Mobile’s impact on retail is just beginning

Emily is about celebrate her Sweet 16, and mom is busy with work but turns to her mobile phone for help.

In a matter of seconds she has opened an event planner application, got suggestions for snacks and the estimated cost for 25 guests, ordered a custom birthday cake, asked for top gift suggestions and compared online prices all while she is making dinner for the family.

When she gets to Wal-Mart her “in-store mode” application takes over and tells her where to find the items on her shopping list. She scans each item as it goes into shopping cart with the Scan & Go application and saves $25 on a laptop computer when presenting an online price comparison from a competitor, via her smartphone. Headed for the check-out, this savvy consumer pays for her purchases via a credit card stored in the system and is quickly on her way home.

The perfect cake is delivered to her house, just in time for the party.

Gibu Thomas, senior vice president of mobile & digital at Wal-Mart, says this is the happening today as mobile technology is changing the way we live, work and play.

“It’s hard to believe the iPhone is just seven years old, but it has truly changed the world because the iOS was so superior to any other operating system. Its developer tools allowed software programmers to easily engine applications which are radically impacting every faucet of our lives today,” Thomas said to a room of business professionals at the University of Arkansas’ supply chain conference on Thursday (April 11).

A resident of San Francisco, Thomas says he hails his taxi cabs using Uber, a mobile application that deploys the nearest taxi to your present location and traces the cabs route right to your door. Credit card information is stored on the application so paying for the ride is more convenient.

“How hard is to program an electronic thermostat, not a problem when a mobile app can do it for you and then allow you to turn it off and on from your smart phone.” he said.

It’s no wonder mobile is having such a disruptive effect on traditional retail, but Thomas says it will be the retailer who best integrates mobile with brick & mortar and social contexts that will win the hearts and minds of consumers.

Analysts like Carol Spieckerman, CEO of New Market Builders, says Wal-Mart is out front in this regard. She says they are leveraging their brick and mortar assets with the mobile technology and turning up interesting results.

While some big box retailer fears “showrooming” Wal-Mart is using mobile technology to enhance in-store experiences. Spieckerman says Wal-Mart has embraced this opportunity to get closer to their customers, through a series of mobile applications that facilitate the in-store shopping experience.  

Thomas says e-commerce brought store to the web, but it is mobile that brings web to the store. Wal-Mart is doing that with site-to-store deliveries, digital couponing with shopping in the physical store and testing storage lockers for online purchases within physical stores.

“We also fill online orders from stores, roughly 50% of our e-commerce sales are filled from stores,” Thomas said.

With data collected via electronic receipts Thomas said tests are being done to create future shopping lists based on prior trips.

“We can get to 80% accuracy on the things a shopper will buy on their next trip. Not accounting for special events,” Thomas said. “The best shopping lists are those you don’t have to make.”

He said Wal-Mart continues to search for ways to transform shopping experiences with the help of mobile.

“Say your toaster breaks and you need to purchase a new one. You go online from your PC and our search engine brings up several options for you to chose from. But if you search from a mobile application, we know where you are geographically, so that search is enhanced to tell you to order online, and then you can pick it up 2 hours later at a store 3 miles away,” Thomas said. “This is mobile bringing retail to the store.”