5 Ways Consumers Connect to Stores With Mobile Shopping

Smart phone shopping has reached some remarkable new milestones. Mobile shopping-related searches increased 120% in the last year, a review of Google data shows. With this growth, retailers are finding that mobile plays a critical role in driving shoppers in-store. Shoppers now reach for their smartphones in every kind of micro-moment, from I-want-to-know to I-want-to-buy (and crucially, I-want-to-buy-again) moments.

These moments represent a tremendous opportunity for brands. Because with mobile, marketers have the unique power to match marketing messages with signals of intent and context. What are they looking for? Where are they right now? What kind of person is shopping? With mobile, marketers know.

Recent Google search data and mounting third-party evidence has given us new insights into how marketers can engage shoppers in these micro-moments. Here’s what we’ve recently learned:

1. Smartphone shopping has created a new “front door to the store.”That’s the phrase the retail giant Target now uses after learning that three-fourths of its guests start their shopping journey on mobile, and that one-third of guests who click on a mobile search ad take a trip to a Target store. Similarly, the telecommunications company Sprint discovered thatone in four people who click on their mobile search ads end up in a Sprint retail store.

2. Consumers are hungrier than ever for local information. Google searches with “near me” have grown 2.4X year-over-year.² In fact, according to research, 50% of consumers who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a store within a day, and 18% of those searches lead to a purchase.³

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