A recent Retrevo Pulse Study found that while many consumers have installed retailers’ apps on their mobile devices, only a small fraction say those apps have helped them buy something.
According to the study, 43 percent of consumers have ever installed a retailer’s app on their mobile devices, while 57 percent have not. However, just 14 percent of those consumers who have installed a retailer’s app said it helped them buy something.
This is a call for retailers to rethink their mobile engagement strategy, according to Manish Rathi, co-founder and vice president of marketing for Retrevo. “In today’s market where many brick and mortar retailers are trying to stay competitive, retailers can’t afford to merely serve as a showroom for Amazon,” he said.
This point was driven home by another finding in the study: 66 percent of all respondents said they checked out a product in a retailer’s store and proceeded to buy it from another store online. This number jumped to 78 percent when it came to smartphone owners.
Retrevo broke this down by product and found the following:
– Electronics: 48 percent of all shoppers and 58 percent of smartphone owners checked out a product in a retailer’s store and bought it from another store online
– Shoes: 32 percent of all shoppers and 41 percent of smartphone owners
– Apparel: 31 percent of all shoppers and 39 percent of smartphone owners
– Appliance: 19 percent of all shoppers and 23 percent of smartphone owners
– Sporting Gear: 16 percent of all shoppers and 22 percent of smartphone owners
– Home & Garden: 15 percent of all shoppers and 19 percent of smartphone owners
Retrevo focused on electronics and found that 53 percent of respondents have ever gone to a store to buy electronics but couldn’t decide what to buy, while 41 percent said this hasn’t happened and 6 percent said they don’t go to the store to buy electronics. The most common reason for going to buy electronics at a store but being unable to decide what to buy was not having the information needed (online prices, reviews, specs, etc.), followed by being overwhelmed by the number of choices.
The study wonders whether or not these retailers having the right app could make smartphone-equipped shoppers feel less overwhelmed and more confident in these electronics stores.
Also included in the study was the finding that 42 percent of respondents have ever used a mobile device to help them check prices when buying something, while 29 percent used their mobile device to read a review or to look up specs, and 25 percent used their mobile device to get a coupon.
“Our message to retailers: Get your app together! A carefully crafted app can help provide consumers the information they need to make them want to buy something,” said Rathi.
Separate data from comScore show that 56 percent of tablet owners have looked up product/price info for a specific store at least once in the past month on their tablet devices. Meanwhile, 54 percent have read customer ratings or reviews for an item on their tablets, 51 percent compared product and price information, and 51 percent searched for a nearby store.
Sources:
Network
