Bricks and Mortar, Meet Bricks and Mobile

In the constant struggle to keep up with consumers’ needs, retailers look to engage these consumers on mobile, while they’re still in the store. “Bricks and mobile,” the ongoing move by bricks-and-mortar stores to challenge ecommerce-only retailers like Amazon, is a trend focused on keeping digitally minded consumers engaged while in store.

This idea, an addition to the push to bring more consumers onto a traditional retailer’s app or website, has been adopted in a variety of ways, according to a recent PYMNTS article.

From shopping to customer service, price comparison to items, the applications are getting smarter as retailers fight to engage consumers. Noting this, VentureBeat highlighted the two-pronged approach to technology that traditionally bricks-and-mortar retailers are using—one focused on retail apps for customers and another on employee sales enablement.

Customer Engagement

Piloting new programs just in time for the holiday season, retailers are moving to enhance the shopping experience through the store’s app. Examples include:

• JC Penney has introduced a couple ways to engage customers. First, the company added a ‘search by photo’ feature, allowing customers to take a picture of, for example, a passerby’s boots and see if a nearby location has similar items in stock. In addition, the app can be used to scan barcodes to pull up product information or order out of stock items, as well as saving digital coupons.
• Macy’s, in addition to the photo-searching function similar to JC Penney, has taken inspiration from dating app Tinder, recommending products to customers online who swipe one way to like an item and the other to reject it.
• Best Buy’s app now lets shoppers call, text or email a representative while in stores.

However, retailers’ efforts will face two significant challenges in the looming holiday season: getting customers to embrace the new technology, which is still sometimes glitchy and dependent on in-store systems, and getting them to trust that stores can match the Web’s prices and convenience.

“Poorly executed plans can be worse than no mobile strategy at all,” said Perry Kramer, vice president at Boston Retail Partners. “The dangers are losing those customers for the rest of the year or for a long time.”

Salesperson Enablement

In order to fight showrooming, the common practice of walking into a store to test or compare items before searching online, retailers are enabling their salesforce with apps to help customers make decisions in the store.

For instance, Staples is testing an app that will allow sales clerks to let customers know how the store’s prices match up against Amazon and other rivals. As part of the company’s price-matching policy, this hopes to drive in-store sales while promoting the trust among consumers that they are getting the best deal.

An alternative idea is to encourage upselling using technology. Ulta Beauty is testing an app that will allow clerks to access customer information and point them to products they might like.

Embracing Omnicommerce

Whether it’s e-, m-, or in-store commerce, mobile payments or card-based, retailers need to continue innovating.

With retail purchases by mobile phone up 34% this year, and nearly half of consumers expecting to use mobile phones while shopping in stores this holiday season, 2015 will be a litmus test for not only bricks-and-mobile apps, but a company’s ability to excel in omnicommerce in its entirety.

Whether a consumer is starting online and finishing his or her transaction in store, or searching in store and moving to buy online, a retailer can fit into the equation all steps of the way. Learn more through the following resources:

• The Millennial Generation is Shaping the Future of Payments
• Millennials: How They Pay Today
• Digital Gift Cards and the Rise of Omnicommerce
• An Introduction to Direct Carrier Billing
• Barriers to use of Mobile Payments
• The Next Big Thing? Wearable Payments
• Social Media and P2P Payments: A Brief Overview
• How Subscription Retailers can Avoid Involuntary Churn