Bridging mobile and retail buying experiences will repave the path-to-purchase

Customers don’t live in silos - they move throughout their days with smartphones in hand, serving as constant consultants for a majority of their daily decisions. In order to better connect and engage with increasingly tech-reliant consumers, retailers have to consider how they use mobile both inside and outside of stores.

To deliver mobile purchasing experiences that encourage shopper engagement, retailers should reimagine the customer journey—from start to finish—as involving mobile at every step.

The path-to-purchase historically includes a number of steps to get customers into a retail location and through the checkout line. Brands used to have to depend on traditional touchpoints to connect with customers outside the store, including print or digital advertisements, while battling competing messages from independent consumer research, reviews, and word-of-mouth. Today mobile technology gives brands the power to insert themselves earlier and more consistently into the consumer buying process by delivering critical product information right to the shopper and controlling every stage of the conversation.

Mobile allows brands to enter the buying conversation earlier and have a role in shaping the buyer’s perception.

The customer’s behaviors and medium choices at any given time