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The truth about mobiles and shopping
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The truth about mobiles and shopping
If you’ve spent the last few years worrying about mobile showrooming, then the results of a pioneering study of those who actually use shopping apps might surprise you… Far from trying to head off the rise of mobile shopping, your greatest opportunity might lie in encouraging it Share this
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The truth about mobiles and shopping
A lot of shoppers carry apps on their mobile phone that enable them to find product information, compare prices – and seek out better deals. A lot of those shoppers have at some point used those apps to find out if the store they are standing in really offers them the best deal they can get. These are the kinds of topline data points that give both brand marketers and retailers sleepless nights. Mobile has been earmarked as the new frontline in their bid to maintain share of shoppers’ spending: they must use it to steal shoppers and spend from others – or be the victim of such mobile showrooming themselves. But what if we asked a different, and much more detailed set of questions? What if, instead of asking if people had used a particular app, we asked them when, how often and what for? Even better, what if, instead of asking them to recall how often mobile influences their shopping behaviour, we asked them to describe exactly how it influenced it as it happens – or at least so shortly afterwards that the distortions of human memory didn’t skew their answers?
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The truth about mobiles and shopping
A new approach to mobile research In a groundbreaking approach to mapping the real influence of mobile on shopping in the US, that’s exactly what TNS did. And the results suggest the need for a major rethink on mobile’s current and potential role. On the one hand, apps are not diverting shoppers from buying products in anything like the numbers that previous research has suggested; on the other, retailers’ impressive equity in the mobile space mean that they are best placed to lead its development as a disruptive influence – and they have plenty of good reasons for doing so.
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Our approach was straightforward – and entirely focused on shoppers who actually use shopping apps. We used mobile listening technology to detect when the people in our survey actually used the different apps on their phones, and we then served them an invitation to participate in a quick mobile survey at what was likely to be the most appropriate moment. We didn’t want to cause frustration by actually interrupting their shopping experience, so the survey arrived either within a few hours or the next morning. It asked simple, purposeful questions about how they used their phone for shopping and other activities. We asked these questions when mobile shopping was front-of-mind for our participants. And we kept the survey short, so that it would feel natural to complete it then and there, on their phone.
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The truth about mobiles and shopping
Installed is not the same as used One of the first things that our new approach showed was that, although lots of people do have a range of mobile shopping apps on their phones, very few of those people use them on anything approaching a regular basis. For example, of all android phone owners with a product info or price comparison app installed on their phone, only 24 per cent had used it in the last month. When we examined the behaviours of all our participants, we found that only 10 per cent had used a product info app in the last month. And price comparison? The mobile functionality that is supposedly leading potential buyers to walk out of store doors in droves? Only 5 per cent had actually compared prices on their phone in the past month.
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By far the most popular apps for monthly usage were those that enhanced the shopping experience rather than disrupting it: mobile coupons and retailers’ own sites had both been used monthly by more than a quarter of participants. Retailer app users had used them on two of the last five shopping trips on average, more frequently than any other type.
Just because it’s mobile doesn’t mean it’s in store The next key finding involved where those who had just used a mobile shopping app had actually used it. Contrary to the popular image of the mobile showroomer, this wasn’t usually in a store. Almost a quarter of our shoppers had used their apps whilst browsing or walking aisles, but far more had done so at home, 59 per cent in all. Another 11 per cent had used their apps on the way to the store (either in the store parking lot itself or whilst traveling by train or car), rather than in the store itself.
By far the most popular apps for monthly usage were those that enhanced the shopping experience rather than disrupting it.
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The truth about mobiles and shopping
What really happens when shoppers compare prices in the aisle? What of those that did activate their apps within the store environment? Did those apps hijack the path to purchase in the way that we might expect? Only to a limited extent, as it turns out. When we focused on those who had used their phones to compare prices in store (in other words, those most likely to do something different to buying the product they had originally planned), we found that 35 per cent had simply continued to buy the brand and product they originally intended, in the store they were standing in. Only 13 per cent switched to another store, with 10 per cent opting to buy online and 11 per cent switching to a different product. The second most likely outcome of comparing prices in store was that the shopper didn’t buy the product type at all (31 per cent), potentially a reflection of the fact that some shopping trips are focused on browsing rather than buying.
