MCom (Business Management) / Department of Business Management / Consumer mobile phone adoption is on the rise exponentially, and offers marketers with many new opportunities to reach and serve customers. The South African mobile phone market has increased rapidly and a significant proportion of mobile services usage in South Africa is the youth. South African youths are following international trends as well as becoming the fastest-growing group in terms of technology adoption in the country. The prevalence of mobile technology as well as its capability to enable laser precision marketing on an individual basis has directed marketers to consider the adoption of mobile marketing. However, the question remains whether consumers are ready for uptake of mobile phone marketing. The purpose of this study was to bring light and create an understanding of the factors affecting university students’ willingness to participate in mobile phone marketing in South Africa. This study used a positivist paradigm that ensures that there is a gap between the researcher’s subjective bias and the objective reality being studied. The study was descriptive in nature with survey method being used to complete the study. The quantitative research technique was applied with data being collected from respondents by a self-administered questionnaire targeted at youth students from selected South African Universities. The questionnaire was pre-tested in a pilot study involving the research participants to identify errors in the research questionnaire and to ensure that the data collected would be relevant and as precise as possible. Findings from this study revealed how consumers want to participate in mobile marketing as well as the contributory factors influencing the acceptance of mobile marketing. Furthermore, this study supplements to the increasing body of evidence on mobile marketing acceptance. The study can also assist managers to utilise the potential of this marketing medium amongst university students in South Africa. More essentially, this study also provided information that can be used to monitor decision making towards mobile advertisements and marketing planning.

Mobile Marketing is a critical marketing strategy and a foundation of competitive advantage for small to medium enterprises in the tourism and hospitality industry in South Africa. While many studies focus on mobile marketing, this study focuses on the adoption of mobile marketing innovations by small to medium enterprises in the tourism and hospitality industry in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Analysing the adoption of Awesome South Africa mobile application, as a marketing strategy among SMEs in the Western Cape tourism and hospitality industry was therefore imperative to understand the factors that influence mobile marketing adoption. The objective was to find out the factors that contribute to the adoption of mobile marketing as well as the factors that would impede the adoption of mobile marketing by the SMEs in this industry. The research employed the Technology Acceptance Model as a theoretical framework as well as a guide in ascertaining the factors that affect the adoption of mobile marketing innovations among SMEs. There is certainty that the Awesome South Africa mobile travel application could partly solve the information asymmetry problem as well as the marketing challenges of the SMEs in the Western Cape Tourism and hospitality industry. An exploratory design was deployed in this study, resulting in the application of a qualitative research approach for data collection, analysis and interpretation. Both content and thematic data analyses were used in this study because data was collected from multiple sources that included reports and face-toface interviews. The research findings showed that the TAM provides a reasonable explanation of the factors that influence technology acceptance amongst SMEs. Perceived usefulness, perceived cost, perceived competitive pressure and perceived employee capability emerged as the significant factors that simultaneously influenced mobile marketing adoption among SMEs. Factors impeding the adoption of mobile marketing application by the SMEs included perceived high cost of adoption, lack of managerial support, employee incompetence, limited financial resources and perceived complexity of the mobile marketing innovations. The recommendation was that the Awesome South Africa mobile application innovators should capitalise on the TAM constructs in order to realise the adoption of their mobile application among SMEs in the Western Cape tourism and hospitality industry.

