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Skill and talent shortages were found to be the biggest barrier to the adoption of mobile devices for retail workers in a new survey, although concerns over data security, C-level support, and technology integration weren’t far behind.
The survey of 400 U.S. retail business leaders — commissioned by Zebra Technologies, a provider of mobile devices and related software, and conducted by Coresight Research — found that 40% of employees working for large retailers either have to share a mobile device or go without one.
The top five retail roles least likely to have dedicated devices included those working in store operations, 42%; merchandising, 37%; on the store floor, 34%; field mobility and operations (ex. delivery, truck services, field sales), 34%; and warehouse operations, 31%; although each function would benefit from staying connected while on the go.
Retailers surveyed ranked employee satisfaction as the largest expected benefit of adopting retail mobile devices, followed by improving operating efficiency and customer satisfaction. That aligns with the feedback from Zebra’s 17th Annual Global Shopper Study in which nearly 90% of associates surveyed said they feel more valued by their employer when they provide technology tools to help them do their work.
Regardless, the full list of barriers to greater adoption of mobile devices at retail include:
- Skill and talent shortage, 35%
- Data security concerns, 31%
- Vendor lock-in and standards, 29%
- Management approval and support, 28%
- Technical issues and maintenance, 28%
- Cost of implementation, 27%
- ROI uncertainty, 26%
- Insufficient IT infrastructure, 25%
- Complexity of integration, 25%
- Resistance to change from employees, 23%
- Regulatory compliance, 22%
- Lack of need or relevance, 22%
- Lack of company budget, 18%
A 2017 survey from Tulip Retail, a provider of in-store mobile apps, found that 61% of store associates at the time were not armed with mobile devices despite employees seeing benefits from being able to access detailed product information as well as look up inventory in-store, at other locations, and online.
The survey further found that nearly half of store associates agreed the consumer is sometimes more knowledgeable about the products than they are, aligning with a survey in the same year from Tulip showing that 83% of consumers believed they are more knowledgeable than store associates.
Mobile in years since appears to have only become a bigger part of the in-store experience for shoppers.
A survey of 1,300 U.S. shoppers taken earlier this year from logistics provider Ryder System found the top uses of mobile devices for in-store shopping to be searching for items while in a store, cited by 77%; comparing prices with items in nearby stores, 69%; checking availability at other stores, 58%; learning more about a product, 31%; and wanting to want to see other items frequently purchased with a product they’re considering, 17%