High-tech shopping: Van’s IGA uses interactive Web, phone apps to reach customers

Van’s IGA, http://www.iga.com a chain of seven groceries in six Montana communities, is on the cutting edge of using an interactive Web site and mobile applications to communicate with its customers.

"We created a Web site maybe seven years ago for our customers and thought we were a little ahead of things," said Frank Cannon, the Helena-based general manager of the chain that includes two Great Falls stores. "It had our store locations and operating hours, but little else and wasn’t all that successful."

Two years ago, Van’s IGA started over from scratch, developing an interactive Web site that did a lot more, he said.

Written by
Peter Johnson
Tribune Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130511/BUSINESS/305110015/High-tech-shopping-Van-s-IGA-uses-interactive-Web-phone-apps-reach-customers?nclick_check=1

***

MSU professor: businesses must adopt mobile technology: Many customers already using it, Oakley says

The way consumers get information about businesses changed rapidly, especially through increased use of smart phones and other mobile technology, so businesses should keep pace and take advantage of the trend.

Those are the views of Montana State University Associate Marketing Professor James Oakley, who will tour Montana to discuss the changing landscape of customer interaction in the marketplace in mid-May through early June. (See schedule.)

“The technology is influencing customer behavior already,” he said, “so business owners need to embrace it.”

Written by
Peter Johnson
Tribune Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130511/BUSINESS/305110014/MSU-professor-businesses-must-adopt-mobile-technology-Many-customers-already-using-Oakley-says