, for example, and users who check in to a specific branch get a half-price coffee. It gets more interesting when users are purchasing and redeeming vouchers from the likes of Groupon, LivingSocial, etc. through mobile devices. Any group deal app will need to display latest deals within the immediate vicinity of a user’s handset. This means local commerce is changing as is users hunger for local offers.

Users are responding to mobile ads. According to comScore, 28.8% of European mobile owners use their phone regularly for online browsing. Crucially, users are more responsive to mobile display ads than desktop or laptop banners. MediaMind reviewed more than 230 million mobile impressions including both mobile and browser, compared results and found that mobile banners recorded click through rates  nearly eight times higher.

This is in part explained by mobile banners occupying a larger proportion of the screen and often being the only ad on the page. But throw into the mix rich media streaming in video content and there’s no doubt that mobile banners can prove highly effective at encouraging click through or user interaction.

Mobile now offers so much more than banners. It is becoming as sophisticated as other more established digital channels and, as ever, technology is the driver. What’s HOT sees mobile as the natural platform for local and increasingly targeted ads.

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