Reaching the 21st Century Retail Customer

It's no secret that omnichannel shopping has taken off in recent years, due largely to the explosion of mobile devices. According to IDC, "the worldwide smartphone market grew 27.2 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2014." And this year, for the first time, mobile traffic has overtaken desktop traffic to e-commerce sites. This trend is spurring the growth of consumers who research and buy across multiple devices on a regular basis, and has helped create a new category of "super shoppers."

Inherent with the use of mobile devices is the rise of social media for communication, sharing and rating. It's become essential for retailers and brands to recognize the increasingly influential aspect of social media and how they must adapt their digital experiences and offerings for each platform. This article looks at some of the differentiating features of m-commerce and how brands can make the most of them.

Adopting a Rapid Response
Today's consumers have short attention spans, and, thanks to smartphones, unlimited access to information and social media updates at their fingertips. This means that brands need to adopt a new level of reactiveness in their content in response to consumers' interests and social media conversations in real time.

Savvy brands have the ability to leverage the latest technologies as well as insert themselves into conversations taking place via social media. This engagement also enables them to tie into the content available on their own websites. For a fashion retailer, for example, this could be an image of a celebrity wearing the newest line of clothing that then gets shared across channels and goes viral. The retailers that can immediately and seamlessly react to this type of opportunity will be able to reach consumers on a new level, which gives them a competitive edge.

Photo Finish
For retailers, the higher the quality of a product image, the easier it is for a consumer to imagine what the product looks like in person. Product images should make shoppers feel like they're in-store, with the ability to stimulate, seduce and drive the imagination of consumers, enabling them to see all the product details. Consumers should be able to imagine holding, using and owning the product when they interact with digital product media.