The growth of mobile penetration in Africa has seen a rise in marketers seeking new ways of using mobile marketing to improve their business and develop sustainable marketing strategies. An empirical study on BOP consumers living in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, comprising a survey of a sample of 385 respondents, was conducted. The measurement items were assessed through six hypotheses using Structural Equation Modelling with Smart PLS 3 software. The results confirm that there is a significant relationship between social influence and trust, price sensitivity and purchase intention, service quality and trust and lastly, between service quality and satisfaction. The relationship between trust and purchase intention and the relationship between satisfaction and purchase intention are not significant. The relationship between service quality and satisfaction showed the strongest significance amongst the hypotheses, whereas the weakest relationship showing the least significance effect amongst the hypotheses is between satisfaction and purchase intention. Implications of the study suggest that managers should consider the BOP consumer differently when marketing to them as they have different consumer behaviours to other market segments. For future research, more research should be done on the BOP with regard to their adaptions to mobile marketing as this will help marketers to find better marketing strategies for their businesses to better serve this market segment. Recommendations and limitations on mobile marketing adoption within BOP are discussed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:31:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Karla Caldas.pdf: 3995021 bytes, checksum: f06d4d49642268ac6d06cb26439f0bea (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The main aim of this research is analyzing the marketing communication processes that use mobile phones as publicizing platform. The research intent is to know which mobile marketing practices has been carried out in Brazil and how developed contents for mobiles are used in business disclosure. The connected young consumer s characteristics, drawing attention to their self-assurance to transit in new media, and companies forms to communicate with these consumers are part of the subject broached in this study. In depth interviews with professional s area were used as methodology for this qualitative research of exploratory character and the bibliography and documentary resources were served as basis for analysis of interviews. The research has identified that movable communication universe is fundamental to develop campaigns that provide experience with brands and offer relevant contents for consumers. Nevertheless, some technological hurdles do not allow at the moment that actions be expanded to all the Brazilian consumers who have a cellular phone. / O objetivo principal dessa pesquisa é analisar os processos de comunicação mercadológica que utilizam os celulares como plataforma de divulgação. É intenção da pesquisa conhecer as práticas de mobile marketing realizadas no Brasil e a forma como os conteúdos desenvolvidos para celulares são utilizados na divulgação empresarial. As características dos jovens consumidores conectados, com destaque para a desenvoltura com que transitam nas novas mídias, e as formas como as empresas se comunicam com esses consumidores também fazem parte dos temas abordados neste estudo. Entrevistas em profundidade com profissionais da área foram utilizadas como metodologia para essa pesquisa qualitativa, de cunho exploratório, e os levantamentos bibliográfico e documental serviram como base para a análise das entrevistas. A pesquisa observou que no universo da comunicação móvel é fundamental desenvolver campanhas que proporcionem experiência com as marcas e ofereçam conteúdos relevantes aos consumidores. Contudo, alguns entraves tecnológicos não permitem que, até o presente momento, essas ações sejam expandidas para todos os consumidores brasileiros que possuem um celular.

Abstract This dissertation aims to examine the theoretical and empirical foundations of the mobile marketing phenomenon. While numerous studies have yielded important insights into this topic, the existing mobile marketing literature appears to be inconsistent and somewhat fragmented. With the help of two action research projects, interviews of mobile marketing practitioners, and an online survey, this study aims to contribute to our understanding of the nature of mobile marketing communications in consumer markets. This thesis consists of an introductory section and five papers. The first paper evaluates the current state of mobile marketing research based on a review and an analysis of extant literature that focuses on mobile (or wireless) applications aimed at marketing or advertising. Various definitions of mobile marketing are evaluated and a more technologically-agnostic definition is provided. The second paper presents a framework of the mobile marketing communications environment that delineates how mobile marketing should be integrated into a company's integrated marketing communications strategy. A comprehensive overview of divergent mobile marketing activities is provided, along with representative examples derived from popular press. In addition, a detailed description of mobile marketing campaign planning and its implementation process is provided. The third paper provides a conceptual model of the relationships between interactive integrated marketing communications and database management in a mobile context. The results from empirical research suggest that consumers are willing to participate in Short Message Service (SMS) marketing in a retailing context. The fourth and fifth papers utilize data collected by means of an online survey (n = 4,062) and examine the factors associated with consumers' intention to receive mobile advertising messages and responses to SMS direct-response campaigns. The results suggest that consumers' intention to receive mobile advertising messages is related to the relevance of the message, permission to receive mobile advertising messages, the benefits of receiving the message and the privacy of personal data. In addition, the results suggest that women and men differ significantly in their responses to SMS call-to-action campaigns, consumers aged 36–45 years are most likely to respond to SMS call-to-action in a TV program and participate in SMS sweepstakes and other competitions, and that employment status has a substantial impact on consumers' SMS campaign activity. Overall, this thesis provides a conceptual and theoretical foundation intended to guide research efforts focused on mobile media and to aid practitioners in their quest to achieve mobile marketing success.

