Upwardly Mobile Shopping & Constant Chatter

Pre-purchasing behaviour has changed over time thanks largely to the impact of technology, social media and increasingly, mobile devices.

But bricks and mortar remain important to your potential customers; the majority (90%) like to know that there is a physical store somewhere.

Nearly half use their smartphone to source for information including selecting which shops they wish to frequent. At the very least they look up and compare prices on a store's mobile site.

One in three have made a purchase using their mobile device in the past 6 months.

Adding Live Chat to the marketing mix has also worked well for many retailers.  What was initially seen as something of a fad now has some true and identifiable value, according to a recent study that reveals online shopper attitudes, opinions, and behaviors relative to live chat.

The survey of UK and US respondents found that:

• Live chat has reached a tipping point of adoption
• Multi-faceted nature of chat, combined with efficiency and control, puts chatters on the path to fandom
• While live chat fans are highly desirable, frequent chatters demand special attention
• Live chat in the UK is on the rise – both in terms of adoption and favorability
• For online merchants to get the most from chat, they have to treat it as a distinct communication channel

The study was conducted online using a third party opt-in panel, 75% of which were located in the United States and 25% in the UK. Those surveyed totaled 2,027. Respondents lived in the US or UK, spent in excess of $250USD per year online, and shopped at least monthly.

Related articles

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• Retailers: Use Mobile Better To Fight 'Showrooming' Smarter!

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Wrist Analysis - QR Code products

Here's a couple of products with similarities. Both seek to merge online with offline connections to create a visually appealing product; in this case the combination of a snazzy bracelet with QR Codes.

QR Living

Symbol - Cash Flow: Liking your work, not working to live

QRLiving connects you online through a wearable QR code and does so automatically;  not a word needs to be uttered by either party.

Whether this idea will kill the art of conversation stone dead is a moot point.  The downside of this adornment is that it requires the user to sign up to yet another network, rather than building on existing social profiles.

I am also not that keen on the rubbable symbols that adorn the side of each wrist band but maybe these are designed to appeal to a much younger market.

Skanz

By comparison, Skanz, while linking together QR codes with mobile technology, social media and fashion allows the wearer to make full use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ social profiles.  As they put it "wearing the web".

They are also cleverer than their opposition, encouraging prospects to sign up as product Ambassadors.

The use of two dimensional codes is growing and QR Codes are being used by people in greater numbers.  A recent study by Forrester Research found that 5% of adults use 2D codes compared to 1% the previous year.

Forrester also found that too few eBusiness professionals use best practices to offer consumers good experiences once they've scanned a bar code.

Maybe part of that "good experience" could be to give away a free QR Code bracelet?

Related articles

• Study: More People Using QR Codes (mediabistro.com)
• Skanz Turns QR Codes Into 'Social Prints' (ypulse.com)