While we’ve mentioned before that marketers should think about marketing to individuals and not groups, it is often still very useful to examine subsets of the population to gain perspective on the population as a whole. When it comes to retail, understanding how changes in the retail environment are affecting the way that women shop is really important, especially as it pertains to technology.
Mobile commerce is drastically changing the shopper landscape. According to Internet Retailer, direct mobile sales have grown to account over 30% of eCommerce sales. Mobile retail is nearly doubling year-of-year. By 2017, it’s expected that over half of eCommerce transactions will occur on mobile phones. According to a recent report from Blackhawk Engagement Solutions that explored how women shop in 2016, 71% of women use a SmartPhone for shopping daily. This number is even more staggering when compared to more traditional devices such as laptops (66%) and desktops (46%). Mobile retail, with it’s promise of anywhere anytime is creating opportunities for women to shop that didn’t exist even just a few years ago.
Social and retail are working hand-and-hand to allow shoppers to engage with the brand online, receive special deals for being apart of the retailer or brand’s social network and make purchases through only a few clicks from Facebook or Pinterest. About half of female shoppers have made a purchase using a promotional offer they received through social media. However, email is still king and the most preferred way for shoppers to interact with brands, with 80% of women saying they use promotional offers made through email.
Mobile commerce, unlike shopping in a physical store, is often paired with another activity, or at the very least occurs in a non-traditional setting. Of the women in the study, 61% said they shop while watching TV or streaming shows. About 1/3 admit to shopping online while at work. The most popular time for shopping online is between 4 PM and 9 PM with 44% of women saying that is when they most often shop online. But really, any time will do, as even 10% say they most often shop in the morning between 7 AM and 11 AM.
This isn’t to say that brick and mortar stores are in big trouble (in fact, the opposite may in fact be true), but for retailers, putting your best foot forward both online and in stores is key. According to the same study from Blackhawk Engagement, 16% of women made a purchase online from a retailer while standing in their competitor’s stores in the last six months. Price comparison and the ability to do that easily and in real time is probably a huge factor in this type of purchase behavior.
Mobile retail allows shoppers to be more price conscious and make the trade off between convenience of buying here and now and purchasing something less expensive online that will arrive in just a few days. In 2016, 97% of women said they have the same or greater price sensitivity as they did last year. Of the factors taken into account when deciding to make a purchase, price comes out ahead with 75% of women saying it is the most or second most important factor.
If you’re looking to better understand how your customers use mobile devices to shop, contact us for a consultation.
Tags: Consumer BehaviorConsumer SegmentationDecision MakingEye TrackingMobileRetailShopper ResearchTrends