Developing and executing an effective mobile strategy for store employees is still a struggle for many retailers, but they need to get past it. Mobile phones have become a vital shopping tool – for both shoppers and the associates that serve them – and when effectively deployed, mobile can significantly and positively impact the shopping experience and ultimately sales.

I don’t know what to say about this piece. Of course you’re going to want to check out reviews, which are theoretically impartial. But that is totally separate from engaging with a sales person during the shopping process.

Feels like comparing apples and oranges.

I’m always suspicious of claims like this with no data on how many were polled and when. That and from a company that maintains a collection of coupon web sites. From the survey I did with Oracle NetSuite of 1,200 consumers and 400 retail executives we found more than 1/2 of consumers feel stressed, anxious, alone, overwhelmed and confused in the store. No wonder they revert to their phones.

With only 39% of consumers feeling confident, I would suggest there has never been a better time for associates who provide service. In fact, with only 11% of retailers reporting they are “definitely” confident that their staff has the information and training needed to deliver a personalized experience this is common knowledge buried by exuberant technology spending. The time to be more human has never been greater in-store.

It’s the blend of the art and science which drives outstanding in store experiences. The demand for empowered, educated and incentivized store associates or brand ambassadors in retail is greater than ever. Consumers will be leveraging their smart phone devices 24/7, yet the main attraction to go to a retail store is to interact and engage with another human being.

Perhaps in the grab and go convenience space, the Amazon Go smart phone model rules. Yet, in the high touch arenas, such as lifestyle, beauty, home furnishings, health, fashion and luxury calls for brand ambassadors to help drive increased conversions, average unit retail sales, and units per transaction. All of which contribute to additional revenues and margin improvement.

So the question remains, why not empower your store associates with their own smart phone/tablets solutions to help the front line team to be on a more level playing ground as the customers?

This research result is due to the intersection of two factors. The first is the difficulty in finding a knowledgeable sales associate in the store. The second is their phone is always there and can be seen as neutral in the sales process. It is not trying to sell an item, earn a commission, etc. It is simply providing information on which a decision can be made.

As more people rely on the phone, the retailer sees less a need for a trained staff, and they shift labor to handling the sales transaction. As this occurs the consumer learns to rely more on their phone and retailer shift more emphasis on their mobile apps.

I would like to know how many consumers were polled in this survey, but even RetailMeNot’s press release doesn’t include that number. Surveys like this always make me suspect.

So, we know from the survey that brick and mortar is still the most important channel for consumers, and that mobile devices are the number one in-store shopping companion – in reality, smartphones have become our everything companion. This makes sense because who hasn’t reached for their phone to google an item while shopping? And while this may be the norm in some stores for some shoppers for some items, let’s be realistic here: smartphones will never make store associates obsolete. Each plays a different role in the path to purchase.

First, if the replacement of sales associates were to happen, it would only happen in certain retail formats and categories. Some categories will not stand for a cold, impersonal environment. What may happen is that sales associates will not carry mobile devices, but rather voice-activated wearable devices that will enable them to stay with a customer, make voice-activated inquiries into stock, help, get product features, communicate with peers and superiors and much more. You can witness such technology in the Theatro Communicator, deployed in a number of well-known retailers nationwide.

Now in the physical world, retailers are pondering whether a trained sales associate is necessary to achieve the holy grail of the in-store “customer experience”? Really? Compare and contrast physical and online shopping. Online shoppers have access to hundreds of reviews, product information galore and still online conversion hovers at around 3% with return rates anywhere from 25% to 40% plus. Missing from this conversation, the unspoken frustration of abandonment, a customer simply just giving up the search for what they came to a physical store to buy.

It will be easy for some retailers to drink the smartphone “Kool-Aid” as the only evidence needed to reduce sales costs. How has this strategy worked out for Sears, JC Penney, and all the others? Customers are humans, not robots in an Amazon distribution center.

Best Buy and Target are way out in front here, and ironically the fusion between the associate and the shopping experience leverages almost all the same data the consumer themselves have through a web-based version of the inventory availability picture.

Specifically, Best Buy shines here because of the nature of the purchase there vs. a more commodity buy. That’s how they have the leg-up on Amazon currently.

The question is a good one, but the answer varies by industry, so there’s no one broad answer to satisfy everyone!

