Introduction

1.1 About the industry:

For retailers, the massive adoption of mobile devices by consumers presents a

tantalizing opportunity. Worldwide, there are more than 4.1 billion mobile subscribers, which
represent a penetration rate of 61 percent. In the United States and Europe, more consumers are
connecting to high-speed networks with faster, more intuitive mobile devices. In emerging
countries, where Internet penetration rates are far lower than in the developed world, even basic
mobile devices have become vital communication and product ivity tools for consumers.
Yet, while a few leading retailers are taking advantage of this trend by introducing
compelling mobile services, many remain on the sidelines. In the United States, for example,
only 12 percent of retailers report having mobile commerce capabilities. And while many large
retailers have rolled out mobile websites, most provide only basic information and offer limited
search capabilities that are not optimized for mobile devices, making them difficult to navigate.
Such half-hearted attempts amount to checking off an item on a to-do list rather than delivering
mobile applications that will help consumers shop smarter and faster.
Kony Solutions believes retailers that take mobility seriously will gain a first-mover
advantage. Furthermore, retailers that become the trusted and preferred online merchants in
their segments, just as Amazon was able to do more than a decade ago, will increase
productivity, attract more shoppers, and grow revenues .Retailers that wait any longer to develop
a comprehensive mobile retailing strategy increase the likelihood of being left behind.
Mobile commerce is more than bringing website functionality to the phone. It represents an
effective channel for retailers to grow their brands, while creatively and uniquely engaging with
new and existing customers through personalized interactions. Anytime, anywhere. Using the
latest in mobile innovation and maximizing the power of today’s mobile devices, mobile
commerce now provides shoppers with advanced product promotion, such as integrated audio
and video, along with the real-time capabilities of social marketing, to make the mobile device a
viable and powerful channel for extending a brand and increasing sales.

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 1.2 Organization profile

Kony’s Mission:

Kony Solutions was founded in 2007 by successful entrepreneur Raj Koneru, who recognized
that mobile devices and their capabilities would continue to grow exponentially and be a key
driver in the next customer interaction revolution. Kony’s mission is to develop the technologies
and applications that facilitate and accelerate customer engagement over any mobile operating
system, device and channel.

Who is Kony Solutions?

Kony Solutions provides a suite of products and support services that enable Fortune 500
companies to offer consumers feature-rich mobile applications in less time and at lower costs
than any other solution available. Kony’s proprietary Write Once, Run Everywhere single
application definition enables mobile offerings to be designed and developed just once, in a
device independent manner, and deployed across multiple channels, including on-device
applications, mobile web, SMS, Web gadgets, and desktop applications. The Kony Mobile
Application Platform™ leverages the Write Once, Run Everywhere technology for designing,
developing, deploying and managing mobile applications.

Headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices in Hyderabad, India, Kony Solutions
employs a specialized staff of more than 200 professionals globally dedicated to development,
delivery, and support of mobile solutions and technologies. More than 90% of the company is
comprised of engineering and support functions to meet the demands of the ever-changing
mobile landscape and constantly provide customers with innovative solutions. Kony’s technical

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staff are experts in Web 2.0 technology, dynamic languages, WAP, SMS, mobile device native
APIs, as well as mobile application frameworks and tools.

Proven Mobile Solution – The Kony Story

The Kony Solutions team spent the first two years in dedicated development of the mobile
application platform without attempting to license it until it was fully ‘baked.’ Kony only went to
market in 2009 after fully developing our “Write Once, Run Everywhere” software. The results
of this technology investment are remarkable: within the last year, many of the highest profile
Fortune 500 companies have selected Kony Solutions for their mobile deployments. To date,
about half of the U.S. airline industry has migrated to Kony. The largest financial institution in
the world is deploying Kony in over 46 countries. The largest automobile manufacturer in the
world has released rich, interactive applications on four major mobile device types using Kony’s
Write Once, Run Everywhere technology. The list goes on.

Write Once, Run Everywhere

Others may claim it, but only Kony Solutions offers a mobile application platform that delivers
it. Nowhere else is there a complete mobile development, deployment and production platform
that runs on more than 8,000 mobile devices and popular operating systems, including the
iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile and Palm devices, as well as more
than 15 types of browsers (i.e. Skyfire, Opera, Google Chrome, Minimo, Bolt, Firefox.)

The Kony Mobile Application Platform is highly scalable and designed to handle the complexity
of multiple mobile operating systems and devices while optimizing the native features and user
experience of each device by providing a super-set of mobile capabilities. Unlike other solutions
which force companies to downgrade their mobile offerings to meet the requirements of the
device with least functionality, Kony’s solution adds additional functionality to devices without
these extended capabilities. This breadth of coverage is only delivered by Kony Solutions and
can instantly enable B2C enterprises to reach every single mobile user globally — leaving no
one behind.

Underpinning the platform is the Write Once, Run Everywhere technology, which enables an
application to be designed and developed, just once, in a device independent manner and then
delivered across all device operating systems and multiple channels including:

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• On-device, native, downloadable mobile applications,
• A device-optimized mobile website,
• A full complement of SMS/MMS functionality,
• A desktop client for Windows, and
• Web gadgets such as iGoogle gadgets, Yahoo! widgets and Facebook apps, all from a single
application definition.

The Kony Mobile Application Platform is comprised of three primary

components:

Kony Studio
Kony Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for rapid development and
deployment of mobile applications. It is provided as a plug-in to Eclipse, an open-source
environment. The primary element of Kony Studio is a visual developer panel that is used to
design the application forms in a device independent wireframe format. These forms are then
populated with widgets made available by the Kony client libraries included across all mobile
operating systems. The Kony client libraries also include support for platform- specific
properties, allowing a developer to take advantage of the full capability of the underlying OS of
various devices without resorting to the lowest common denominator. A developer can also

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render widgets only on specific devices, allowing for customized interfaces and skins that
optimize the capabilities and look and feel of each device operating system. A resource model
allows for static resources such as images, videos and sounds.

