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Mobility is making a huge impact on how retailers deal with everything from inventory visibility to customer experience — with the ultimate goal of increased sales.

Mobile devices are making their way into all aspects of retail, from consumers to associates and managers. This is causing a shift in everything from online marketing to workforce management.

The Impact Of Mobility

Mobility has impacted retail like no other technology except for the Internet. The technology is rapidly being embraced by

retailers, associates, and customers at a rate previously unseen in the world of retail, where new technologies are normally slow to make it to the mainstream. Even e-commerce was not as readily adopted by traditional retailers, with many entering the market late and having to play catch-up. It appears these same retailers have learned

their lesson when it comes to mobile technology adoption.E-Commerce has grown to more than 5 percent of all retail

transactions, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, and it is continuing to grow. The fastest growing segment of e-commerce is mobile commerce (m-commerce), as consumers become more comfortable making purchases on mobile devices with smartphone penetration exceeding 50 percent of the market. Mobility offers a unique market for retailers to reach customers, but it is also causing headaches when it comes to “showrooming” and customers having more data than associates.

This is a big part of the reason retailers are embracing mobile technology in the store. Associates need to be armed with at least as much data as the customer. Comparison pricing, inventory levels, shipping times, and unique product details can all be available to the associate to better engage the customer. Add in customized suggestive selling and customer history, and the engagement can take on a much more personal level and lead to increased sales.

Mobility And OperationsBut customer engagement and sales are only parts of the equation. A retailer’s workforce is still the single largest expense for a company, next to inventory. In today’s market, it is imperative to have the most efficient, productive, and engaging workforce possible. In order to accomplish this, many retailers are turning to mobility to help a sometimes smaller staff accomplish so much more. Managers can use mobile devices to photograph planograms and displays to send to corporate, monitor associate hours, and receive push notifications from corporate. They can make instant changes to schedules and report issues to loss prevention without ever leaving the store floor, which is where they need to be.

Associates are able to complete sales from anywhere on the floor and place an order for a customer. They can show competitors' prices and stock levels across the entire enterprise. They can compare brands and show the best warranties and options, all while not leaving the customer’s side.

Managing this mobile workforce is becoming a cost-saver for retailers, which goes directly to their bottom lines. Furthermore, mobile is fast becoming the best way to engage the customer and maintain operational efficiencies.

Bob Johns Associate Editor Integrated Solutions For Retailers/Retail Solutions Online

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RetailSolutionsOnline.com l August 2013 l Mobility In Retail Research Supplement

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etailers know that their biggest challenge remains in how to merge the digital and physical selling worlds into one compelling, seamless customer experience.

Mobility may be just the bridge that the retailers need to join the two sides together with brand consistency.

The Role Of Digital Channels The business model that will support both the digital and physical shopping habits of consumers is still

being explored throughout the industry. But there are several “knowns.” First and most importantly, consumers expect to have the ability to

engage in a dialogue with those who offer solutions to their lifestyle needs. Now it’s all about relationships built on trust that hopefully will result in transactions.

Secondly, consumers want transparency. In other words, they want

to be able to see information about products and services, and they want it to be accurate and consistent. A perfect example is price transparency — consumers want to be able to compare competitive prices, even as they are shopping in the store.

Third, consumers want anytime, anywhere shopping and fulfillment options made available to them, depending on their lifestyle needs.

Finally, consumers want to talk to others in the community about their choices.

Retailers are learning that the reward for providing a rich experience to consumers is enhanced sales and profits. Early adopters of digital channels saw them mostly as a new opportunity to “sell stuff.” But this year’s results (i.e. from the report Omni-Channel 2013: The Long Road to Adoption) show a shift, as retailers begin to think of the digital channels in the context of the overall brand experience. Although many retailers still see digital channels as providing a new way to engage in commerce, the biggest attitudinal shift (from 14 percent only a year ago to 25 percent now) comes from retailers who now believe that the value of the digital channels is that they provide consumers with “everything you need to know” to make the best purchase

Bridging The Digital Divide With MobilityRetailers now have a great opportunity to better connect with their customers through mobile devices in the hands of customers and associates alike.

0 5 10 15 35Source: RSR Research, June 2013

Figure 1: Shifting Attitudes About The Role Of Digital

Commerce — "to sell stuff"

To provide the consumer "everything you need to know to buy" products and services

15%

33%26%

12%

25%14%

13%18%

12%8%

10%16%

2013 2012

To educate consumers about our company and brand

To drive traffic to stores

To help the consumer "build your personalized solution"

To encourage the consumer to "buy the lifestyle"

RBrian Kilcourse,managing partner,RSR Research

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decisions (see Figure 1 on previous page). There is no consensus among retailers about the primary role of digital.

