According to a just-released report by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), a majority of shoppers (58 percent) who use mobile devices take a “showrooming” approach to look up information while shopping in stores, rather than talk to employees.

These consumers use mobile devices to compare products and prices, check reviews and find deals from retailers. Even more, the study finds nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of mobile shoppers indicate they perceive the information they gather via their mobile device as more beneficial than the information available in-store via product displays or sales literature.

Shopping for technology and electronics is the most common category for mobile, in-store showrooming (60 percent), followed by groceries (55 percent), apparel (47 percent), shoes (45 percent), and health and beauty products (39 percent).

The study also found a majority of mobile shoppers concerned about privacy (61 percent) and security (58 percent) when using their devices while shopping in-store. As noted at Opus Research’s Place Conferences and in our coverage, privacy concerns remain critical factor for retailers to overcome when developing consumer engagement applications via indoor location technologies.

But if retailers provide a fair exchange of value for customers, a significant majority of mobile shoppers (81 percent) indicate they would be willing to share some form of personal data with retailers in exchange for benefits in return. Location information (48 percent) was most common, followed by user profile information (46 percent) and personal contact information (40 percent).

In a soon-to-be-released report, Opus Research has found customers use between 4 and 5 different “channels” (including email, phones, websites, social media, mobile apps and brick-and-mortar stores) to carry out business with their chosen firms. With new tools emerging for customer engagement, companies, including retailers, will need to make sure the customer experience is consistent across channels.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Articles, Mobile + Location

Tags: indoor location, CEA, mobile shopping, retailers