Back-end data integration is also simplified using the Kony platform. Developers need not move
or copy existing data in order to create a mobile application. Instead, Kony is able to
communicate directly and securely with a client’s current data system, writing this data
connection once and then applying it to all devices, further speeding up time to market. Kony
Studio supports multiple classes of markup generation based on device capabilities, and devices
may receive WML, cHTML or a combination of XHTML, CSS and JavaScript based on the
capabilities detected at run-time. Kony Studio also has a built-in SMS editor for enabling and
setting SMS keywords, including the input and output parameters.

Kony Studio also enables rapid testing of these applications in device emulators from all
major manufacturers. These emulators are available via an emulator panel in the IDE.

Kony Mobile Server

Compliant with the J2EE standards and deployed on any industry standard application
server and database, the Kony Mobile Server provides all of the operational functionality
required to deploy and support applications running on various devices securely and
simultaneously while also providing the critical commerce capabilities of transaction processing
and system integration.

Production proven with more than millions of consumers using it every month, the Kony
Mobile Server architecture is designed to be highly available and scalable horizontally. In a high
availability configuration, multiple servers are deployed behind a redundant load balancer
configuration. Session state is maintained across all servers, and in the event of a failure of any
application server instance, the session can continue from another instance. System capacity can
be easily expanded by adding more such systems, providing a high level of scalability. Database
servers are typically implemented in a clustered setup, with shared redundant storage on a SAN
fabric.

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Kony Extensible Clients
Supporting the need for anytime, anywhere customer interaction, Kony Extensible Clients
provide mobile users with a variety of channels optimized for their device choice and situation.
This unique, integrated offering ensures that customers are able to access information and
transact commerce regardless of the type of mobile or connected device they choose to use at any
time.

Unlike most other vendors who focus on just providing some form of a one-dimensional
mobile application, Kony Solutions provides extensible clients of various interaction types all
designed and operating as part of a single application design or code base.

The extensible clients available from the Kony Solutions platform include:
• Native, downloadable, on-device applications

• Device-optimized mobile websites

• SMS/MMS

• Web gadgets (iGoogle, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

• Desktop applications

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 Applications

Airlines

The largest domestic airline in terms of passenger volume, and one of the world’s top 3
airlines are just a few of the many within the U.S. airline industry that have migrated to Kony
Solutions.

In today’s travel climate, mobile phones are the lifeline for both business and leisure
travelers. Mobile savvy travelers expect to do more while on the go, such as book and modify
reservations, upgrade seats, check flight and gate status, and speed check-in. This is especially
critical for the most frequent flyers.

The Kony Mobile Airlines application enables airline companies to quickly launch and
maintain a unique mobile offering that delivers a full-featured, branded, mobile experience via
integrated extensible clients, such as native on-device applications, device-optimized mobile
websites, SMS/MMS services, web gadgets and desktop applications.

Features
• Mobile “push” travel promotions

• Book and pay for flights and upgrades

• Receive booking confirmations

• Mobile check-in and boarding passes

• IATA approved mobile bar-code boarding passes

• Mobile alerts of flights, gates and baggage

• View flight schedules

• Access to weather and local travel information

• Near-field communication (NFC) technology

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• Book partner offerings (such as, hotel, cars)

• Login and manage frequent flyer loyalty programs

Benefits
• Provides passengers with service and information when they are on-the-go

• Seamless integration with airline’s operations systems, e-commerce platform, CMS and website
content

• Real-time “fare” promotions delivered to the customer on all types of devices and clients

• On-device boarding passes enables check-in anytime, anywhere, eliminating need for printer or
kiosk

• High value service and travel experience increases customer loyalty

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Auto Rentals
Mobile presents the perfect medium for auto rental companies to engage with consumers,
increase sales and encourage brand loyalty. No stranger to competitive price pressures, auto
rental companies can speed ahead of the pack by providing more targeted, more measurable and
more personal interaction with customers, wherever and whenever with mobile services.

The Kony Mobile Auto Rentals application enables auto rental companies to quickly launch
and maintain a unique mobile offering that delivers a full-featured, branded, mobile experience
via integrated extensible clients, such as native on-device applications, device-optimized mobile
websites, SMS/MMS services, web gadgets and desktop applications.

Features
• Schedule vehicle test drive
• Locate nearest dealer with desired inventory
• Configure vehicle with desired features and accessories
• Get current promotions & special offers
• Receive maintenance and appointment reminder alerts
• Schedule service appointments and pick-ups
• Integration with social networking (including, Twitter, Facebook)
• View & interact with multimedia (such as, video, photos)
• Shop and purchase car accessories
• Access owners loyalty program and vehicle enthusiast community
• Extra features and experience for VIP customers

Benefits
• Immediate engagement with interested shoppers before they even reach the dealership

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 • Increase and influence buying behavior with dynamic and real-time offers
• Ensure vehicle performance and safety by reminding owner of service requirements
• Grow community and loyalty of buyers with social networking programs
• Raise the level of excitement with high quality multimedia of vehicles
• Increase post-sale revenue with promotion and immediate sale of add-on products and
services

Hotels
As an industry that elevates its customers to the level of “guests”, where the fine art of
customer service is a necessity, leaders in hospitality have successfully introduced mobile as a
key component in establishing differentiating value. To drive greater brand presence, innovative
hoteliers are implementing mobile marketing strategies tailored to communicate their increasing

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portfolio products and services, beyond just rooms, while providing a more personalized
experience for their guests.

The Kony Mobile Hotels application enables hospitality companies to quickly launch and
maintain a unique mobile offering that delivers a full-featured, branded, mobile experience via
integrated extensible clients, such as native on-device applications, device-optimized mobile
websites, SMS/MMS services, web gadgets and desktop applications.

