m-Travel.com and Travel Distribution News

Archive Category: Phones

Mobile commerce sales to grow to $6.7b this year in the US

eMarketer estimates mobile commerce sales will reach $6.7 billion this year in the US—a tiny fraction of overall retail sales but a 91.4 percent increase over 2010. Next year, sales will rise another 73.1 percent to $11.6 billion.

M-commerce sales are on a steep upward trajectory, thanks in part to increasing adoption of smartphones and rising mobile internet usage, according to a new forecast by eMarketer. The company forecasts that 37.5 million US consumers ages 14 and up will make at least one purchase on their mobile phone next year, up from 26.8 million this year. The vast majority of that group will be smartphone owners, at 97 percent in 2012. Overall, 72.8 million mobile users will research or browse items on their phone next year but not necessarily make a purchase.

“For years, the trend has been for consumers to research products online, then go buy in-store,” said eMarketer principal analyst Jeffrey Grau. “But as the industry improves its slate of mobile offerings, consumers are increasingly visiting stores to research products, then go buy something else on their mobile devices.”

The projected mobile sales are based on a meta-analysis of data from research firms as well as overall trends in mobile ownership and usage. M-commerce sales include sales of physical goods as well as travel and event tickets purchased via mobile, but exclude digital downloads and usage of mobile phones as a point-of-sale payment mechanism. eMarketer’s estimates for m-commerce sales do not include purchases made from tablet devices.

Recently, eBay stated that mobile shopping is mainstream now, and the company expects this holiday to be the largest mobile shopping season ever. Steve Yankovich, vice president of eBay Mobile, highlighted that shoppers are in the driver’s seat, with mobile technology putting the mall right in one’s pocket. In 2011, eBay expects to see nearly $5 billion in mobile sales (Gross Merchandise Volume); PayPal expects more than $3.5 billion in mobile payment volume.

| Comments (2)

Rich and seamless mobile shopping experiences drive mobile purchases: survey

A survey, reviewing how consumers respond to a bad shopping experience on their Internet-connected mobile device, has revealed that 62 percent abandon the site on their mobile device and return to the site at a later date using a computer.

According to Limelight Networks Research’s survey, 21 percent complete their research and/or purchase using their mobile device but will never return to the site in the future if they can avoid it. Also, 18 percent abandon the site on their mobile device and seek alternative brands using their mobile device.

Overall, the company highlighted that consumers are unwilling to suffer less than optimal mobile shopping experiences, with 80 percent reporting that they will instantly abandon a bad experience.

Of the 520 respondents who completed the survey, 83 percent have researched and purchased a product on a shopping site using their Internet-connected mobile device. And 17 percent have simply researched products on a shopping site using their Internet-connected mobile device.

The survey indicated that mobile shopping expectations mirror expectations for the desktop — respondents want speedy experiences, rich media like product videos, and easy-to-use sites.

Expectations

Survey respondents ranked the importance of mobile shopping features to making the experience of researching and/or purchasing products on their Internet-connected mobile device a good one:

• 88 percent ranked the time it takes for the site to load or appear on the screen as extremely important or important
• 88 percent ranked providing detailed product images on the site (for example, "zoom in" product photography or product videos) as extremely important or important
• 82 percent ranked mobile site optimization, or how the site appropriately fits the screen (for example, no side-to-side scrolling), as extremely important or important

“Consumers do not want to wait — they want to immediately begin shopping on their mobile devices, making the time it takes to begin viewing, searching, and clicking on a site absolutely critical,” said Jonathan Cobb, Mobility Solutions, Limelight Networks.

Equally important to speed is the availability of rich product imagery, which provides the detailed information that consumers need when purchasing on their phones or researching the products they will buy in store or on the computer.

Travel Industry

The travel industry, too, acknowledges that as smartphone adoption grows, consumers expect a faultless experience across all online channels, including mobile.

“We find that the expectations and demands of smartphone customers are significantly higher than website visitors. With the dynamic of the App Store and the user-review feedback loop, it's imperative to deliver a stellar customer experience, otherwise one can end up in a deep hole of negative app reviews,” says Sam Shank, CEO of mobile hotel bookings specialist Hoteltonight.com.