The goal of this thesis is to characterize a specific application of mobile marketing, particularly the application of location based mobile marketing by the company H&M in the Czech Republic. The company is one of the largest global clothing retailers. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and practical part. The first one was completed by researching specialized literature and online resources and was crucial for understanding and completing the actual analysis of the specific mobile marketing application in the practical part of the thesis. The second part of the thesis contains the description of the company, its history, company values and concept. Furthermore, the work includes the analysis of the marketing mix with emphasis on the communication mix of the company. In the actual analysis of the specific application of mobile marketing in the company H&M, I described the geolocation SMS campaign and tried to submit improvement proposals for future use of this type of mobile marketing campaign and also suggested other possibilities in using location based mobile marketing in the company.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T13:53:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SamaraCMN.pdf: 406492 bytes, checksum: f19dc4472be37ff251247e9cb8f90ab0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-07-31 / This study aims to understand the effects of the mobile marketing use as a relationships tool for companies that operate locally, because of the lack of information about this new marketing tool, as well as the scarcity of studies in this area. This is an exploratory and qualitatively study, based on primary sources, raised through books, articles in the marketing area and the telecommunications industry organs as well as secondary sources. With the purpose to look into the issue, a semi-structured interview is made with the companies managers of the sectors of trade and services in Natal-RN. The advances in technology allow an important discussion focused on the marketing in the new communication technologies scenario. It appears that the mobile marketing adoption and use by local companies is already a reality and companies are awake to changes and technological innovations accessible, especially the mobile telephony as well as convergence with other media. There is, however, that the use of technologies offered by mobile marketing is still limited to the sending of text messages (SMS), despite the numerous possibilities of it use. Moreover, the results obtained with mobile marketing use show that companies can identify them, but there is no effective monitoring in quantity and financial terms. Only affect sales growth and support for progress in loyalty with customers. It shows up that the mentality of not measuring the results still in the plan of changes and technological innovations. The data allow saying that the mobile marketing is a reality, however has not yet signed as a tool for carrying out campaigns and marketing tool for loyalty of customers, despite presenting a wide range of possibilities to streamline and make more effective the marketing businesses process / O presente estudo tem como objetivo compreender os efeitos do uso do mobile marketing como ferramenta de relacionamento para as empresas que atuam localmente, devido a pouca divulga??o e conhecimento desta nova ferramenta de marketing, assim como da escassez de estudos nesta ?rea. Trata-se de um estudo explorat?rio e qualitativo, com base em fontes prim?rias, levantadas atrav?s de livros, artigos na ?rea de marketing e ?rg?os de setor de telecomunica??es al?m de fontes secund?rias. Realizou-se entrevista semi-estruturada junto aos gerentes de empresas dos setores de com?rcio e servi?os que atuam em Natal-RN. Os avan?os na ?rea tecnol?gica permitem uma discuss?o importante voltada para o marketing nesse cen?rio de novas tecnologias de comunica??o. Verifica-se que a ado??o e o uso do mobile marketing pelas empresas locais j? ? uma realidade e as empresas est?o antenadas ?s mudan?as e inova??es tecnol?gicas acess?veis, sobretudo no que se refere ? telefonia m?vel, bem como a converg?ncia com outras m?dias. Constata-se, por?m, que o uso das tecnologias proporcionadas pelo mobile marketing ainda est? limitado ao envio de mensagens de texto (SMS), apesar das in?meras possibilidades de utiliza??o desse ve?culo de comunica??o. Al?m disso, os resultados obtidos com o uso do mobile marketing mostram que as empresas conseguem identific?-los, por?m n?o h? um acompanhamento efetivo em termos quantitativos e financeiros. Apenas afetam o incremento das vendas e corrobora para o avan?o na fideliza??o com clientes. Percebe-se que a mentalidade de n?o mensura??o de resultados continua mesmo no plano de mudan?as e inova??es tecnol?gicas. Os dados autorizam afirmar que o mobile marketing ? uma realidade, no entanto ainda n?o se firmou enquanto ferramenta de realiza??o de campanhas de marketing e ferramenta de fideliza??o de clientes, n?o obstante apresentar um amplo leque de possibilidades para dinamizar e tornar mais efetivo o processo de marketing das empresas

