Mobile commerce and order-ahead services are continuing to redefine the role of the physical store as consumers increasingly expect faster, more convenient shopping experiences. Research from Mercator Advisory Group highlights how retailers are balancing the operational challenges of buy-online-pickup-in-store models with opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce order errors, and create more personalized customer interactions. As mobile-enabled consumers blur the lines between digital and in-store shopping, retailers are being forced to rethink pricing, inventory management, and the overall purpose of brick-and-mortar locations in an increasingly connected retail environment.
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Data for today’s episode is provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s report – Behaviors of Mobile-Enabled Consumers Complicate the Meaning of “Going to the Store.”
4 challenges & 3 benefits of Order-Ahead for retailers:
- Challenge: Pricing must be consistent between online and in-store offerings
- Challenge: Dynamic pricing (changing price online based on consumer) doesn’t work in-store
- Benefit: Error reduction – online orders are less prone to error than face to face or phone
- Challenge: Online ordering for in-store pickup requires exact inventory data
- Benefit: However brief, the pickup counter for order-ahead is still an opportunity to upsell & cross sell
- Challenge: Retailer apps to facilitate order ahead tend to leave behind unregistered “guest” checkout
- Benefit: Highly engineered customer experiences – look & feel, policies, inventory, etc.
About Report
When card-not-present makes the customer-not-present, what is the function of a store?
Consumers armed with smartphones first disrupted brick-and-mortar retail by comparison shopping while in-store. Now nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults who comparison shop in-store end up purchasing elsewhere. Buy-online-pickup-in-store services shorten shoppers’ store visits to fleeting appearances. From electronic price tags to “dark stores,” retailers seek the right store capabilities to retain and serve their mobilized customers.