10 Ways Mobile Retailing Will Transform Your Business
Smart devices like mobile phones are fundamentally revolutionizing the way we shop in stores and online, making Mobile Retailing the next big thing in the shopping industry.
Research shows that about 90% of consumers use mobile phones to communicate, research, compare prices, and acquire information.
Keeping this in mind, investing in smart mobile retail apps and latest web design trends are the way forward for businesses to maximize their profits and attain higher customer reach.
What is Mobile Retailing?
Mobile Retailing as the name suggests, is simply the use of mobile devices for retail. The term refers to the selling and buying of products or services by using smartphones or tablets.
The Growing Trend Of Mobile Shopping through Applications And Web pages:
Mobile retailing is the fastest-growing segment in the retail sector, especially in Western Europe where online sales by mobile phones have increased by 33.9% since 2013.
Mobile retail has altered the eCommerce market to a point where businesses that refuse to invest in this technology are falling behind the curve.
And considering the number of people currently using mobile phones, it makes sense that brands need to accommodate their shopping requirements through mobile retail channels. Hospitality and services alike, including stores and restaurant management can be handled this way.
10 Benefits of Investing in Mobile Retailing for Businesses:
Global reach:
The first and most exciting gain of investing in Mobile retail is Global Reach, it allows brands to enter markets they’ve never considered before.
In this digital era, everyone has a smartphone and an internet connection, increasing the number of potential users for mobile commerce platforms. They can easily utilize it to browse, buy, and sell their products and services online.
Mobile retail offers an invaluable marketing channel in the form of applications, websites, and adverts that will develop and expand the customer base for any organization looking to boost its global reach.
- Faster Transactions:
Generally, mobile applications are way quicker than conventional websites, resulting in smoother checkouts and faster transactions.
In the business world time is money, so providing customers the ability to purchase things stuff quicker than the norm will give your brand a lucrative edge.
Mobile retail provides fast browsing and a better user experience, which are the driving forces behind the massive surge in online sales.
- Cost reduction With High Productivity:
With mobile apps, businesses can connect to customers more efficiently, saving money on physical marketing campaigns. Further integrating social media reviews and posts can reduce marketing costs and help spread out the brand by utilizing customers.
In addition to that, the costs of developing and maintaining mobile retail applications are typically low in comparison to other e-commerce platforms.
Hence another huge benefit of mobile retailing is it saves money and human resources needed to operate marketing campaigns.
Easy Access:
Mobile Apps make it easier for consumers to access their favorite products and services from the comfort of their homes. They can use these apps to quickly access their preferred retail stores at the tip of their fingers. 54% of consumers consider mobile apps more convenient and easier to use than a website.
Businesses no longer need to wait for customers to physically walk into their stores for making sales, with Easy Store Access brands can save their valuable time and minimize efforts. The saved time can be used to ensure the company’s productivity and the quality of its services.
Empowering Employees:
Whether personal or company-owned, arming employees with modern technology can drastically improve any retail firm’s productivity, customer service, sales, and merchandising.
Using the latest technologies, associates can achieve ultimate customer satisfaction by improving in-store operations and streamlining physical processing. For example, checking the availability of products, locating products in-store and in-stock, or utilizing customer data to create targeted mobile offers based on each customer’s preference.
Image credits: McDonald’s
Salespersons can also benefit from mobile retailing software that provides features to analyze productivity, view store maps, and live in-store foot traffic to prioritize customers.
Real-Time Analysis of User data:
Mobile retailing platforms provide businesses with valuable insights using customer data such as name, location, email, age, gender, product preferences and buying history, etc.
This data can be easily collected by readily analyzed by different software tools integrated into mobile apps to generate insights, help understand the audience, and target customers according to their preferences.
This same level of information gathering and data analytics isn’t possible on other platforms, accentuating just how advantageous mobile retailing is for modern retailers.
Digital records:
Consumers no longer need to worry about losing receipts, with digital records they can always have their buying records on hand.
In case of an exchange or refund, they can easily show it and will always have the required documents with them.
Image Credits: Uber Eats
Discounts and Special Offers:
Buyers always want the latest information regarding sales, discounts, and specials at their fingertips.
Using mobile retail, brands can directly send personalized coupons, deals, and special offers to customers on their mobile phones.
And when customers are in the store, looking for recommendations’ retailers can suggest products based on their past purchasing history.
Personalized Notifications and Location Tracking:
Mobile Retail offers a whole new channel for marketing that has numerous benefits for retailers.
For example, businesses can connect directly to consumers and sell their products via mobile devices.
Brands can achieve better reach and sales with the help of personalized notifications and targeted advertisements brands can create a news feed with information about their latest deals, new products, and offerings. Making a memorable brand image by a logo maker and other branding tools will turn brand recognition easier.
Boosting Traditional Retail:
Apart from online sales and e-commerce, mobile retailing also boosts In-store shopping. Nowadays people carry their phones with them everywhere so they use their mobile devices for:
- Browsing websites of stores.
- Checking out store maps for navigation.
- Reservation for limited products.
- Comparing prices.
- Order products for home delivery on the go
- Get information about products if the staff are busy
- Using their phones to pay bills, avoiding long queues.
Image credits: Amazon Go
This means that more successful traditional retailers can build on their existing mobile-friendly websites and other facilities to integrate their online offer with shopping in physical stores, irrespective of whether the goods are bought online or purchased within the store. Besides, ensuring consistent branding elements like the brand logo across all platforms further enhances the shopping experience for customers.
Bonus: High ROI:
It’s no secret that providing accessibility for customers and employees leads to businesses performing extraordinarily.
Thus, by offering the best mobile retail facilities to clients, the businesses would receive higher returns on investments, more conversions, and increased productivity.
The Store of the Future:
As we can see mobile retail technology is changing the way retailers connect with their customers both physically and online. All the retail giants have already adopted this technology to make the most out of it.
To sum up mobile retailing is definitely the next big thing in the retail sector and if you want your business to stay relevant and progress, then investing in this technology is a must.