3 steps to providing a personalized mobile retail experience

This year, the retail landscape is set to continue in its journey of digital transformation. With an increasing amount of consumers turning to online shopping options to discover and purchase products, our dependence on the brick-and-mortar store is steadily declining.

According to Business Insider, over 3600 physical stores are set to close this year. Though this may sound alarming, this doesn’t mean that retailers around the globe are slamming down their shutters and shutting up shop.

Instead, smart retailers understand and act on the importance of providing consumers with a personalized mobile retail experience in order to survive this industry upheaval.

According to research by Statista, an estimated US$669 billion in global retail commerce revenue will come from mobile in 2018. But in order to succeed, you’re going to have to do more than just create a mobile app. Today’s consumers are demanding a better shopping experience, one that delivers personalization and heightens engagement.

What do your customers want?

There is no doubt that one of the popular demands of consumers is the want for more personalization. But what brands should really be thinking about it where this personalization should begin. And to be clear on this, brands must audit their current customer-centric mobility.

Delve deep into your data. Ask yourself, which areas are lacking in customer engagement? Where are sales being lost? As well as this, ask yourself where your customers are engaging most.

Brands wanting to stay relevant in today’s digital age need to start optimizing their current content for mobile and should consider setting aside a budget to fund the development of a mobile app.

Make your mobile app your priority

The creation of a retail mobile app is important not only for enhanced user-experience but also for becoming a valuable source of customer data which drives personalized experiences.

Retailers are able to automatically collect data from customer profiles, retrieving information on a shopper’s browsing or purchasing history in real time. As well as this, loyalty programs and reward points native on the app can be an additional source of data while also enticing customers to come back to your brand.

Not only should you be creating a killer mobile app, but you should be striving to create retail mobility by creating an experience that merges both the physical and digital retail worlds. For instance, credit cards can be stored on an app to be used both online and for in-store payments.

A mobile app allows your brand to build valuable connections and interactions with consumers from which you can gather powerful data to inform new strategies.

Leverage the power of analytics to create a smooth and personalized mobile retail experience

With mobile, retailers are able to spot trends that were once invisible. For instance, at what point are shoppers dropping out of the purchasing journey and why is this? From this, you can work on improving many features which will increase the chances of converting users of your site into paying customers.

Perhaps mobile’s most important benefit is its ability to make the customer experience not only more enjoyable but easier. A 2017 survey by UserTesting found that “ease of use” and “speed” were two of the biggest differentiating factors in mobile app experiences.  Thus, functionality and performance are important factors to consider in your mobile retail strategy in order to reach success.