Tag: Digital Wallet

Showtime’s innovative use of Passbook

Showtime’s recent use of mobile wallets to promote their new show, has demonstrated the innovative ways brands can utilize the mobile space and has widened the potential to use a pass as more than just a place to store coupons or tickets.

US TV network Showtime are using both Apple’s Passbook and Google Wallet to promote their new show ‘Penny Dreadful’ by creating a fan pass, a digital wallet pass that updates fans of the show when new content is available.

Shotime's use of Passbook

This new take on the uses of a digital is an ingenious way to give fans of the show effective, real time content without the need to create an app that would be impractical for both Showtime and its users. Best of all for the user, as an extra pass in a digital wallet it takes up no additional space on the user’s smartphone.

The practical nature of adding and deleting a pass to a digital wallet is what makes it ideal for storing promotional passes for a short amount of time, i.e. for promoting a movie or new product. In order to get updates about that product a user simply has to add a pass via an email or web link, use it when they want and then delete it when they no longer need it.

The dynamic features of a digital wallet pass can then be utilised by the brand or company to update it with content whenever necessary, including push notifications on the user’s lock screen. There is even scope to use geo-location technology to interact with the dynamic pass, as Showtime are considering doing, via a push notification whenever the user passes the ‘Penny Dreadful’ billboard.

There really is genuine potential for marketers to be creative and use a digital wallet pass as a multi-purpose informational source, as a communication tool, deployed in any way a brand might want in order to get quick, relevant promotions out to their customers.

Why Bricks-and-Mortar Stores Need to Embrace the Mobile

Bricks-and-mortar businesses have been losing ground on their online counterparts for years now as they are undercut by cheaper prices and more convenience for consumers. However, one advantage they can offer customers is the unique experience of having a physical location to display products and an opportunity to interact with staff.

The growing competition from online retailers means that the in-store experience and general customer service has never been more important for brick-and-mortar stores. Offering the consumer a seamless, interactive mobile experience is a vital way to do that.

In this digital age, where the smartphone is playing an increasingly significant role in influencing consumers’ spending habit, it’s essential that brands meet the high standards that their customers now expect of them. Digital wallets and close-proximity marketing are undoubtedly going to be part of the future of the customer-retailer in-store experience.

Making use of a dynamic mobile wallet pass has the potential to offer consumers a omni-channel retail experience that they desire. The many features of a digital wallet, including coupons and loyalty cards, allow the customer to incorporate their smartphone in to their shopping habits, whilst providing them value and creating brand loyalty.

The emergence of ibeacon technology which can be used in conjunction with mobile wallets, further underlines the potential to offer better, more relevant in-store experiences for customers and increases store traffic by enticing customers in to the store.

As a result of better access to a wider range of products and easy price comparison, the shift of power has switched to the consumer, as old-fashioned brand loyalty is disappearing, but for bricks-and-mortar stores embracing the changing nature of shopping habits is a must, with smartphone usage at the forefront.

 

First we had brick-and-mortar stores, then transactions moved online, and now Joe Pergola, vice president of sales and marketing at POS software and hardware provider AccuPOS, says location is even less important with the latest mobile payment options. “The museum gift shop eventually will have an event outside in the courtyard, and they want to bring some merchandise outside and sell it,” he offers as an example.

You can read more about Online Payments: Money Goes Mobile here.