Features
• Book and modify reservations
• Mobile check-in and check-out
• Order dining and room service
• Book spa services, golf, and entertainment
• Request business and meeting services
• Mobile delivery of special packages and promotions
• Access hotel details, amenities and local services
• Travel service alerts
• Weather and local travel information
• Book partner offerings (such as, flights, cars)
• Login to hotel loyalty programs

Benefits
• Guests can easily reach hotel information and availability for last-minute reservations
• Integration with hotel operation and reservation systems enables immediate purchase at
time of interest
• Scheduled mobile delivery of personlized “hospitality” promotions on all types of
devices and clients

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 • Validated local presence enables mobile check-in and check-out eliminating need for
printer or kiosk
• Priority treatment of VIP customers, anytime, anywhere

Banking
While banking customers have become increasingly mobile, customer interaction has not.
Enter an era that is quickly advancing beyond the challenges of first generation mobile banking
websites to now providing an integrated broad offering of highly secure mobile banking
capabilities. All delivered using feature rich mobile applications that create differentiation and
greater levels of customer adoption.

Developed exclusively for banks and credit unions, Kony Mobile Banking is a hosted
mobile software application which offers the flexibility to create new revenue opportunities and
strengthen customer loyalty by extending the rich functionality of e-commerce website to

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customer’s mobile devices. Not only will Kony mobile applications work with your existing
systems, saving you time and money, but also with your future technology investments.
Organizations will appreciate the flexibility of having a single mobile platform that can support
scale of transactions, devices, security requirements and new applications. Customers will enjoy
the ease of use and service, while giving organizations direct access to their customers.

Kony Mobile Banking enables banks and credit unions to quickly launch and maintain a
unique mobile offering that delivers a full-featured, branded, mobile experience via integrated
extensible clients, such as native on-device applications, device-optimized mobile websites,
SMS/MMS services, web gadgets and desktop applications.

Features
• Access account status and history in summary or detail formats
• Schedule, review and cancel bill payments and transfers
• Submit 24/7 service requests
• Deliver special offers & promotions to mobile devices
• Deliver status and payment alerts in application or via SMS
• Review currency information and foreign exchange rates
• Highest levels of mobile security - OFX compliance, SSL, PKI, Symmetric Cipher,
Multi-factor authentication

Benefits
• Satisfaction of access to same information when mobile, as when on PC
• Handle last minute payments and transfers with anytime, anywhere access
• Increase customer acquisition, mobile adoption and financial product sales
• Comfort of account status and payment alerts pushed to mobile device 24/7
• Real-time access to volatile financial information such as, exchange rates and market
performance
• Provide customer confidence in security of mobile financial commerce

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Automotive
The largest automobile manufacturer in the world has released rich, interactive
applications on four major mobile device types using Kony’s Write Once, Run Everywhere
technology.

The automotive industry has a reputation for developing and implementing some of the
most advanced technology not only in building their cars, but also in their marketing programs.
No surprise, chief among the innovations in automotive marketing is the use of the mobile
channel to drive customer acquisition, customer retention and increasing revenue.

The Kony Mobile Automotive application enables automotive companies to quickly

launch and maintain a unique mobile offering that delivers a full-featured, branded, mobile
experience via integrated extensible clients, such as native on-device applications, device-
optimized mobile websites, SMS/MMS services, web gadgets and desktop applications.

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Features

• Schedule vehicle test drive

• Locate nearest dealer with desired inventory
• Configure vehicle with desired features and accessories
• Get current promotions & special offers
• Receive maintenance and appointment reminder alerts
• Schedule service appointments and pick-ups
• Integration with social networking (including, Twitter, Facebook)
• View & interact with multimedia (such as, video, photos)
• Shop and purchase car accessories
• Access owners loyalty program and vehicle enthusiast community
• Extra features and experience for VIP customers

Benefits
• Immediate engagement with interested shoppers before they even reach the dealership
• Increase and influence buying behavior with dynamic and real-time offers
• Ensure vehicle performance and safety by reminding owner of service requirements
• Grow community and loyalty of buyers with social networking programs
• Raise the level of excitement with high quality multimedia of vehicles
• Increase post-sale revenue with promotion and immediate sale of add-on products and
services

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Retail / Commerce
Mobile commerce is more than bringing website functionality to the phone. It represents
an effective channel for retailers to grow their brands, while creatively and uniquely engaging
with new and existing customers through personalized interactions. Anytime, anywhere.

Using the latest in mobile innovation and maximizing the power of today’s mobile
devices, mobile commerce now provides shoppers with advanced product promotion, such as
integrated audio and video, along with the real-time capabilities of social marketing, to make the
mobile device a viable and powerful channel for extending a brand and increasing sales.

The Kony Mobile Commerce application enables online merchants and retailers to
quickly launch and maintain a unique mobile offering that delivers a full-featured, branded,
mobile experience via integrated extensible clients, such as native on-device applications,
device-optimized mobile websites, SMS/MMS services, web gadgets and desktop applications.

Features
• Highly configurable for unique branding and promotion
• Advanced product presentation, search & intuitive navigation
• Flexible filtering & sorting of search results
• Storable “My Favorites” & wish lists
• Rich product descriptions with multimedia (video, audio & photos)
• Personalized shopper loyalty programs
• Location-based promotions & on-device coupons
• Smart shopping cart with modifier system
• Multi-factor authentication security
• Broad payment gateway integration (including, PayPal, credit cards, gift cards)
• Extensive integration methods with back-office and third-party systems (such as,
shipping)

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 • Order management, history & tracking
• Flexible customer registration & user preferences
• Detailed reporting & analytics, with third-party integration (such as, Google Analytics,
Omniture)
• And much more...

