Be Smart About Smartphones: How to Leverage Mobile Habits to Increase Retail Sales

Today, the shopping experience begins and ends with mobile.

Good shoppers have learned to conduct online research before walking into a brick-and-mortar store, reading product reviews and comparing prices online – and while this new reality poses distinct challenges for high street retailers, it also opens up a whole world of new opportunities.

You can leverage the mobile habits of customers, using them to your advantage.

The world of mobile has given retailers the ability to learn much more about the customer base. With today’s smartphone-based purchasing habits, business owners can now obtain data about each and every customer and utilize this information to offer more relevant promotions and highly timely information at the point of sale – thereby building a better and more compelling service that encourages repeat buying, and consistently meets each person’s needs.

M-Tickets: A Golden Opportunity

M-tickets, as compared to e-tickets, do not need to be printed. Instead, the ticket itself is displayed on the screen. M-tickets are more convenient for customers, and have the added bonus of being viewed as good customer service – and they are a great example of how you can harness mobile technologies for your own benefit. With m-tickets, you have the opportunity to collect vital information and learn more about your customer’s needs and interests.

Time for a Different Kind of Marketing

By putting the emphasis on the problems, desires, behaviors, and purchasing habits of your client base, you can start to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing and develop more sophisticated and personalized promotional strategies. Armed with the necessary data, you can start to offer discounts and promotions that are carefully customized to attract each individual consumer, and increase conversion rates.

Bring Them Back into the Store

Equally important, perhaps, is learning how to use mobile to encourage shoppers to visit your brick-and-mortar store. For example, you can generate special promotional offers for online shoppers with freebies that can only be redeemed at the “real” store.

This sort of approach is a new tactic – an online/offline combo that encourages customer loyalty by first meeting people where they feel most comfortable, then encouraging them to buy, and finally – providing incentives that shape future behaviors and facilitate additional purchases.

Look Beyond Your Own

In addition to providing discounts on your own products or services, you can also connect with relevant businesses nearby and offer promotions that tie into your customers’ regular activities.

This type of marketing strategy has become increasingly important – primarily because smartphones allow us to send discounts to consumers as they move about and go through their day. For example, you may want to consider offering free coffee at the coffee shop next to your store, or you can provide discounts for parking at the lot that’s located across the street.

Leveraging Mobile Payment

Customers are comfortable paying for items online, and you can leverage this habit, as well, to bring more people back into the brick-and-mortar store. One way to do this is to encourage “click and collect” behavior – where customers pay on mobile, but then go into the store for pickup. Consider offering special discounts on purchases made when customers arrive at the brick-and-mortar store to collect their already-paid-for purchases.

Apply Mobile Tech to Retail Business

Mobile has its challenges for retailers, but it also opens the door to more effective and successful marketing strategies. And the truth is, that may be just what you’ve been looking for – new ways to grow a loyal client base and further develop your retail business.