the hub magazine - mobile goes mass

Mobile shopping has moved from niche to mainstream. Currently a $2.2 billion industry, its scale is growing rapidly. The reason? Smartphones.

Fifty percent of the US will own a smartphone by the 2011 holidays, says Nielsen. Armed with its wide array of capabilities, it’s no surprise that smartphone users are changing the way they shop — but the industry is struggling to keep up.

Fifty-one percent of smartphone users are more likely to purchase from retailers with a mobile-specific website, but only 4.8 percent of retailers have one. Retailers not offering solutions to mobile shoppers are simply sending them to retailers that are.

Marketing guidance has been in short supply, as little was known about mobile shoppers. So, we decided to learn more via a national survey among 1,800 mobile phone owners and in-depth qualitative research with 30 additional mobile shoppers.

I’d like to summarize the top 10 discoveries, and what they mean for you.

1. The Path-To-Purchase is Dead

There are now many paths-to-purchase. Thanks to mobile, people shop in new ways, places and moments. So, their shopping journey is no longer predictable, linear or straightforward.

Mobile lets people shop on the spot. Waiting to pick up your child after school? Do some “bite-size” shopping and grab the Groupon deal-of-the-day. Sitting in the doctor’s office? Enjoy some “downtime” shopping. On-the-go all day? Go for “always” shopping and check your eBay bid anytime.

Mobile is forging shoppers’ digital and analog worlds into one. People used to browse a circular at home, ask a friend’s opinion before visiting a store, and bring a coupon with them. Now, they browse online, download coupons to their phones, and solicit feedback — all while in the store — resulting in a more spontaneous, fluid and iterative process.

Information is continually gathered and decisions altered throughout the shopping process. A planned decision can be overturned in the store as new information is accessed. Shoppers may even leave a store if they discover a better deal on a competitor’s mobile site.

Marketers now have to give people the access they want, when they want it. Each shopper has different needs, and, with mobile shopping, can have them met instantaneously. Don’t assume when they will interact with your mobile sites and apps. Make sure you are offering meaningful information and creating relevant interactions that can happen early, mid, late or repeatedly in the mobile shopping process.

2. Norms Aren’t So Normal

Changing the way people shop requires a re-thinking of established category norms. For example, considered purchases are becoming more casual, and casual purchases more considered.

Big-ticket items, such as appliances and automobiles, once shopped with immense planning and preparation, are being treated more casually. People can rely on their mobile to handle their research in-store. If a model they want is not available, they can learn about another model or competing brand while in the aisle. No more returning home to conduct more research, or being forced to rely on in-store customer service.

Meanwhile, low-involvement categories, like purchasing a cup of coffee, are now receiving greater consideration. Using the Starbucks mobile app, people look up locations, load rewards cards, explore nutritional information and even pay in select stores. Mobile functionality ends up driving more time and consideration into a previously spontaneous transaction.

The key learning is to be open to behaviors outside of traditional category norms. If you assume shoppers are well prepared or not involved, think again. They may be up for a different and more engaging shopping experience than you currently offer.

3. One Size Does Not Fit All

There are two immensely different types of mobile shoppers. The smaller group, “Heavies,” represent 10 percent of the mobile shopping population, but index 10 times higher than the “Lights.”

Ninety-three percent of Heavies look up store addresses, hours or locations on their phones. Only 47 percent of Lights do. Fifty-five percent of Heavies use shopping apps once a week or more — while 51 percent of Lights use them once a month or less.

Why the gap? Heavies simply love their phones. They share photos and download music. They also love shopping in all its forms. The key difference is that Heavies see their mobiles as a specialized tool for shopping. Lights view their phones as an inferior version of their computer. They neither see the benefits of mobile shopping nor trust their phones to do it. Sixty-two percent of Lights felt it was easier to go online via computer versus shopping on their phone.

4. Lights Shall Inherit The Future

Interestingly, future mobile-shopping growth will come from a subset of Lights, called “High Potentials.” They love mobile activities and shopping in a way that mirrors Heavies, but they don’t yet do much of their shopping on their smartphones. Why? They have limited awareness of what the mobile phone can do. They understand search, and visit mobile sites, but they don’t know that many of their favorite sites are available as easily usable apps. They’re not into novelty and experimentation, so perusing the 300,000 apps in the Apple store (none categorized as “shopping”) is a non-starter.

