By Josh Marti, Point Inside
Imagine walking into a store that seamlessly connects your online digital experience with physical retail — where human sales associates can make product recommendations to you based on your online purchase history, for example.
Since the emergence of online shopping, retailers have struggled to meld the digital and physical shopping experiences. While nailing a multichannel approach will give retailers a holistic view of their customers and a competitive advantage, aligning a customer’s digital interactions with his or her in-store ones is not an easy task to achieve. However, emerging mobile in-store technologies are bringing us one step further.
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The increase in smartphone usage while shopping in retail stores has presented new opportunities for retailers to bridge the gap. It has become clear that mobile isn’t another selling channel; it’s the trusted connector between the digital and physical shopping worlds. A recent study by Thrive Analytics and the Local Search Association found that the majority of in-store shoppers use their smartphones during the purchase process at least some of the time, and 97%of Gen Y shoppers polled use their smartphones in-store. Now that mobile is at the heart of almost every shopper’s purchase process, retailers must rethink how they interact with in-store customers. In addition to interactions with store associates, they must also consider how to get shoppers’ attention on their mobile devices while in-store.
Smartphones bridge the gap between physical and digital retail, and may be the answer to what’s ailing retail today. By optimizing mobile engagement and providing shoppers with valuable benefits, retailers can even reduce the threat of comparison shopping on mobile devices while in-store and leverage shoppers’ smartphone use to their advantage.
So how can retailers harness the power of the smartphone revolution? Recent developments in indoor location technology have enabled retailers to successfully leverage in-store smartphone usage to provide consumers with a personalized and immersive shopping experience. The most well-known example of this is Apple’s iBeacon technology, which enables retailers to deliver location-based, contextually relevant information to consumers’ phones. Beacons are becoming the most rapidly adopted in-store technology since mobile card readers. By partnering with platform providers, retailers can make it incredibly easy for shoppers to quickly find what they are looking for in-store, offer product information and inventory levels, and provide coupons and discounts targeted to their preferences.
Some retailers connect with shoppers before they even enter the store by offering apps that let consumers check if a product is in stock and create store-specific shopping lists before they leave the house. Many retailers then continue to engage with consumers once they’re in the store through an array of tools that improve the physical shopping experience, such as store maps to help shoppers find products more easily. By engaging with mobile customers at every step along the purchase path, retailers are able to provide an enhanced shopping experience that can prevent customers from abandoning their purchases and even increase basket size.
Let’s look at Lowe’s as an example. The home improvement retail chain recently integrated product locator capabilities into its branded app, creating a more engaging and interactive mobile experience. Now shoppers can search within the Lowe’s app and view real-time product information, price and, if it’s in stock, the product’s bay, aisle and shelf location. So let’s say a shopper would like to purchase a piece of crown molding, a specific branded floor lamp and an air compressor. After entering the items into the app and locating a nearby store, a map will appear showing the precise location of each item in that particular store and the quickest route to pick them all up.
One in three smartphone shoppers would rather find information using their smartphone than ask a store employee, according to the Google Shopper Marketing Council. Product location enables shoppers to easily find even the most obscure products without wandering aimlessly up and down the aisles. Anyone who has been in this situation knows that it’s enough to make even the most determined shopper abandon his or her search and go home empty handed. For those who would rather ask for help, apps such as Lowe’s are also accessible by store associates, so they too are more up-to-date on which products are in stock and where they are located within the store.
Engaging with shoppers on their mobile devices also provides unprecedented insights for retailers into how shoppers behave in-store. For the first time, retailers can examine data derived from shoppers who use their store apps to provide personalized recommendations based on product searches, which benefits both the retailer and the consumer. Analyzing this data gives retailers an overall better understanding of customer behavior and store performance, helping to optimize store planning, forecasting and execution.
For physical retailers, tapping into the opportunity to connect with shoppers on their mobile devices might seem like a daunting and costly endeavor, but new app platforms are making mobile in-store strategies increasingly more affordable and an integral part of retailers’ in-store strategies. Implementing a mobile solution that provides real value to shoppers has shown to be the key to riding the mobile revolution wave instead of getting pummeled by it.
Josh Marti is the CEO and Co-Founder of Seattle-based Point Inside, the worldwide leader in in-store SaaS for mobile shopper engagement. Top retailers like Lowe’s and Meijer drive billions in mobile influenced in-store sales using Point Inside’s StoreMode™ platform. Every day, Point Inside processes billions of retail data points to deliver brick-and-mortar shoppers search, product mapping and personalized recommendations specific to their local store. Considered an expert in wireless location-based services, Marti was responsible for several of Qualcomm’s largest gpsOne deployments prior to co-founding Point Inside in 2009. Voted a Seattle “40 Under 40” honoree in 2012, he holds a bachelor’s of science in electrical engineering from Seattle University and sits on its EE & CE Advisory Board.
