Catalina Modularizes Personal Mobile Platform for CPG Retail

Catalina has unveiled its modularized approach to mobile commerce, designed to enable CPG retailers to incorporate scan and bag, asset protection, personalized media and geo-fenced engagement into their existing mobile applications.

Catalina’s new approach, based on its in-store mobile commerce platform, allows retailers to integrate any or all of the modules into their current mobile applications to create a better shopping experience.

“Driven by retailer demand to leverage parts or all of our mobile commerce platform, we’ve created a modular approach that allows retailers to select exactly what features they need and integrate them seamlessly and easily into their own apps,” said Mike Grimes, SVP of mobile commerce at Catalina. “Retailers recognize that shoppers want a seamless, personalized mobile experience, and they want it now. By modularizing, we enable retailers to rapidly advance from where they are today to a fully integrated mobile solution.”

Already in-use at Stop & Shop and Giant stores, and selected for pilot by three additional U.S. retailers, Catalina’s mobile platform relies on shopper insights to personalize in-store shopping. By personalizing the shopping experience, the platform has been proven to drive 6 to 8 percent basket lift, according to the company.

“Combining in-store mobile commerce with loyalty, gained through personalization, is really the key here,” continued Grimes. “On its own, mobile commerce can be a powerful tool, but it’s twice as powerful when coupled with purchase-history data to create a personalized, relevant experience for shoppers. At Catalina we know CPG shoppers, and this is what sets our solution apart.”

According to Catalina, mobile shoppers were found to spend 43 percent more during each trip – and to shop 41 percent more often -- than non-mobile counterparts in a recent test-and-learn with leading CPG brands. And, according to a study by Accenture, 73 percent of smartphone customers would prefer to handle simple in-store tasks, such as checkout and payment, themselves.

Catalina’s new open platform allows retailers to cater to this mobile audience, providing support in the following areas:

• Scan and Bag: Catalina’s solution turns the shopper’s smartphone into a virtual cash register, allowing shoppers to scan and bag products quickly and accurately. Pricing is tied into the POS system and can handle complex pricing structures, according to Catalina. The solution currently processes more than one million product scans per day and has been proven to scale to the demands of high-frequency retailers.
• Personalized Media: Catalina’s solution delivers only the most relevant offers and ads, personalized for each shopper, that drive measurable basket lift. Catalina’s personalized media delivers more than 10 million personalized offers each month. Each offer is based on a customer’s individual purchase history, brand preferences and loyalty, location in store/aisle, and what’s in their shopping cart, giving CPG retailers the ability to target customers at the most critical step in the path to purchase, in the aisle.
• Asset Protection: The industry’s only loss prevention solution that’s optimized for mobile commerce at scale, Catalina’s asset protection integrates effective safeguards while eliminating any possible barriers or deterrents during shoppers’ checkout experience. Retailers deploying in-store mobile shopping technologies can be confident that potential misuse will be effectively detected, reducing the risk of shrink.
• Geo-fenced engagement: This function starts a conversation with the shopper the moment they arrive at the store. Geo-fenced alerts and messages enable retailers to engage shoppers as they approach specific brick-and-mortar locations to remind them to use the retailer’s app, giving them visibility into how much they can potentially save during that trip.

In addition to its flexibility for retailers, the modularized approach enables mobile technology companies to add the value of personalized media and loyalty to their mobile apps. Catalina Mobile gives mobile tech companies a jumpstart on personalization and loyalty by leveraging shopper purchase history from more than three-quarters of U.S. households.