One of the most fascinating trends I’ve encountered recently is the convergence of mobile marketing and traditional bricks and mortar retailing. When I left graduate school a decade ago, retailers were admonished to synchronize their online and offline channels; it was confusing to customers when they couldn’t return internet purchases to their local retail outlet, for example. Customers today are pushing the envelope even further and demanding more from their favorite retailers.
For example, a recent survey stated that 64% of customers took out their mobile devices to look up product information and reviews while shopping in a bricks and mortar store. Think about it! They’re standing in your store, staring at the flat screen televisions, and looking on their smartphones for reviews.
What if you added a QR code to your store signage so that customers could easily access glowing reviews of YOUR store’s service and flat screen TVs? What if by scanning that code, customers could easily access tons of useful, relevant information that would encourage them to buy from your store?
Can you see how the convergence of mobile marketing and retailing is changing how you need to think about your bricks and mortar store?
My latest article for Decoded shares even more revelations from a recent report – and how you, as a retailer, can capitalize on it. Read: Enhancing In-Store Retail Sales with Mobile Options.
Jeanne Grunert, president of Seven Oaks Consulting, is an award-winning direct and digital marketer with over 20 years of senior marketing leadership experience. She’s passionate about mentoring marketing managers and providing exceptional content marketing programs and services to Seven Oaks clients. Jeanne holds an M.S. (awarded with distinction) in Direct and Interactive Marketing from New York University and frequently lectures on content marketing, search engine optimization, and project management techniques.J