Taking Mobile Commerce Applications Mainstream…
There is a ton of buzz in the industry at the moment focused on enabling interaction between retailers and customers through the medium of a consumer’s mobile device. While a fair amount of debate still rages with regard to exactly which types of interactions will be most compelling (some retailers have had some successes), many retailers and technology providers are attempting to develop technical standards for mobile device content/experience delivery in the meantime.
A growing number of small software providers have developed applications that seek to enable retailers to “integrate” their existing Web deployments to a version deployed on a mobile device. These tend to focus on a re-factoring of the presentation layer, while adding another, separate application architecture (usually pretty thin) that seeks to deliver product and product detail pages in a manner that would be conducive to mobile Web browsing. This type of approach is interesting in that it delivers a pretty compelling time-to-market. Where it falls down potentially is in the ability to coordinate multi-channel strategies into a cohesive set of services delivered regardless of user interface.
As the mobile device channel matures however we will begin to see retailers and others seek to make mobile device content delivery part of mainstream technology strategy. Instead of a separate application to support just the mobile Web experience we will see retailers develop “device intelligence”. This capability will allow retailers to render content and experiences in a manner appropriate for the device, without sacrificing core integration and without creating yet another application environment that will need care and feeding.
Microsoft has taken a major step in the journey to support device intelligence with the Commerce Server 2009 Template Pack. The Template Pack introduces a new “skin” that will support both standard desktop browsers as well as mobile devices (Windows Mobile and iPhone). So instead of a completely separate application for mobile Microsoft is enabling a mobile skin on top of the standard Web deployment, that leverages the same services and capabilities of a Web experience.
The Template Pack is available for download here:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=147778
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About domc
I am responsible for eCommerce and cross-channel retailing for Microsoft’s Retail Industry Team. In this capacity, I have worked with many global retailers to assess eCommerce and cross-channel retailing strategies and how technology and business processes can be used to accomplish strategic initiatives.
I leverage my background in retail supply chain and consumer experience technology to align retailers’ customer facing application portfolios with the realities of retail enterprise applications and enterprise data paradigms.
Prior to joining Microsoft, I held positions at Oracle Retail, Retek, and Accenture. At Oracle Retail, I was a product manager responsible for supply chain execution systems. While at Retek I held functional architecture responsibilities for Retek’s supply chain execution systems, including integration with other ERP functional areas such as merchandising, financials, order management and point-of-sale. In my role at Accenture, I was responsible for leading custom development and implementation teams for large retail ERP projects, including direct-to-consumer operations. I have been quoted in industry publications and have lectured at a variety of venues.
My retail solutions experience includes verticals such as hypermarket, grocery, specialty, soft lines, C-store and hard lines. This experience included traditional brick-and-mortar as well as multi-channel fulfillment models.