Building on mobile is a far greater challenge than that of any other channel or platform because one only has the smallest amount of time to surprise and delight customers as soon as they glance at their phones, says Dave Ambrose, Business Development Manager, Mobile for Travelzoo.

| Comments (0)

Marriott International’s mobile app now available in five languages

Marriott International is now offering its mobile app for iPhone, iPod touch, and Android devices in Chinese, Spanish, German and French.

First introduced in English three months ago, the app has already been downloaded more than 500,000 times.

The company also announced the launch of its all new “app-like” Marriott mobile website in Chinese, Spanish, German and French, as well as English, that can be accessed from any web-enabled mobile device.

“As the Marriott International portfolio of hotels expands and diversifies worldwide, we are putting a premium on investing in our eCommerce channels, including mobile,” said Shafiq Khan, senior vice president, eCommerce for Marriott International.

The tools enable time-crunched travellers to quickly find nearby hotels, book a room, check their upcoming reservations and get details about their hotel, including photos. With the app and mobile website, travellers can also enroll in Marriott Rewards, check their point balance, and even find out what’s happening in the local area.

Earlier this year, the group shared that through June of this year, Marriott’s mobile website averaged nearly 2.6 million visits a month and $21 million in property-level revenue a month, which was more than three times the volume compared to the same time period from the year before. “We know that more than half of hotel reservations made using mobile devices are for same-day stays. This shows how rushed mobile travellers are; speed and choice are critical,” Khan said then.

Marriott’s mobile app for smartphones and its upgraded mobile website were developed by Kony Solutions.

The group’s mobile website and apps are hosted and managed by AT&T.

| Comments (0)

Hyatt Hotels’ mobile app focuses on clean design with an intuitive flow

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has introduced its mobile app that allows iPhone users to search and explore hotels using location-based technology, check-in and checkout, book new and view existing reservations, as well as join, find deals and track point balances through Hyatt Gold Passport, Hyatt’s guest loyalty programme.

The company shared that an Android app is currently under development.

The Hyatt Hotels app has been launched in order to simplify the travel research process for consumers on-the-go. The company acknowledged that researching travel options can be time consuming – especially if you are on the road and need information immediately.

“We wanted our app to offer a clean design with an intuitive flow so travellers can easily have all the most important details at their fingertips to make their travels as simple and seamless as possible,” said Bill Bernahl, vice president, e-Commerce, Hyatt.

Some of the features of the mobile app include: One touch access to key features; Access to weather, local time, maps and turn-by-turn driving directions to any Hyatt destination worldwide; Search, find and book hotel reservations based on rate, location and available amenities at properties around the globe.

Hyatt’s mobile offering also includes a mobile website, which allows guests to find and book a hotel, access special offers and make new reservations. This site, which is accessible at Hyatt.com on any smartphone, is available in five languages – English, German, Japanese and simplified and traditional Chinese.

| Comments (0)

New mobile app to offer free airfare tracking and refund alerts

Yapta has shared that its core airfare price tracking and refund alert service is now available as a mobile application for iPhones.

The app, according to Tom Romary, president and CEO of Yapta, is a “powerful savings tool” that’s well-suited for today’s airfare pricing environment -- and for the busy traveller on the go.

The company says Yapta Mobile is the travel industry’s first free smartphone app that tracks airfare prices on specific flights from hundreds of airlines around the world and alerts travellers when the price on a particular flight drops -- or falls below a pre-designated price point.

The app delivers pricing alerts in real- time via push notifications that enable travellers to either book their flight from the airline website at a lower available price -- or, if the ticket is already booked, to claim a travel credit from the airline. The app also tracks the price of airline tickets that have already been booked -- and if the price drops below what was paid -- it alerts the user when they’re eligible for a travel credit from the airline.

Users can expect push notifications, email alerts, or tweets when prices drop.

| Comments (0)

Asia-Pacific’s mobile connections prowess continues to rise

Global mobile subscriptions will reach over six billion by the end of this year and the Asia-Pacific region will account for more than half of the worldwide figure in 2011, according to ABI Research.

The company shared that Asia-Pacific added nearly one billion connections from two years ago - growth that is fueled by rapid economic development in the region, where increased rollout of mobile network infrastructure, citizen prosperity, and affordability of mobile handsets have encouraged adoption. Less than 18 percent of the 3 billion connections in Asia-Pacific are 3G and 4G enabled, but that is expected to change quickly. Mobile broadband connections will experience rapid growth over the next two years, driven by 3G network rollouts in India and China and 4G deployments in Japan and South Korea.

