Location Based Services Whitepapers and Ebooks

This sections provides whitepapers on Location Based Services that details on trends, analysis and latest happenings in the industry.

  • PCI Basics: What it Takes to Be Compliant
    A long-running worldwide advertising campaign by Visa states that the card is accepted "everywhere you want to be." Unfortunately, and through no fault of Visa, a great deal of credit card data and other sensitive information has ended up in a lot of places that people would rather it not be. It seems that every day we hear reports of a highprofile credit card or cardholder data loss or compromise. Although significant breaches like the BJ's Wholesale Club and TJX incidents occurred in the United States, a survey report released by Verizon Business and the United States Secret Service in 2010 found that over half of all data breaches reported occurred outside of the United States. The report also noted, "Over the past two years [the] caseload has consistently grown in Asia-Pacific and Western European countries."1 In response to these security events, various governing bodies around the world, including the United States, the European Union, and Canada, passed significant data protection legislation. For example, the European Union Directive on Data Protection, the Security Policy Framework (SPF) in the UK, PIPEDA in Canada, or the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act of 2000 in Australia all demonstrate how nations have adopted form of law or regulation that mandates protection of personal financial information to stem the tide of identity and credit card crime.
  • PCI Basics: What it Takes to Be Compliant
    A long-running worldwide advertising campaign by Visa states that the card is accepted "everywhere you want to be." Unfortunately, and through no fault of Visa, a great deal of credit card data and other sensitive information has ended up in a lot of places that people would rather it not be. It seems that every day we hear reports of a highprofile credit card or cardholder data loss or compromise. Although significant breaches like the BJ's Wholesale Club and TJX incidents occurred in the United States, a survey report released by Verizon Business and the United States Secret Service in 2010 found that over half of all data breaches reported occurred outside of the United States. The report also noted, "Over the past two years [the] caseload has consistently grown in Asia-Pacific and Western European countries."1 In response to these security events, various governing bodies around the world, including the United States, the European Union, and Canada, passed significant data protection legislation. For example, the European Union Directive on Data Protection, the Security Policy Framework (SPF) in the UK, PIPEDA in Canada, or the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act of 2000 in Australia all demonstrate how nations have adopted form of law or regulation that mandates protection of personal financial information to stem the tide of identity and credit card crime.
  • How to Capitalize on Social Networking Sites
    Customer loyalty has a lot to do with thought leadership and social networks provide an excellent avenue for that. They're also a great way to gain customer input on product and service development � and of course, to reinforce brand messaging. In addition, consumers trust other consumers more than they trust brands themselves. JupiterResearch recently found that 30% of frequent social networkers trust their peers' opinions when making a major purchase decision, but only 10% trust advertisements. Social networks are creating consumer-driven direct marketing; many of your most loyal and engaged customers will be the first to adopt and participate in a social networks. In short, social networks provide marketers with another online channel but don't let them become another marketing `silo'. If you can create a better customer experience by integrating online, offline, and branding efforts across your organization you will have sustainable competitive advantage. Here are four steps towards achieving it. Measurement is probably your biggest challenge and social networks should be designed with this in mind. If social networks are going to become a mainstream loyalty marketing channel, marketers have to be able to account for the cost. And because there are so many different applications hard to define measurement that is appropriate across the board.
  • Condis Secures Position as Top Cross-Channel Supermarket Market Leader with ATG
    Extend market leadership with a personalized cross-channel strategy Grupo Condis, the leading supermarket chain in Catalonia, Spain, was the first supermarket to open an online shop, quickly establishing itself as the market leader and an online innovator. The online business needed to maintain its leadership by creating a satisfying shopping experience tailored for its key market segments that transcends the Web, contact center, and physical stores. It also needed to more efficiently manage online catalogues and promotions. CondisLine.com, powered by ATG, supports every phase of a personalized online shopping experience. CondisLine tailors the customer experience, adapting content to specific requirements and needs. It also presents content in the customer's choice of Spanish or Catalan. Merchants directly manage the online catalogue and promotions � and have immediate preview of changes -- without involving the IT team. Since the upgrade, the online customer base is more loyal, and spends more online. The CondisLine average shopping basket has reached 110 per client, and the average shopping visit is every 25 days. "ATG lets merchants easily create and quickly launch new products and promotions. This means a decrease in costs and an acceleration in the development which is everything we could expect from a successful online project."
  • Cross-Channel Commerce: The Consumer View
    This online study, conducted by an independent service, polled 1,054 U.S. consumers aged 18 years and older. It analyzed their use of channels including computers, mobile devices, brick-and-mortar stores, catalogs, and customer service representatives to gain more information about or to complete the purchase of a product or service. The survey also gathered data about consumers' experiences with these channels, as well as their attitudes toward email marketing promotions and the incorporation of social media into their online commerce activities. Specific topics covered in the survey include: � Consumers' use of multiple channels when browsing/researching and purchasing an array of products and services � The factors that would drive consumers to an offline channel to make a purchase when they start online � The incorporation of social media and networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace as part of online purchasing activities � Consumer reactions to discounts or promotional coupons sent via email as another sales channel � Consumers' use of mobile devices for commerce activities A few decades ago, consumers had two options for researching and purchasing products or services: They flipped through a catalog and completed a sale through the mail or phone, or they walked into store.