Converting them to Heavies means showing them the ways their phones can help with shopping to move them from thinking of mobile as “an inferior computer” to “a tool that enhances my shopping experience on-the-go and in-the-store.”

5. Mobile Is Multiple

Mobile shopping is many different activities (we studied 37). Some are more influenced by native mobile behaviors, some by native shopping behaviors, and each with differing implications (see chart one).

Well-adopted mobile tasks. Example: using the phone to look up store addresses, hours and locations. Marketers should cover the basics, such as optimizing email and search functionalities.

Well-adopted shopping tasks. Example: using the phone to compare products and prices, check order status, and search for deals. These require retailers to create proprietary solutions, customized by category or helpful across categories.

Specialized, less-adopted mobile tasks. Example: sharing opinions or tweeting price deals. Marketers should integrate into existing social platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

Advanced, less-adopted shopping tasks. Example: viewing product demos, pre-ordering for pick-up, using gift registries. Enhance core shopping tasks within your own platform. If shoppers use a generic app, like Amazon Price Checker or Red Laser, you risk losing the sale to a competitor. That’s why Target, Best Buy and Toys R Us built a price check feature into their apps.

6. Categories Aren’t Equal

Not all categories are mobile-shopped to the same extent and in the same way (see chart two). We looked at 36 categories from restaurants and apparel, to appliances and consumer packaged-goods, and identified which mobile activities were core, considered or not relevant.

There are some commonalities across categories — such as reviews and consumer ratings, coupons and sales notifications and searched product information — but let’s look at some differences.

A core activity in appliance shopping — using the phone to select product options such as front-loading versus top-loading in a washer — is simply not relevant in buying groceries. Conversely, shoppers will order and pay for groceries on their phones, but not for a large appliance. They want to be in the store, experiencing high-ticket items and personally handling rebates and warranty discussions.

The bottom line is that mobile shopping solutions need to be designed from the category up. Retailers with heterogeneous categories will need to accommodate greatly varied shopper needs.

7. Satisfaction Not Guaranteed

Certain categories deliver a much more satisfying mobile shopping experience than others (see chart three).

With restaurants, we see high satisfaction levels from quick-service to full-service. That’s because apps like Yelp make it easy to set up a successful experience with the ability to search for a place and find reviews from an active community of in-the-know locals. But with appliances or apparel, the shopper needs to walk into the store to view the product. Seeing a washer or shirt on a phone will not provide enough information to make a confident purchase decision. So, these mobile shopping experiences have lower satisfaction ratings overall.

We see less satisfaction in categories that are not mobile-shopped as much. Shopping for packaged goods, for example, is highly routine and easily done without mobile. In low-involvement categories, you have to deliver exponential value versus the required effort to change behavior, such as creating deals that are only available via mobile.

With higher involvement categories, mobile can add value by enhancing the necessary in-store experience. With autos and furniture, for example, provide ratings and reviews that are easily accessible in the store to augment the on-site experience.

8. Performance Counts

People like sites and apps that load quickly and work well. What people don’t like are technology bugs, getting bounced from an app to a site because the app isn’t fully useful, receiving information overload, and being forced to opt-in too early in the shopping process.

Ensuring performance means doing some of the basics very, very well. Conduct rigorous Quality Assurance testing; make sure you’ve designed your user experiences for a mobile phone — not a computer — and provide consistent information across channels. The result may just surprise and delight mobile shoppers.

9. Sites and Apps Must Abide

Don’t dismiss mobile websites simply because apps are getting all the attention. Both are still necessary. Visiting mobile sites is one of the few activities that light mobile shoppers do, and shoppers regularly rely on mobile sites when apps crash. Mobile sites are great for the basics — and an effective place to promote your apps. Utilize apps to take advantage of phones’ unique functionalities, such as GPS, to create customized, value-adding, user-friendly experiences.

10. Retailers and Manufacturers Unite

Mobile shoppers tend to look to retailers first, but they rely on manufacturers for specialized support and details while they shop. Rather than risk losing shoppers, partner with manufacturers to provide important, category-specific, information within your retail experience. Your shoppers will thank you.

Go Mobile and Win

Mobile gives you the power to market in a way that no channel ever has before. To win, you must understand how mobile shoppers want their favorite shopping partner to help them shop your products. It’s the question every marketer should be asking … as very soon all shoppers will be mobile shoppers.