Benefits
• Enable customers to buy anytime, anywhere via their phone
• Provide brand presence wherever customers go
• Reach all mobile users with integrated mobile channels on-device native applications,
mobile websites, SMS, desktop client and more
• Incorporate social media in the mobile shopping experience
• Instant store locators let customers find you quicker
• Check order and shipping status from the mobile phone
• Conduct safe and secure transactions

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Insurance
One of the largest private-passenger auto insurers in the United States is utilizing the
Kony Mobile Insurance application for their mobile solution.

As competition grows and customers increasingly look for greater levels of

communication and service, insurance companies are looking to mobile to bridge the gap.
Regarded as convenient and non-intrusive, mobile presents the perfect vehicle for insurance
companies to get closer to their customers and be there for them, especially when they need them
most.

The Kony Mobile Insurance application enables vehicle insurance companies to quickly
launch and maintain a unique mobile offering that delivers a full-featured, branded, mobile
experience via integrated extensible clients, such as native on-device applications, device-
optimized mobile websites, SMS/MMS services, web gadgets and desktop applications.

Features
• Branded accident kit with extensive features
• One-button access to emergency services
• Take accident pictures and include in electronic report/claim
• Request roadside assistance and receive real-time arrival status
• Start and submit a insurance claim
• Locate local and approved repair shop/dealer
• Recall and view accident history and claims
• Find and/or contact insurance agent

Benefits
• Provide comfort and peace of mind during stressful accident experience

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 • Help obtain, organize and store all relevant accident information
• Expedite claim process with electronic filing
• Ensure availability and access to current agent or claim adjuster

Investments
One of the leading online investment firms chose Kony to release a rich, native
application that could support multiple languages and 20+ million customers.

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 Responding to the demand for anytime, anywhere access to time sensitive personal
investments, Kony Mobile Investments enables investment services companies to provide their
clients with easy to use, real-time connection to their investments and portfolios. The feature-rich
mobile application not only delivers a wide array of functionality to monitor and manage existing
portfolios, with proven security that meets or exceeds the highest industry standards, but it also
enables companies to market and sell additional investment products.

Given the rapid pace of change in financial markets and the strong desire to be
continuously informed of a portfolios performance, Kony Mobile Investments enables
investment services companies to provide competitive and differentiating mobile experience for
their clients.

Features
• Secure account access using multi-factor authentication
• Instant view to portfolio dashboard
• Streaming quotes and market indicators
• Ability to view a wide breadth of context sensitive personalized research in text and
graph formats
• One-button stock and company dashboard access
• Up-to-date news in text and multi-media
• Perform a variety of transaction types (including, stock trades, CD purchases, fund
transfers, mutual funds, and more)
• Maintain company and market watch lists with alert settings
• Receive targeted product promotions
• Define desired alerts and receive them in various formats (such as, on-device application
alerts, SMS alerts, email)
• Maintain account and application preferences
• Quickly contact customer service or account manager with on-device call or email
generation

Benefits

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 • Clients are able to work with the confidence that their mobile viewing and transactions
are private and secure
• Constantly connected to their portfolios, clients are always informed of changing
situations with the ability to take immediate action
• Clients are able to have the same positive experience, whether at home on a computer or
traveling with a mobile smartphone.
• Ability to quickly access valuable research in a mobile optimized format
• Investment services companies are able to quickly communicate new products and
offerings to clients

Media
As content and consumption become progressively digital, the media industry is quickly
deconstructing old business models and seeking opportunities to generate revenue by reaching
consumers who are increasingly using their mobile phones to access news, weather, sports and
entertainment content. With mobile advertising and monetization, television and radio stations,
magazines, newspapers and other content publishers have additional revenue generating
opportunities that support today’s business environment.

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 Kony Mobile Media enables media and entertainment brands to transform branded
content for the mobile channel. From creative on-device mobile applications with interactive
elements, such as video or downloads, to engaging audiences through multimedia messaging,
Kony can deliver a comprehensive solution.

Features
• Highly configurable for unique branding and promotion
• Effective mobile monetization and advertising
• Rich content streaming (video, audio & photos)
• Easy to share articles via email, SMS, social networking sites, i.e. Twitter, Facebook
• Advanced content presentation, search & intuitive navigation
• Customized navigation/viewing panels & user preferences
• Location-based content and advertising

Benefits
• Enable customers to consume content anytime, anywhere via their phone
• Generate revenues from targeted mobile advertising
• Provide brand presence wherever consumers go
• Reach all mobile users with integrated mobile channels on-device native app, mobile
website, SMS, desktop client and more
• Incorporate social media in the mobile media experience
• Offline viewing of content

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1.3 Statement of the problem:

Since its inception, Kony Solution is targeting various industries such as travel, automotive,
media, commerce, financial services, communication and hospitality of Americas, EMEA
(Europe Middle East and Asia) and APAC (Asia Pacific) regions. As it is new to European retail
industry, kony solution is in the need of understanding the market dynamics of the industry for
its software product (mobile commerce application) and to find the retailers’ uptake of mobile
commerce applications.

1.4 Objective of the study:

Primary Objective:

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 To conduct an online market assessment on Mobile Commerce application, with respect
to the European retail industry through the responses from European citizens.

Secondary Objective:

i) To identify the retailers’ attitude towards ‘MOBILE – A new channel of business’.

ii) To identify the potential Customers for Kony Solutions.

1.5 Scope of the study:

This study would be helpful in understanding the retailers’ attitude towards Mobile
commerce applications. By studying the retailers’ attitude, we can analyze the current trend in
current trend in the adoption of Mobile as a channel of business. This study would help the firm
to identify retailers’ stand on m-commerce, which will be helpful for the firm to formulate
strategy.

1.6 Time frame:

The study with its specific objectives was carried out for a span of two months from 5th
May to 29th June.

1.7 Selection of Geographical area

The study area, Europe was purposively selected for this study, as the company targets
European market.