[pt] O varejo se depara hoje com a crescente onipresença de tecnologias móveis digitais. No entanto, a maioria das compras ainda é concluída em lojas físicas. Muitas questões surgem então com relação à conexão do digital com o físico, do online e do offline, sendo a proximidade do consumidor com relação ao ponto de venda um aspecto instigante do contexto estratégico do mobile marketing. Pouco se sabe ainda sobre os efeitos do marketing baseado em localização nas visitas à loja. O objetivo desta tese é então examinar os efeitos do conteúdo de mensagens mobile e dos dados de geolocalização nas visitas às lojas, conectando os esforços online ao comportamento offline, em uma perspectiva cross-channel. O método consiste em um estudo qualitativo, um estudo de dados secundários (estudo 1), experimentos de campo (estudos 2 e 3) e um experimento online (estudo 4), em uma abordagem de método misto. O estudo qualitativo envolveu entrevistas em profundidade com gerentes de nível C e especialistas em mobile de importantes empresas da indústria digital. O estudo 1 analisou quais elementos visuais e textuais são preditores de taxas mais altas de visitação (VTR) em campanhas mobile, usando visão computacional e aprendizado de máquina em uma amostra de 640 campanhas de celular baseadas em localização. Os resultados mostram que anúncios mobile com apelo de marca tendem a gerar mais visitas ao ponto de venda do que aqueles com apelo de compra. Um anúncio mobile exibindo uma pessoa / pessoas tende a gerar mais visitas ao ponto de venda do que um sem pessoa. As palavras black, desconto e participar tiveram um efeito positivo nas visitas. O Estudo 2 testou o efeito da proximidade do consumidor ao local em resposta a notificações push mobile. O Estudo 3 testou os efeitos do conteúdo de mensagens mobile (prompts promocionais, de marca ou personalizados) combinados com dados de geolocalização em visitas a lojas. Ambos os estudos foram realizados em um experimento de campo em um grande shopping center, com os usuários do aplicativo do shopping. Dadas as limitações dos dados dos estudos 2 e 3, devido à pandemia de Covid-19, foi realizado um quarto estudo experimental online, com 1.534 participantes. Como contribuição teórica, os estudos forneceram novas perspectivas sobre mobile marketing, comunicação baseada em localização e efeitos de notificação push sobre as atitudes e comportamento dos clientes, trazendo mais insights sobre a era do marketing de marca na mão. Os resultados ajudam a direcionar decisões estratégicas de mobile marketing, impulsionando ações de menor alcance, mas maior precisão, com expectativa de taxas de conversão mais altas. / [en] The retail context faces an increasing omnipresence of mobile technologies. Yet, most purchases are still concluded in brick-and-mortar stores. Many issues arise regarding connecting digital with physical, online and offline, with the consumer proximity to physical locations as an important aspect of the mobile marketing strategic context. Little is known about the effects of mobile location-based marketing on store visits. The objective of this dissertation is to analyze which visual and textual features of push online mobile messages generate more visits to brick-and-mortar stores, connecting online efforts to offline behavior, in a cross-channel perspective. The method consists of a qualitative study, a secondary data study (study 1), field experiments (studies 2 and 3) and an online experiment (study 4), in a mixed-method approach. The qualitative study involved in-depth interviews with C-level managers and mobile experts from major companies in the digital industry. Study 1 analyzed which visual and textual features are predictors of higher visit through rates (VTR) in mobile campaigns, using computer vision and machine learning in a sample of 640 location-based mobile campaigns. The findings show that mobile adds with branding appeal tend to drive more visits to the offline point of sale than those with purchase appeal. A mobile add displaying a person / people tends to drive more visits to the offline point of sale than one with no person. Words black, discount and participate displayed a positive effect. Study 2 tested the effect of the proximity of the consumer to the location in response to mobile push notifications. Study 3 tested the effects of mobile message content (promotional, branded or personalized prompts) combined with geolocation data on store visits. Both studies were conducted in a field experiment in a large shopping mall, with the mall app users. Given the limitations of the data from studies 2 and 3, due to Covid-19 pandemic, a fourth online experimental study was conducted, with 1.534 participants. As theoretical contribution, it provided new perspectives on mobile marketing, location-based communication and push-notification effects on customers attitudes and behavior, bringing further insights into the brand in the hand marketing era. The results help directing mobile marketing strategic decisions, driving actions of smaller reach but greater precision, with expected higher conversion rates.