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App use varies across categories… The usage patterns for price comparison and other mobile shopping apps vary across categories, of course. Our research showed that use of shopping apps was fairly evenly divided between groceries and other categories (48 per cent had triggered our survey by using their app on a grocery shopping trip). Those shopping for non-grocery items were significantly more likely to use their apps to compare prices, with white goods, electronics, clothes and shoes the most likely products to be compared. They were also slightly more likely to change their minds and buy a product online rather than in a store, although still only 15 per cent did so the last time they used an app.
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The truth about mobiles and shopping
Clothes, shoes, electronics and white goods also featured prominently amongst the products that shoppers were most likely to use mobile coupons to buy – although plenty of FMCG items made this list as well. Food and beverages were the most popular focus of coupon use, and household products, oral care, hygiene and hair care had all been discounted by around a quarter of our app users. It is coupons rather than product info and price comparison that represents the dominant use of apps in the store environment.
… but the drivers remain the same Although the usage of apps may vary across categories, a remarkably coherent picture emerges when it comes to what shoppers really want from them, how they actually use them, and whom they trust to deliver the mobile-enhanced shopping experience that they want. So if mobile shopping apps aren’t the retailer-wreckers they are often perceived to be, what are they?
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As with all elements of the shopping experience, people want mobile shopping solutions to save them time, money and angst: 63 per cent said their last use of an app had saved them money or earned rewards, 35 per cent said it had saved them time and 33 per cent said that it had helped them make a better decision. However, the best environment for mobile apps to save time, money and angst isn’t the store itself, when most shoppers want to get on and buy things, it’s in the moments before they head out on their shopping trip. Mobile apps aren’t so much shopping companions as shopping planners.
So if mobile shopping apps aren’t the retailerwreckers they are often perceived to be, what are they?
The real mobile shopping moment is in the home This is why product info apps are three times more likely to be used at home than in a store – and coupon apps are six times more likely to be accessed before somebody heads out on a trip rather than while they are engaged in one. Even price comparison apps are more likely to be used when planning a trip than during one.
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The truth about mobiles and shopping
Where’s the trust, really? Just as significantly, retailers themselves appear to enjoy a clear, current advantage when it comes to influencing shoppers in this trip-planning phase. A seamless, trusted brand experience that can offer information on availability, pricing and product features appears far more welcome than aggregated information about prices at different stores. Indeed it may be that consumers have far less faith in independent price aggregators than is often assumed. Retailer apps hugely outscore other types when it comes to how useful shoppers consider them to be, and it’s noticeable that 74 per cent of those using them said that they had saved them money or earned them rewards. This has the potential for making
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mobile the natural channel for brand and retailer promotions. Rather than disrupting and frustrating shoppers in store, apps could be used to deliver pricing messages and promotions in the trip-planning phase when they are most likely to be welcomed.
The mobile opportunity Far from being undermined by the promise of mobile-related shopping solutions, retailers appear to be the best placed of all mobile players to deliver them. If they can develop solutions that respect the key drivers of mobile shopping behaviour, and make trips happier, easier and more convenient, then have an open invitation to improve their shoppers’ experiences, secure loyalty and increase spend.
Far from being undermined by the promise of mobile-related shopping solutions, retailers appear to be the best placed of all mobile players to deliver them.
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The truth about mobiles and shopping
About Intelligence Applied Intelligence Applied is the home of the latest thinking from TNS, where we discuss the issues impacting our clients, explore what makes people tick and spotlight how these insights can create opportunities for business growth. About TNS TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and customer and employee relationships, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions. With a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the world’s consumers than anyone else and understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of the world. Please visit www.tnsglobal.com/intelligence for more information TNS is part of Kantar, the data investment management division of WPP and one of the world’s largest insight, information and consultancy groups. Please visit www.tnsglobal.com for more information.
About the author Bob Burgoyne, Global development director, is focussed on TNS offer development in areas involving non-traditional data sources, including both behavioural data and social conversation. As part of TNS’ Technology Enabled Research strategy, he works with a multi-functional team to incubate new, truly ‘data-source agnostic’ solutions. Prior to this, Bob worked in a range of primarily client-facing roles in the UK, India and East Africa.
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