Mobile Shopping: Of personal shopping assistants and mobile payment

Part 4 of the Topic Series: Mobile Optimization

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Source: panthermedia.net/ideyweb

One issue with mobile shopping is that an online store features only a few items of its overall available product selection. Other hurdles often complicate the mobile payment process.

That’s one of the conclusions of the “Modern Mobile Web Technologies” guidelines of the German Federal Association of the Digital Economy (BVDW).

”Our research has shown that a focus on mobile product discovery can impact digital revenue by up to 33 percent. We’re making significant investments in AI-powered product discovery for mobile because we see real uplift opportunity that’s only connected through a mobile device.” Graham Cooke, CEO of Qubit.

Suggesting similar products

Oftentimes, mobile websites don’t offer the option of looking at similar products. Impulse buys are thus nearly out of the question.

That’s why a mobile shopping assistant is an ideal way to suggest a variety of products to customers. Mobile shopping assistants like Qubit Aura are based on artificial intelligence (AI). It assists customers and makes it easier for them to shop and find products. AI can respond in real-time and adapt to the individual customer journey by analyzing and understanding the customer’s buying behavior. The result? Customers are offered a variety of products that are tailored to their personal needs. Consumers are enticed to buy more.

Mobile payment and make it fast

Two of the greatest challenges in mobile shopping include the payment and login process. Hurdles in these areas often cause customers to abandon their shopping carts. Simply log in? Unfortunately, that’s frequently not an option. You need an underscore here, a special character there and don’t forgot to add a unicorn’s eyelash, please. Needless to say, most of us immediately forget this cryptic combination of login name and password again, given how complicated this process is. And it’s not just the customer who suffers.

Topic Series: Mobile Optimization

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The aforementioned process almost guarantees that a customer account is only used once and it doesn’t benefit the company. Businesses are unable to generate data this way and also unable to retain the customer. Yet data fuels the online world. That’s also why online user registration is so interesting and valuable for companies.

Having said all that, there are attempts to solve this problem aimed at making registration as easy as possible. Simply offering a special bonus when you register is not enough.

A special application programming interface (API) can offer support. A credential management API makes the login process easy by using an already existing user account (for example an account with Facebook or Google).

 ”The PaymentRequest API acts as an intermediary between the payer, the payee, and the payment service provider," (BVDW: "Modern Mobile Web Technologies")

The existing data stored in the browser is made available to the website through an interface. The user only has to confirm it to complete the registration process. If credit card information has also been stored, customers are only one click away from buying. But keeping the data secure is a must for companies. Earn and build the customer’s trust!

Author: Nora Petig; iXtenso – Magazine for Retailers

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