New Reports Emphasize the Role of Mobile in Retail

A couple of new reports have been issued recently that talk about retail strategies in the age of the connected consumer, and both of them emphasize the importance of mobile in this arena.

A report from CFI Group called the Retail Satisfaction Barometer indicates that nearly twice as many consumers (41 percent) this year are using mobile apps while shopping than did last year (21 percent).

About half of those who use mobile apps for shopping do so to check product prices at competing retailers. And those in the millennial generation are most likely to use mobile apps while shopping – with 67 percent reporting they do so.

“It is crucial for retailers to keep up with advanced mobile capabilities to maintain high customer satisfaction,” says Terry Redding, vice president of sales and marketing at CFI Group. “With consumers’ demands to use mobile devices as a shopping tool, retailers must know how to connect with them digitally.”

Redding notes that mobile applications are a way retailers can engage with customers any time and any where, and with tailored communications.

Meanwhile, in a new report by Capgemini (News - Alert) Consulting titled Are You Ready? How to Create an Always-On, Always-Open Shopping Experience, lays out four critical components it says are required for a successful omni-channel strategy. Those four components include inventory visibility, web-ready products, predictive customer analytics, and a fulfillment strategy.

New standards like Electronic Product Code-enabled Radio Frequency Identification are helping with the inventory piece, according to the firm. And predictive analytics solutions are out there, and companies that use them may find it easier to create personalized shopping experiences, says Capgemini. On the fulfillment front, retailers are using their storefront locations as distribution centers, better positioning them to deliver products quickly and efficiently, the company notes. However, according to Capgemini, making products web-ready is an important but especially challenging aspect for many retailers today.