Mobile devices are redefining how we shop. For many traditional brick & mortar retailers, mobile hasn’t always been a positive experience. From showrooming to on the spot price comparisons, sales can be seen walking out the door.
Yet in spite of the growing popularity and convenience online shopping offers, it’s not a “sucker” bet predicting the demise of the in-store experience. Statistics Canada reports year over year (November ‘12-’13) retails sales actually grew by 3.1%.
Bringing digital and the physical world together is now about creating the brick & mobile business. Thanks to Rogers Mobile Shopper solution, old school businesses can officially walk into the new school.
It’s somewhat fitting they’re announcing a new machine-to-machine (M2M) solution at the Wavefront Wireless Summits in Vancouver as well. This years conference has attracted over 500 attendees eager to learn more about driving business transformation with wireless and mobility solutions.
Mobile Shopper enables customers to engage with brands in-store through mobile offers, applications and mobile payments technology with their smartphone. RioCan, Canada’s largest owner of shopping centres is the first to trial the Rogers Mobile Shopper solution in select Ontario-based shopping centres.
Rogers Vice-President, Advanced Business Solutions, Mansell Nelson shares “with the deployment of this Smart Wi-Fi platform there’s a fair bit of basic leg traffic that retailers and mall operators are very interested in understanding. They’re interested in maximizing the flow within the malls. For retailers, this is a great opportunity to focus on getting the most out of their expensive real estate commitments.”
By combining a wireless network connection with mobile applications the Mobile Shopper platform is delivering relevant content and information. Customers who choose to opt in to the service on their mobile device will have an opportunity to receive daily offers and promotions. The focus is putting the customer experience firmly at the middle of this new universe.
Mobile Shopper is helping reshape the Canadian retail landscape by:
-
Enabling customers to engage with their favourite retailers across multiple channels from social media to the web and the store;
-
Ensuring customers get targeted and personalized offers, messages and information that are relevant to them;
-
Offering an efficient transaction process with mobile point-of-sale solutions and tap-and-go technology.
Mansell offers, “it gets really exciting for the shopper who opts into any retailers application. This is about creating a more personal and entirely new in-store experience. By having access to real-time information and applications on your mobile devices we’re helping transform how you shop and make purchase decisions.”
With ever improving infrastructure, faster connectivity, and more powerful devices there’s no question many retailers will dispelling the old mantra, “I know 50% of my marketing budget is working, just not which 50%”. Business is gaining more customer insights daily. But consumers can get equally as familiar with the practices and values of who they chose to do business with. It’s one thing to enhance the experience, but it’s altogether another thing to interrupt or intrude on the experience. It will be the walking of this fine line that bears watching.
