According to the 3rd Annual US Mobile Path to Purchase Study, mobile is pushing purchase decisions. Often the actual purchasing of those products is happening in physical stores but consumers are researching their decision on mobile devices beforehand, which creates an excellent opportunity for businesses that are prepared with a solid mobile strategy covering mobile applications and mobile friendly web sites.
“Mobile is becoming a increasingly more important way to drive in-store activity for businesses,” say Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Vanity Point. “Consumers are looking to make decisions quickly and often with a local focus, so we are seeing businesses that are prepared are benefiting.”
Points of interest from the study include:
1) Over a third of mobile shoppers say that they use mobile exclusively or that mobile is their most important research tool.
2) 64 percent of mobile shoppers say they finish purchases in-store rather than on their mobile devices.
3) 53 percent of mobile shoppers call local businesses from mobile search results.
Ability to access an audience that is looking to buy on their preferred device is essential. The study also states that product research typically happens at the beginning of the purchase funnel and that 65 percent of shoppers said they complete the purchase that day.
“Designing and developing mobile applications for both the iOS and Android platforms and mobile web sites to support the consumers in store experience is helping push purchase decisions,” continues Mr. Johnson, “putting the tools consumers want in their hands is essential in the modern market.”
With mobile’s meteoric rise over the past few years, many marketers are having trouble reaching and connecting with audiences in a meaningful way through traditional marketing avenues. In a recent report from Mobile Commerce Daily, they detail that consumers classified as “Millennials” are particularly available to communication via mobile marketing and are highly willing to engage with brands via mobile devices and mobile applications.
“Unless brands evolve, they run the risk of becoming less relevant to consumers who are using mobile devices,” Kimber Johnson, the Managing Director of Vanity Point, states. “Marketers who are not engaging consumers where their time and attention is are placing brands at a significant disadvantage.”
Data from NetBase and Edison Research shows that among Millennials it is important “to be the first to know about a new product.” Mobile gives marketers a medium featuring immediacy that other mediums can’t touch. An active mobile-first approach by retailers in their marketing could be a strong tool for reaching Millennials not only now and but also in the future as the Millennials age.
“Nearly one-quarter of Millennials say they are willing to pay a higher price to be the first to have a new product,” said Gretchen Hoffman, vice president of marketing at NetBase.
The latest study from Informa Telecoms & Media shows that retailers can no longer rely on just their in-store POS system for transactions. Retailers need to grow their systems to offer both traditional POS and mobile payment options to their customers. According to Informa, those that offer multiple payment options, including a mobile checkout option, will be able to serve more customers and reduce loss of sales due to shoppers’ desires to avoid standing in lines.
By using mobile POS options, including check out via mobile application, retailers can serve more customers during busy times and also issue paperless receipts to customers’ e-mail addresses. The evidence to the effectiveness of mobile checkout is growing rapidly. For instance, during the 2012 holiday season, Alex and Ani added mobile checkout in several of their US stores and saw an impressive 318% increase in sales just from transactions processed by associates utilizing mobile POS terminals.
Now is an exceptional time for retailers to update their systems. “Unlike a few years ago, many vendors are now offering mobile POS terminals and support services. These vendors are also offering attractive incentives to merchants and retailers to upgrade their old terminals with new mobile POS systems,” says Shailendra Pandey, a senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and author of the report.
“With the growth of users’ expectations when it comes to service and usability, improving the check out process is a key way retailers meet their customers’ needs” states Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Vanity Point Interactive Design. “We have entered an era where consumers are demanding more in physical locations based on the excellent experiences they are having on mobile applications or web sites.”