The Changing Face of Retail

Last week while I was waiting for an appointment I came across a review of a book titled “The Mobile Mind Shift” on my smartphone. I decided that I wanted that book so I connected with Amazon and ordered it with one click.

Earlier this week my daughter Katherine told my wife that she needed to get some things. My wife asked, “Where would you go to get something like that?” to which Katherine promptly replied, “Online.”

These were just two of hundreds of millions of mobile moments that are occurring across the US every day.

According to the new book I am reading, “A mobile moment is a point in time and space when someone pulls out a mobile device to get what he or she wants immediately, in context.” In other words, a mobile moment occurs whenever I have an expectation that I can get what I want, anytime, in my immediate situation. For example, I’m driving and craving an iced Vanilla Latte from Starbucks, I open my Starbucks app and ask for directions to the nearest location, once there I ask the app for a coupon. Two mobile moments leading directly to a purchase.

Here are some indicators that our retail landscape is in the midst of a radical transformation:

• By 2017 it is estimated that just over 207,000 consumers representing 80% of mobile phone owners will be using smartphones creating billions of mobile moments per day.
• Although it currently represents just 6% of sales, E commerce in the US has grown at about six times the rate of conventional retail over the past two years and the gap between the two continues to expand.
• Staples, a large office supply chain, realizes roughly half of their sales online. They plan on closing hundreds of their retail locations over the next two years.
• Retailers like Walmart and Target are finding it increasingly difficult to draw shoppers into their stores despite heavy levels of promotion and deep discounting.
• Walmart announced plans this week to add new features including personalized product recommendations, localized discounts, and significantly faster checkout in the coming months that will enable a more competitive online presence.

More and more consumers are using their mobile devices and computers every day to research and cherry pick items, more often sticking to their lists than visiting and making impulse purchases at retail. Businesses that wish to grow in this new retail environment must learn to (1) identify potential mobile moments and their context, (2) design mobile engagements, and (3) develop platforms, processes, and people that will capture and convert mobile moments into revenue and consumer preference.

Is your business positioned and prepared to capture your consumers’ mobile moments? Sadly, for most companies, the answer is no.