Tyndale House Publishers Uses UR Mobile's Mobile Web Development Platform to Spark In-Store Sales

OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- UR Mobile, the leader in mobile Web solutions, today announced that its Accelerate™ Mobile Web Development Platform is being used by Tyndale House Publishers, one of the largest publishers of Christian books, Bibles and other resources, in a novel initiative to increase bricks-and-mortar sales of its products.  By scanning a Microsoft Tag on a Bible's dust jacket with their smartphones, shoppers are instantly taken to mobile-optimized sales content that informs, assists, and persuades in making the purchase decision in-store.

According to Jeffrey Smith, Director of Marketing, Bibles for Tyndale House Publishers, the mobile website program is a strategy to enhance and differentiate the company's various products, as well as to counter the decreases in sales staff occurring in many Christian book outlets.  "Our Bible product line has nearly 300 SKUs organized into a series of sub-brands," Smith commented.  "Because there are so many options for the shopper, the moment of truth at retail is critical.  Our mobile Web strategy allows consumers to ascertain the features and benefits of each sub-brand so they can quickly 'get it'."

Smith also stated that the publisher is convinced that shoppers have the technology—and the confidence—to make the program viable.  "Over half of all consumers are projected to own smartphones by the end of 2011," he said.  "What's more, research shows that the prototypical Bible buyer is 36 years old and evenly split between male and female.  While we realize we're on the front edge of a new trend, we believe that in a self-service environment, our core demographic is comfortable in using this technology in all aspects of their lives—including shopping."

By using UR Mobile's Accelerate, Tyndale is able to facilitate its mobile website strategy in several ways.  First is the ability to bring new sites to market quickly, thanks to the platform's intuitive, drag-and-drop mobile Web Design Studio, marketing tools, and a Content Management System (CMS).  Second, Smith pointed out, is Accelerate's simplicity, which allows members of the publisher's marketing teams to change landing pages themselves to reflect promotions or other marketing campaigns.

"Our Web development team is excellent—but with multiple marketing groups asking for site development, even the best team needs time to implement.  Accelerate allows marketing groups to create a mobile site collaboratively with the Web team much faster than through traditional Web development."

Accelerate, UR Mobile's flagship product, is a complete design and development platform that makes it possible to deploy world-class mobile marketing functions compatible with all browser-enabled smartphones including Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia devices.  The solution easily and cost-effectively supports friction-free mobile channels suitable for any kind of B2B or B2C commerce.  As a way to facilitate mobile website development, Accelerate's Design Studio includes a template editor capable of implementing virtually any design scheme, along with a wide range of customer interactivity through online forms and surveys, Facebook and Twitter account connections, QR codes, and videos or photo slideshows.

In Tyndale's program, Microsoft Tags are printed on the cover of each product in the company's Bible lineup.  By scanning the Tag, shoppers are taken to high quality, retail-optimized videos that communicate product benefits.  The videos are designed specifically for consumption on smartphones.  "Video has a way of emotionally connecting the shopper to our products.  They quickly tell each product's story," Smith said.

The decision to use Microsoft Tags instead of QR codes, Smith added, was driven by the technology's unique functionality.  "MS Tags not only give us color flexibility, but also a path for updating or changing content, since MS Tags can be linked to different URLs at any time," he stated.

To date, Tyndale House Publishers feels its selection of UR Mobile's Accelerate has been more than justified.  "We looked around at the market for a platform that would allow us to efficiently and effectively create sites for all our groups and new product releases.  There simply wasn't anything else as good as UR Mobile," recalled Smith.  "The company delivered what we needed at a good price point.  Accelerate was the best solution out there."

About UR Mobile:

UR Mobile is powering the world's mobile Web presence.  Its pioneering team of software experts is focusing on providing powerful mobile solutions that help enterprises extend their branding, marketing and business processes to their mobile constituents.  UR Mobile's solutions meet the needs of consumer goods marketers, financial services organizations, nonprofits, retail, entertainment, technology, travel and tourism, insurance, government, healthcare and education organizations, among many others.  The company also partners with developers and resellers, software companies and premier advertising agencies and design firms.  Headquartered in Oklahoma City and with offices in Pretoria, South Africa and Puebla, Mexico, UR Mobile is privately-held.  To learn more, visit www.urmobile.com.

SOURCE UR Mobile