Mobile's Effect On Back-To-School Shopping

By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1

It’s hard to believe that the back-to-school shopping season is upon us given that the previous school year ended just a few weeks ago (for those of us in the Northeast anyway). As July marches on, parents, caregivers, teachers, and students are hitting the stores early to get the best deals. According to NRF, back-to-school/college rakes in $72 billion and that nearly 50% of back-to-shoppers look for sales (35% rely on coupons). To date, retailers such as Macy’s, Walmart, and Target have begun back-to-school promotions in earnest. Mobile devices greatly impact how consumers research and purchase products, and as a result, they will play a significant role in the 2014 back-to-school shopping season. With the proliferation of smart devices, how does your mobile strategy accommodate back-to-school shoppers?

According to eMarketer, 65% of Gen Y and 62% of Gen X indicated they decided against a purchase based on information as a result of a product search conducted on a mobile device. Mobile searches continue to increase, and consumers are unhappy when they can’t easily find the product information they seek. Easy-to-find, up-to-date information and customer reviews are not only helpful, they’re expected. The same goes for mobile apps. Mobile app users are currently leveraging apps primarily to check other retailers’ prices and for coupons or discount offers with many also checking product reviews and researching product information (say it with me — showrooming).

According to CFI Group, 47% of mobile application usage is dedicated to checking product prices at competing retail brands. One way retailers currently engage digitally with their customers is by sending offers through their mobile devices. Forty-five percent of consumers redeem coupons and offers received via mobile. CFI Group also states that, overall, 41% of consumers reported using mobile applications while shopping in stores, almost double the proportion (21%) from last year. As suspected, millennials use apps while shopping more than other age groups. However, while millennials are typically the focus of retailers’ mobile efforts, most consumers of all ages indicated that they have two to four shopping apps installed, proving that mobile isn’t a millennial-only trend (my colleague, Matt Pillar, wrote an article for our July issue corroborating this very point). Indeed, in the case of back-to-school shopping, it’s important to know the segment of your audience holding the purse strings; it is not only millennials, but also the 35+ age group. A portion of your back-to-school mobile strategy can cater to your entire audience, which means more than one app.

There’s plenty of time to implement changes to a mobile strategy, because as NRF reports, the back-to-school shopping season can extend into October. For retailers that choose to extend their back-to-school campaigns into the mobile and digital spaces, the goal should be to reach customers however they choose to shop the brand.