What are the main news, trends and innovations in your market or sector?
The AF2M (Association Française du Marketing Mobile) is a professional association whose role is to promote and develop mobile marketing in France. Its members include mobile industry players such as telecoms operators and aggregator service providers.
AF2M's activities include coordinating operators' activities in business messaging solutions. The business messaging market is undergoing a major transformation, with the emergence of new players and new trends:
- The first trend is the development of a conversational logic. Previously, a brand, whatever its sector of activity, would want to pass on information/promotion to a customer without necessarily expecting a response, but now there's a real logic of interaction, whatever the channel used.
- The use of chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) is also booming. AI-powered chatbots will develop even further in the future to automate customer interactions, offering 24/7 support and personalized responses.
- Integration with other communication channels, such as e-mail, social networks and call centers, is another important aspect. This omnichannel approach guarantees a consistent, seamless customer experience.
- Finally, security and confidentiality are crucial issues. Companies are stepping up security and data protection measures to guarantee the confidentiality of exchanges.
What are the features of your solution, and who is it aimed at?
There are 3 business messaging offers marketed by mobile operators (members of AF2M):
- Historical offer: Push SMS enables brands to send large-scale messages to their customers, whether for marketing campaigns, appointment reminders, order confirmations, account updates, alerts, etc.
- RCS: a richer messaging experience, similar to that of instant messaging applications, while using the infrastructure of mobile operators. Mainly used by brands for promotional uses-cases (in acquisition).
- Time2chat: the aim is to provide a channel for conversational dialogue via SMS between a brand and its customers. Conversations can be triggered by either the brand or the user. This offering is intended for use in customer relations (loyalty) cases.
What does Paris Retail Week mean for your business this year?
The Paris Retail Week event will be an opportunity for AF2M members, i.e. mobile operators, to present their business messaging solutions. It will be an opportunity to demonstrate how each of these mobile offers can respond to the various issues and challenges facing retailers: drive2store, promotion/marketing campaigns, customer relations follow-up, assistance...
Paris Retail Week is also an opportunity for operators to discover the latest technological innovations and trends. This sharing of experiences and exchanges with retail professionals will enable our ecosystem as a whole to keep pace with the realities and needs of this market.