  • Multi-Channel Retail: A Strategic Overview for US and Canadian Retailers
    In 1893, Mr. Sears and Mr. Roebuck started to sell watches to farmers in rural America via catalog. Growing very quickly to sell much more than watches, and operating out of 3 million square feet of floor space in Chicago, by 1906, the Sears catalog offered merchandise that otherwise would not have been available to the American masses. No longer would American consumers be limited to what was available in the local shops on Main Street. In 1925, Sears began a long-term drive to open its own retail stores. It's broadly accepted that this was the beginning of multi-channel commerce as we know it. Sears continued to be an innovator and leader, using pioneering strategies such as drop shipping and proprietary brands to drive revenue growth. It would be another 70 years before Amazon.com, eBay, and other online merchants took advantage of the web to take direct-toconsumer retailing to the next level. As of 2009, online revenue accounted for 6% of all US retail sales, and the trend is accelerating. Mail and phone orders will continue to exist, but are increasingly ceding ground to ecommerce. An endless array of niche products and alternative suppliers can now be discovered with keyword entry and a few mouse clicks.
  • Fox Creek Leather Delivers Personal, Responsive Customer Service
    Connects customers to employees in the most expedient, customer-friendly way, with direct lines for callbacks, voice mail, and on-hold music Enables cost-effective business growth, including both staff and call volume increases, without any hassle or decreases in customer responsiveness Provides advanced features that improve employee productivity while enhancing the company's image with customers. Fox Creek Leather is a small, family-run company renowned for offering high-quality motorcycle leathers at reasonable prices. Located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, the company prides itself not only on the excellent quality and craftsmanship of its products, but on its one-on-one, personal relationships with its customer base. While the company's Web presence accounts for the majority of its sales, approximately one-third of its customers place orders by phone. The phone is also an important communications vehicle for the company in general, as it provides a more personal touch to customer relations than e-mail. Fox Creek Leather's firm commitment to excellent customer service seeks to ensure that customers reach a live person on the phone rather than a recording. Unfortunately, the phone system the company had been using was a standard system from the local phone company with only four lines. limited the number of calls that could be made at any one time, especially since one of the lines was dedicated to a fax machine.
  • 5 Simple Ways to Revolutionize Customer Loyalty Through Email Marketing
    Customer loyalty remains the crucial `X-factor' for eMarketers driven by the fact that it costs anywhere upwards of 6 times more to acquire a new customer than to engage an existing one. That will never change. So the quicker marketers get the loyalty formula right, the quicker they'll get profitable. Cultivating long-term relationships with customers is no different than cultivating personal relationships in life. Loyalty develops over time and the main ingredients that establish it are simple � trust and value: the trust customers have in your products & services and the value your email messages carry for those customers. Sounds great, but how do marketers establish these two critical components with customers to win their loyalty and enjoy long-term profitability? Recognizing your customer's individual needs during key stages of the relationship is merely half the battle; having the ability to act on them in a timely and personal fashion is critical to converting first time buyers into loyal customers. No marketing medium today, is as effective and efficient at empowering marketers with the ability to connect with customers on a real one-to-one level more than email marketing. Targeted and highly personal, when done properly, email marketing affords business all the right tools to build strong relationships and stay top-of-mind with their customers.
  • Customer Reviews Drive Online Satisfaction, Recommendation and Loyalty
    Spring 2007 Report By Larry Freed, President and CEO, ForeSee Results Online retailers are always on the lookout for ways to improve the online shopping experience and stay ahead of the competition. Adding consumer product reviews is one such way. As part of the analysis of the Spring 2007 edition of the Top 100 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, we delved into the data specific to consumer product reviews to answer these questions: � � � How do customer reviews contribute to satisfaction with the website experience? Do customer reviews drive purchase? Are there any differences in the effectiveness of customer reviews by product category? Customer Reviews Boost Online Satisfaction, Loyalty and Acquisition Twenty-five percent of online shoppers in our survey recalled seeing consumer product reviews, a significant percentage of the total respondent base. Seventeen percent said reviews weren't present on the site they visited. A significant group of online shoppers, 57%, didn't recall whether or not they'd seen reviews. These statistics show that retailers that do offer reviews have a huge opportunity to position reviews more prominently and encourage consumers to both read and contribute to them. After all, as shown in the following chart, satisfaction and future behaviors to loyalty are significantly higher for people who recalled seeing customer reviews than for people who didn't.
  • Tips for Cost-Effective Customer Retention Management
    Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a concept as old as trade itself. Keeping customers apprised of new products, remembering their likes and dislikes, promptly resolving issues, and giving them chances to vent and offer feedback are customer-centric concepts that were probably used by the best iterant peddlers of the dark ages. The major difference between doing business years ago and today is the speed at which we not only can service our customers, but the speed with which our customers expect to be serviced. Customers today are much more demanding in their expectations of how they are serviced and the levels of service they will get. More often than not, a level playing field between many businesses means the only real differentiation and competitive advantages we can develop and sustain will be the relationships we forge with our customers. Many good businesses have made the mistake of assuming that they don't have the advantages of knowing their clientele personally because of the rapid pace at which we do business today and the driving force to sell sell sell. The truth of the matter is that with the right tools and business processes in place, it becomes quite easy to the customer details needed to easily develop and maintain those precious relationships with our clients that ultimately translate into key differentiation and competitive advantage.