Selection of sample respondents & Sample size:

It is seen that the survey covers most of the countries in Europe. Total of 63 respondents
were made to participate in the survey. The survey area includes

i) United Kingdom

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 ii) Norway
iii) Sweden
iv) Denmark
v) Netherlands
vi) France
vii) Germany
viii) Finland

1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

• Time constraint: The project is conducted for two months and this time limit is not
sufficient to have a understanding market dynamics of mobile commerce application
with respect to the European retail industry
• Limited respondents.

Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Review of literature plays a dominant role in any field of research.

Through this, the researcher can obtain relevant information from various
secondary sources of collection of data including books, magazines, journals,
newspapers, theses, etc; It is done to compare, justify, or to gain a basic structure
pertinent to the research problem

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Market Development
The process of growing sales by offering existing products (or new versions
of them) to new customer groups (as opposed to simply attempting to increase the company's
share of currentmarkets).(1)

Market development process:

A process for developing sales - new business and new markets

This process is effective for developing all types of business, and delivers business growth via:

• new products or services to existing customers,

• existing products or services to new customers, or

• new products or services to new customers.

Market development process:

1. Establish market development aims and targets.

2. Identify target market(s), sectors and niches.

3. Assess your existing sales organisation and develop it as necessary.

4. Source/utilise a suitable prospect database - ensure data is clean and up to date, and
strategic decision-makers are identified.

5. Develop and agree your strategic proposition(s) - with reference to USP's, UPB's,
competitors, positioning, product mix, margins, etc.

6. Design your communication(s) and method(s) to generate enquiries.

7. Design your response and sales processes and establish or provide required capabilities.

8. Design and provide your required monitoring, measurement and reporting systems.

9. Implement your sales development activity and reinforce it through coaching, training,
meetings, executive endorsement, etc.

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 10. Follow-up the activity: coach as required, review, monitor, seek customer and prospect
feedback (successful and unsuccessful) and report on performance.

11. Make changes and improvements and continue your activity at the appropriate stage.(2)

Mobile and Wireless technology

Dot-com businesses may be falling by the wayside, but the percentage of commerce
happening via the Web continues to grow. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of cellular
subscribers worldwide are gaining access to new wireless data choices, including Web-enabled
cell phones, handheld computers and PDAs. Combine these two facts, and you get an industry
with an unbelievable potential called mobile commerce, or m-commerce.

Content and applications must still be developed in multiple mobile formats. Security
questions continue to dog the industry. And evolving payment systems and networks are barely
up to the task. In fact, the wide range of wireless networks, markup languages and devices has
made developing mobile-commerce applications so complex that most organizations seeking to
mobilize applications need help.

Fortunately, help is available from a rapidly expanding array of middleware solutions,

wireless portals and wireless ASPs (application service providers). As part of investigation of
this industry, we sent out a detailed RFI (request for information) to middleware vendors and
ASPs to learn about their approaches for enabling mobile-commerce.(3)

A review for mobile commerce research and applications:

Although a large volume of literature is available on mobile commerce (m-commerce),

the topic is still under development and offers potential opportunities for further research and
applications. Since the subject is at the stage of development, a review of the literature on m-
commerce with the objective of bringing to the fore the state-of-art in m-commerce research and
applications will initiate further research on the growth of m-commerce technologies. This paper
reviews the literature on m-commerce and applications using a suitable classification scheme to
identify the gap between theory and practice and future research directions. The 149 m-
commerce articles are classified and the results of these are presented based on a scheme that

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consists of five distinct categories: m-commerce theory and research, wireless network
infrastructure, mobile middleware, wireless user infrastructure, and m-commerce applications
and cases. A comprehensive list of references is presented. The findings of this research had
provide useful insights into the anatomy of m-commerce literature and been a good source for
anyone who is interested in m-commerce..(4)

3G-based Mobile commerce Value Chain

In recent years, due to the rapid evolution of mobile communication technologies, e-

commerce has been combined with the mobile communication equipment, and a new paradigm
of business — mobile commerce has appeared in business field. Nowadays, the development of
3G-related technologies further pushed the popularity of m-commerce. This paper attempted to
categorize the participants in the 3G-based m-commerce value chain in B2C market and
discusses its nature as well. It established a value chain in 3G-based B2C mobile market. This
paper provided some fresh insight to 3G-based mobile market and help the participants in the
value chain to understand better on how the value on the mobile market is delivered, which
offered some ideas on how to make the value to be delivered efficiently on the value chain.(5)

Mobile Payment Market and Research – Past, Present and Future

The mobile payment market is currently under transition with a history of numerous tried
and failed solutions and a future of promising but yet uncertain possibilities with contactless
RFID and other new potential technologies. At this point of the development we take a look at
the current state of the mobile payment market, review prior literature on mobile payment
services, analyze the different factors that impact the market, and give directions for future
research on this still emerging field. To facilitate the analysis, this propose a framework of four
contingency and five competitive factors, and organized the contemporary mobile payment
research under the proposed framework. (6)

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 Chapter III

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a systematic and objective process of identifying and

formulating the problem by setting objective and methods for collecting, editing, tabulating,
evaluating, analyzing, interpreting and presenting data in order to find justified solution.

The methodology of research process involves the following steps;

➢ Developing the research problem and objectives.

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 ➢ Developing the research plan for collecting information.

➢ Collection and Analysis of data.

➢ Interpretation and report writing.

3.1 DESIGN OF THE STUDY

Any meaningful research initiative requires a carefully prepared research design. It

enables to analyze the research problems systematically and to find solutions for the same. It also
helps in arriving at unbiased estimates of facts and figures. In this chapter, a brief description of
the research methodology adopted in selection of study area, selection of sample respondents,
method of collection of data and various tools of analysis used are presented and discussed.

3.2 Population:

As this survey was carried out in European retail industry, the population is indefinite.

3.3 Sample frame:

This survey aimed at establishing the number of the potential customers for kony solution.
Some criteria had given by the organization for finding the potential customer.