	MARCH / APRIL 2011


	Mobile Goes Mass

	*Mobile shopping finally comes of age.*

	Mobile shopping has moved from niche to mainstream. Currently a $2.2 billion industry, its scale is growing rapidly. The reason? Smartphones. Fifty percent of the US will own a smartphone by the 2011 holidays, says Nielsen. Armed with its wide array of capabilities, it’s no surprise that smartphone users are changing the way they shop — but the industry is struggling to keep up. Fifty-one percent of smartphone users are more likely to purchase from retailers with a mobile-specific website, but only 4.8 percent of retailers have one. Retailers not offering solutions to mobile shoppers are simply sending them to retailers that are. Marketing guidance has been in short supply, as little was known about mobile shoppers. So, we decided to learn more via a national survey among 1,800 mobile phone owners and in-depth qualitative research with 30 additional mobile shoppers. I’d like to summarize the top 10 discoveries, and what they mean for you. 1. The Path-To-Purchase is Dead There are now many paths-to-purchase. Thanks to mobile, people shop in new ways, places and moments. So, their shopping journey is no longer predictable, linear or straightforward. Mobile lets people shop on the spot. Waiting to pick up your child after school? Do some “bite-size” shopping and grab the Groupon deal-of-the-day. Sitting in the doctor’s office? Enjoy some “downtime” shopping. On-the-go all day? Go for “always” shopping and check your eBay bid anytime. Mobile is forging shoppers’ digital and analog worlds into one. People used to browse a circular at home, ask a friend’s opinion before visiting a store, and bring a coupon with them. Now, they browse online, download coupons to their phones, and solicit feedback — all while in the store — resulting in a more spontaneous, fluid and iterative process. Information is continually gathered and decisions altered throughout the shopping process. A planned decision can be overturned in the store as new information is accessed. Shoppers may even leave a store if they discover a better deal on a competitor’s mobile site. Marketers now have to give people the access they want, when they want it. Each shopper has different needs, and, with mobile shopping, can have them met instantaneously. Don’t assume when they will interact with your mobile sites and apps. Make sure you are offering meaningful information and creating relevant interactions that can happen early, mid, late or repeatedly in the mobile shopping process. 2. Norms Aren’t So Normal Changing the way people shop requires a re-thinking of established category norms. For example, considered purchases are becoming more casual, and casual purchases more considered. Big-ticket items, such as appliances and automobiles, once shopped with immense planning and preparation, are being treated more casually. People can rely on their mobile to handle their research in-store. If a model they want is not available, they can learn about another model or competing brand while in the aisle. No more returning home to conduct more research, or being forced to rely on in-store customer service. Meanwhile, low-involvement categories, like purchasing a cup of coffee, are now receiving greater consideration. Using the Starbucks mobile app, people look up locations, load rewards cards, explore nutritional information and even pay in select stores. Mobile functionality ends up driving more time and consideration into a previously spontaneous transaction. The key learning is to be open to behaviors outside of traditional category norms. If you assume shoppers are well prepared or not involved, think again. They may be up for a different and more engaging shopping experience than you currently offer. 3. One Size Does Not Fit All There are two immensely different types of mobile shoppers. The smaller group, “Heavies,” represent 10 percent of the mobile shopping population, but index 10 times higher than the “Lights.” Ninety-three percent of Heavies look up store addresses, hours or locations on their phones. Only 47 percent of Lights do. Fifty-five percent of Heavies use shopping apps once a week or more — while 51 percent of Lights use them once a month or less. Why the gap? Heavies simply love their phones. They share photos and download music. They also love shopping in all its forms. The key difference is that Heavies see their mobiles as a specialized tool for shopping. Lights view their phones as an inferior version of their computer. They neither see the benefits of mobile shopping nor trust their phones to do it. Sixty-two percent of Lights felt it was easier to go online via computer versus shopping on their phone. 4. Lights Shall Inherit The Future Interestingly, future mobile-shopping growth will come from a subset of Lights, called “High Potentials.” They love mobile activities and shopping in a way that mirrors Heavies, but they don’t yet do much of their shopping on their smartphones. Why? They have limited awareness of what the mobile phone can do. They understand search, and visit mobile sites, but they don’t know that many of their favorite sites are available as easily usable apps. They’re not into novelty and experimentation, so perusing the 300,000 apps in the Apple store (none categorized as “shopping”) is a non-starter. Converting them to Heavies means showing them the ways their phones can help with shopping to move them from thinking of mobile as “an inferior computer” to “a tool that enhances my shopping experience on-the-go and in-the-store.” 