Smartphones — Shifting Power Back To Retailers Through Localized Data

December 2012 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

By Simon Thompson, global director of commercial solutions, Esri

Smartphones allow retailers to know where customers are and how they are interacting with the product.

Technology and the great recession have changed retailing forever. Just five years after the release of Apple’s first iPhone, retailers are able to engage customers on their own terms. Gone forever is “Clonetown USA” with its repetitive retail landscape. The connected consumer, armed with a world of information in the palm of his hand, is a very different person today, and retailers need to keep evolving to outsmart the competition and thrive.

Recent statistics have shown that almost half of all phones are smartphones. Close to 30% of shoppers use mobile and social locationbased searches on their smartphones every day, and that number is rapidly growing. One easy and effective way to search is with a QR code. Lucky for retailers, more than a third of all QR code users are prepared to supply their age, sex, or ZIP code. And, this isn’t a one-time query. During 2011, frequent scanners, those using QR codes more than 20 times, grew from the year before by a phenomenal 350%. Whichever way you look at it, the connected shopper is here to stay.