The criteria with which a certain company was recognized as a potential client
included:-

• Revenue, before approaching the company the revenue of the company was found out to know if
the company was capable enough to provide the customers with the application and to know if it
could afford to pay for it.

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• Website, a company which already had a website in which they provided the users with the
option of buying, selling or making any online transactions would be short listed as a potential
customer. For example:-a hotel which has a high revenue and which provided the option of
booking your rooms online would be a potential client as opposed to a hotel which did not
provide online booking facility.
• Then the no of users that visited that website would be found out to know how the traffic on the
website is. If there are few no of visitors for a particular site then the company would be dropped
from the potential customer list.
Three hundred potential customers are identified in the Europe region, which satisfy the
given criteria.

3.4 Sampling technique:

Systematic sampling is a statistical method involving the selection of elements from an
ordered sampling frame. The most common form of systematic sampling is an equal-probability
method, in which every kthelement in the frame is selected, where k, the sampling interval
(sometimes known as the skip), is calculated as:

where n is the sample size, and N is the population size.

Using this procedure each element in the population has a known and equal probability of
selection. This makes systematic sampling functionally similar to simple random sampling. It is
however, much more efficient (if variance within systematic sample is more than variance of
population).

The researcher must ensure that the chosen sampling interval does not hide a pattern. Any
pattern would threaten randomness. A random starting point must also be selected. Systematic
sampling is to be applied only if the given population is logically homogeneous, because
systematic sample units are uniformly distributed over the population

3.5 Sample size:

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 The sample size of this survey is 63.

3.6 Data Collection Method

The primary data required for the study were collected through online interview method
with the help of comprehensive pre-tested interview schedule. The sample customers were
interviewed personally at web conference. The purpose of the study was briefly and clearly
explained to the sample customers to help them understand and respond better and entice their
cooperation. Since much of the information were collected through recall by customers, careful
attention was taken while preparing the interview schedule by incorporating appropriate words
and also at the time of interview in expressing the words to minimize bias, if any. The primary
data were collected on economic, social, psychographic details, awareness level, etc... The
secondary data like physical, social, economical and other related aspects of the study area were
collected through surfing the website and published reports.

Steps involved in Data collection

Step1: Identifying the respondents

Name and designation of the respondents are identified using a web portal called
LinkedIn.com.

Step2: Identifying the contact details

Email id of the respondents were found using several websites such as Plaxo.com,
jigsaw.com, Google search etc… and phone numbers were found in the respective
organization’s website.

Step3: Inviting the respondents for a Webinar

Cold calls were made to get in touch with respondents and to invite them to attend a
free webinar on mobile commerce using a web portal namely www.gotomeeting.com. At the
end of the seminar, the purpose of the survey was explained to them to encourage their
participation in the survey.

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Step4: Creating an online survey

A professional Survey Monkey was created for the purpose of conducting online
survey and a survey link had been generated.

Step4: Sending Survey invitation through E-mail

A personalized Survey invitation had been sent to the respondents along with the survey
link through company’s email client.

Step4: Tracking the email

Sent emails were tracked with the help of company’s cloud based CRM tool namely
www.salesforce.com.

Step5: Resending the invitation

Invitation was sent again for the respondents who hadn’t responded for the survey.

Step6: Thanking the respondents

A thanking email has been sent to the respondents who were participated in the survey.

3.7 Data Analysis

The data collected will be tabulated, processed and analyzed. The tools employed for analysis
are percentage analysis, Garrett’s ranking technique, Scaling technique.

1. Percentage Analysis
Percentage analysis to study the general characteristics of the respondents that includes
age, education, occupation, size of family, source of awareness, etc…

Number of respondents
Percentageanalysis = x 100
Total samplesize

2. Garrett’s Ranking technique

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 This technique used to rank the factors like source of information.

( Rij – 0.5)

Percent position = × 100

Nj

Rij - Rank given for ith factor by the jth individual.

Nj - Number of factors ranked by the jth individual.

By referring to Garrett’s table, the percent position estimated will be converted into
scores, then for each factor the scores of various customers will be added and mean score will be
calculated. The means will be arranged in descending order. The factor with the highest mean
would be considered as most important.

3. Scaling Technique
In this study the sample customers will be asked to indicate whether they are highly
satisfied, satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied and highly dissatisfied with the results of services and
quality of work. The responses of the sample customers will be recorded and the scores will be
given to each factor, then the scores will be added to obtain the total score towards the
satisfactory level of the sample respondents.

4. Weighted Average Score.

Based on Likert scaling, score 3 is given to MOST IMPORTANT, score 2 is given to
IMPORTANT and score 1 is given to LEAST IMPORTANT.

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 Chapter IV

4. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Table 1:

The present Mobile Offerings of the retailers under study

Present mobile No of Percentage

offering respondents
(%)
Mobile 16 26
Websit(WAP)
SMS Alerts 45 72
Rich application 3 4
None 18 28

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Figure 1 :

Interpretation:

The burgeoning mobile penetration rate has created interest among the retailers to
adopt mobile as a channel of business.In the survey, 72% of the retailers are offering SMS Alerts
to their customers.Where as, 16% and 4%of the respondents has Optimised Mobile website and
Rich downlodable applications.This shows a positive trend in Mobile adoption among retailers
of Europe.

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Table 2:

Mobile - A New channel of business

Mobile – A new channel of No of respondents Percentage(%)

business
Yes 43 69
No 20 31

Figure 2:

Interpretation:

In the survey , 69% of the respondents belive that the mobile as a channel of business
will benefit them.The retailers show optimism in adopting a mobile strategy to take advantage of
emerging telecommunivations and mobile technology.The retailers can offer value added
services such as mobile payments , mobile coupons, etc and thus they can increase
M-Commerce has been hyped as the future of retail.

