TMP Episode 6: Igor Faletski- CEO @ Mobify
The only reason kids have email addresses is to sign up for Snapchat.
Igor, CEO at Mobify chats with Mack about the rising tide of Mobile commerce and the challenges that still exist before the kettle truly bubbles over.
Transcript
Mack: Igor I am Mack how are you sir.
Igor: Hey Mack how is the going? Good to hear from you.
Mack: It’s good to hear from you, it’s been a long time since we have chatted to be honest.
Igor: [laughter] Way too long.
Mack: Let’s start with the podcast [inaudible 0:00:33.9] welcome to [inaudible 0:00:35.0] mobile podcast but let’s start with the past. Let’s start by saying my name is Igor and I run mobile Mobify and this is what we do and this is why we are us.
Igor: Sounds good. Welcome to Podcast everybody, my name is Igor Faletski I am the CEO of and co-founder of Mobify and Mobify is a mobile shopping platform. We have amazing mobile shopping experience with mobile websites applications and engaging personifications Craig’s list Bosch and many others. And we also power more for Hello Kitty in Japan believe it or not.
Igor: I love Hello Kitty. I am one of those weirdoes’.
Mack: [laughs] I am a fun too.
Igor: You said mobile web and app?
Mack: That is correct yes. The web I changing and certainly becoming also a launch pad for amazing mobile applications. [inaudible 0:01:34.3] today that headline from Forbes saying that mobile shopping apps are the fastest growing category in mobile. We definitely see the same thing with our customers and we provide more and more apps for them as well.
Mack: So this is episode six or seven of this podcast by the way and I know very little about mobile commerce but what’s interesting is our last discussion was with a woman named [inaudible 0:02:00.3] who used to run I think commerce and growth at gill group and stuff and she is super interesting and smart and informed on mobile commerce but very specifically I think of in the apple. That was the major f our conversation. It was about kind of new technologies, new platforms, there is this one that lets everybody takes pictures of what they are wearing and sell their cloths used to each other.
The app doesn’t even touch the inventory and they make a tone of money just facilitating these transactions like[inaudible 0:02:30.5] commerce is also cool stuff. You I feel like you know lots about commerce more broadly because you guys are dealing with people who are bringing their desk top commerce to mobile and mobile and the app stuff. Do you have any idea what percentage or loosely some numbers on like what volumes of transactions is being done on mobile as far as M-commerce and that kind of thing goes?
Mack: Right, actually it’s a very interesting time shopping right now. If you look at amount of visits that come to E-commerce websites, I am pretty sure that this year over half of visits or many [inaudible 0:03:10.2] will be mobile. And that is smart phone and tablet combined, however if you look at transactions, definitely its not as large of a share because people still are not comfortable buying things from their mobile devices as they are from their e-commerce that they are used to.
And that is a good opportunity and a big shift that we think is going to happen in the next three or five years, is a shift from desk top e-commerce to mobile shopping. I think for most of those today if you look at where there revenues actually comes from, its from primarily their desktop website and in our campaigns that gets people to come back to the websites and that just doesn’t make any sense because you think about email it’s a very old way to reach out to the customer, its become less and less effective. People open it less and young people just don’t really have email accounts anymore right? [Crosstalk]
Igor: That’s the only reason we have one.
Mack: Exactly so I think brands will recognize that and they will have to message their users differently. They will need a new kind of technology to compete in this primarily mobile world as so modify we are building a amazing [inaudible 0:04:21.9]
Igor: I personally understand not buying things on mobile quite yet. Like I have but its not as easy, I am not as comfortable doing it and like I am internet guy right? You know its [inaudible 0:04:40.9] Lots of money and I buy a lot of things to do different things but I like everybody else prefer to do it on the desktop. And I saw some of this just around things like credit cards. The dread of having to go deal with payment processing again on mobile placing that shit in and the screens are observing weird.
Now I mean personally just like and this is just an IOS issue that annoys me but when you open a field to type in text, no not to type in text but just to write something, something like a menu and you get scrollable menu wheel, you hit x once you have made your selection. That drives me nuts because X t o me means close not I am that it’s like cancel not I am done. And this is apple you know a brilliant [inaudible 0:05:27.3] designers but all of this kind of is that mobile experience that I feel like we haven’t nailed yet and I guess that’s exactly what we are talking about you guys are doing.
