Multichannel and mobile shopping provide a mix of opportunity and obstacles for marketers.
That’s the message Kent Griffin, senior project manager at PayPal, delivered while speaking at the Mobile Shopping Fall Summit in Austin, Texas earlier this month.
“People are going across these different channels – it is a real problem to try and understand your users on any one journey across multiple channels,” Griffin said, according to Mobile Commerce Daily.
“The hard part is figuring out who your customer is across those channels, and as soon as you identify who your consumer is, you [have to] make sure you can give them things that are relevant.”
Among the multichannel changes Griffin pointed out: an increase in the use of tablets, and shift in the types of items or services purchased through mobile devices and the way people shop on their mobile devices.
Griffin also cited the different ways devices are used. For example, desktop use is heaviest in the middle of the day, while tablet use is heaviest at night. Mobile device usage remains consistent on a daily basis, but is generally used for impulse buys, as people often look at their devices when bored.
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According to Griffin, security, convenience and usability are the biggest barriers for users looking to shop via mobile, and merchants need to define how their customers are purchasing through targeted ad campaigns.
“That channel that you engage with people in, whether it is email or advertising, is going to start defining how it is that they interact with you,” Mr. Griffin said.
“The more engaged we are with payments, the better experiences you can deliver up-front in the shopping journey.”
To read more of Griffin’s comments and the shifts in mobile purchasing, click here.