Factors motivating to adapt m-commerce:

37
Figure 3:
Rank1: Increased sales and revenue

Rank2: Increased service reach (anytime anywhere)

Rank3: Offer other value added services

Rank4: As a new channel of business

Rank5: As an innovative media tool

Interpretaion:

Retailers percive various resaons for which they will be benifited by mobile strategy.The
majority of the respondents mull that their mobile commerce strategy will increase their sales
and revenue.Second most percieved resons that mobile offerings will increase the service reach
for their customer base.Next comes the offerings of value added services and mobile as a new
channel of business.Least percieved resaon is that mobile platform could be used as a innovative
media tool.

Table 3:

The factors which de-motivates the mobile commerce adoption

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Factors No of respondents Percentage

(%)
Does not fit in our kind of 8 12%
business (display constraints,
intangibility etc)

Not much hits from mobile 6 10%

devices on the website
Low smart-phone penetration 5 8%
and usage for commerce
Other 1 2%

Interpretation:

From the table, it can be depicted that 12% of the respondents think that their m commerce
strategy will not fit in their kind of business (display constraints, intangibility etc).10% of the
respondents said that there not much hits from mobile devices on their website. 8% of the
respondents think that the penetration of smart phone and its usage for commerce is low.2% of
the respondents have opted other factor like security problem.

Table 4:

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 Going live on mobile

Likely to go live on mobile No of respondents Percentage(%)

Within six months 9 12
Six months – 1 year 30 48
Next year 10 16
Already implemented one 14 23

Figure 4:

Interpretation:
More than half of the respondents were supportive of implementing an m-Commerce strategy,
the results suggest a trend towards implementing a strategy quickly (within the next year) rather
than waiting. The survey says that 23% respondents has already live on mobile and they may
enhance the mobile commerce strategy by offering various value additions through mobile touch
points.

Table 5:

Preference level of various operating system

Operating system Most Important Least Preference

Important Important
Nokia-Symbian 27 36 O 1
Blackberry-RIM 25 38 0 2
Apple – Iphone 21 42 0 3
Google-android 28 30 5 4

40
HTC- 9 42 12 5
WindowsMobile

Interpretation:

Nokia symbian is being preferred by most of the respondents. Least preference is given to
HTC-Window Mobile. Other Operating systems such as RIM, Apple and Android has given
second, third and fourth preference respectively. On approximation all the above mentioned OS
has equal preference. This result shows the interest of the retailers in various Operating systems.
This is a optimistic for the Kony solutions because their Writ once Run everywhere technology
will be attracted by the retailers.

Table 6:

The future Mobile offerings of the respondents

Future mobile offering No of respondents Percentage (%)

Mobile Website 31 73

41
 Downloadable rich 28 66
application
SMS Alerts 23 55

Figure 5:

Interpretation:

In this survey, 66% of the respondents are interested in offering downloadable Rich
applications. As most of the retailers give preference to various OS viz…Apple, Android, RIM,
Symbian…, the European market is quite lucrative for kony solutions. As far as mobile websites
are concerned, 73% of the respondents are going to offer device optimized mobile websites. 55%
of the respondents will offer SMS Alerts to their customers.

Table 7:

Key challenges in implementing an m-Commerce strategy

Key challenges No of Respondents Percentage(%)

Cost 46 75
Not convinced of the meritd 29 48
of m-commerce
Lack of appropriate 15 25
Development partner
Lack of technological 25 40
Development

42
Figure 6:

Interpretation:

The cost of implementing an m-Commerce strategy seems to be of primary concern but

respondents raised concerns over the lack of technological development and skeptism over the
merits of m-commerce . Concerns were also raised about the lack of appropriate development
partners. From the chart, it is clear that 75% of the respondents were concerned about the cost of
implementing mobile strategy. 48% of the respondents are not convinced about the merits of the
m-commerce applications. 40% of the respondents have concern over the lack of technological
development and 25% percent of the respondents have concern over the lack of appropriate
development partners.

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Table 8:

The funding efforts for m-commerce strategy

Funding efforts No of respondents Percentage(%)

Easily funded 5 8
Funding available with 26 41
reasonable effort
Difficult to fund 22 35
Impossible to fund 10 16

Figure 7:

Interpretation:

From the chart it is clear that more than half of the respondents show pessimism in
funding their m-commerce strategy. 8% of the respondents said that it is easy to fund for their m
commerce application and 35% of the respondents have said that they can avail funding with
reasonable efforts. Funding is difficult for 46% of the respondents and 11% of the respondents
have mentioned that it is impossible to fund their m-commerce strategy.

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Table 9:

Mobile offerings of the respondents with respect to their competitors

Position No of respondents Percentage(%)

Ahead of the competitors 12 18
Same as the competitors 25 42
Somewhat behind the 18 28
competitors
Well behind most of our 8 12
competitors

Figure 8:

Interpretation:

From the chart it is depicted that 42% of the respondents are same as their competitors
and 18% of the respondents believe that they are ahead of their competitors. 28% of the
respondents feel that they are somewhat behind their competitor and 12% of the respondents feel
that they are well behind most of their competition.

Table 10:

Company’s knowledge in regards to providing mobile offerings

We know little and will need to obtain information/assistance. 24%

We have a general understanding of what we want to offer and what it 18%
will take.
We already have vendor to provide mobile offerings 35%
We would consider ourselves experts in developing a mobile strategy and 23%

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deploying mobile offerings

Interpretation:

It is depicted from table that 24% percent of the respondents have little knowledge about the
mobile offering and they will be seeking the assistance.18% percent of the respondents have a
general understanding of what they want to offer and what it will take.35% of the respondents
already have a vendor to provide mobile offerings.23% of the respondents consider themselves
in developing a mobile strategy and deploying mobile offerings.

Chapter V

Findings and Suggestions

Key findings:

1. Only 4% of the retailers have downloadable rich native application.

2. 69% of the retailers believe that they will be benefited out of their m-commerce
strategy. So there is a demand for mobile software solutions.

