Posts Tagged "Considered Purchases"

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’.

Yesterday my colleague John Wood pointed out challenges Google Android faces versus the iPhone while also noting that Android has a lot going for it, mass distribution and low price among them.  With so much attention focused on the iPhone as a consumer friendly device and the darling of marketers, it’s easy to forget that the ultimate goal of any mobile marketing activity is to drive sales.

To what extent might Android be a better m-commerce platform than the iPhone?  I’m not entirely sure, but this November 10, 2009 article on Forbes.com titled, “All Eyes On Mobile Commerce” highlighted a key difference between the iPhone and other platforms that marketers need to consider if mobile commerce is in their sights.

“Apple’s iPhone users create an iTunes account upon iPhone registration, if they did not already have one, where credit card information is stored for future one-click purchasing.  This enables over 50 million iPhone and iPod owners to purchase media or games on a mobile device, inputting their password to access their iTunes account.”

“T-Mobile, which will launch four Google Android handsets by the holiday season, has been working with Google to integrate the Android Market into its billing system by Thanksgiving.  Historically, which may or may not still be relevant, bill-to-carrier models have been less attractive to the mobile merchant due to delays in payments and the high cost.  Given the billing cycle of the operator, payments can be extended 45 days to a couple months.”

Getting paid fast is important in any transaction and so for the foreseeable future Apple’s model seems to represent an easier path toward booking revenue – for Apple at least.  You can be certain Apple is considering broadening the iTunes model to include other products given the ready-base of buyers able to transact rather simply.  Apple could become an Amazon.com like player quickly if it wanted to, slowing mobile commece on other platforms.

It’s doubtful that mobile will serve as a standalone handheld shopping cart for purchases of all kinds any time soon, given shopping behavioral differences between impulse and considered purchases.  Yet, as the article points out, all well known online stores, from Amazon to Wal-Mart, are heading in this direction, and technology vendors like IBM are gearing up their e-commece platforms for the mobile channel.

It’s great when you read two different articles on consecutive days that appear to contradict one another, as was the case today when I saw this article on MobileMarketer.com about a study suggesting marketers develop mobile plans around impulse purchases more so than considered ones. This quote brought home the point: 

“For mobile marketers, focusing on marketing for impulse purchases would be a better hook than a considered purchase,” she said. “Offers that have an instant impact appear to resonate with smartphone owners.”

Yesterday I blogged about an article on DM News, featuring an interview with a retail executive who strongly suggested that considered purchases be the focus of mobile efforts within the retail and other sectors:

“…every purchase is now a considered purchase. Across all economic strata, people are far more conscious of what they’re buying.”

While this makes for great blogging material, for marketers the situation is less good. What marketers need is not contradictory or confusing directions from supposed experts, instead they crave proven prescriptions for using mobile to achieve their goals, be it increased sales, customer loyalty, or brand affinity.