All consumers have one thing in common, a mobile device. Mobiles are a constant presence, whether consumers are at home or work. Mobiles provide retailers a unique opportunity to engage consumers at every stage of purchase.
InsightExpress conducted a survey on smartphone usage for holiday shopping by US smartphone users. The results demonstrate how consumers use smartphones at different stages of purchase. 29 percent participants used smartphones to look for better price, 23 percent used them to view product reviews, 22 percent used them to receive sale alerts, 20 percent used them to search for products at another store, 19 percent used coupons received on mobiles and the same percentage of participants used mobile barcode scanning technology. This indicates that retailers can effectively engage consumers at all stages of purchase – awareness, engagement, consideration, conversion and loyalty with mobiles.
For instance, retailers can use tools like mobile apps and websites to generate awareness about their products among potential customers. Special offers, contests and the like sent via mobiles can effectively engage customers. Providing users access to product information, reviews and ratings can drive consideration. Use of information, coupons and the like received on mobiles by consumers will result in conversions and regular engagement will help build customer loyalty.
FitForCommerce survey of US retailers with regards to their future mobile marketing strategy came up with these results – 60.7 percent retailers plan to enhance current mobile website design/apps and 39.3 percent plan to launch more sites/apps and continue to test. In spite of huge potential, majority of retailers are still just dipping their toe rather than swimming in the mobile waters.