5. Mobile Is Multiple Mobile shopping is many different activities (we studied 37). Some are more influenced by native mobile behaviors, some by native shopping behaviors, and each with differing implications (see chart one). Well-adopted mobile tasks. Example: using the phone to look up store addresses, hours and locations. Marketers should cover the basics, such as optimizing email and search functionalities. Well-adopted shopping tasks. Example: using the phone to compare products and prices, check order status, and search for deals. These require retailers to create proprietary solutions, customized by category or helpful across categories. Specialized, less-adopted mobile tasks. Example: sharing opinions or tweeting price deals. Marketers should integrate into existing social platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Advanced, less-adopted shopping tasks. Example: viewing product demos, pre-ordering for pick-up, using gift registries. Enhance core shopping tasks within your own platform. If shoppers use a generic app, like Amazon Price Checker or Red Laser, you risk losing the sale to a competitor. That’s why Target, Best Buy and Toys R Us built a price check feature into their apps. 6. Categories Aren’t Equal Not all categories are mobile-shopped to the same extent and in the same way (see chart two). We looked at 36 categories from restaurants and apparel, to appliances and consumer packaged-goods, and identified which mobile activities were core, considered or not relevant. There are some commonalities across categories — such as reviews and consumer ratings, coupons and sales notifications and searched product information — but let’s look at some differences. A core activity in appliance shopping — using the phone to select product options such as front-loading versus top-loading in a washer — is simply not relevant in buying groceries. Conversely, shoppers will order and pay for groceries on their phones, but not for a large appliance. They want to be in the store, experiencing high-ticket items and personally handling rebates and warranty discussions. The bottom line is that mobile shopping solutions need to be designed from the category up. Retailers with heterogeneous categories will need to accommodate greatly varied shopper needs. 7. Satisfaction Not Guaranteed Certain categories deliver a much more satisfying mobile shopping experience than others (see chart three). With restaurants, we see high satisfaction levels from quick-service to full-service. That’s because apps like Yelp make it easy to set up a successful experience with the ability to search for a place and find reviews from an active community of in-the-know locals. But with appliances or apparel, the shopper needs to walk into the store to view the product. Seeing a washer or shirt on a phone will not provide enough information to make a confident purchase decision. So, these mobile shopping experiences have lower satisfaction ratings overall. We see less satisfaction in categories that are not mobile-shopped as much. Shopping for packaged goods, for example, is highly routine and easily done without mobile. In low-involvement categories, you have to deliver exponential value versus the required effort to change behavior, such as creating deals that are only available via mobile. With higher involvement categories, mobile can add value by enhancing the necessary in-store experience. With autos and furniture, for example, provide ratings and reviews that are easily accessible in the store to augment the on-site experience. 8. Performance Counts People like sites and apps that load quickly and work well. What people don’t like are technology bugs, getting bounced from an app to a site because the app isn’t fully useful, receiving information overload, and being forced to opt-in too early in the shopping process. Ensuring performance means doing some of the basics very, very well. Conduct rigorous Quality Assurance testing; make sure you’ve designed your user experiences for a mobile phone — not a computer — and provide consistent information across channels. The result may just surprise and delight mobile shoppers. 9. Sites and Apps Must Abide Don’t dismiss mobile websites simply because apps are getting all the attention. Both are still necessary. Visiting mobile sites is one of the few activities that light mobile shoppers do, and shoppers regularly rely on mobile sites when apps crash. Mobile sites are great for the basics — and an effective place to promote your apps. Utilize apps to take advantage of phones’ unique functionalities, such as GPS, to create customized, value-adding, user-friendly experiences. 10. Retailers and Manufacturers Unite Mobile shoppers tend to look to retailers first, but they rely on manufacturers for specialized support and details while they shop. Rather than risk losing shoppers, partner with manufacturers to provide important, category-specific, information within your retail experience. Your shoppers will thank you. Go Mobile and Win Mobile gives you the power to market in a way that no channel ever has before. To win, you must understand how mobile shoppers want their favorite shopping partner to help them shop your products. It’s the question every marketer should be asking … as very soon all shoppers will be mobile shoppers.


	WILLIAM ROSEN is North American president and chief creative officer of Arc Worldwide, specialisits in cross-channel activation and the marketing services arm of Leo Burnett Group.

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