My fellow blogger Rockey has recognized the arrival of Mobile-apps and the increasing retail presence in the space[i]. I want to further expand on this topic by recognizing some important trends – predicted boom in smartphone usage and increasing demographic variety of users. Both of these suggest customization as a way of creating value of the consumer interaction in this space.
1. Mobile-apps are booming
There over 30,000 apps on the Apple appstore and they are growing by the day. The rest of the major players – Microsoft, Palm, RIM and Google either already have or are planning to open an appstore of their own. The number of smartphone users capable to access those apps is expected to quadruple in 2013 growing to 100MM[ii] . The large variety of apps paired with the ever improving technical specs of the phones are truly driving the convergence into a single device for work and play – work an Excel sheet, level a bookcase, find a favorite song or your parked car and play an office prank with the iFart app.
2. User profile is changing
At first, smartphones were only used by the high income early-adopter user type. However, this trend is quickly changing with prices becoming more affordable and users willing to spend more for a multi-functional device. The growth rates in iPhone adoption are three times higher in incomes $25K - $50K as compared to over $100K[iii]. This trend will most likely continue into the future and smartphones will penetrate even further into a variety of demographic segments where users will have starkly different interests and needs. Combined with the plethora of information, available apps and the small screen size for access, customization will become of high priority.
Both of these trends imply that if a retailer does not yet have a viable presence in mobile-apps they need to start working on it. But even more importantly, the retailer needs to be thinking of ways to provide a customized experience that will be essential in user satisfaction and creating value in this space.
Retailers can start by customizing the landing page based on the user profile when their domain is accessed by a smartphone. To solve this they can marry their current segmentation approach and identify the top 3 product groups and activities that those segments perform on their web page or store. Then, they can classify the phone user (getting the data from the mobile carrier) based on the segmentation and offer them the tailored landing page. If the user is classified to be part of the “Retired Consumer” segment, then they could be shown quick links to books, prescriptions and online photo. For the “Teen” segment the user can see music, fashion and school supplies. This can be further tailored by the specific user behavior and preferences exhibited over time.
Additionally, retailers can improve the in-store experience by converting the smartphone into a functional shopping assistant. Large retailers can provide annotated store maps and pair them with the built-in phone GPS to assist in getting to the right places based on the user shopping list. While browsing the store the user can take a picture of an item bar code with their phone camera and use an app to match it against the product database to see e detailed list of features and reviews. Users can get tailored promotions on their phone as they are shopping and redeem right off their phone at the register. Market basket analysis performed on the specific user segment can be used to suggest relevant complements to the shopping lists created by the user. Users could also be allowed to create “profiles” of their own, like Health Conscious , Environmentally Friendly or Price Focused and establish goals associated with that – concentrate on low-fat foods, save an additional $100 a month, lower carbon footprint etc. A mobile-app can be provided by the retailer to track the products purchased and match against the established goals, along with suggesting relevant products and additional activities that meet those goals.
