Really strong piece by Cyriac Roeding over at Fortune/CNNMoney today. I think it addresses all relevant points very well.
Smartphones are the key to revolutionizing shopping—but not in the way many think.
FORTUNE — Mobile wallets as they are defined today are unfortunately a solution in search of a problem. Consumers are quite happy with their credit and debit cards…they work, they’re fast and they’re familiar. And retailers, while they may complain about credit card fees, have bigger strategic issues with online competition and showrooming than to worry about installing the next “wallet” created to replace tried and true payment systems they’ve already invested in – and successfully process millions of transactions every day. The problem with mobile payments is that payment isn’t a problem in the shopping world.
So, what is the problem? The problem is the experience of shopping. One hundred years ago, as a customer, you’d have been greeted by name when you walked into a local store. The shopkeeper would have asked you whether your kids liked the cereal he sold you last week. Nowadays no one “greets” you until you swipe your credit card because it isn’t until that point when the store finds out you are even there – that means, as you leave, when you are no longer looking for items to purchase. No one shows you something that *you* might like at the store while shopping – everything is impersonal. By scaling retail, shopping has become inhuman.
The ironic twist is that the only way we can make shopping more human again, is by adding more technology, not less. The smartphone is the key. It is the only interactive medium consumers carry with them in a non-interactive environment like a store, and that is why smartphones are the new shopkeeper, capable of adding a deeply personalized lens on top of the physical store experience. It can be welcome you when you walk-in, make products come to life in the store, reward you for being there, point out things you might like, remind you what your family likes, and so on.
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