Does Mobile-Enabled In-Store Visibility Correlate to Higher Sales?
Posted by Alex Samuely on Feb 14, 2018
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Here’s a thought many retailers have found to be true over the last few years: Amazon-led ecommerce has shifted consumers’ expectations to a state of wanting their purchases now, if not sooner. The prevalence of two-day—and even same-day—shipping options has fueled shoppers to engage in digitally-enabled instant gratification much more than they did in previous years. The same holds true for in-store instant gratification, which relies heavily upon shoppers’ desired inventory being in stock and available to take home immediately. However, per the NewStore Omnichannel Report, only 30% of retailers offer in-store visibility through their mobile website or native app. This means that nearly one-third of retailers are missing out on potential sales opportunities that could be cinched by a quick glance at neighboring stores’ inventory.
For instance, if a customer visits a footwear retailer looking for a particular pair of sneakers but is unable to find them in the right size, an employee with access to mobile-enabled store visibility—via a company-issued tablet, perhaps—can quickly check whether a nearby location or shipping center has them in stock. In the likely event that one of those locations does, the employee can arrange for the sneakers to be overnighted to the customer’s home address, all with just a few taps of their finger. Not only does this fulfill the shopper’s desire for instant gratification, it eliminates the possibility of the shopper going to an online competitor in a bid to get the shoes in a faster timeframe. All in all, it’s a great customer experience—one that demonstrates to mobile-savvy consumers that bricks-and- mortar stores still have their cache, and are not wholly replaceable by online marketplaces.
According to Forrester Research, 41% of retailers have demonstrated significant positive impact on their in-store revenue since employing mobile-enabled inventory visibility. It clearly makes a notable difference in the shopping journey—in both the customer and employee experiences. Simply put, retailers can’t afford to avoid bridging the gaps between their physical and digital realms, especially when the allure of one-stop shops containing every type of retail category beckons. Brands still have the opportunity to marry some of the newer aspects of omnichannel with their existing retail techniques, and set themselves up for a year full of digital disruption and higher sales.
