In Search of Mobile Commerce at SXSW

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As I prepare to head to the annual SXSW Interactive extravaganza, I’ve been perusing the program looking for more indicators of mobile commerce trends.

At the event last year, a session on mobile payments featured panelists involved in various parts of Isis, the joint venture of mobile carriers that now has launched as a pilot in Salt Lake City and Austin, the home of SXSW.

The session last year drew a standing-room only crowd. Interestingly, all the discussion from the stage focused on consumer to business usage but all the audience questions dealt with person to person payments. (Square, anyone?)

After that session last year, Isis had an NFC-enabled vending machine in the lobby of the convention center that drew massive crowds. There’s still a lot of curiosity about waving or tapping a phone causing a payment transaction.

It will be interesting this year to see if there’s the same interest and we’ll be looking for anyone in Austin actually using Isis, so stay tuned.

For commerce, MediaPost’s OMMA Mobile at SXSW on Friday leads off, with a keynote by Walgreens’ head of digital marketing followed by presentation by Dominos and Quiznos, so we can expect to hear about the state of the art in mobile retail.

Over the weekend, there’s a session on app strategies featuring Urban Airship and one on mobile loyalty with Starbucks, World Wresting Entertainment and yet another exec from Urban Airship.

Mobile location is on the agenda, with a session including geofences featuring Redbox, which has a great app for locating and reserving videos.

There’s also a presentation about why shopping will never be the same, because of mobile and it features eBay, which capitalized on mobile early and is now seeing a huge payoff.

So it looks like plenty of mobile commerce will be bantered about and we’ll be watching to see what draws the crowds and interest this time around.

Are you going or is there anything you want us to look for there?

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5 comments on "In Search of Mobile Commerce at SXSW".

1. timo platt from PoKos
   

   commented on: March 6, 2013 at 2:23 p.m.
   Thanks for the SxSWi forecast, Chuck. For marketers, brands and retailers curious about mobile strategies and mcommerce technologies, and desiring to engage the omni-channel consumer when and where she wants, they can learn more about #CEM (consumer enagement-mobile) at: http://amex.co/13rIN5K
2. Serena Ehrlich from Mogreet
   

   commented on: March 6, 2013 at 2:52 p.m.
   Chuck, I cannot wait to catch up with you at SXSWi! Thanks for reminding me to check out the OMMA panels. I just added them to my schedule. I think we are going to see a lot going on in regards to mobile engagement and commerce during the show. HOT97 and POWER106 have a huge battle of the hip hop artist on the 15th with the winner selected by text. Last few years contests have been all about the tweet, but now brands are realizing they should use this as a chance to build a list, not just drive social chatter.
3. jason brown from Blaze
   

   commented on: March 6, 2013 at 11:32 p.m.
   Chuck, I'm seeing a lot of press and hearing a lot of chatter about TheHub.fm, the new ecommerce music merch startup featuring a mobile app that debuts at SXSW and will be available in beta on March 8th. Bands can use the app to manage their merch inventory and create an ecommerce store for both web and mobile sales. However the most interesting aspect is the ability to offer fans the option of buying merch at a live show using the app which can then be picked up at the show via an expedited process or delivered to a physical address. I've heard through friends at WeWork Labs in NYC they are scaling the music space with sights on traditional retail. Look out for them as their team looks to be power packed... Out of NYC and Kansas City and powered by Google Fiber. They are taking meetings in Austin, NYC and Toronto this month. Looks intriguing.
4. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin
   

   commented on: March 7, 2013 at 9:06 p.m.
   Thanks Serena, let's connect at MediaPost's OMMA Mobile or Social show
5. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin
   

   commented on: March 7, 2013 at 9:07 p.m.
   You are very welcome Timo. Right on consumer engagement.

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