Mobile customer engagement is such a hot topic these days for loyalty marketers everywhere. But, maybe the topic isn’t hot enough?
According to a new report from Accenture, marketers are failing to meet consumer demand for increased convenience while shopping with mobile devices.
Specifically, Accenture conducted two pieces of research: the Accenture Adaptive Retail report, which surveyed more than 10,000 consumers across 13 countries; and a separate benchmarking study that evaluated a global sample of 162 retailers in 10 countries across multiple industries.
Combined, the research findings highlight the need for retailers to become more adaptive to embrace and achieve the connected and integrated shopping experience that consumers seek.
The consumer survey found that the number of consumers shopping “on the go,” with mobile devices, grew 10% in the past year, from 36% of consumers in 2014 to 40% in 2015. What’s more, the number of shoppers who want more retail services via mobile devices, particularly real-time in-store promotions, also jumped this past year, to 47%, up from 40% in last year’s survey.
Only 7% of retailers, however, said they currently have the ability to send real-time promotions.
“Retailers must make every effort to improve their mobile commerce capabilities and keep up with consumers expectations,” said Patricia Walker, senior managing director in Accenture’s Products practice and the company’s North America Retail Practice lead. “To be an adaptive retailer, the experience needs to be seamless experience for consumers who expect mobile devices to ease the shopping experience, both online and in-store.”
The Adaptive Retail benchmark assessed retailers in terms of nearly 200 dimensions that evaluated their performance across six key metrics: Consistent experience; connected shopping; flexible fulfilment; personalized interaction; integrated merchandising; and a better, faster, memorable experience.
Here are some key findings:
Only 1% of retailers provide their sales staff with tablets allowing them to easily access the personal history of customers while they shop in-store.
68% of retailers have knowledgeable staff who can give detailed product information.
When it comes to delivery, 56% of retailers have next-day delivery capabilities, 11% offer same-day, 49% can schedule delivery on a specific day, 57% allow consumers to return online orders to the physical store and 39% have click & collect capabilities.
“This year’s survey confirms that retailers have begun to adapt to the evolving needs of their customers,” Walker added. “However, the challenge they face is investing in building the important digital elements of their channel strategy while remaining focused on driving profits which, in many cases, is still primarily driven by stores. Retailers need to understand, however, that they are actually involved in a race that will likely accelerate as consumers continually seek more value, greater convenience, and better customer experience across all channels.”