The app has been developed initially for the iPhone, whose users are the most likely to purchase using their phones. Versions for Blackberry and Android smartphones are already in development and DigiPoS is in talks with a number of major European and British retailers to launch pilot projects in early 2011.
"This is a transactional mobile app for retail," says DigiPoS South Africa GM, Regan Atkins. "It brings together in one place many services to make life easier for customers and retailers alike, from store location and navigation through self-service checkout to customised promotions and reward vouchers. Customers can be in your store and online at the same time - and many of them are making full use of the opportunity."
Motorola's '2009 Retail Holiday Season Shopper Study' found that 51% of consumers between the ages of 18 and 65 had used their mobile phones for in-store activities including comparison shopping, product information, coupons and getting peer feedback.
Now retailers can enjoy the benefits as well. The app offers true multi-channel integration, deploying a simple middleware application that links the retailer's existing systems to the customer's mobile phone.
"Mobile offers increasing and highly measurable ROI as other marketing channels lose their appeal to customers. It is a 100% opt-in channel in which customers controls their own level of engagement and interaction with the retailer. It enables relevant, tailored and timely personal marketing via a medium which is always on, always available and has a built-in purchase mechanism," says Atkins.
The free iPhone app is available for shoppers at www.digipos.co.uk/msaas.html.
