Mobile Behaviors & In-Store Shopping

Last week, eMarketer shared some ideas and data on smartphone use while shopping in-store. While it's true that smartphones have had an effect on people's behaviors while shopping, I don't agree with their advice to handle this change. In the post, Jeffrey Grau states,

"A retailer's best defense for maintaining customer loyalty is to develop a mobile offering that allows in-store shoppers access to customer reviews and other product information on its website. ... By providing mobile access to their extensive online product information, they help customers feel more comfortable about making a purchase."

I have a couple issues with this. First, if people are checking product reviews on their mobile device, I'd be inclined to believe that they are not on the retailer's site for the store they're in and if they are, they're not going to be only checking that site. Especially as access to data becomes faster and easier through mobile devices.

Secondly, and more importantly, a retailer's best defense for maintaining loyalty is not going to be through "a mobile offering that allows in-store shoppers access to customer reviews and other product information." For one, this is not going to be sustainable as a key point of difference—it is quickly going to become the required minimum. More importantly, this is not what drives loyalty to a retail store. 

People become loyal to retailers most generally for one or more of four reasons*:

1) Location - because it's the most convenient place to shop

2) Price - because it gives me the best value for my dollar

3) Product selection - because I can only get "product x" there

4) Service - because the people working there provide a great shopping experience

*For clarity: this is off the top of my head. I don't have data to support this at the moment.

Of those, I believe a retailer's best defense against mobile for maintaining loyalty is going to be service. By having friendly, knowledgeable people working the store floors and looking for signs that a shopper might be a bit puzzled, they will be far more likely to cut the incidence of people buying elsewhere via their mobile device than by having a mobile site that shows reviews and other product information.

Not only that, but this also provides the greatest opportunity to create a clear point-of-difference from the competition, second only to having exclusive distribution of a product/product line. (This is something Best Buy strives for and from my own experience, does quite well.)

Anyway, all this to say that having a mobile experience which provides access to reviews on your own site is not going to be what creates or maintains loyalty to a store.

Comments

[Ryan Moede]

Definitely agreed on your four reasons for customer loyalty, but I still feel like there's more opportunities for mobile to be a valuable part of the in-store experience. For example, I've always felt IKEA (okay, maybe not the most "typical" type of store for an example!) could do more with a simple iPhone app to replace that paper form to not just write down your purchase serial numbers, but perhaps even have a room builder service as you add more furniture.

Or even the whole process for customer reviews and coupons could be improved by integrating Foursquare or Gowalla for better and more social customer loyalty.

I'd still say a store needs your suggested four reasons as a baseline, but I think there's some cool ideas out there for making mobile a part of that loyalty lineup.

[paul isakson]

Thanks for the comment and thoughts, Ryan.

To be clear, I'm not saying stores should ignore mobile. I absolutely agree that stores should find (the right) ways to integrate mobile into their marketing approach.

Like you, I see mobile becoming an even bigger part of the in-store shopping experience. In ways like you have shared.

But moving coupons from paper and loyalty programs from plastic cards to mobile experiences are just new executions of old strategies and tactics. The fact that they're now mobile doesn't make someone more apt to be loyal than they were when these things were not on their mobile device.

Again, I agree that mobile will continue altering the in-store shopping experience in good ways. It could even end up making in-store staff more helpful and friendly as people tweet/post in their FB status about poor service.

I just don't believe having a cool/useful/social/etc. mobile experience is what will make or keep people loyal. Someone can always come up with an equal or better experience.

[paulmcenany]

Not sure I agree on this one. Reminds me of when my local kroger first added the self-checkout. Sort of weird to scan my own stuff the first time, but pretty quick - the fact that I didn't have to deal with anyone and could quickly take care of it myself was a service in itself.

And frankly, after a long day of work, I'm generally not all that eager to have people looking out for whether or not I'm confused or having trouble finding something. In all likelihood, I probably would just move on, assuming they either don't have it or try something else. But - if I had an application that knew what was in the store, where it was, and how people felt about those products, I wouldn't really ever have to be confused. I could just quickly know whether or not they could actually solve my problem.