Mack: Yeah, if you think of like mobile shopping that works, definitely buying apps is really easy and really friction free. If you [inaudible 0:05:44.8] and I think about [inaudible 0:05:47.8] buys one thousand dollars worth of apps every weeks and so he never buys apps on sale or [inaudible 0:05:54.9] he buys expensive apps and downloads them up. And its kind of funny that’s really the future people will just get all the apps they can people could try them, the ones that suck they stopped using and the ones that are good they continue using and shop through.
So I think for mobile shopping in particular this three big issues that are still not solved completely [inaudible 0:06:12.1] tame it. And I think apple pay makes it a lot easier to submit your payment information s just touch your touch id on your Iphone and there you go. No more filling credit cards form that’s number one. The second big challenge of mobile shopping is discovering. Just think about the big desktop screen, you can see all the stuff right? You can go through all the catalogues of your favorite brand and look at what you like.
On mobile you have less time and less space, yes things [inaudible 0:06:38.0] how do you make it more personal I think it’s a[inaudible 0:06:40.8] and the last challenge I think is how do you link online or shopping so mobile shopping from device with those happening in the retail location in those [inaudible 0:06:51.0] store. Because it’s big trying to right now of convergence between E-commerce shopping and [inaudible 0:06:58.1] so e-commerce guys are [inaudible 0:07:00.7] help in retail store.
And i think mobile is that glue that will bring it all together and through websites, through apps through wearable’s like apple watch will really help with the scene less mobile shopping journey for the customer Makes mobile shopping a lot more interesting along more fun than desk top. I think three years from now[inaudible 0:07:24.5] going back to our desk top computers to buy something because its going to be harder to do that than just reach for our watch or our phone and touch it and there you go you got what you wanted.
Igor: Yeah, when you put it that way, it seems kind of its seems like going back to the mother shop for something less reasonable than simply shopping with what’s in your pocket.
Mack: You know its coming everywhere you know if you look at China and Korea, people are shopping on their mobile phones everyday. Even the state if you look at InstaCards that two billion dollar company in just a couple of years. People want to buy everything on their mobile devices from food to groceries to cars one day maybe who knows buy their tests on mobile phones [crosstalk]
Igor: Interesting you bring them up because they just announced that inside the Yummly recipe app which is a [inaudible 0:08:19.9] when you need ingredients for your Yummly recipe you like press a button inside the app and that shows up on InstaCards. Very easy, very cohesive experience. [crosstalk]
Mack: I have got to try that.
Igor: My phone was cutting in and out I don’t know if the recording was in the middle of some of the best apps you were saying. I just want to go back and review for a second; you said there is three major challenges for a mobile commerce now. And the first one was payments and I have a question about that we are going to get back to it in a second but the first one is payments and [inaudible 0:08:57.4] apple and micropayments already their apps work well and then you said apple pay is an interesting app in the right direction. The next issue that you see is screen size and time size and sort of the amount of attention that people have and so would have to make that shopping experience more personal and do an even good job of finding the [inaudible 0:09:18.8] for people.
Mack: That’s right.
Igor: The third one was the binding of the online and the offline world. My thought on that is you know the [inaudible 0:09:30.0] of the term cyber space. We use cyber space because what happens online is a separate thing, you plugged in, and you had to go to a computer turn on the internet jump in that mother fucker. Whereas now and that is what we are talking about, we have these linking of the online or offline world into the and so that our new reality is both of those.
Mack: Yeah [inaudible 0:09:55.7] but if you fast forward five years, if you are a young shopper coming in and you don’t get that you are going to be pissed off. [inaudible 0:10:02.7] you don’t know what I was browsing on your app 20 minutes ago you can help me [inaudible 0:10:06.7]. other expectations continue to go up and in the end we are talking about a better mobile shopping experience that is just so much more accustom and people love [inaudible 0:10:16.8].