46
 3. Retailers’ perceived reason for adapting mobile strategy is to increase sales and
revenue.
4. 12% of the retailers have a perception that their kind of product/service will not fit
for mobile commerce.
5. More than half of the respondents were supportive of implementing an m-
Commerce strategy; the results suggest a trend towards implementing a strategy
quickly (within the next year) rather than waiting.
6. Almost all the respondents prefer to deploy their mobile offerings in various
Operating systems such as Apple, Symbian, RIM and Android.
7. 66% and 73% of the retailers are interested in offering Rich downloadable
application for their clients and device optimized mobile website respectively.
8. 75% of the retailers consider the cost as a key challenging factor in implementing
the m-commerce strategy.
9. More than half the retailers show pessimism in funding their m-commerce
strategy.
10. Less than half of the respondents’ mobile offerings are as behind as that of their
competitors. They may be convinced to adapt mobile strategy to give an edge
over their competitors.
11. 24% of the respondents will seek the assistance for their m-commerce platform
whereas 35% of the respondents already have a vendor to give assistance in
mobile commerce applications.

1.

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Suggestion:

1. As ‘Increasing sales and revenues’ being a top motive for the adapting mobile
commerce strategy, kony Solution should use their Integrated Marketing Communication
to project the same.
2. More discussions should be initiated in social media such as LinkedIn, Blogs etc… to
give more insights into the benefits on adapting mobile commerce strategy among
retailers.
3. As around a quarter of the respondents are not convinced about the merits of the
adoption of m-commerce, more webinars should be organized to educate the retailers
about the same and ensuring ‘DEMAND GENERATION’.
4. As more than half of the respondents were supportive of implementing an m-Commerce
strategy within a year, Europe market seems to be lucrative. Sales operations should be
kick-started at the earliest
5. For 75% of the respondents, cost is being a key challenge in implementing mobile
strategy and more than half of the respondents show pessimism in funding their mobile
commerce strategy. So Kony solutions should come up with an innovative pricing
strategy should be devised. Following could be the best pricing models to be considered.
• Selling the platform in Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model.
• Selling the platform alone and giving assistance in developing mobile
solutions.ie… Licensing the platform.
1. As 35% of the respondents have a existing vendor for mobile solutions, It is advisable to
have a strategic alliance with these vendors.

Conclusion:

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 This Project has been carried out to assess the market for the mobile commerce
applications (software product) with respect to European retail industry. The responses were
collected from Europeans working in various retail organizations. The potential customers for
kony solution were identified and an online survey was carried out successfully on them. The
aim of the survey was to understand the trends in m-commerce adoption and uptake of mobile
commerce applications in European retail industry. Retailers’ perception towards mobile
commerce adoption was examined and their uptake on mobile offering is identified. The results
helped the organization in formulating the marketing strategies.

QUESTIONNAIRE

AN ONLINE MARKET ASSESSMENT FOR MOBILE COMMERCE APPLICATIONS:

A STUDY CARRIED IN EUROPEAN RETAIL INDUSTRY

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1. What does your current mobile offering consist of?

WAP(Mobile website)

SMS Alerts

Rich native application

None
2. Do you think mobile as a channel will be beneficial for your business?

Yes

No
Cancel Copy
3. If yes for question 2, what would be the reason?
(PLEASE RANK THE FACTORS BELOW FROM 1-5)

Increased sales and revenue

Increased service reach (anytime anywhere)

As a new channel of business

Offer other value added services.

As an innovative media tool

Cancel Copy
4. If No for question 2, which of the following reasons best suit your response (check all
that apply)

Does not fit in our kind of business (display constraints, intangibility etc)

Not much hits from mobile devices on the website

Low smart-phone penetration and usage for commerce

Other

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5. When do you plan to go live on mobile?

We are already live

Within next 6 months

After 6 months

Next year (2011)

6. Rank the mobile OS which you are planning to support

Most Important Important Least Important
iPhone Most Important
Important Least Important
Adroid(Google)
Most Important Important Least Important
Windows
Mobile(HTC) Most Important Important Least Important
Symbian(Nokia)
Most Important Important Least Important
RIM(Blackberry
) Most Important Important Least Important
Cancel Copy

7. What would your mobile offerings comprise of?(check all that apply)

WAP (Mobile Website)

Rich native application

SMS Slerts

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8. What do you see as the key challenges to implementing an m-Commerce
strategy?(check all that apply)

- Cost

- Not convinced of the merits of m-Commerce

- Lack of appropriate development partner

- Lack of technological development

9. Would you describe your mobile efforts as:

- Easily funded.

- Funding available with reasonable effort.

- Difficult to fund.

- Impossible to fund. Little perceived value.

10.Do you believe your company’s current mobile offerings are ahead, behind, or about
the same as that offered by your competition?

- Ahead of our competition

- About the same as our competition

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- Somewhat behind that offered by our competition

- Well behind most of our competition

11.How would you rate your company’s knowledge in regards to providing mobile
offerings?

- We know little and will need to obtain information/assistance.

- We have a general understanding of what we want to offer and what it will take.

- We have good knowledge about providing mobile offerings.

- We would consider ourselves experts in developing a mobile strategy and deploying mobile
offerings

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BIBILIOGRAPHY
Books:

• International marketing - Michael Czinkota, IIka Ronkeinan .

• Donald, Cooper and Schindler Pamela, Business research methods, Tata McGraw Hill
Publishing company limited, New Delhi, 2003

Web Links:

(1) http://en.mimi.hu/marketingweb/market_development.html
(2) http://www.businessballs.com/marketdevelopmentservice.htm
(3) http://www.rysavy.com/Articles/MobCmrc/mobcmrc.html
(4) http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1223955
(5) http://www.springerlink.com/content/r51630v0700m5788/
(6) http://sprouts.aisnet.org/483/1/Mobile_Applications_3_1.pdf

Websites:

• www.About.com

• www.salesforce.com

• www.surveymonkey.com

• www.marketingprofs.com

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