Sprooki goes white-label after funding round, steps up efforts to digitize malls in Asia

Soon after a USD0.48M funding round from Get2Volume, Singapore-based mobile marketing startup Sprooki has gone white label. It launched on 29 November a new location-based marketing app customized just for Singapore shopping mall 313@Somerset,  and will be looking to sell the solution to even more shopping malls and retailers.

The iPhone app, called Tring313, enables users to find deals that are nearby, download coupons, and make redemptions at the store. They can also make purchases directly on the app.

Malls and retailers can use the platform to schedule promotions, offers, and events to appear on the app as targeted messages. They can track and manage coupons as they are being downloaded, purchased or redeemed. Read more

Southeast Asia finally awakens but mobile Internet speeds still lag

Not too long ago, a little app called WeChat started knocking on doors in Southeast Asia, making itself a permanent fixture in the home screens of smartphone users in the region. Today. WeChat has 200,000 to 300,000 downloads in Thailand, and the app has begun advertising heavily on Facebook, targeting countries in Southeast Asia.

The instant messaging app isn’t developed by some shaggy-haired, irreverent entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, but a powerful Internet giant from China called Tencent.

(Read: Three mobile messaging apps from Asia you must know about)

Global technology firms now realize that Southeast Asia is a sleeping giant that is about to awaken. The number of people in the weirdly-shaped island and archipelagos number about a tenth of the world’s population, making it a collection of huge but diverse markets.

This imminent unleashing of the region’s true potential is the key message of MobileMonday‘s Mobile Southeast Asia Report 2012. The study, available online for free, summarizes some key trends happening in the so-named group of countries.

Here is a snapshot of what the report talks about: Read more

Singapore’s m-commerce market jumps seven-fold to US$259M in one year

2011 has turned out to be a breakout year for mobile commerce in Singapore, says PayPal‘s Online and Mobile Shopping Insights 2011 study.

The report has revealed that the country’s mobile commerce market has grown by 660 percent reach S$328M (US$259M) last year from S4$3M (US$33M) in 2010.

The study was conducted by The Nielsen Company online using a representative sample of 1,009 Singaporean online shoppers aged 18 and above. 482 of them are mobile shoppers, which in this study means that they have shopped or made purchases using a mobile phone or tablet.

The mobile commerce market is expected to grow ten-fold to reach S$3.1B (US$2.45B) in 2015, indicating that shopping on mobile devices has become mainstream due to the ubiquity of such devices. Read more

Now you can buy groceries by scanning QR codes — at the MRT station

Thousands of Singaporean commuters taking the train at the Bugis and Boon Lay MRT stations will be in for a Christmas surprise: They can purchase now groceries by scanning QR codes with their smartphones.

The squarish bar codes are placed next to pictures of the items, which are on a wall. Commuters will then be brought to the Cold Storage website, where they can key in their details and get the Christmas ham delivered to their homes. It’s an interesting integration of mobile commerce and ambient marketing. Read more