New Forms of Customer Communication: Concepts and Pilot Projects

Mobile communication technology enables new forms of customer communication in the brick-and-mortar retailing by establishing electronic and individually designable channels of communication. Existing concepts and field trials of mobile customer communication show that the interrelation between mobile network technologies and potential business applications is still quite inadequate. In this contribution, various concepts and field trials are categorized and compared by using a simple layer model. Subsequently, new forms of pricing policy as one possible business application are explicated considering the field trial “Extra Future Store” of the German retailer METRO Group as case study. It emerges that the potential shifts in demand have to be anticipated for a successful deployment of electronic customer communication. In this context two important determinants are revealed: the range of provision of price information and the power of disposal over the end device.