Electronic, department stores need to be mobile-savvy

A new Nielsen study finds that shoppers are using their mobile devices more in physical stores

How people shop on their mobile devices varies widely based on the items they are looking to purchase, according to a Nielsen study out today.

In the new report, Nielsen examines how consumers use their phones when shopping out there in the physical stores to compare prices, scan barcodes or use coupons. 

Nielsen found that 73% of consumers are looking at their mini screens to find and read product reviews when it comes to items they are going to purchase from an electronic store. The second most popular shopping endeavor that led people to review services was department store goods (with 43% of respondents saying they had looked up reviews while at the store) -- the shoppers least likely to look at product reviews while shopping where people at a convenience store (7%) and at the dollar store (a surprising 3%).

If you have ever seen a QR code on a price tag, advertisement or product display and wondered how effective these tools are, Nielsen found that (much like product reviews) the two shopping excursions must likely to include the scanning of a QR code for more information are to an electronic store (with 57% of respondents saying they had scanned a QR code to gain more information) and a department store (with 36% of respondents affirming their action). The least likely to scan a QR code were people at a convenience store (8%), a furniture store (5%) and at a dollar store (2%).

Finally, when it comes to requesting or using a coupon via mobile device, three types of shopping experiences shot right to the top of the chart. Tied for first were grocery store shoppers and department store shoppers (with 41% of respondents stating that they had either redeemed or requested a coupon while in the store) and that was closely tailed by clothing stores (with 39%). The three least likely shopper to request or redeem a coupon on their smartphones were dollar store, convenience store and furniture store shoppers.

We can likely draw the conclusion that dollar store and convenience stores ranked so low in the mobile shopping categories for several reasons: they are places were people are usually in them for quick, cheap impulse purchases; they are already affordable items so further research or deals are less valuable; and the items are less likely to have mobile and technology campaigns tied to them, even if shoppers took the time to search.

As brick and mortar proprietors get a better understanding how people are changing their shopping habits, and incorporating their mobile devices, one would hope that more mobile extensions and deals will crop up to make people find the value in shopping locally rather than looking to Amazon and other online outlets for their shopping needs.