Clearly, although consumers may be taking full advantage of instant access to information about anything, anywhere, and anytime, retailers are still mulling over how they should use the new capabilities available to them. Perhaps the biggest opportunity for retailers now is in defining how to harmonize digital and physical selling channels, rather than letting the competition figure it out first.

The importance of digital (and particularly mobile) channels to act as a “shopping assistant” to consumers — even while they are in the store — is coming into focus for more retailers. Curiously this is so even more for average and below average retailers — 28 percent and 30 percent, respectively — compared to only 20 percent of "winners," retailers that outperform their competition on sales and profitability. However, it is important to point out that the notion of using digital channels as self-contained “stores” is on the wane for winners in particular; in our 2012 study, 43 percent of them thought of digital channels as an opportunity to “sell stuff,” compared to only 25 percent now.

What About Mobile?Throughout this report and in our work generally, Retail Solutions Research has made a pretty big deal of the fact that “smart mobile” is the technology trigger that brought the need for an omni-channel selling environment to the forefront. Consumer studies abound, and they all say the same thing: Consumers everywhere have integrated smart-mobile capabilities into their lives. For retailers, it has meant a fundamental change; the consumer now carries “the store” around in his pocket or her purse, and that changes the very fundamentals of how retailers and consumers interact.

But in this study, having “a mobile commerce platform” is given short shrift. How can it be? The answer is in the data point on this page (Figure 2). Retailers far prefer to use a mobile-optimized Web page that links to the existing e-commerce platform rather than implementing a separate mobile capability.

This finding reflects something we discovered in our December 2012 study entitled The Impact of Mobile in Retail, where, “84 percent of

retail winners (even more than the 73 percent of laggards) say that an e-commerce site that can extend to mobile is very valuable.” As we noted in that report, the complexities associated with developing and managing mobile applications have caused many retailers to look for an alternative. But recent improvements in the language of the Web (e.g. HTML5) deliver many of the perceived advantages of a mobile application, particularly those relating to geo-location-based applications. Retailers hope that the value of mobile can be realized without having to manage all the complexities of a mobile application environment.

Keeping Options OpenIn theory, the same information and the same business rules should be employed uniformly across all selling channels, eliminating the need

for separate selling systems for different selling environments. Theory notwithstanding, most retailers aren’t buying it. They contend that there are differences between the physical selling environment (the stores) and digital environments that can’t be ignored (for example, store POS registers have to be able to calculate and dispense change). For that reason, a majority of retailers want to keep their options open (see Figure 3). n

0

10

20

30

40

50Source: RSR Research, June 2013

Figure 2: How Much Convergence Is Really Needed?

A mobile-optimized Web page linking to our exist-ing e-com-merce site

24%

50%

2%

24%

A custom-ized down-loadable mobile applica-tion

A third-party down-loadable applica-tion that features our brand (among others)

Don't know/can't say

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Source: RSR Research, June 2013

Figure 3: Winners Believe In Channel Platform Convergence

There are some opportunities for convergence to a shared platform, but there will always be a need for some stand-alone capabilities in each channel.

10%

52%

4%

34%All of our selling platforms will converge to a single platform.

Nonstore (digital) channels will converge to a shared platform.

There will always be stand-alone commerce platforms for each channel.

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Brian Kilcourse is managing partner with Retail Systems Research (RSR). RSR provides insight into business and technology challenges facing the extended retail industry, providing leadership and advice on navigating these challenges for specific companies and the industry at large. The RSR Research Mission is to elevate the conversation about retail technology to a strategic level within the retail enterprise.

John Maxwell is the global leader for retail and consumer practice at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC). With more than 28 years of experience serving blue-chip consumer products and retail companies, Maxwell is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced professionals serving the industry. Maxwell is also responsible for coordinating service to PwC's largest global consumer goods and retail clients.

iven the competition for their attention in the digital age, many consumers are quick to recognize “advertising as interruption” for what it is. This new reality raises the bar for what passes as compelling

content: Ads must entertain and, more importantly, engage consumers as never before. The goal is to manage the process better while at the same time making advertising messages more relevant to today’s media-savvy consumers.

