Busting mobile-shopping myths
What do mobile shoppers really want? Less than
many retailers think.
Understanding what
matters in mobile is
increasingly critical as people become ever more wedded to digital devices. In
the United Kingdom, for instance, two out of three adults own a smartphone,
checking it an average of more than 150 times a day.1 And two-thirds of smartphone and tablet users say mobile
has meaningfully changed the way they shop, with more than a third of them
visiting fewer brick-and-mortar stores2 —a number that only seems set to rise.
Perhaps it’s no wonder
many retailers are scrambling to invest in digital apps, as well as other
sophisticated tools and features. Yet they should stop and ask what consumers
really want. Because while the perfect mobile strategy has yet to be devised,
fresh McKinsey research on mobile habits in the United Kingdom3 suggests it should be based on a simple principle:
providing a fast, easy, enjoyable shopping experience. Few mobile shoppers are
actively looking for “bells and whistles,” such as video, expert opinions, or
magazine-style articles—at least not yet. They want clean, mobile-optimized
sites with easy-to-read pages that load quickly, easy-to-use shopping carts,
and smooth checkouts.
Mobile myths and their implications
There’s no doubt that additional digital
functionality can help differentiate brands and engage customers over time. Yet
none of that matters unless companies take care of the basics. Our research
debunked several myths often heard in boardrooms about what consumers value
most when it comes to mobile shopping.
Myth #1: The app is the answer.
Many retailers believe
that a mobile app will help them attract new customers and stay top of mind. Yet
our survey respondents were twice as likely to use mobile sites rather than
apps, with only 11 percent noticing any meaningful difference between the two
platforms. Apps do appear better at engaging the best customers than attracting
new ones: loyal customers are more than twice as likely to install an app.
However, as the number of shopping apps proliferates, many people seem
reluctant to use them: barely 30 percent of mobile shoppers have more than two
shopping apps, and only 7 percent have more than five. And having an app
doesn’t always translate into traffic: half of those who installed an app
stopped using it entirely—whether to get content, browse products, or check for
deals—if they weren’t making regular purchases.
For retailers seeking meaningful growth in
traffic and sales, the first priority should be a great, mobile site that’s
easy to use (with a notable exception for grocers, where our research found
that apps do matter more). After that, building an app may make sense if it
provides additional features that customers really value, such as fuss-free
price comparisons, easy-to-access saved baskets, and delivery tracking.
Myth #2: The difference between good and great on mobile is
‘cool’ features.
For most of the people
we surveyed, basic functionality is far more important than novelty or dazzle.
Load speed, for example, matters about 60 percent more than having videos.
Respondents said the three most important functionalities were smooth checkout,
the ease of adding and dropping items from a basket, and site
navigation—apparently because they reduce the biggest frustrations associated
with mobile shopping. A cumbersome site is likely to cause some visitors to
leave before finalizing their purchases and discourage them from returning.
Myth #3: Showrooming is a show stopper.
Many retailers fear
that shoppers are “showrooming”—visiting stores in person to see products and
then making their purchases at other stores or online at lower prices. And it’s
certainly true that more than half of smartphone owners use their phones in
stores, and two-thirds of those compare prices.
Yet most
brick-and-mortar retailers should worry less about showrooming. Why? Because
most people end up buying from the retailer eventually, and 58 percent of them
do so at brick-and-mortar stores—most of them at the very store where they
started. So, while some 56 percent of all consumers who have made a purchase
(online or offline) conduct research online, the share of sales influenced by
mobile is much greater than sales actually made by mobile.4 That suggests that while price is important, other factors
such as the in-store experience and convenience continue to play major roles in
purchasing decisions. After all, is it really worth driving to another store
across town or waiting for a delivery to save a couple of dollars or pounds?
Myth #4: The main value of digitization is in driving self-service.
Digital tools may
allow some retailers to employ fewer people in some areas, such as inventory
and checkout. But we found that the right digital tools may make other
employees more valuable than ever. In fact, six in ten mobile shoppers believe
that sales assistants with digital tools can help them find products, explain
options and features, order out-of-stock items, and so on. In fact, shoppers
view mobile-enabled sales assistants—particularly in showrooms and large-format
stores—as enhancing the shopping experience, underlining the need for retailers
to find and train motivated, well-prepared, and well-equipped employees.
It can be perilous to cling to these mobile
myths. One specialist retailer actually had to institute an “app amnesty” after
discovering it had spent more than a million pounds on more than 30 apps, most
of which had fewer than 5,000 installs; performance couldn’t be measured
because metrics were limited or nonexistent; and the intellectual property
belonged to the app developers, not the company. The retailer analyzed user
behavior and quickly learned that customers didn’t value the apps, because they
didn’t provide useful functionality. It eliminated most apps and refocused on
building a responsive, commerce-focused mobile website that provided the basic
services that customers wanted, deprioritizing app development until the site
was running effectively. Besides saving money on app development, this approach
helped simplify the company’s mobile strategy and allowed management to focus
on what delivered value for both the customer and the business.
Understanding what customers want and need is the foundation of
retailing—you don’t stay in business long if you persist in offering products
for sale that few people buy. Companies should take the same disciplined
approach to mobile strategy. The best performers will be those that develop a
deep understanding of the decision journey that shoppers undertake and what
they really value when it comes to mobile shopping
byLiz Ericson, Louise Herring, and Kelly Ungerman
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/consumer_and_retail/busting_mobile_shopping_myths?cid=other-eml-nsl-mip-mck-oth-1501
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