How mobile has re-invented shopping

If you have ever paid attention to the layout of a mall or a well-designed retail space, a few things become evident. The architecture of the building is designed to activate your impulsive purchasing behavior. Everything from the layout, lighting, presentation of merchandise, fixtures, floor coverings, colors, sounds, odors, and dress and behavior of the sales personnel is crafted to make you cave in to your impulses. This elaborate system that marketers spent years working on and perfecting is slowly fading into irrelevance.

The future, in this case, lies in your pocket. Ever sat in a cab and suddenly felt the urge to take out your smartphone and rifle through and compare prices for a laptop that you want to upgrade to? These impulses are what are termed as ‘micro-moments’ and it is these moments, ones where the thought and the intent is soon followed by action(taking out one’s smartphone or tablet) that will define the future of the shopping experience. The evidence of the pervasiveness of mobile in our shopping habits is all around us. Any respectable e-commerce outlet offers a downloadable app and most big brands also follow the same wisdom.

What is truly interesting however, is how consumers are slowly warming up to the idea of making big decisions like buying a house, a car, etc on the small screen. In the auto category, for example, searches on mobile are growing 51% year over year. Also noteworthy, is the fact that consumers rely on their phones as a shopping attendant throughout the entire purchasing process.

This means that immediacy and relevance are of paramount importance to brands everywhere. But how do brands ride on these impulse purchases? How do they meet their customers in their ‘I want to buy’ micro moments? Here are a few tips that will help you on your way.

Know your consumer’s micro-moments

Talk to your consumers — in stores, through surveys, in focus groups and forums and gather data as to when and how they make purchase decisions.

Be there when they need you

Create a comprehensive strategy that works out across channels such as search, video, social, and display. Keep in mind that consumers may be at different geographical locations such as their home, outside or anywhere in between.

Always be relevant

Simply being there in these moments isn’t enough. Try and figure out the mood of the moment and keep up to speed on latest developments.

Make the purchasing process as simple as possible

The step from research to purchase should be a simple and seamless one. Give the consumer multiple ways to buy — whether that means driving them to your e-commerce site from a YouTube video or from a local inventory ad to a nearby store.

Measure every moment that matters

It’s no longer enough to simply measure the online conversion. With mobile, the path to purchase is now fragmented. As a result, advertisers need to measure results online, across devices, in apps, and even in stores.

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