No one would dispute the notion that advertising strategy — from messaging to media planning — is to transform as times change. As Coca-Cola Executive Vice President and CFO Gary Fayard said at a recent industry conference, “You’ve got to change your marketing mix, you’ve got to change what you’re doing, because consumers are somewhat liquid, and they evolve, and they are changing all the time with what they’re looking for. And to connect with those consumers, you’ve got to change your marketing.” Smartphones, tablets, and digital readers vie for consumers’ attention along with the Internet, television, radio, and ink-on-paper editions of newspapers and magazines. Unlike in eras past, there are no simple gold standards in advertising currencies today.

The Rise Of The Mobile InternetAccording to Nielsen, by 2015 the ratio of time spent watching television to using the Internet will be 79:21, while in 2011 it was 83:17. In 2015, the way consumers will access the Internet will also look much different than it does today, with the smartphone accounting for 40 percent of Internet traffic, computers 34 percent, and tablets 26 percent. Global spending on mobile apps is projected to soar from $7 billion in 2010 to $35 billion in 2015. The Internet is expected to surpass newspapers as the world’s second-leading advertising platform, behind television, by 2015 — a watershed that, given technology’s rapid pace of change, may strike many people as long in coming. As consumers spend more time on digital experiences, advertising enjoys an expanded value proposition. Those

consumers can be reached more often and via more touch points. By applying analytics to individuals’ browsing behaviors, advertisers and their agencies can now identify specific individuals more likely to take the desired decision — and to spread the word among their friends and contacts, digital and otherwise. And if a shared ad takes off, it can generate returns out of all proportion to the investment, especially if integrated across media. In China, PepsiCo’s Bringing Happiness Home campaign — featuring Pepsi, Lay’s, and Tropicana — was delivered simultaneously on TV, online, in-store, and at people’s homes. Two weeks into the campaign, its main 10-minute minimovie had been viewed over 100 million times.

To take full advantage of this effect, it is critical to understand the extent of cross-platform media consumption. In one example, a recent Tetley Red Tea campaign targeting women ages 25-to-44 found that a combination print and online campaign successfully improved perceptions of the product across three different consumption groups. In fact, it did so much more efficiently than did the print-only or online-only facet of the same campaign. Mobile digital devices can offer an entirely new dimension of consumer data. As more people begin to use their cell phones to make purchases, for example, the more data there is that can be collected. Already, through the use of GPS, some advertisers have begun to target consumers based on where they happen to be at a particular time.

The advent of social media is a potential game-changer. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have enabled advertisers to form direct relationships with consumers. Two-thirds of Internet users worldwide use social media, and many of those users, especially young people, welcome conversations with their favorite brands. Capitalizing on these relationships can yield a host of benefits for consumer-products companies. Building a network through social media can enable a company to create a global community around a popular brand.

To see PwC’s entire report on Reaching The Connected Consumer, please go to www.ismretail.com/go/pwc. n

Reaching The Connected ConsumerToday's consumers wake up with their smartphones and are constantly connected. Retailers need to reach these connected customers in new and innovative ways.

Gby John Maxwell

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ith the worldwide economy slow to recover from the Great Recession, as it is being called, retailers are being forced to do more with less, operationally. At the same time, these companies are struggling to

make the transition to becoming omni-channel retailers and offering the same brand experience for the customer no matter what channel the touch points take place in. Technology is taking the lead in how retailers are making this transition, and no technology has had a greater impact than mobility.

In retail, we have seen a great shift from strictly a product focus to a focus on the customer experience, and in the stores, nothing affects this experience more than the retail associate. Associates have been at a disadvantage, though, as retailers have slashed hours and fallen behind in technology. When customers have more access to information on their smartphones than the associate, it makes the associate and the retailer look bad. The same thing happens when retailers fail to have the right associates on the floor at the right time to serve these customers.

Mobility And OperationsThis is where mobility can come to the rescue. Having been on the operational side of retail with brands like Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret, and LensCrafters, I have seen how crucial workforce management (WFM) is to the brand-customer relationship. Retailers now have a great opportunity to leverage mobility and WFM solutions to build this relationship into recurring sales and a higher lifetime customer value (LCV or LTV). This total value of an individual customer to your brand can mean the difference between a profitable retailer and one who is destined to fail.