Travel industry

Considering that Asia is growing to become the top travel region in the world, as soon as 2015 in some travel categories, as shared by Abacus International earlier this year, the industry needs to prepare itself well in advance.

In April this year, Brett Henry, VP Marketing, VP India, Abacus International mentioned that mobile-enabled services are rapidly changing the way travellers purchase travel. Booking transactions in Asia finished at a record high in 2010, up 11 percent over the previous year, with a sharp increase in both smartphone usage (54 percent penetration by 2015) as well as mobile Internet (450 million subscribers in Asia Pacific).

M-commerce is a transformative new platform quickly changing the way consumers interact with travel brands, says Henry.

“Although it may be hard imagining that travellers will book for their vacation from start to finish using only mobile devices, the fact is that they have already started to research and buy travel options and upgrades while on the go. M-commerce will eventually become as common as online shopping. It will come as no surprise to travel providers that mobile devices such as smartphones offer an enormous opportunity to be leveraged as a mobile tool to manage customers’ post-booking activities,” according to Henry.

Abacus also highlighted that growth of mobile needs to be supported with the right infrastructure if it is to be utilised properly as a travel planning and booking channel. This can be achieved in three key areas:

1. User Interface and user experience. Limits on screen size and functionality of mobile devices and the type of search and planning apps available today still make the traveller experience challenging.
2. Payment and settlement process.
3. Excessive mobile roaming charges may have a dampening effect on growth in the adoption of mobile devices as a true eCommerce channel where for example spending as much on data charges to book and service a low cost flight via mobile could equal the actual cost of the ticket in extreme cases.

| Comments (0)

The City of Sydney’s iPhone App to let users capture a 12-sec video

The City of Sydney has launched a new iPhone App to encourage people to capture a 12-second video from their 2011 New Year’s Eve celebrations for inclusion in a short film to mark Australia’s biggest event of the year.

The initiative is part of a Tourism Australia and City of Sydney joint venture called Project :12 to promote Sydney to the world.

The free App allows users to edit and upload a 12-second video which will then be edited into a short film and distributed online within hours through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. People are also encouraged to share their dreams for 2012 in eight words or less.

“An increasing number of people use smart phones and rely on Apps to find information and interact with each other. As a council we want to make sure we are providing the information that people need in the way they want to receive it,” said Lord Mayor Clover Moore. “Our App gives users real time notifications of vantage points, road closures and events. People can also find out about crowd capacities, ensuring a safe and great night out.”

The City is also hosting a photo competition and people can enter by uploading photos from the night via the App or the City’s website.

The App includes an interactive map of the best vantage points for the 9pm Family Fireworks and Midnight Fireworks Displays, information about events happening around the city, tips on how to plan the night and easy entry to a NYE photo competition.

In August this year, Tourism Australia launched a new campaign, 30 days in Oz, targeting young travellers in the UK. The initiative, consisting of 30 one-minute online videos, attempted to capitalise on the combination of advocacy and online video in order to showcase inspiring destination content.

| Comments (0)

New mobile app to eradicate communication barriers en route to hotel

A new hotel search mobile app that lets users search for hotels and play the directions to the hotel and the nearest airport in the local language of the hotel, for the benefit of taxi drivers and other native speakers, has been launched.

Launched by hospitality solutions provider FCS Computer Systems, the FCS i-Guest Hotels Finder app lets travellers search for hotels by brand, region, country or city.

By tapping either the “Directions to Hotel” or the “Directions to Airport” button on a hotel’s profile page, an audio recording in the local language is played, simplifying the interaction between a foreign-speaking traveller and the taxi driver or other native-speaking local guide.

The app -- which requires no login or password to use -- also features integration with Google Maps, showing the local map in multiple languages.

Prior to arrival, the app can also act as a hotel-branded platform for the hotel and guest to interact. Guests are able to make a variety of service requests--room service ordering, housekeeping inquiries, dinner reservations and more--from the intuitive i-Guest app interface, which can be launched within i-Guest Hotels Finder.

Hoteliers can also take advantage of advertising banners within the app to promote specials or property features. The hotel’s company website will be automatically launched when the banner is selected to ensure that the banner drives traffic to the designated offering page.

