How consumers use mobile to shop?

Even though brick and mortar retailing is still dominating the retail sales, mobile commerce has now slowly started to make its mark. With the advent of mobile app development companies, apps of mobile commerce are on the rise. Shoppers now do not look for an omnichannel experience, instead they create one. Consumers these days are using mobile as a catalyst to rush them into stores where they finish the path to purchase.
Stats depict that mobile is facilitating cross channel purchases:

According to FierceMobileRetail, downloads of shopping app grew more than 170percent in 2014.

• Over two-third of the users of Pinterest dynamically make use of the boards of Pinterest while shopping in-store.
• According to Internet Retailer, mobile commerce presently accounts for about 30 percent of the total e-commerce sales in the US.
• According to Synchrony Financial, about 80 percent of the major purchases begin with online research and end with in-store purchases.
• A Synchrony Financial research discovered that 73 percent of shoppers conduct their research during in-store visit with 87 percent of respondents finishing the purchase in-store.

How consumers use mobile in their omnichannel experience?

Just like consumers are building their own omnichannel experience, they are also deciding on how they build their own experience and usage of mobile app is a significant part of it. Mobile apps and mobile web are both an essential aspect of the shopping experience. Still, apps built by mobile app development companies with their deeper analytics, integration power and robust technology can do more to drive the omnichannel and in-store experience. Smartphone users devote more time on mobile apps as compared to the time they devote on mobile websites. A recent study by comScore has also shown that retail apps are rising in popularity, with apps of Cartwheel, Walmart and Kohl depicting 85%, 402% and 259% growth usage year after year.

How can retailers make use of apps to augment their omnichannel experience?

Keep the branding and experience reliable. Starting from your website to your store to your app, consumers create a perspective about your brand and anticipate the same customer experience at all times. Create digital experiences in mobile apps that motivate customers to retail stores for shopping. Below are few examples:

• In-store pickup, mobile ordering.
• Omnichannel shopping cart: the shopping cart of a customer is consistent from app to desktop to in-store.

Incorporate the technologies of digital in-store. Technologies like beacons are set to influence around $44 billion in retail sales but beacons can do more than that. Reflect on the use case of a consumer choosing an item in-store. As the customers walk through the entrance, beacons can alert them that their order is all set for pickup at the service counters and a loyalty offer of 20% off on accessories related to purchases is provided. There are many ways that retailers can utilize beacons and various other in-store digital technologies to boost the omnichannel experience.
Customers have already become accustomed to the omnichannel experience. Integrating both offline and online channels to create a smooth experience is vital in simplifying the path to purchase, gratifying the progressive mobile shopper and forming customer loyalty.