Forskningsfråga <img src="file:///page3image5296" />• Hur kan mobiltelefonen integreras i detaljhandelsföretags marknadsföring? <img src="file:///page3image12896" /> Syfte Syftet med vår uppsats är att urskilja och analysera likheter och olikheter mellan företag och konsumenter gällande marknadsföring med stöd av mobiltelefonen. Detta gör vi genom att klarlägga: <img src="file:///page3image15880" /> Konsumenters upplevda värde via mobiltelefonen Företags användning av mobiltelefonen som marknadsföringsresurs  <img src="file:///page3image15720" /> <img src="file:///page3image15880" /> Metod Uppsatsen har baserats på en kvalitativ studie som kommit att anta en deduktiv ansats med inslag av induktion. Vi har gjort den empiriska insamlingen genom semistrukturerade intervjuer där vi valt att intervjua tre välkända företag inom detaljhandelsbranschen samt fokusgrupper. Slutsats Vår analys visar att mobiltelefonen kan integreras i detaljhandelsföretags marknadsföring på olika sätt. Det framkommer att mobila applikationer, den mobila hemsidan och SMS-utskick är de främsta marknadsföringsresurserna. Vidare framhålls enkelhet, tydligt syfte och struktur som betydande faktorer. För att företag ska lyckas integrera mobiltelefonen i sin marknadsföring, på ett bra sätt, visar vår studie att de måste erhålla en röd tråd genom samtliga marknadsföringskanaler. <img src="file:///page3image15720" /> <img src="file:///page3image15880" />

During the dot com era the word 'personalisation' was a hot buzzword. With the fall of the dot com companies the topic has lost momentum. As the killer application for UMTS or the mobile internet has yet to be identified, the concept of Multi-Dimensional-Personalisation (MDP) could be a candidate. Using this approach, a recommendation of mobile advertisement or marketing (i.e., recommendations or notifications), online content, as well as offline events, can be offered to the user based on their known interests and current location. Instead of having to request or pull this information, the new service concept would proactively provide the information and services – with the consequence that the right information or service could therefore be offered at the right place, at the right time. The growing availability of "Location-based Services“ for mobile phones is a new target for the use of personalisation. "Location-based Services“ are information, for example, about restaurants, hotels or shopping malls with offers which are in close range/short distance to the user. The lack of acceptance for such services in the past is based on the fact that early implementations required the user to pull the information from the service provider. A more promising approach is to actively push information to the user. This information must be from interest to the user and has to reach the user at the right time and at the right place. This raises new requirements on personalisation which will go far beyond present requirements. It will reach out from personalisation based only on the interest of the user. Besides the interest, the enhanced personalisation has to cover the location and movement patterns, the usage and the past, present and future schedule of the user. This new personalisation paradigm has to protect the user's privacy so that an approach supporting anonymous recommendations through an extended 'Chinese Wall' will be described.