Retail associates are already familiar with mobility, with the majority probably already bringing their smartphones to work with them. This lessens the learning curve as retailers deploy mobile technologies in the stores. One of the easiest ways to get started with mobile in WFM is with push notifications and Web access for associ-ates. When a schedule comes out, it is as simple as the push of a but-ton to have all of the associates notified it has been posted to a secure site through text messages or SMS. Associates can then access the schedule with their mobile devices and review their schedules. At the same time, if associates have a conflict with the schedule or end up having to call off for any reason, they can send a message to be posted to an associate bulletin board. Associates can then see what days and shifts need to be filled and bid for them. All of this is taking place in

real time, so managers are not bogged down making 30 phone calls to fill one opening when someone has a doctor’s appointment.

Getting Managers Back On The Store FloorFor managers, all of this can take place with either their own or a com-pany-issued device. The key is it must be mobile. Managers need to be out on the floor supervising, training, and helping associates and interacting directly with customers. If they are tied to the back office, a significant portion of their day is lost on less-productive scheduling activities. The same thing can be said for other activities. With mobile devices deployed in the store, managers can now make better use of their employees. When developing a schedule, WFM solutions are assigning hours based on skills and rankings. With a mobile device, many of these rankings can skyrocket. When you have associates who are good at changing planograms working off a mobile device, they have instant access to each product’s new loca-tion, SKU, image, and even how many should be in the store. In the past, they would have to carry around a large binder with impossibly small type and images, or just the page from that binder which would often be lost or ripped, to set that same planogram. Associates can jump right out of the planogram solution into mobile POS to check out a customer or the website to check stock for a customer. After they finish with the customer, they can get right back to the planogram. When it is complete, a message and even a picture can be sent to the manager or corporate for verification. This associate has just improved their efficiency in both customer service and planogram resets.

Mobility is impacting WFM in other ways, too. Associates can punch in and out on mobile devices, both company and BYOD (bring your own device), using location restrictions and biometric identification. They can be given access to pay stubs, W-2s, and daily tasks. Associates can technically walk into the store, grab a mobile device (or use their smart-phone if the company has a BYOD policy), punch in, and know all of their tasks for the day. This can eliminate wasted time while they would nor-mally wait for a manager to discuss each task or to ask questions about schedules. All of the details can be ready at the push of a button. n

Mobility: Helping Managers And Associates Save TimeMobile devices not only make customers happy, they can also improve day-to-day store operations.

W

Laura Ravo has nearly 20 years of experience in retail operations, having worked with such national brands as Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret, Limited Brands, and now LensCrafters. Ravo has emerged as a leader in the WFM and operations space, having spoken at numerous confer-ences and retail events. She now manages store operations for over 980 LensCrafters retail outlets across the U.S.

by Laura Ravo

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UTC RETAIL offers a suite of in-store solutions, including software, hardware, and services, which help retailers to thrive in the ever-changing and always accelerating retail climate. With 25 years of experience and over 420,000 store-level installations, we have been recognized as the industry leader in delivering outstanding service and exceptional value. Most recently, UTC RETAIL was named a top 20 overall provider in the 2012 RIS News Software LeaderBoard. UTC RETAIL was also listed as a top 10 vendor in 15 key categories, including overall performance, total cost of operations, customer satisfaction, return on investment, ease of installation and integration, ease of administration and maintenance, and quality of service. By taking advantage of our excellent service and leveraging innovative, modern technology, our solutions provide you greater flexibility across multiple channels and platforms, and extend the long-term benefits of your investment. For more information on UTC RETAIL, visit us at www.utcretail.com.

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Without a doubt, mobility continues to be a hot topic for retailers. However, the conversation is now beginning to extend beyond how retailers can best use mobile in their stores to how retailers can ensure an extended product life cycle and a long-term ROI for the application they choose to deploy.

Retailers are often frustrated by the lack of in-store mobile functionality offered by many vendors today. For example, not all mPOS solutions

support returns or unique transaction types, such as special orders. Also, only a few solutions offer functionality for inventory lookups or cycle counts. As with any IT venture, the ability for a mobile application to support both current and future needs is critical. What good is your investment if your ability to enhance

your store operations or customer experience is limited by the software provider’s available transaction set?

Additionally, retailers are becoming more interested in choice. iOS-based products are definitely the leader in the current mobile install base, but it’s not the only option out there. There are even a handful of in-store mobile-solutions providers that allow you to run on multiple platforms, giving you the option to deploy in more than one environment now or to make a change down the road.

Some retailers have already decided to implement a mobile solution, while others wait. However, the “right” mobile solution for each retailer will continue to be defined as one that fits its operational needs and technical requirements and is also a sound financial investment.

