New Apps for Mobiles, Social Media Woo Shoppers to Brick-and-Mortar Stores

The latest Buzz to Buy 2.0 by WSL/Strategic Retail reveals that shoppers have been enticed by new, fun mobile apps and social media-driven trends to visit malls and stores instead of shopping online. This trend reversal has taken place after many years.

“For the first time in many years, retailers are getting ahead of the trend, and the shopper, by introducing new mobile apps that create fun, entertaining, and promotion-driven experiences at the malls and in the stores,”  said Wendy Liebmann, the CEO of WSL/Strategic Retail. “By using mobile technology to access flash offers, search best deals, and earn rewards shoppers are, once again, able to make purchase decisions in-store, rather than online at home.”

Candace Corlett, the President of the company, added that savvy retailers are leveraging mobile applications as well as social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to engage shoppers and ensure that visitors to stores make purchases on the spot.

The report has found that smartphones are a game changer in the way people shop. Owners of smartphones use the devices to compare prices (56 percent), take pictures (53 percent), and search for discount coupons (46 percent) when they are in a retail outlet.

Almost 46 percent of apps downloaded are for shopping. Mobile users make use of these apps to receive product information, in-store discounts, and navigate stores.

When shoppers ‘like’ a store or brand on Facebook or Twitter they expect to be rewarded with discounts, coupons, or special offers. The number of people looking for discounts or coupons increased by 31 percent over the previous year. There was a 50 percent increase in the number of people looking for exclusive member-only benefits. This is in contrast to the fact that the number of people using these sites for product information remained flat at 14 percent.

Source: MarketWatch