Branding and analytics combine for companies' retail strategy

Shopping should be more than running errands, and a branding marketer has joined forces with an up-and-coming analytics firm to prove that to consumers.

According to Mobile Commerce Daily, Branding Brand and Nomi, an analytics company, will work together to create in-store shopping experiences for consumers that incorporate brand-based, multi-channel applications into the process.

The partnership will allow Nomi to include its software in retailers' apps to provide customers with loyalty rewards and special offers, as well as expand its reach within the mobile commerce arena.

"Repeat shoppers represent the most profitable segment of any retailer's customer base," said Corey Capasso, president of Nomi, New York, told the mobile news website. "According to Shop.org, repeat shoppers form only 27 percent of a web retailer's total customer base but drive 41 percent of sales. The customer experience starts before you buy, not after."

How it works
To give consumers a "seamless" transition from in-store browsing to mobile commerce that increasingly relies on payments made by debit, credit and prepaid ACH cards, the companies are trying to have the two types of shopping complement rather than compete with each other.

Retailers are doing their part by demanding greater integration of mobile shopping with brick-and-mortar stores as a way to draw customers away from less expensive shopping online at home without having to discount their inventory.

With Nomi software in place, consumers who download a retailer's app and opt in to their loyalty program can tap into a store's Wi-Fi infrastructure and make their presence - and buying preferences -  immediately known when they enter the store. Armed with this knowledge, store associates can make an informed pitch for the sales.

For Branding Brand, a mobile commerce platform that powers websites and apps for more than 100 retailers from Ace Hardware to Calvin Klein, the well-established relationship it has built up in the sales industry nationwide is what the firm brings to the partnership.

"We are excited about the potential this partnership offers our retail clients," said Chris Mason, co-founder and CEO of Branding Brand. "Soon, customers will have a go-to-market solution for bridging the mobile, online experience to the in-store, offline world."

Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester, told Mobile Commerce Daily that Branding Brand's emphasis on good customer service has differentiated itself well in mobile commerce during its early stages.

"The main benefit is that this is a good sales relationship," she said.