Today I had the opportunity to listen in on the Webinar: Happy Holidays or Not: Mobile Lessons Learned, and Best Practice for 2010.

The webinar was interesting and provide some good facts about how the mobile phone assisted the 2009 holiday shopping season.  It is truly a global trend according to e-Rewards and TNS international, which reported over 50% of Internet Users worldwide, used their mobile phone to support shopping in some capacity.

Some of the trends that have become clear are that mobile shopping will not be the complete solution.  It is an enabler of many different activities involved in the overall shopping and purchasing experience. 

Of the users that utilized their mobile phone for a least one shopping related activity, Asia-Pacific shoppers lead the world by a comfortable margin (78%) followed by Latin America (62.4%), Europe (49.4%), and North America (45.1%)

The top mobile shopping activities where:

§  Called to ask someone about a product they might purchase

§  Texted to ask someone about a product they might purchase

§  Sent a picture of a product they might purchase

§  Used mobile phone to access Internet to look at a product reviews or other product information

§  Used mobile phone to access Internet to compare prices

§  Used mobile phone to access Internet to get coupons or special offers while shopping

§  Made an Internet purchase directly on the mobile phone

Although, it may be too early to say that 2009 was the tipping point for mobile shopping and related activities; it is clear the mobile will continue to be a shopping enabler in the coming years.

According to RIS and IHL group “store systems study” retailers in North America in the next 12 months will be rapidly offering additional mobile shopping information.    Listed below, in order of priority, retailers will be adding the following mobile technology to enable shopping:

§  Product Information

§  Couponing

§  Mobile Ordering

§  Stock Check

§  Price Comparison

§  Payments

All of this data leads to the best practice for retailers wanting to offer their customers mobility in 2010. 

The best bet for retailers appears to not try and build an end-to end mobile shopping solution but rather picking a simple and straightforward way you can help enable your customers utilize the mobile when shopping.

Consumers are not going to use their mobile to complete 100% of the purchase but retailers who are able to provide customers with mobile enablement along the way will complete more purchases. 

Posted on: Thursday, January 28, 2010