Retail

Open High Street, an online food and drink delivery service, is being trialled in Hereford with backing from the Government.

The pilot, run by a consortium of providers, offers consumers within the HR postcode area the opportunity to buy online from local shops. If successful the service could be extended throughout the UK.

McDonald’s is currently trialling PayPal mobile wallets enabling consumers to place and pay for orders. The service will be available via dedicated smartphone app or the mobile web with the intention of cutting queuing times.

A PayPal spokesperson said that in addition to mobile ordering and payment options, participating stores are instituting a separate customer line to pick up the meals.

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Image with thanks to smenzel

It has been announced that all 7,000 US Starbucks branches are to adopt the innovative payment technology

The adoption of Square in Starbucks is a major turning point for the business that began as a side project to Twitter. Initially payments will be made using Square’s swiping technology however in the future customers will be able to pay by just giving their name as stores will be able to sense when an existing user has come in.

Tesco trials a virtual store at Gatwick airport. They are encouraging travellers to shop via their smartphones before they jet off on holiday so they can come home to a full fridge.

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Image with thanks to kenjonbro

BrandAlley a private sales etailer reports a 20% jump in revenues in the first six months of the year.

In February, the retailer launched its first mobile site which now boasts a total of a million shoppers regularly visiting the site. Stats reveal that a large proportion of these are “commuter shoppers” who browse and purchase on the site between 7am and 9am, while the highest spender shops online from 7pm.

Ocado has shown itself as a leader in mCommerce with reports that last month mobile devices were used for 24% of checkouts.

This week Ocado opened its virtual shop in Birmingham’s Bullring; For the next month shoppers can order local specialities using only their smartphone.

Customers can buy and arrange delivery simply by scanning the relevant barcode with their phones thus avoiding queues, crowds and transportation issues.

Shutl, a web-based logistics service who offer customers delivery within 90 minutes or in a one-hour slot of their choosing, is encouraging service users to post their feedback onto their own Facebook pages via Shutl’s website.

According to Shutl’s own research ordinarily 53% of all comments about delivery are negative.

Capgemini have published their Digital Shopper Relevancy report based on findings from 16,000 consumers across 16 mature and developing markets.

Findings show consumers expect a seamless cross-channel shopping experience to be standard practice by 2014 and that shops will simply be showrooms where they can choose and order products by 2020.

eCommera a provider of intelligent, multi-channel trading solutions has launched the Mobile App Service; a configurable out-of-the-box solution compatible with multiple operating systems.

The app has been designed to enable brands and retailers to bring items to market via mobile devices and deepen customer engagement within relatively short timescales.

In our annual research report, DMI 2012, we highlight the positive impact that working in collaboration with partners and customers can have on the digital strategy of an organisation. In fact of the 40 digital leaders we interviewed, it is becoming increasingly important as they seek to offer more comprehensive services to customers.