I don’t think smart phones will ever obsolete sales associates. Even if the item is found in the store through technology, there will always be the opportunity for questions. I believe that the B&M retailer’s huge responsibility is to offer facilities that create emotional desires through product presentations, not just “pile ’em high and watch them buy,” or a mass of hangars holding something I can’t see on a round rack. Todays retail brick and mortar must think like Disney … it’s all about technology, in-store entertainment and emotion, along with well-trained associates who want to be there.

First, I’m skeptical of any “research” paid for by a third party — it tends to find results that match that party’s objectives.

That said, this is the direction things are headed, albeit probably at more conservative numbers. This topic is not unlike other recent RetailWire discussions about virtual assistants and in-store AI applications. The technology is there, it’s not going away, and most importantly, consumers are more and more accepting of it and embracing it IF it helps their customer experience.

I absolutely see the benefit to getting first-line info and product reviews via a self-serve digital platform. So often there aren’t associates around and when there is one, so often it’s hit or miss as to what their product knowledge is. I’m a believer in technology to handle the initial consumer data gathering experience, supplemented by experienced/knowledgeable/well-paid associates. That model is feasible because, after the technology investment (which is fast becoming table stakes), less staff at career-sustaining salaries is workable.

If any retailer still needes proof they need to be mobile-first in their customer focus, this is it. Of course, this surprises no one. The better question to ask is why consumers continue (they have been saying this in surveys for years now) to say they prefer finding product information from their smartphone than a store associate. The answer is that they expect the store associate to be unhelpful and lack the knowledge they need. Countless surveys in recent years have stated this. The solution? Retailers need to focus on training their associates not just on product knowledge, but on how to deliver great service to customers and give them the technology tools they need to help those customers. This is where mobile devices can make a difference. One of our customers equipped their associates with tablets and various assisted selling apps that drove an increase in conversion rates of nearly 40% over a holiday shopping season. When done right, this is a proven approach to improve the customer shopping experience. However, when done wrong,… Read more »

Consumers like both types of support. For coupons, other incentives and product store location (in some stores), a mobile device is typically the best source. To find items in the store or to get advice on products, the store associate is the best source. Retailers should use these guidelines to balance associates and mobile investments. The retailers which I think have the best balance of mobile tech and sales associates are Target, Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot.

First of all, this is what happens when you build “warehouses” for 30 years, which encourage self exploration and secondly, don’t focus on hiring, training and PAYING well. But, there’ll be time to “fix” this in the new, much smaller world of physical retail to come, where your associates better learn how to one-up the robots and Google or you’ll have to close all of your stores vs some of them.

No, smartphones are not replacing sales associates. Instead, they are enhancing the sale through better, more informed decision making. This increases competition, drives customer service higher, and reduces post purchase dissonance. Smartphones are a sales associate’s best friend, not their enemy!

Any form of technology in the store (be this planned or otherwise — which is the case with the insight that smartphones provide) offers the opportunity to free up staff to focus on higher value activities. We are entering an age where emotional intelligence is becoming more important. Upskilling staff to help them develop emotional intelligence offers the opportunity to improve overall customer experience and have the technology as a way to augment the capabilities of the store associates.

The key is to deeply understand the customer journey, harmonize the experience (enough with the omnichannel already) and to find ways to eliminate relevant pain points and/or amplify the wow. A human-centered design process is particularly effective way to understand the role of mobile (and thereby the role of sales associates) in delivering a remarkable customer experience. There is no one size fits all.

I think Sephora and Starbucks are stand outs in terms of a more digital-led mobile shopping experience. Apple and Nordstrom do well in a more balanced approach where personal service is more critical.

As Paula mentioned, apples and oranges. The top questions asked to a retail floor rep are “where’s my product?” or “where’s the restroom?”

But this happened long before smartphones came along. Some retail industries have turned their employees into consultative sellers, but most retail employees are not customer engaging. Instead, they’re marking up at the receiving dock, stocking shelves, doing cycle counts, doing quality checks, cleaning the floor, putting up promotions, reconfiguring an end cap, or manning a register.

Mobile is nowhere near to the actual tasks of a retail employee. Some have been able to use mobile tablets, etc, for POS and similar, but these are not self-service and mostly tied to productivity of tasks the employee already does. For this issue, the question the retailer must ask is, “where do I spend my limited profit margins?”