For More Information On UTC RETAIL Go To www.utcretail.com

Making The Most Of Your Mobile Investment

Kathy Kiely-Skaggs, VP of sales and marketing, UTC RETAIL

Brother Mobile Solutions (BMS) is a premier provider of mobile printing solutions for field, warehouse, route, public safety, retail, and healthcare workforces. The product lineup includes compact, mobile thermal full-page and small-format thermal receipt and label printers; handheld and desktop laminated label printers; and wide-format, desktop thermal paper label printers. The new TD-2000 Series of powered desktop label and receipt printers offers a new print alternative for the retail store, kiosk, bakery – and more! The series features compact 2.2” wide label printers with flexible power and wireless connectivity options to print labels, tags, or receipts from virtually any location in the retail environment. Fast, compact, and transportable, the TD-2000 Series delivers a combination of desktop and mobile perfor-mance previously unavailable in a single printing solution. Visit www.brotherTD.com. Headquartered in Broomfield, CO, Brother Mobile Solutions, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brother International Corporation, and part of the Global Brother Group. Visit www.BrotherMobileSolutions.com.

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Celerant Technology, a privately held corporation, provides high quality, advanced retail software and is atypical as compared with other enterprise-solution companies. In addition to traditional planning, implementation, training, and support services, Celerant provides a range of customized services designed to serve the more complex retail enterprises. These services include custom development, integration with ERP and legacy systems, and integration with alternative points of presence. What distinguishes Celerant is our advanced technology, supported by experienced professionals who offer personal attention to every retailer. Celerant Command Retail is a real-time, multi-channel software that has ranked as a top retail software vendor for over 10 years. All channels of a retail enterprise are fully integrated into one system, including POS, warehouse, inventory management, sales back office, mail order/catalog, mobile applications, and E-Commerce/M-Commerce. Celerant’s custom, sophisticated websites expertly manage and market inventory, directly from Command Retail, eliminating the need to re-enter data. www.celerant.com

Direct Source provides cutting-edge in-store mobility solutions, including full mobile payment capabilities (debit, credit, EMV, and NFC). Retail mobile implementations are becoming more and more complex. Retailers need customer-facing mobile technology that meets shoppers’ evolving mobile POS demands. At the same time, store operations need mobile technology to help effectively manage inventory. To truly maximize a mobile strategy, we help retailers evaluate how mobile can benefit the store system as a whole and improve the shopping experience. We supply technology from many mobile manufacturers and develop custom applications using scanning and payment sleds to meet unique store-level needs. We’re also a leading supplier of PCI payment technology. When it’s time to roll out your new mobile solution across all stores, Direct Source will integrate and install nationwide! Call us at 952-934-8000 or email sales@directsource.com. Visit us at www.directsource.com or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

VeriFone’s GlobalBay Mobile Retail Solutions enable retailers to create more intelligent, responsive, and agile stores to shatter previous selling barriers, anticipate consumer needs, and create more frequent, meaningful, and profitable buying transactions. mPOS – Expand the selling radius. Free associates from behind the cash wrap to reclaim the store floor and create more sellable moments. iPad Retailing –Witness multiple benefits from a single device. Transform the iPad into a powerful selling tool to maximize sales and streamline operations. Create unlimited selling opportunities with omni-channel capabilities and save sales with access to out-of-stock inventory. Clienteling – Make shopping personal again. Create white glove catered experiences for every customer consistently across the retail chain. Measure the value of every interaction on the bottom line. Mobile Inventory Management – There’s a smarter way to manage inventory. Gain instant visibility to in-store inventory and save hours of staff time currently spent on inefficient inventory management processes. www.verifone.com

MaaS360 by Fiberlink is the trusted enterprise mobility management solution to more than 4,500 customers worldwide. We make working in the mobile era simple and safe by delivering comprehensive security and management for applications, documents, email, and devices. Retail organizations use MaaS360 to enable mobile initiatives that enhance the customer experience, provide real-time access to inventory and product information, increase service levels, and improve productivity. MaaS360 secures sensitive information and prevents data leaks to help retailers maintain compliance with PCI regulations. Instantly accessible from the web, MaaS360 is easy to use and maintain, and provides the flexibility retailers need to fully embrace mobility in every aspect of their businesses. Backed by the most responsive support in the industry, we put our customers first by providing them with the best user experience for IT and employees. To learn more go to http://www.maas360.com.

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