Articles by Carl Prindle

Three years after Apple launched the iPhone, mobile commerce has reached a tipping point, driving retailers to change the way they think about their businesses. Mobile commerce has evolved from its origins as a marketplace for "virtual" goods like ringtones and applications to one enabling the sale of "real" products, particularly low-cost items that offer immediate gratification.

The term "ROBO" (Research Online, Buy Offline) was coined by Yahoo to describe the growing number of consumers who research online but buy offline. Online "pre-shopping" has become a common activity prior to a variety of purchases. According to Forrester, online research will influence US$1 trillion in offline sales by 2012, making it imperative that retailers understand the full impact that their online presence -- as well as those of their competitors -- may have on consumer in-store behavior.

The products that fueled first-generation e-commerce -- books, software and music, to name a few -- are all simple to understand items that can be easily shipped to consumers. Today, we are at the outset of a second wave of online growth, as consumers push beyond these simple transactions to research and purchase more complex products online. Th...