Consumers prefer retailers to execute mobile applications that can be used for in-store s which offer more convenience and personalization.

Nowadays, shoppers are preferring to use technology such as mobile apps for in-store shopping that can speed up the shopping experience.

A study by Apadmi shows that one out of five customers wishes the retailers to implement applications to make their shopping experiences more personalized and convenient. Retailers can use beacon-powered mobile apps that notify shoppers on in-store offers and recommends about store products.

“Nick Black, CEO of Apadmi, said technology is slowly crossing the retail channels as consumers become more used to shopping on mobile devices, and more consumers will expect to be able to use their devices in-store”.

“There is a need among consumers for retailers to make better use of technology in-store to make every aspect of the shopping journey more enjoyable,” said Black.

“As shoppers continue to embrace mobile e-commerce and retail apps, the in-store experience needs to remain relevant and incorporate the benefits that can be achieved through shopping online.”

Almost 46% of consumers also expect retailers to provide Wi-Fi inside the shops. A quarter of consumers also would like to use mobile apps to check out in-stores, avoid queue or even order products online and pick them up in-store.

The number of consumers downloading such online shopping apps has been increasing day by day with one in 10 people in the UK downloading apps in last 12 months.

Consumers Prefer Use of Retailer Apps In-Store
But many brands are still struggling in the early stages of offering real omni channel experiences such as easy payment, personalization and single customer journey.

Paytm has launched ‘Paytm Mall‘ a separate standalone e-commerce platform, a destination for online shopping.

Paytm Mall is your all new Premier Online Shopping Destination. Download the Android App here:

— Paytm Mall (@PaytmMall) February 27, 2017

For a significant time, the company has been running the wallet and the e-commerce division under the same app but the announcement of Paytm Mall has brought a split, where wallets become a part of Payments bank.

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The Paytm Mall app was launched on Monday and includes a wide range of products such as electronics, furnishings, fashion etc. The new app includes cash-back offers which are filled into the Paytm wallet of the user.

The new app seems to simplify the shopping experience for its customers, with shopping and wallet maintained separately while other features remain the same. Paytm was also updated recently which promises faster responses and add on features such as paying loan installments, and simplifying utility bill payments.

The Paytm Mall is now available on Android and the web. It contains over 68 million products spread over 1000 cities and towns across the country.

‘Suwadu’, a mobile application used by the Forest Department to monitor the daily movements and patterns of Anti-Poaching Watchers and illegal tourism inside the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).

Earlier the use of Global Positioning System helped the department assess patrolling patterns of their forest staff. But Suwadu, a cost-effective app helps them to keep track of APWs and ensure that the entire park is under constant surveillance.

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With a simple push of a button, data’s are transmitted and logged into a server every three seconds, where the entire movement of APWs, time taken for patrol operations is examined by officials for review.

'Suwadu' helps Forest Dept. Maintain Vigil Inside Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

It also has a drop-down menu, where the geo-tagged photos of direct and indirect animal sightings, watering holes etc. can be clicked and will be downloaded to a cloud server.

'Suwadu' helps Forest Dept. Maintain Vigil Inside Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

The department has identified 150km of Lantana that needs to be removed immediately. The cleared areas will serve as pathways which will help the Forest Department in monitoring the area and also will serve as a quick escape route in case of a forest fire for animals.

The “Tuanyuan”, or “Reunion” app developed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd helps Chinese authorities recover hundreds of missing children last year.

The Ministry of Public Security said that 611 missing children were found in 2016 with the help from the reunion app. The app allows the police officers to share information and work together.

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According to the reports of Xinhua News Agency, the app sends push notifications, including photos, to users near the location where a child has disappeared. If the child is still not found, then notifications are sent to users farther from the location of the disappearance.

The updated version of the app in November 2016 helped it to expand its reach through association with other popular apps, such as Taobao, search engine Baidu, Tencent Holdings Ltd’s instant messaging software QQ and mobile ride-sharing platform Didi Chuxing.

China has a rampant child trafficking problem for which the government is taking measures to solve.

Fraunhofer Development a German Engineering firm has developed a new app ‘HawkSpex’ that can directly look inside objects and display specific constituents.

The HawkSpex app uses the front camera on the smartphone to perform the action. The regular scan methods can be costly and interfere with the smart phone’s design.

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According to Prof. Udo Seiffert, Expert Group Manager at the Fraunhofer IFF, users don’t need anything to scan other than the camera already integrated with their smartphone.

