'Mobile reliant' shoppers and the in-store experience

Successfully leveraging mobile as part of an in-store experience is a challenge for retailers, but a new survey from DMI sheds light on some of the features that shoppers want to access via smartphone — and highlights a highly desirable segment of engaged mobile shoppers.
DMI calls them “mobile reliants”: they have three or more shopping apps on their phones and have made at least one purchase via mobile, they say they use their mobile devices “all day” and also use that device regularly or every time when they are shopping. They are 17% more likely to be Apple users than Android users, and they are already using their phones in-store to take pictures of items they like, compare prices and access coupons, among other tasks.
Jeremy Gilman, VP of strategy for DMI, said that many companies are trying to figure out the in-store piece of mobile experience. DMI has been working on laying out a roadmap for companies to utilize as part of their digital strategy. The company benchmarked the mobile in-store experience for a number of brands earlier this year, and the shopper survey follows up on that work.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations with CIOs and CMOs who are struggling with this,” he said. “They say, ‘I know I need to do something to take better advantage of the mobile experience in brick-and-mortar locations, but I don’t know exactly what that is.'”
Although the majority of “mobile reliant” respondents were Millenials, Gilman noted, it wasn’t exclusive to the younger demographic. “It ends up being a little bit more about the behavior than it is about the age,” Gilman said. “These are really great shoppers — they love shopping, they’re shopping more than others, and they have more apps. If retailers can create an experience that speaks to this group, we generally feel like the data points to the fact that this group would reward those retailers.”
Asked about features they would like to see on mobile shopping apps for in-store experience, mobile reliants wanted utilitarian, price-driven options rather than “discovery”-focused options to introduce them to new or featured products. They wanted the ability to check an item’s price via mobile or use in-store promotions, and the third most-popular potential feature was the ability to check themselves out via mobile. DMI found that 20% of mobile reliants are parents, and their biggest pain point was the last 10 minutes in the store — the time spent checking out.
Chik-Fil-A has also done research that found that 82% of Millenial parents “say they would do almost anything to avoid long lines at fast food restaurants when they are with their children. In fact, nearly half (48 percent) said they would rather not eat at all than stand in a line.” Chik-Fil-A’s app recently garnered media attention by spending a number of days at the top of the iTunes list — not just because of the free sandwich that the restaurant chain offered for downloading it, but because it offered faster service to young families by enabling ordering, meal customization, and payment in advance from app to cut down families’ time in line.
“We know time is valuable, and we’re excited to offer this new convenience that will empower guests to order what they want, when they want it and exactly how they want it, all from their mobile device,” said Michael Lage, senior manager of digital experience for Chick-fil-A, in a statement on the app’s development. “This app was developed based on customer feedback, so it was specifically designed to give our guests an even more convenient and personalized experience in our restaurant.”
Gilman noted that retailer-specific apps have the ability to integrate shopping history, frequently visited locations and other customer data that third-party coupon or beacon-based offers do not — because they don’t have access to customer data that the retailer does. As mobile shopping and purchasing continues to gain momentum, the prospect of an eager mobile audience to target offers particular promise: DMI’s survey found that mobile reliants said if they could get the app features that they want from a retailer, 97% of them would use the app, 82% would visit the store more often and 85% say they would spend more money.