Igor: So let me ask you this, I mean for I guy who has got a podcast about the future I actually kind of let a lot of information get digested by the super keener like techno person and when they think its something smart they went blog post then I read that I am like[inaudible 0:10:33.9] so I don’t know that much about apple pay [inaudible 0:10:40.4] and so using apple pay in retain like I understand some of how that worked but what was interesting and I hadn’t thought much about was you talking about using apple pay just in mobile commerce. Is the idea here that I can use apple pay to buy something at [inaudible 0:10:54.9]?
Mack: Exactly yeah, so the way its currently done is to use it inside the app, you have to have an app first of all so you can not use apple pay in [inaudible 0:11:06.4] browser on your iphone but if you do have an app then you can use the credit card that the customer stores on their device to avoid entering that [inaudible 0:11:15.0] information all together. That is probably the single biggest conversation killer got everybody suffering from in mobile right now.
There is other things too, its not just apple pay like with the newest IOS browser you can actually take a picture of your credit card and then its going to fill the field for you but its still comprise in the ultimate web doing it [inaudible 0:11:35.8] touch id, where you can just let the phone know that yes you are its owner and its going to submit everything for you.
Igor: Yeah, at some point you are doing to say buy that and its going to recognize your voice and it will be done [crosstalk]
Mack: For sure yeah and subscriptions too I think more and more than just [inaudible 0:11:59.7] offering subscriptions you can just say I want this thing shipped to me every month or twice a month and that’s again its even easier because there is no more transaction, it just shows up and for all these cool new models amazing mobile experience that are apps [inaudible 0:12:14.7] key.
So as the user you can expect top get an amazing mobile shopping experience on the website of the retailer on your IOS app your android app on your wire ball. It has to be consistent, it has to treat you as a human being and track what you are doing across different devices and that is going to be a really big technology challenge that we are trying to solve with [inaudible 0:12:36.1] trying to make it easier for retail commerce branch have amazing mobile shopping experiences for their customers.
Igor: So if I am one of this branch that has been doing, and maybe I am like a big brand that everybody know or maybe I am just [inaudible 0:12:53.9] big e-commerce brand, the great example is [firemax] here in Vancouver. I think they are like a pretty significant mover of furniture online but nobody in Vancouver ever says like oh year [firemax] like they are not top of mind but I think they are kind of a big thing.[crosstalk] so do, you know that doesn’t even work that well for my example [inaudible 0:13:21.2]
Mack: Let me ask you a question Mack, would you buy say a chair from your mobile phone if you really wanted a new chair?
Igor: Right now I would not.
Mack: And what is the barrier for you, is it still the payment or just not knowing which exact type you want?
Igor: You know what it is its just like if you want me to spend 500 dollars at your casino, you want me to spend hundred dollars first then get me to spend ten dollars first. I haven’t bought anything that I care about from my phone. So this is interesting because I just bought a mattress for the first time online and it arrived last night literally and this whole process was interesting to me. My buddy says [inaudible 0:14:07.5] for the kids, we need to get mattresses for it so we bought a mattress online.
And at first I was like why the fuck are we buying a mattress son the internet, that’s weird we haven’t even touched it. This is a bad decision and then I was like you know what, what am I going to do, I am going to lye on the mattress at the mattress store obviously it feels perfect and then get home and try and like squeeze that thing into my little [inaudible 0:14:31.4] I borrow my brother in-laws truck and get a zip card and then no man I ma going to press the button and Amazon is going to get that shit to my door. And they did that was awesome [crosstalk]
Mack: The mattress is your get way drag to mobile shopping.
Igor: Yeah, that was desk top but I am not that far on mobile and so I think I would and will buy a chair on mobile but I just haven’t given I mean beside the fact that I have given apple thousands of dollars in app payments and [inaudible 0:15:10.0] I really have, I have given them tones of money but despite that I haven’t bought enough to make it really smooth yet so the only reason I wouldn’t buy a chair yet is because I feel like a chair is an expensive item and somehow its totally irrational but there is some barrier like that to me. I need to go and spend 60 dollars on something [crosstalk] for sure.
