Retailers are responding to increased competition across channels with aggressive and continuous price changes. Business challenges from competitors as well as customers and shareholders drive these ongoing price promotions and adjustments. Yet as retailers plan and execute their pricing cycles, most cannot predict the impact of price changes, nor truly analyze the effectiveness of those changes.

These are among the findings revealed in a Retail Systems Research (RSR) Benchmark 2013 report, titled: Tough Love: An In Depth Look at Retail Pricing Practices. The study is based on a survey of 134 retailers, gauging their pricing challenges, opportunities and technology adoption plans.

Survey data indicated that “while some retailers have succeeded at high stakes promotion wars driven by the self-fulfilling prophecy of consumer price sensitivity, others are failing ― sometimes spectacularly ― even as the shopper becomes more and more accustomed to ever more dramatic and frequent promotions,” according to the report. In fact, “those [retailers] who over-perform on year-over-year comparable sales are far more likely to stay the course in their pricing strategy than their competitors.”

This is Part 2 of the Retail TouchPoints Payment Report. Part 3 will appear in the May 14 newsletter. Read Part 1 here.

With some of the world’s largest financial institutions now on board, the mobile wallet is fast becoming one of today’s hottest payment technologies. From MasterCard’s MasterPass to Apple’s Passbook and Google Wallet, a growing number of tech-savvy consumers are embracing mobile wallet services. That’s good news for retailers. A November 2012 Sybase 365/SAP mobile survey revealed that 53% of respondents think that the ‘killer apps’ that will drive consumers to start using mobile payments will be retail apps.

But convincing consumers to toss aside plastic for smartphone swipes takes more than the promise of simple payment processing. According to the Sybase 365/SAP survey, respondents say the ‘secret sauce’ for a successful mobile payment strategy includes location-based offers (24%) for retail shoppers and an enhanced point-of-sale experience for customers (28%). These days, mobile wallet technology must move beyond basic functionality to significantly improve the customer experience, as well as support a variety of complimentary services such as digital coupons and loyalty programs.

Artisan, creator of the Mobile Experience Management (MEM) platform, recently released research results emphasizing o the importance of native mobile apps in retail marketing and mobile commerce. The results also highlight retailers’ mobile investment and growth intentions for 2013.

In a survey of 200 retail executives, respondents stated the number of native mobile apps they have to manage as:

• 16% have 2 to 4 native apps;
• 16% have 5 to 9 native apps;
• 22% have 10 to 15 native apps;
• 24% have 16 to 20 native apps; and

As mobile commerce evolves and accelerates, many retailers continue to contemplate whether to invest in native mobile apps ― designed specifically to run on a mobile device ― or mobile-optimized sites. However, new research from Artisan, a mobile experience management (MEM) solution provider, reveals that native apps will become a top priority during 2013.

A survey of 200 retailers found that most respondents (72%) plan to invest in developing a native mobile app experience in 2013. Additionally, 66% agreed that enhancing a native mobile app is more important than implementing a mobile-optimized web site.