The smartphone has fundamentally changed the in-store shopping experience, turning retail aisles into hubs for product research, price comparison, reviews, and mobile purchasing. Research from Mercator Advisory Group shows that consumers increasingly rely on their mobile devices while shopping, using them to compare competitor pricing, read customer reviews, locate discounts, and even complete purchases without leaving the store. As mobile-enabled shopping behaviors continue to evolve, retailers face new challenges in retaining customers and creating seamless experiences that bridge the gap between digital engagement and physical store visits.
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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.”
7 stats on In-Store Shopping, modified by mobile use:
- As of 2019, 85% of U.S. adults own a smartphone – 94% of adults aged 18-34
- 65% of smartphone owners check competitor pricing while in store
- 47% of consumers made a mobile purchase while in store in 2019
- 62% of smartphone owners do product research in-store in 2019
- 54% of smartphone owners read product reviews while in store in 2019
- 56% of shoppers seek in-store discounts by searching on their phone
- 49% of shoppers have checked the retailers shopping app for discounts while in store
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.