The future of mobile retail seems bright, and many major retailers are gearing up to ensure they can handle increased sales to the mobile market. As users become more and more reliant on smartphone technology in their daily lives, mobile retail seems poised to explode with the same ferocity as the shift to online sales has in the past decade. Many retailers are looking forward to this new market and acting now to ensure that they can capitalize on it in the future. Understanding the trends that are currently driving the market may help give your retail business a competitive edge as the shift to mobile purchasing continues.
An increase in clothes spending, and notably so in warm winter clothes, seems to spearhead the latest advances in mobile retail shopping. A recent report from IBM notes that customers experiencing cold weather turned to their smartphones increasingly more often than previously to buy the jackets, coats, and scarves that will see them through the colder winter months. The relative predictability of the seasons makes it easy for retailers to quickly stock their new fall fashions and get those items in front of online and mobile retail customers.
Advancements in mobile technology constantly make it easier to shop from home or almost any location with cellular service or a wireless network. This has driven many who may venture out to look for furniture, appliances, and other home goods to browse from the comfort of their favorite easy chair or coffee house and make purchases on their smartphones. An increase in home remodeling and the overall strengthening of the housing market from its lowest post-recession levels led to an increase in home goods sales, and mobile technology makes that shopping trip much shorter and easier.
The fourth quarter of the year is often a do-or-die proposition for smaller retail outlets. In the past, holiday shopping has driven online sales to new levels as consumers adopted new technology and methods previously unavailable. The impending holiday season is likely to continue to spur on growth in mobile retail. The combination of cold weather and convenience that saw increases in fall clothing and home goods is likely to have the same effect on holiday sales. With growth increases of up to 60 percent in the mobile retail market already reported in 2013, it is entirely possible that the holiday season could help further accelerate the adoption of this technology.
Retailers gain many advantages by staying on top of emerging shopper trends and technology. With careful use of mobile applications and quick deployment, it may be easier than ever to capture a large section of this emerging market. Mobile retail looks like it's here to stay, much like traditional online shopping, and companies that embrace this technology and prepare for impending increases in the market are poised for success.
(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)
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