Website design – it is essential to ensure that your website is optimised to intuitively adapt to the shopper’s mobile device. Nothing will ruin the customer experience faster than not being able to easily use your site from their phone or tablet. Whilst many retailers may believe that they are designing for mobile, shoppers don’t agree, and mobile has the highest cart abandonment rate of any device, at 65% for phones and 80.74% for tablets, compared with 69.75% for desktop. So ensure your ecommerce solution is built on a flexible, adaptable platform.

Payment options – shoppers want to choose how they pay, including digital wallets and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). In the US, use of BNPL grew from 37.7% in 2020, to 50% in 2022, so ensure your mobile retail strategy is flexible enough to incorporate a range of payment methods.

Geofencing and beaconing – mobile devices allow retailers to use location features to personalise the customer experience. Shoppers can receive send tailored messages when they are close to, or have entered the retail store, or even based on which department they are in, so consider incorporating geolocation in your mobile retail strategy.

Augmented reality (AR) – AR boosts sales by increasing the shopper’s engagement with the product – such as showing them furniture in their own room, or how a particular lipstick would look on their complexion. Shoppers are very comfortable with this technology and 61% of consumers say they prefer retailers who offer AR, making it an essential for a mobile retail strategy.

Gamification in retail apps, particularly promotions and contests, can increase conversion rates by up to seven times. The mobile gaming market is growing rapidly, so savvy retailers consider gamification as part of their mobile retail strategy.

In the US, 71% of shoppers prefer to search using voice rather than typing, and mobile lends itself to this growing use of technology.

Image search is close on the heels of voice search, and shoppers love its convenience. Incorporating image based artificial intelligence searching in your mobile retail strategy is a smart future-proofing move.

Social proof – 7/10 of shoppers are influenced by friends’ social media posts, and 39% of adults have purchased through social media. A mobile retail strategy therefore needs to include the ability to integrate social proof into the retail experience.

In-store mobile – mobile shopping doesn’t stop just because the consumer is in your brick and mortar retail store. Shoppers use their phones in the store to check prices (15%) to find product information and offers (14%) and to find nearby retail stores with stock. So ensure your mobile retail strategy makes it easy for shoppers inside your walls as well as outside

Links to loyalty program and types of promotions – mobile digital passes mean you can send coupons and promotions literally directly into your consumers’ hands. 67% of US consumers said they’d choose a retailer who offers mobile coupons over one that doesn’t, so digital pass software has to be an essential pillar of your mobile retail strategy.