Mobile is quickly becoming one of the best navigation tools for linking shoppers with brands. It is our wireless compass along the path-to-purchase. For retailers, manufacturers and agencies, the explosion of mobile capability and adoption exponentially expand opportunities for informing, engaging and persuading shoppers.

But marketers need to move just as fast — and just as creatively — as the technologies and the users. The more quickly and nimbly we experiment with this multimedia navigator, the faster we will drive shopper behaviors and reap those benefits.

Let’s first go back 134 years to the invention and launch of the phone. At its core, the purpose of the telephone was to connect people to one another across distance, in real-time. At its best, the telephone was about creating engagement. Probably no other means of communication has revolutionized the daily lives of ordinary people more than the telephone. So, it should come as no surprise that the present day invention of the smartphone will live up to this promise of revolutionizing our lives more than any other communications device.

If we sat down five years ago and created a dream list of all of the things we would someday love our phones to do for our lives, Apple, RIM, T-Mobile, Google, Motorola and Palm have now exceeded our wildest visions. The growing list of smartphone features and functionality reads like a creative marketer’s “wish list.” David Ogilvy and Bill Bernbach would be consumed with envy by the options these innovations provide.

However, it is not just this new mobile capability that is driving mobile demand. It is the users and shoppers themselves who are empowered by a tool in the palm of their hands that is creating the biggest opportunity for marketers. This has profound and powerful implications for purchasing products and engaging with brands. 

A Platform of Power

Shoppers, as we know them and study them, are creatures of habit. The emergence of mobile leverages our fundamental behaviors and habits. The intuitive design of mobile shopping tools taps into activities and actions that have long been associated with shopping.

Shoppers still make lists, collect coupons, swap recipes, seek opinions, play games, compare prices and purchase products. But they’re increasingly transferring all of those personal practices and preferences to their mobile devices. This increasing ease of use, efficiency, and energy savings is one of the greatest reasons for the rapid adoption.

How consumers and shoppers use — and interact — with their mobile devices is now also becoming a source of segmentation and differentiation for marketers. As smartphone proliferation increases from 25 percent of the US population today to more than 50 percent penetration by 2012, we’ll have a clearer sense of segmentation patterns. 

Four segments are emerging from early adopters’ patterns: 1) Social-influence driven are highly affected by the opinions of their social network; 2) List driven are highly disciplined list keepers, only the list is not just replacement items but any item they come across during their mobile surfing; 3) Value driven use mobile to empower them to get the latest discounts and promotions available; and 4) Information driven, who, regardless of purchase — big or small — are well aware of features and benefits of the brands they choose.

These early days of mobile retailing spark a lot of exciting innovation. A seemingly infinite number of shopping applications are available for download. If you don’t have a smartphone yet, spend some time browsing the app store on the internet, and that alone will sell you on the device.

Smartphones that offer location-awareness, camera interfaces and always-on internet connection make for an engaging path-to-purchase navigation tool (i.e., brand compass). From in-home (yes, people are engaging with their mobile devices at home!), on-the-go, and at-retail — downloadable mobile apps and mobile interfaces of platforms and programs (Facebook, Google, retailer web sites, etc.) are all designed for engaging with brands and retail experiences.

Location-based applications like Foursquare and Gowalla bridge the digital retail experience with the real world location. Justbought.it, a free app, allows users to share their purchases with friends via Facebook or Twitter or ask for opinions before they shop. It’s as easy as taking a picture, sharing and commenting.

This wave of mobile innovation creates a sense of urgency for retailers and manufacturers to equip their brands with mobile-enabled features that leverage this opportunity to engage with shoppers. The retail environment must quickly transform into an easily navigated place through the use of mobile store maps.

These wayfinding tools may even take the form of sophisticated “augmented reality” experiences that turn an ordinary shopping experience into an immersive brand experience. Next-generation bar codes will adorn product packages (QR codes, Datamatrix, BeeTagg, Shotcode, Aztec code) and link the physical product to electronic information, experiences and payment technologies.

Barcodes also offer new customer service opportunities. Signage promoting special offers can link directly to digital coupons delivered to the phone. Loyalty program points instantly upload and fulfill rewards. Retailers must aim to integrate the use of the mobile phone into the shopping process as part of a unified experience. This is mobile retailing.

Keeping Up With Shoppers

It is critical that shoppers themselves do not surpass retailers in their expectations and use of technology. If this happens, retailers will be left behind by eager shoppers looking for better buys, experiences and brands. Increasingly, shoppers with mobile phones are using them to decide where to shop and to comparison-shop in the aisle. M-commerce (the ability to make purchases using a mobile phone) and e-commerce (buying online) offer options that are met with little hesitation or resistance.

E-commerce powerhouses like Amazon.com are poised and in the best position to capitalize on this trend. They are savvy about the value of linking to brick-and- mortar retail channels by releasing applications that make it easier for shoppers to use traditional stores as “showrooms” for a mobile or online purchase. They do this by encouraging shoppers to snap a photo of a product and returning to a web page with a purchase option. This is the best of bricks-and-clicks, and sites like Amazon.com stand to gain enormously.

One in five shoppers — and four in 10 of those ages 18 to 29 — say they plan to use their mobile phones to shop over the holidays, according to an annual survey by Deloitte. Of those, 45 percent said they would be researching prices, 32 percent said they would be looking for coupons, 31 percent said they’d be reading reviews, and 25 percent planned to make purchases.

Technologies like AisleBuyer, a mobile-shopping platform that improves the in-store retail shopping experience, does so by leveraging smartphone technology to bring together the best features of bricks- and-clicks. There is a virtual shopping assistant, location-aware digital circular, and a self-checkout system. This is one of the first end-to-end solutions.

Within the past few months, Best Buy has made its weekly circular interactive by incorporating mobile calls-to-action through the use of 2D bar codes and SMS text codes. This added layer of engagement has increased redemption rates, three-to-one.

Everyone wins when brands and retailers begin coordinating their marketing both in and out of the store-aisle through the use of mobile devices. Mobile enables the added virtue of consumers/shoppers feeling in control of their purchasing behavior all along the pathway to products. It allows marketers to increase relevance and engagement with the shopper at the center of all activity.

Putting the shopper first … now that is ‘smart.’