EXPERT ANALYSIS
SECTION ONE
SECTION TWO
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Gauging the Readiness for Digital/Mobile Technologies
The GfK Futurescope annual study benchmarks the Shopper Marketing evolution
and what’s happening between manufacturers and retailers. According to the 2013
survey, 48% of executives say their organization is prepared to manage the impact
of digital/mobile technologies. That is more than twice as many who felt that way in
2011. Also, two years ago, 80% agreed that the industry lacked Best Practices for leveraging digital/mobile in-store. Today 65% still feel there is a lack of broader Best Practices to guide them.
KEY QUESTIONS:
What do the survey results tell you about the industry’s readiness for digital/mobile technologies? What needs to be done going forward? How important are Best Practices?
EXPERT ANALYSIS:
Organizational readiness from a technology perspective and from an organizational culture perspective are two entirely different things.
Mobile is still being largely viewed as a channel to enable transactions, more data gathering, and another place to push marketing messages. This view of mobile is short-sighted and does not get to the heart of the mobile opportunity, which is to create a real-time, one-to-one relationship with your customer that is genuinely about engaging in a dialogue by creating an integrated mobile experience.
Organizations are clearly advancing rapidly in terms of their technological readiness. The question remains whether or not they are prepared to leverage the full capability of mobile and will embrace the impact beyond the IT department.
Jeff Berry, Senior Director, Knowledge Development and Application at LoyaltyOne
It depends on what “digital/mobile technologies” they’re considering. Are they talking about coupons, offers, loyalty programs, mobile payments, geo-spacial location offers, etc.?
Some manufacturers are prepared to manage coupons. A few are getting better at mobile loyalty, but very few are ready for mobile payments. Even those companies who are offering mobile coupons are having issues. At a recent conference I attended on mobile computing, companies had big issues with the “Omni-Channel” concept.
The most notable concern was customer perception.This stemmed from a customer going into one retailer to purchase a product, then going online to the retailer’s website and finding it available at another price, and even going to a completely different site and getting yet another price. This leads to distrust and frustration with price comparison.
Another issue was internal. Most mobile teams operate completely separate from the traditional retail teams. Pricing, marketing strategies, perception and morale are not in synch.
Lastly, companies were divided on how mobile payments should be structured. Some believed consumers would want all the payments consolidated into a single application. Others believed users would want payment options specific to their vendor, just like they have multiple credit cards.
It was generally thought that “mobile wallets” should provide three basic things to the consumer: Offers, loyalty and payments. Although there doesn’t seem to be one single vendor that can offer that today, some are close. Any way you look at it, I don’t think manufacturers are as prepared to handle the data as they think.
Janet Dornenkott, Co-Founder and COO, Relational Solutions, Inc.
The demand by shoppers for better and easier digital engagement from physical retailers is only going to increase as they continue to generalize their online shopping experiences to the other ways they shop. Brands and retailers are starting to recognize this situation and, in certain instances, beginning to develop responsive strategies and put into place in-store promotional programming to meet this new and growing want. But the need remains largely unaddressed.
Marketers need to help shoppers become more efficient during their shopping trips — and to do so, the technology ecosystem needs to become more efficient. Increasing that efficiency, however, will require additional investment in technology such as deployment of Wi-Fi in the store and some other location-based technologies that have yet to settle. While the technology is mostly ready, if not quite complete, shoppers want retailers to move now. Consumers are ready and capable and the industry needs to quickly build toward the future and establish critical mass at retail.
Going forward, it will be critical for marketers to develop best practices that provide solutions to everything which makes shopping difficult. It is an absolute must that they bring those solutions in aisle and help shoppers become smarter, better and faster.
John Ross, President, Inmar Analytics
Consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers realize digital and mobile technology are the wave of the future. A new study from a group of marketing agencies known as Google Shopper Marketing Agency Council agrees that smartphones are transforming the shopping experience and and urges CPG brands and retailers to embrace as opportunities
- 79% of smartphone owners are smartphone shoppers
- 84% of these shoppers use their phone to help shop while in store
Shoppers use smartphones to research and compare prices, especially at the all-important point of purchase. Marketers need now strategize how to connect the mobile shopper experience to the in-store shopper experience.
Robin Newhook, President, Newhook Marketing Solutions
Click on the LinkedIn logo to join the new Shopper Technology Institute Discussion Group
SECTION THREE