Here the app uses the phone’s display, which successively illuminates the object with a series of different colors for fractions of a second. If the camera display illuminates the red light, the object can only display a red light.

Intelligent analysis algorithms within the app help to compensate limited computing performance as well as the limited performance of the camera and display in the smartphone.

The app will have high commercial potential which includes analysis of quality control of foods, the effectiveness of cosmetic products etc.

The first version of the app would be released for users by the end of 2017 after verification of the measurements.

The Government of Kerala has almost completed developing a new mobile app to facilitate digital payments .

The app is developed by the state IT department with the technical assistance of the National Payments Corporation of India. It would enable the citizens to carry out cash transactions with government, irrespective of where they maintain accounts.

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After rigorous security checks, the Android and iPhone versions of the app would be ready for launch by April.

Even though Kerala has made major progress in the e-governance sector, payment through credit/debit cards to departments is possible only if the payee holds the debit card of less than 10 banks.

According to the government authorities, nine banks mostly nationalized or those with lesser branches in the state have agreed to receive payments without service charges.

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The cooperative bank is interested in the app solution to ensure more resources between government treasury and cooperative sectors. By the development of this app, the government is all set to explore the benefits of core banking.

The First Five Minutes App launched by the University of Wisconsin, U.S helps the emergency department physicians and paramedics save their time while resuscitating a child.

By using the app on a smart phone or tablet, emergency medical personnel can enter the child’s age or weight, then click to confirm it and immediately get an easy to read chart with correct, standardized medication dose.

If only the child’s age is known, the medical practitioner can make a small adjustment if the child is smaller or larger than the average.

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The chart in the app includes five categories of information that are key to pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation: CPR drugs, Dysrhythmia drugs, Neurobiological drugs, RSI drugs and Equipment sizes.

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The team of pediatricians for the app included Amy Dendral, Danny Thomas, Michael Meyer and Robin Saxe. Since the app is still in a limited trial, it will be only available to public later this year through the Apple Store and Google Play Store.

The Medical College of Wisconsin owns the intellectual property of the app, and at this time the app is free though limited in availability.

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Fooya is a nutrition based mobile app available in Android and iOS for children to choose a healthier diet in a fun way.

Friendslearn, a US based medical technology company developed Fooya, which helps children in distinguishing healthy food from junk food through a 160-level game.

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In this game, children progress from one level to the other when they choose healthy options such as fruits, dairy products, grains and vegetables. But if they choose food items like soda they tend to lose points, put on weight and find it difficult to move forward.

At the end of each level, a nutritional chart lists the contents of each item consumed during the game for children between age three and 13.

A clinical trial conducted by Baylor College of Medicine, Texas shows that children who played Fooya choose healthier options for their diet.

As obesity is becoming a serious threat, educating children about nutrition is important as they tend to grasp it quickly at this young age and probability of them exercising healthy food options is higher.

The paid mobile app, costing ?600, was launched in India two months ago and clinical trials are going on in this.

The developers of the app are in talk with Doctors, Pharmaceutical Companies, Insurance Companies, Schools and Public Health sectors for taking the application further.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with the State Election Commission has created an application which voters can use before the 2017 polls. The application called as True Voter, will help citizens find their electoral wards, polling booths and voter ID numbers.

The application is available for Android phone users and it is in the process of integrating the data,. It can be used by the first week of February while the elections are likely to be held in the second week of February.

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The BMC undertook the delimitation process during which boundaries of 90% of the existing 227 electoral wards were changed. In such a situation, when citizens are unsure of their wards, the application will be of benefit.

A Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping individual houses surveyed by BMC will also be integrated in this new application. The peripheral buildings have been integrated with the application for citizens to find their voting booths.

The civic body recently undertook the task of surveying the registered voters in the city. The aim of the survey was to bifurcate the electoral rolls.

As per the survey, Mumbai has 87 lakh registered voters in the city and another 3 lakh new voters were added to the list. The survey was taken as a precaution against allegations of bogus voters and duplication’s.

Yesterday, Tally Solutions Private Limited announced the launch of its GST mobile app helping users to understand about GST.

This app is a good medium to provide information about Goods and Services Tax for businesses.

New Mobile App To Make Users Understand GST

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Recently, Tally is qualified as a Provider of GST by the GSTN network and also team up with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) to guide the Trading community on GST.

In addition to this, they also published a blog to provide latest updates about GST. And also conducted 170 events all over the world with several partners for GST awareness.

This is available on Android and iOS.