Retailers are failing to meet consumer demand for increased convenience while shopping with mobile devices, research from Accenture suggests.
Accenture conducted two pieces of research: the Accenture Adaptive Retail report, which surveyed more than 10,000 consumers across 13 countries; and a separate benchmarking study that evaluated a global sample of 162 retailers in 10 countries across multiple industries.
The consumer survey found that the proportion of consumers shopping on the go with mobile devices grew 10% in the past year, from 36% of consumers in 2014 to 40% in 2015.
The number of shoppers who want more retail services via mobile devices, particularly real-time in-store promotions, also grew this past year, to 47%, up from 40% in last year’s survey.
Only 7% of retailers, however, said they currently have the ability to send real-time promotions.
While nearly one-third (32%) of shoppers want to be able to scan products in-store using their mobile devices – up from 27% in 2014 – only 17% of retailers provide scanning capabilities.
At the same time, 42% of shoppers want to receive automatic credit for coupons and discounts via their mobile phones – up from 35% last year – yet only 16% of retailers have the capability to automatically credit coupons.
“Retailers must make every effort to improve their mobile commerce capabilities and keep up with consumers expectations,” said Patricia Walker, senior managing director in Accenture’s Products practice and the company’s North America retail practice lead.
“To be an adaptive retailer, the experience needs to be a seamless experience for consumers who expect mobile devices to ease the shopping experience, both online and in-store.”