David VanderWaal: Mobile’s effect on shopping behavior is not overstated, but it’s not really understood. All the data show shoppers are using smartphones actively while they are in the store and in transit. Almost 50 percent of those who have smartphones are using them actively.
But what we really need to ask ourselves is not whether they are using smartphones, but how they are using them and what do they want them to do. I recently heard a retailer give a talk on mobile and he said if smartphones are used just as an alternate way to discount products, we aren’t really creating anything. We are just using it tactically to communicate and speak with shoppers about the same things that we’re doing anyway.
What it comes down to is using mobile to get the shoppers the help, convenience and information they need in ways they are currently aren’t getting.