This commentary is available as text or video...though we seem to be having some trouble with the video this morning. We will endeavor to get it working ASAP.
Hi, I’m Kevin Coupe and this is FaceTime with the Content Guy.
There was a piece in the Wall Street Journal the other day that I think is worth quoting, because it makes an essential point about mobile commerce that every marketer needs to integrate into his or her strategic plans.
It was an opinion piece by Ed Nash, president of Altius Management in Nashville, Tennessee...
“Web 3.0 isn't coming—it's already here,” he writes. And he goes on:
“Our businesses compete in a technological environment in which information is coming and going from every direction in all conceivable digital forms. Suddenly, the ability to explore a fully interactive website or a full-length video doesn't require anything more than a small hand-held device. Wireless data delivery is faster and easier than ever, and consumers want what they want right now—whether they are sitting in front of a desktop, riding on a train holding a tablet, or walking down the street, smartphone in hand.”
Nash notes that:
• “According to a 2011 report by comScore, fully half of the total population of the U.S. uses mobile media—an incredible 20% increase in a single year.”
• “World-wide, there are 1.2 billion mobile Web users. In the U.S. alone, 25% of users access the Web exclusively through mobile devices, and that number is significantly higher in many other parts of the world, such as 70% in Egypt and 59% in India.”
And the growth isn’t slowing. If anything, it is accelerating.
Nash writes: “If your company is going to compete in a web-based world, it must be broadly accessible and elegantly intuitive - Steve Jobs taught us that. The technological landscape has changed immeasurably since I started my first business over 20 years ago. In that time, I've learned that change can be very profitable for innovators and early-adopters, or very costly if you're the last to show up to the party. For those who aren't ready for Web 3.0, get your dancing shoes on - the party is already in full swing, and you're late.”
At my house, we recently had new shades installed. They are made of wicker, and the funniest thing keeps happening. There is this one bird that we think saw the wicker through the window and decided that it would make great material for a nest. So it keeps flying into the window, trying to get the wicker. Of course, all it does it keep hitting its head ... it doesn’t seem to learn, and it keeps trying to get to the wicker, over and over and over.
That strikes me as a pretty good metaphor. At some point, we all have to realize that we way we used to do things isn’t getting it done anymore. We have to learn from people like Ed Nash, and find another way to achieve our goals. For retailers, mobile accessibility is critical for success ... just doing things the same old way just won’t cut it anymore.
That’s what is on my mind this Thursday morning. As always, I want to hear what is on your mind.
- KC's View:
