Analysts have predicted that m-commerce adoption will be mainstream
by the end of 2002, after three leading high street brands
announced plans to boost their services by using mobile
technology.
Tesco.com, the UK's leading online retailer, outlined its
commitment to m-commerce with the planned release of a Pocket
Shopper software application for download onto handheld
devices.
The move follows Sainsbury's announcement that it will focus on
m-commerce in 2002, starting with a mobile promotions trial for
10,000 of its Reward Card customers.
Duncan Brown, consulting director at analyst firm Ovum, said the
fact that such large companies are planning m-commerce projects
will help to strengthen the market. "These are big names on the
stock market," he said. "This is likely to attract a variety of
companies to m-commerce."
He added, "The m-commerce market is likely to meet critical mass by
the end of the year. However, micropayments [using mobile devices
instead of cash for low-value transactions] will not see much
progress over the next 12 months."
Tesco.com's Pocket Shopper application, which is currently in
development, will enable registered users with GPRS phones to log
their orders on the move. These orders will then be automatically
uploaded to Tesco.com when the device is synchronised with a
desktop PC.
Sainsbury's move will initially enable customers to register to be
notified of the latest in-store offers, but will also be used to
test the potential of future mobile projects with a wider scope,
the company said.
Meanwhile, hair stylist chain Toni&Guy has added a mobile
element to its Web presence in a bid to increase revenue per
customer and boost numbers during quiet trading periods.
Initially, the mobile offering, based on technology from software
provider Materna, is restricted to customers being able to download
Toni&Guy logos on to their mobile phones. However, in March, an
e-mail marketing campaign will invite customers to download a
vouchers on to their phones from the company Web site for discounts
on visits to Toni&Guy salons.
Alex Michael, managing director of new media agency Sprite
Interactive, which runs Toni&Guy's Web operations, said, "The
special offers will be geared to quiet periods, such as Mondays,
and we will also target information at particular clients, based on
data from previous questionnaires. We hope this will lead to lots
of additional purchases of Toni&Guy products."