Or - having just moved to Toronto, I just tried shopping at the Eaton Center mall last weekend. After having some trouble finding a store, instead of going to the information desk, my first inclination was to pull out the iphone to see if they had an eaton center application. And, sure enough, they did. Found the store and I was on my way.

So - that's a really long way of saying that for types like me, a mobile application with specific information about a store and its products would be an incredibly useful tool.

[Prhenderson]

I agree with your POV - and offer up another perspective.

For considered purchases, consumers pre-shop online before they go to the store. Why? Because it's much easier to pour over reviews and product detail info on a laptop in the comfort of your home. Also - why drive there unless you know they have what you want? In stock? For the most part I believe consumers head to the store to see it in person, get a demo, do an in-person comparison of different models, buy it and bring it home.

When it comes to loyalty your 4 points cover it well. And I would put the emphasis on service too - with service extending beyond the sales staff. How can retailers make their customer's lives better, make errand running easier? How can the experience of shopping inspire and delight? There are opportunities for mobile integration here - but it has to be about extending a brand's utility in a way that adds value and differentiates.

[Charles Neville]

This is definitely a challenge for retailers - as more people are equipped with smartphones they can expect more people to be comparison shopping from within their stores. I wrote a piece about how retailers ought to deal with this threat to being used as showrooms for online stores like Amazon a few weeks back: http://www.charlesneville.com/2009/11/price-comparison-mobile-apps-opportunity/ My feeling is that retailers need to have a presence in the app when customers perform a price comparison. To do this they will likely need to work with app developers, but app developers are primarily offering price comparisons of places that pay commission - there's no reason the retailer can't make a play for that business too.

[paul isakson]

Hey Paul. Totally agree.

I remember when the grocery stores started adding the self-checkout lanes too. First it was Kroger (King Soopers in Denver, where I was at the time) but then the others added them and it was no longer a point of difference.

The same thing goes for this approach to mobile. Again, I'm not saying that mobile isn't important. It is. It's also something that can add immense value to an overall marketing plan.

But anyone can make an app/site that does what you're saying. Same for what the article/post was saying. Once they all do, then what?

[paulmcenany]

But can they? A store has the advantage of all their own data on what products they carry and where the are, customer information, purchase behavior, stuff like that. It's unlikely that a mobile application developer would have access to those things.

I think you can make the same argument for a .com, too. Amazon already carries the products you have and has all the reviews, so why add that to your site?

I'm not saying that mobile is the end all be all for retail, but I certainly wouldn't recommend against it. Particularly in a fairly nascent market, seems like it could be a single piece of an overall strategy to provide a better customer experience.

In your face, Isakson! :)

[paul isakson]

Haha. I should have been more careful with my use of "anyone." Thank you for that jab.

What I meant by "anyone" is that any store can develop their own app that gives shoppers access to customer reviews and other product information on its website. Eventually, most of them probably will. I didn't mean any random developer/agency.

As for your point about Amazon, what I see as the reason for most people adding reviews or bringing in third-party reviews to their sites is the idea of "transparency."

Again, to be clear, I'm not recommending against using mobile / augmenting your digital marketing with mobile. I'm very much in favor of it if it makes sense for your product/service/store/etc.

But to bring this back to the point of the post, I don't see using mobile the way the Mr. Grau stated as being a cure for maintaining loyalty. For the short-term? Maybe. Long-term? No.

And that's the point of this post... loyalty. :)

[Jonathan Dueck]

This reminds me of a WalMart commercial from awhile back. An "employee" narrates the story of receiving a call from a guy who's trying to pick a new TV. The WalMart employee learns that the caller is currently shopping inside a competitor's establishment, and proceeds to poach the customer by touting better service and lower prices at WalMart.

Can you envision a day when these sorts of apps access your GPS, determine you're inside a competitor's establishment, and text you with incentives to take your business elsewhere?