In-Line Shoppers to Drive the Holiday Season

With the holiday shopping season in full force, retailers are noticing that there is a different kind of shopping being done this year. More people than ever are going online to buy their presents. Some people are doing a combination of both with this hybrid type shopping called “in-line” shopping.   One of the bigger ways in which people are doing online shopping is through their smartphones or other mobile devices. 

A new study shows that as many as 39 percent of smartphone owners use their phones to make purchases, check an item’s barcode or download coupons. Because of this phenomenon, there are quite a few applications that will help you do all of these things.

The In-Line Shopping consumer insight report, which was written by the Copenhagen Institute and Ericsson (News - Alert) ConsumerLab, shows that the Internet and the devices that access it have changed the way the world goes shopping. The report also details that retailers are going to need to change the way they cater to their customers or they are going to be left in the dust.

Michael Björn, head of Research at Ericsson ConsumerLab, said in a recent statement that, "Consumers are making shopping part of the natural flow of their everyday lives. As a result, they want apps that make the shopping experience convenient and hassle-free. Just as people want anytime, anywhere internet access, they also want to be able to shop as soon as the need arises. Retailers need to understand and meet this need if they want to be successful in the coming years."

It stands to reason that most retailers won’t really believe that events like Black Friday (News - Alert) and Cyber Monday have changed complexion all that much until the final numbers come in. Once those numbers do come in, it will be quite obvious that the retailers who geared up for these in-line shoppers are the retailers that had the most success.