Combat Showrooming By Arming Staff with Mobile Tools

Consumers have access to information wherever and whenever they want thanks to the Internet. Today, customer are arguably more prepared and equipped when they visit stores to shop.

But they are increasingly using smartphones and mobile devices to search the Internet for product information, compare and evaluate offers and look for the best deals via price comparison websites, oftentimes right in a retailer’s aisle. The phenomenon called ‘show rooming’ is threatening to  in-store operations.

This access to mobile information has become one of the shopper’s most powerful tools and yet retailers have mostly failed to equip their staff in a similar way, opening up the potential to lose out in a consumer versus retailer mobile technology arms race.

According to retailersolutionsonline.com wider adoption of mobile technology and greater use of truly customer-centric applications will prove an essential tool in preserving the strength of the in-store channel against the growth of online, mobile and omni-channel competition. Mobile devices have been commonly deployed for standard inventory management applications. A new breed of multi-function devices integrated with customer-centric applications has been deployed only by few players.

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