Mack: It a actually funny you mentioned it because the issue that you were talking about here, its not so much in mobile shopping [inaudible 0:15:41.0] but the risk of it not being exactly what you want and I think part of the solution for that problem is just a policy of returns you know. What is the policy for retail is to pick up anything you don’t want and give you a full refund, that was something that was really well done and was [inaudible 0:15:57.2] thing. Maybe you wouldn’t think twice you just get it and then try it and [inaudible 0:16:01.8] [crosstalk] the revolution but there is more a component to this from the retail stand point.
Igor: Yes some of this is not mobile commerce specifically some of this is just e-commerce [crosstalk] totally. [Inaudible 0:16:25.4] they do instant returns right. If you don’t like whatever you wanted you just give it back to them?
Mack: Yeah, I think they do that I know for sure their subscription model, one of friends here [inaudible 0:16:40.9] she gets a big box of [inaudible 0:16:41.8] every month so you will envy him getting that amazing package of really cool stuff and he runs it because its so convenient. If it’s how you would go to a store and try to pick the same thing out. So I think the [inaudible 0:16:54.8] will definitely make sure they have an amazing mobile shopping experience [inaudible 0:17:00.3] to deliver the right product at the right price at the right time [inaudible 0:17:03.7] policy and only advantage [inaudible 0:17:06.2] likes of Amazon for the future of commerce.
Igor: And so when you talk bout the third challenge you mentioned was sort of the expected integration thing was integration of the off line and online shopping experience on the mobile and the [inaudible 0:17:24.2] shopping experience. When I met you I was [inaudible 0:17:29.0] we were trying to get location but [inaudible 0:17:30.7] clearly wouldn’t do that well because [v] but location was the big thing but allow room also [inaudible 0:17:40.0][crosstalk] I am glad that problem has passed to be honest. But in that time, you know we spent a lot of time talking about the location senses that we are going to be in front of the stores and hen you walk by you would get the relevant push because your favorite cappuccino vanilla late soy we have already started that’s on sale for 20% off if you want to pop in. has that happened yet, are we there. is any company effectively deploying that, are people redeeming [inaudible 0:18:13.4] that are perimeter fence and all that shit?
Mack: I think we are getting there. you know what the missing piece was in the way we used to do this, you couldn’t really opt out of things ahead of time because you didn’t get spam on your mobile device you don’t get anything because you have turned your Bluetooth off or whatever. So today if you look at the app model, you install apps and you can control modifications you can erase the apps you don’t like.
So for example [inaudible 0:18:39.6] in the future that shows you apps that associate with stores nearby, starbucks apps and offices close to starbucks so start bucks icon is always on my home screen and if I keep it there and I don’t mind it because I trust the app and it gives me value. So I think when the new wearable comes out like the apple watch, because they work through the phone and they are linked to your app selection, they can give you those kinds of coupon promotions if only for things that you already like and the brands you trust that have a good messaging.
And I think that’s a pretty cool piece that will produce spam and allow brand you trust t get you the messages that you want to get and also control exactly how you receive them i think that’s kind of [inaudible 0:19:23.7] is coming and I think is a key part of that and we are very excited to go out that part as well.
Igor: Okay, we are almost at 20 minutes so lest talk briefly about starbucks. As far as I know starbucks is the most interesting [inaudible 0:19:42.5] brand when it comes to topping at mobile and payments and the internet, are they always seem to be a couple of steps ahead of the curve doing interesting things. Would you agree with that [inaudible 0:19:58.0]?
Mack: Yes I definitely do that actually one of our early customers [crosstalk] they had a vision for mobile web an apps where [inaudible 0:20:12.0] it makes sense because almost everybody is a customer out there and when they get it right, they get it right for hundreds of millions of people and that its a great customer experience. So the payment [inaudible 0:20:25.8] has been very successful for them, they sell a tone of coffee through that app and I think we will see a lot of cool things from them in the next couple of years
Igor: Okay [inaudible 0:20:38.1] thank you so much for your time, very much appreciated and maybe we will drink a bear [crosstalk]
Mack: 1005 thank you so much Mack and thank you all for listening.
Igor: Awesome, have a good one bye bye.
