EBay is now the latest entrant into the field of retail experimenters that are trialing the concept of a “virtual store.” 

EBay joins Occado and Tesco in embracing the increasing number of Multidevice Buyers in the UK who use their smartphones not only to inform their offline shopping journeys, but to buy products as well. EBay’s pop-up store in the heart of London promises to allow shoppers to browse products in person and purchase via a QR-code-driven mobile shopping experience. 

While eBay's store is very deliberately designed as a temporary pop-up, others are approaching the same challenge in a completely different way. House of Fraser recently launched a concept store in Aberdeen that carries no stock but offers shoppers the opportunity to sip a free cappuccino while they browse House of Fraser’s website on dedicated Internet stations.   

Nearly a billion people around the world use Facebook — and it's no surprise marketers are chasing all those users. In fact, Facebook says 96 of the top 100 marketers are on the site. But I haven't spoken to many companies that are thrilled with their Facebook programs. Marketers worry about how few fans they have, about how few comments and wall posts they get, and about the ROI of their Facebook spending — and many of them have good reason to worry. In fact, we think most Facebook marketing programs are entirely too unfocused, too under-resourced, and don't make enough use of the entire platform.

So how can you make your Facebook marketing program work? We recommend following four steps:

1. Set clear objectives. If you don't know what you're trying to achieve with Facebook, you run the risk of not achieving anything at all. Are you trying to drive brand impact or sales? Generate word of mouth, increase loyalty, or provide customer service? Deciding on a few clear objectives for your Facebook program will answer most of the other questions you have — like who should fund the programs, or how you measure success.
2. Provide value for your fans. Once you've figured out how Facebook can drive value for your company, make sure it's driving value for your fans as well. Otherwise, why would anyone bother to hit the 'like' button? According to Carolyn Everson, VP of global marketing solutions for Facebook, the brands that succeed on Facebook are "the ones that give people a reason to be fans." This doesn't have to mean discounts and coupons — exclusive content and information works just as well.

Net Promoter is both popular and controversial, so naturally we in Forrester’s customer experience (CX) research practice get lots of questions about it from CX leaders whose companies have adopted it or plan to adopt it in the future. Overall, we know that Net Promoter can effectively support CX efforts when companies implement it correctly. But we also know that correct implementation from a CX perspective is in no way a given.

Here’s what CX pros in particular should do to make sure that they ( . . . and their companies, and their customers . . . ) get the most out of the Net Promoter methodology:  

• Use the Net Promoter language to explain customer experience efforts. Perhaps the most valuable thing that Net Promoter provides is a clear language with which to discuss customer loyalty. CX pros can capitalize on any momentum around Net Promoter at the corporate level by connecting planned experience improvements to it. Wherever possible, explain how a change to the experience will help reduce Detractors or increase Promoters.
• Focus on the system more than on the score. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is only valuable if it helps an organization improve customer loyalty. CX pros must ensure that they have a system in place to examine the drivers and root causes of NPS determination, identify the ones that are related to the customer experience, and initiate improvement efforts accordingly.

Over the past couple of years I have been intrigued by the concept of a 'digital wallet' that will combine mobile payments with a variety of other benefits for customers. The more people I talk to, the more convinced I am that mobile digital wallets will mark a big shift in retail payments. A mobile digital wallet is more than just a mobile payment system because it combines:

• Mobile payment. Digital wallets are likely combine several different payments systems into a single service, including mobile contactless payments, online (i.e. web) payments, and over-the-network mobile payments, making it easy for customers to make a variety of different types of payment from a mobile device.
• Barcode scanning. Scanning barcodes or QR codes will let customers get more information about products, and let them pay for items on their phones before showing an on-screen receipt to leave the store.
• Loyalty rewards. Instead of carrying (and sometimes forgetting) a separate loyalty card, digital wallets will track customers’ spending and offer merchant-funded rewards, either on the phone or at the point of sale.
• Coupons and offers. Digital wallets are likely to offer customers coupons and location-based offers.