“We understand that not all hotels currently have the resources to reach their guests and potential guests through mobile platforms since the technology is still so new, making it very expensive and difficult to deploy,” said Akina Ho, FCS’ VP of global strategy and business development. “Our intention in developing this latest app was to provide our customers with an effective tool to reach and communicate with their guests.”

Availability

The app is available for free download in the Apple iTunes Store. It is also exclusively available in the Samsung Apps marketplace for the first three months under a joint global promotion campaign with Samsung.

In addition, it will be available from Android Market in February 2012.

| Comments (0)

40pc of mobile social networking users engage with brands: report

It has emerged that several social networking brands posted significant gains for their mobile audiences over the past year as comScore released an overview of mobile social media usage across the five European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) from the comScore MobiLens service.

The study showed that the audience for mobile social networking in the EU5 region grew 44 percent in the last year with 55.1 million mobile users in the EU5 accessing social networking sites or blogs via their mobile devices during September 2011.

Usage

Approximately 39 million mobile users or 71 percent of the EU5 mobile social networking audience accessed Facebook via a mobile device in September 2011 – the largest mobile audience of any social network – and an increase of 54 percent in the past year.

Nearly 8.6 million mobile users accessed Twitter.com, representing a 115-percent jump from the previous year. LinkedIn grew by a notable 134 percent to 2.2 million unique users, more than doubling its user base during the same time period.

Engagement

In September 2011, nearly 3 in 4 mobile social networking users reported reading posts from people known personally, and more than 60 percent posted status updates on their mobile devices.

Mobile social networking users also engaged with brands on their mobile devices, as 44.3 percent reported reading posts from organisations, brands, or events, and a similar percentage (41.6 percent) reported reading posts from public figures or celebrities.

In addition, more than a quarter (26.7 percent) of mobile social networking users reported receiving coupons, offers, or deals on their phones.

Convergence

The convergence of two technological shifts – with the rise of the smartphone use and the meteoric popularity of social media – has created a seismic shift in consumer behaviour. Now, wielding their GPS-enabled phones, social media users are more comfortable than ever before in sharing information about their lives, and also expect instantaneous access to information and purchasing no matter where they are in the world.

According to EyeforTravel’s Social Media and Mobile Strategies for the Travel Industry 2011 report, to capitalise on the convergence of social and mobile media, marketers must take into account becoming fully accessible to customers on the go, with website content and features, including e-commerce, the mobile web, mobile applications, tablets, social media sites such as Facebook and in-store kiosks. These areas, precisely, are the points at which social media and mobile media converge.

| Comments (0)

eBay predicts major spike in mobile shopping

eBay has stated that mobile shopping is mainstream now, and the company expects this holiday to be the largest mobile shopping season ever.

Steve Yankovich, vice president of eBay Mobile, has highlighted that shoppers are in the driver’s seat, with mobile technology putting the mall right in one’s pocket.

“We’re using our mobile and tablet innovations to empower people to shop - and find the best deals - anytime, anywhere, any way they want - from the comfort of their couch or on the go,” said Yankovich.

In 2011, eBay expects to see nearly $5 billion in mobile sales (Gross Merchandise Volume); PayPal expects more than $3.5 billion in mobile payment volume.

“Couch Commerce”

eBay and PayPal predict that after dinner on Thanksgiving Day, people will head for the couch, and their smartphones and tablets, in what will be the first mobile shopping spike this holiday season.

Shopping while viewing TV

eBay also mentioned that it is set to unveil its new tablet technology that will “change the way people experience and engage with their favourite shows, programmes and sporting events on TV”.

New this month, a “Watch with eBay” tab is being added to the eBay iPad app that enables users to shop from selected items related to what they are watching.

Users simply tap “Watch with eBay” and type in their zip code, cable provider, channel and the programme they are currently watching; using show and event-specific key word searches, the app surfaces relevant merchandise from more than 200 million listings available on the eBay marketplace.

Interestingly, this week Travel Channel has also finalised a multi-platform partnership with Rand McNally’sTripology.com business to connect its audience with trained “tripologists”. Travel Channel is gearing up to offer its viewers unique opportunities to book trips and itineraries inspired by the network’s travel programming.

| Comments (0)