Retailers have yet to truly connect with mobile shoppers - traditional retail missing another trick?

An article by Samanta Edwards over at The Wallblog examines new research on mobile-shopper optimisation (Window on Connected Shoppers - a free 20 page report on converting connected shoppers into buyers).

With one in three of the 30% of smartphone owners that have used their smartphone to shop in the last month, only one in ten of them regularly use apps as part of the purchase process – suggesting that retailers are failing to provide the right content.

In fact, according to the research, in-store smartphone users utilised their devices for:

• sharing ideas (47%)
• comparing prices (29%)
• product information (20%)
• sharing photos, taking pictures as a reminder, store location and browsing (with no intention to purchase) were all cited by 17% of respondents

As always, the problem is not that most retailers are missing the mobile trick, but that a select few (Apple, Schuh) are setting and making new standards in customer-connection work, and have to grow at the expense of old-fashioned retail competition, especially in the case of in-store mobile purchasing...

In other words, these physical retailers have managed to get live mobile-consumers into their stores, and are failing to see that online completion of the mobile journey is still a retail sale....

A 3-in-1 sign of the mobile times?

                                                                                    pic: B Moore, Greenwich High Street, 8-07-2015

Landlines giving a final boost to mobile usage?

According to the BBC, the major landline providers are raising their line rental charges to approximately £17 per month, three times the rate of inflation.

Ofcom figures confirm that while the number of residential lines has risen, this has been more than offset by a fall in the number of business lines.  However, call usage on landlines has fallen by 12.7% in the year to June 2014….

Given the increase in mobile usage, the ultimate move to user convenience, this makes the idea of having to be anchored to the home ‘to receive and make calls’ seem Neanderthal…

It seems obvious that any increase in landline installations is surely arising from a need to bring wifi to the household, a position increasingly under threat from mobile operators willing to develop a pricing model that ‘wifies’ a home at something less than £17 per month.

In other words, in the way that the Post Office price-increases & and postal strikes boosted the growth of fax machines, so too are price increases drawing attention to the increasing redundancy of that old fashioned telecommunications technology on the hall table… 

A Blink as good as a Nod in finding products instore?

                                                                                           pic: Lighting

Philips' app-based system determines the shopper's location via the flickering of the overhead LED lights

The system incorporates LED bulbs that are installed in the existing overhead fixtures. Depending on the specific fixture in which it's placed, each of those bulbs will flicker at a different distinct rate. Although that flickering is too rapid to be detected by the human eye, it can be detected by the camera of a phone running the app.

When a shopper wants to find a product, the app starts by ascertaining the person's location within the store, based on the flickering "signature" of the fixture immediately overhead. It then accesses a map of the store, and proceeds to guide the user from their current location to that of the item, presenting access to coupons where appropriate.

In fact new research shows that “missing key information used for product identification is the equivalent of being out-of-stock in a physical store”, and being unable to find the goods renders them out-of-stock, in shopper terms. The GS1 UK survey of 2,000 UK adults also revealed shopper beliefs, with 24% saying they didn’t trust online product information as much as they did the information they were given in store..

As the mobile shopper in the aisle is obviously online-instore, then accessing further product details, and being satisfied with the answers, helps the shopper to complete the purchase from a retailer they trust….

Availability, credibility, defensibility and value-for-money in a seamless, consistent multi-channel environment, is all it takes, as we anticipate a price-war to end all price-wars…

Ever hanker after the old days?

The Super Shopper dominates multichannels for 70% of retail sales...

A new study by eBay and Deloitte detailed in Internet Retailing, defines the Super Shopper as a user of smartphones and tablets to access all multichannels, with retailers needing to target these people to boost their sales in all routes to consumer.

While most of the population are now buying in shops and online, Super Shoppers are more likely to add to this by browsing across different mobile devices and making use of on-to-offline services like Click & Collect.

These 18% of people who shop frequently account for 70% of total UK retail sales (equivalent to over £200bn in 2013).

Super Shoppers are also highly savvy, finds eBay. They are 30% more likely to do their research online before visiting a store.

Meanwhile, comparison-services like Which? are making it easier for shoppers to objectively assess the merits of traditional retailers. The latest Which? report shows that Aldi has edged out Waitrose as the UK's favourite supermarket based on its pricing, quality of fresh food, its range of products and how easy it is to find items (Yes, Aldi!).

In fact, Aldi polled 76% in the survey, with Waitrose reaching 75%, and The Co-operative coming last at 50%, according to The Daily Mail. The Mail also quoted a new report by Rowan, a specialist discount wholesaler, showing that 63% of UK consumers now shop in places such as Poundland or 99p Stores.

And pound shops are certainly not the preserve of those on lower incomes. In fact, 49% of those in households earning £50,000 or more shop in fixed price stores.

All told, we are witnessing the emergence of super-savvy shoppers, willing and able - via augmented comparison services - to shop around, at high speed and via every available channel.

They are radically changing retailing in the process...

Patently, retailers and brand owners not only have to ensure that consistent multichannel messages and positioning statements are available to all shoppers, but it seems crucial that all such dialogue be transparent and defensible on the assumption that all shoppers are now super-savvy, with the kit to match....

Moreover, most shoppers now have the means to implement the 10x tell-a-friend multiplier...  In other words, shoppers that like a product/retailer tell 1 friend, those who dislike 'what was in the tin' complain to 10 friends...  

Virtually 54% of shoppers leave a trolley-load of shopping in the aisle and start again next door…

In the real world, supermarket heads would roll, but in mobile shopping, 54% of consumers leave the mobile site when they run into difficulty and over a quarter (28%) turn to a competitor, causing us to blame the shopper..

In the current flat-line climate, the major mobile achievement of attracting new users, drawing them down each aisle, persuading them to select from appropriate categories, despite a multitude of price-compare opportunities, filling expandable trolleys that are limited only by size of wallet (most times!) with zero-opportunities for pilferage, no distractions in terms of empty/crowded aisles, only to abandon them at the checkout and offer their appetite to a 1-click competitor seems unwise..

A NAM at the sharp-end knows it is insane…


New research shows mobile is becoming the defacto browsing and buying method in the home and on the go. Almost two-thirds of smartphone and tablet users access websites on a daily basis and over a half shop via their mobile device at least once a week.

The survey of 1,000 UK smartphone and tablet owners shows the biggest bugbear for shoppers using mobile sites is speed, cited as a frustration by 49%. However there are many issues impacting the mobile experience unrelated to loading speeds. These include having to navigate both horizontally and vertically to view the page (48%), difficulty logging in (37%), and links that are too small (35%). One in five smartphone and tablet users said they can’t easily complete transactions on a mobile device.

New virtual demands in flatline markets
NAMs who bust a gut linking consumers and brands in the aisle know that today’s mobile-savvy consumer has become less forgiving and expects mobile sites and apps to offer all the functionality they are used to on a desktop. In fact, all stakeholders know that ‘mobile first’ is rapidly becoming the most sensible strategy for any e-commerce business that hopes to learn anything from bricks & mortar realities…. .

Have a virtually long weekend, from the NamNews Team!
(Link to free report here)