With $69 Billion at Stake during Back-to-School Shopping Season, Smartphones Expected to Play a Key Roll

By  |  August 26, 2011
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Aug 3, 2011

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    More shoppers are expected to use their smartphones for price comparison during the upcoming back-to-school shopping season, according to AOL’s DailyFinance.

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    “Back-to-school shopping is the second-highest money maker for retailers, behind the holiday selling season, pulling in an average of $600 per child to $800 per college student — for a total of $69 billion in merchandise sales — according to Ellen Davis, vice president of the National Retail Federation,” the site reports.

    Shoppers can use their smartphones to scan manufacturer bar codes and compare product prices across various stores, leaving retailers looking to implement means by which to retain their customers. Methods, according to Davis, include focusing on private labels and putting their own in-store bar code over the manufacturer’s.

    “Some retailers encourage comparison shopping,” reports DailyFinance. “Online retailing giants Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) both offer free comparison-shopping apps, such as Amazon’s Price Check app and eBay’s own iPhone app. If you can’t beat ’em, pay ’em:  Best Buy (BBY), which some Wall Street analysts say was hit hard over the past holiday shopping season by consumers wielding price-comparison smartphones, has teamed up with TheFind, a comparison-shopping app, and begun paying to advertise on it.”

    Click here     to read the full article and more of Davis’ thoughts on how smartphones will impact the upcoming back-to-school shopping season.


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