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Has the mobile tipping point arrived?

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Twenty five percent of the world’s leading internet retailers saw 50% of their sales from mobile over the past year. This is a first for the industry and a significant tipping point, knocking desktop and tablet sales off the podium. According to leading digital advertising company Criteo, apps are delivering double the user retention power of websites, with m-store customers more likely to purchase in-app than on any other online retail platform.

The Digital Evolution Index developed by MasterCard rates South Africa as one of the fastest growing digital economies in Africa. Online and mobile shopping has taken off in recent years, with all major banks offering free or relatively low-cost online purchasing capabilities to their customers.

“People spend a lot of time browsing on their phones and in-app instant payment is the most convenient method of purchasing,” says Raymond Wynne, CEO of mobile tech company Chat Find. The company’s flagship app brings mobile commerce, invoicing, location-sensitive marketing and direct-to-business chat capabilities to business owners and freelancers.

Reflecting the maturity of the market, South African shoppers have high standards for their commerce tools. Online ticketing company Webtickets report a marked shift towards mobile transactions in 2016, also noting that their customers expect ease-of-use, consistency and security when doing so.

“South Africans have exposure to the tools used by mobile retail giants – we have come to expect quality products from local businesses too. Saturating our market with sub-par apps won’t work,” says Wynne.

Building quality commerce apps comes at a high price tag and a long process of review and improvement. The Criteo report highlights the importance of unified, consistent and relevant customer experiences that encourage discovery, simplify product browsing and optimise checkout.

The team at Chat Find have spent three years developing and testing their app in line with these and other industry insights. It is capable of servicing both hyperlocal markets and whole industries; “Whether connecting with shoppers at a farmer’s market or providers in a multinational shipping industry, the direct chat, invoicing and payment capabilities deliver the full convenience of mobile tech,” says Wynne.

The app went public in July and has seen rapid uptake across three South African cities, with London, Chicago and Dublin soon to follow. Realising the value of the product, Chat Find have built a white label version available for adoption by brands and corporates.

“Mobile commerce is the way forward. A necessary expense, but one that stands to deliver huge returns for those leading the pack,” says Wynne.

New m-commerce solution for all businesses

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A new app is offering businesses, large and small, a commercially viable mobile commerce platform. With South African mobile users consuming an average of around 2.4-hours of media per day through their handheld devices, mobile is a crucial space for business to connect and transact with customers.

“The South African market, in particular has been touted as ripe for m-commerce for a while, but until now there have been no options for businesses beyond developing their own expensive websites or apps, or selling products through online retailers,” says Chat Find CEO Raymond Wynne.

With the app, anybody with a product or service to sell, can create a free mobile shopfront – one guaranteed to tap into existing and new local customer networks. The geolocation technology in Chat Find populates users’ feeds with posts from businesses and service providers within a 24 kilometre radius of their current location; “For businesses, this translates to reaching the people most likely to purchase from you,” says Wynne.

Users are also able to search for what they are looking for – with results ordered by proximity and relevance, ensuring local businesses are prioritised. Going beyond just putting businesses on the map, Chat Find’s search tool picks up listed stock, services and promotions. For example, a user could search for “running shoes” and “head torch” together, bringing up any stores that offer one or both.

Market place studies have shown that while South Africans can be reluctant to purchase tangible products online, their purchasing decisions are made before stepping into a store. Almost a third of consumers in South Africa assess elements like stock availability, pricing, alternative options, specifications and customer reviews online before going in-store to purchase.

“With Chat Find, customers are alerted to deals and specials, but are then able to come in-store to see a product in real life before purchasing. Alternatively, they can buy it instantly on the app, request delivery or collect from the store,” says Wynne.

As with other social media platforms, the app allows direct chat – both in-app and to email. Unlike other platforms, such as Facebook, running promotions on the app is free. “Most sites now require spend in order for business pages to appear on their customers’ feeds. We saw the opportunity to develop something that had both business and consumer interests in mind. We created an appropriate space for promotion without irritating consumers, that functions like a community noticeboard on your mobile,” says Wynne.

“Chat Find is designed to promote and grow local economies by connecting customers with businesses in their communities, giving them the power of m-commerce,” says Wynne.

This blog was featured on:

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/394/164970.html

https://www.itnewsafrica.com/2017/07/create-a-free-mobile-shopfront-with-chat-find/

http://www.htxt.co.za/2017/07/12/chat-find-is-making-it-easier-to-find-deals-around-you/

Smart Search: A New Way to Explore

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The world around us is a diverse and interesting place, full of opportunity to explore and prospects to chase. Chat Find is essentially a microcosm of the world with businesses and people offering hundreds of different products, services and bites of information. To make sense of all of this, and to allow users to find exactly what they are looking for, we have launched the revolutionary Smart Search.

Smart Search brings intelligent search functionality that allows you to find anything and everything, with all results being shown relevant to your location. For the first time in an app, you are able to search for a combination of multiple keywords, meaning you can get extremely specific results.

Tags, Tags, Tags!

This is complimented by Chat Find’s unique tag technology, which allows everything to be searchable. Imagine being able to easily find the closest food truck in your city that sells both cheese-burgers and coffee, and is running a deal on both? With Smart Search this is a reality, and will allow you to use your mobile to find the most relevant interest points around you.

Big for Business!

As a business, you can now make posts about everything in your store or about your business offering. Adding detailed tags to these posts means that people will always be able to find your posts no matter how old the posts are. Keep this in mind, as posts will disappear from the feed after a week but can always be found on a profile or through search. They will also never disappear from the “Around Me” tab.

By adding tags to all of your product or service posts, you can create a catalogue for your business. Building this catalogue means you will have a shopping platform that you set up for free which is accessible to thousands of mobile users. The more you post, the more you will be found by people searching for your services.

Get Exploring

Smart Search will bring an unprecedented level of relevancy to your search. Finding particular products, services, businesses and professionals has never been more effective. Get exploring on Chat Find to locate exactly what you are looking for!