HP Innovation Journal Special Edition: Retail Transformation | Page 21

EXPERIENTIAL RETAILING
Mobile’s role in connecting to the consumer
Mobile devices level the playing field for
stores to compete against online retailers
and customers armed with research about
products and prices.
Mobility is quickly becoming table stakes for retailers,
but getting this multipurpose technology right is the key
ingredient to success. Utilized correctly, mobile devices
can be a strong differentiator, leveling the playing field
against e-commerce retailers and redefining the store
experience for shoppers and associates alike.
Empowering associates with mobile devices is the key
to improving store productivity and efficiency. Retailers
are beginning to recognize this, with 36 percent making
mobile devices for associates and managers a top-10 tech-
nology for investment by 2020, according to Retail Info
Systems’ (RIS) “28th Annual Retail Technology Study.”
Delivering enterprise software to associates through
mobile devices can lead to improved compliance via task
management, inventory lookup, managing store sets for
promotions, store audits, reordering, shipment receiving,
online order pickup, in-store fulfillment and shipping,
restocking out-of-stocks, price changes, and much more.
GOING MOBILE TO DRIVE SALES AND ROI
Mobile solutions are ideal tools for increasing customer
satisfaction, engagement and sales. Empowering associates
with mobile devices drives financial performance in the store
by allowing associates to focus on customer sales conversion,
satisfaction and loyalty, which in turn leads to return visits,
lifetime value, and increased market basket size.
However, while more than three quarters of retailers (77
percent) say they give mobile devices to regional or field
managers, only 57 percent give them to store managers,
according to RIS’s “Store Execution Versus Chaos Battle
Plan” research.
Frontline associates have the inside look at stores and
the shoppers in them at any given moment. Open lines
of communication provide headquarters with up-to-date
information on the stores, while giving associates the
real-time company information they need to boost the
customer experience.
Mobile devices also level the playing field for stores to
compete against online retailers and customers armed
with research about products and prices. They prevent
walkouts due to poor service and inability to answer
questions or solve problems. And they give employees the
chance to help shoppers by ordering products not carried
in the store, or even save the sale by enabling an out-of-
stock item to be converted to a digital purchase.
19