Today on MobileMarketer.com there appears an article sure to be read by many. It’s about the potential threat to retailers represented by mobile-enabled consumers who may be redirected to other stores to find a better deal by performing price lookups on a particular item. Considering the ease by which consumers are able to perform this comparison, it appears a scary scenario to already margin-strained retailers.
The article concludes with this statement, making it sound as if retailers attempting to create engaging shopping experiences raise their hands in surrender:
“Consumers will care less about where they shop and more about satisfying their purchase requirements.”
I bet you could find similar statements made about 10 years ago around how e-commerce websites would put brick and mortar stores out of business. Yet that didn’t really happen, as brick and mortar stores such as BestBuy and others created complementary online stores. Late to game retailers like Toys R Us paid a heavy price, however. Why would it be any different if consumers can research and compare products while “on the go?”
One way the article suggests is that retailers will be forced to match lower prices if consumers can prove it by showing their mobile device to a cashier, or worse lose the sale as the customer leaves for another store. Loyalty, already so hard to engender among customers, is literally out the door as a means of creating a steady flow of business.
In reality, I don’t think the situation will be this dire, but retail marketers have a new mandate to create engaging shopper environments to encourage customers to remain in store and make purchases. Especially for considered purchases versus impulse buys, consumers will likely perform online research in advance of venturing out to stores. Items such as plasma screen TVs or washing machines, for example. In these instances it’s highly improbable a consumer will even perform a comparison price lookup in store because they did so already.
There will be exceptions, but I just don’t see retailers hurt too much by this trend, especially if they work hard toward creating highly engaging – and branded – mobile experiences for their customers. Those who do will be more akin to the BestBuys of the mobile realm as opposed to the Toys R Us’.
