NY Times Picks up on Mobile in Retail

Want to make your local department store nervous. Just pull out your phone while in the shopping isle. Using cell phones to do price comparison is not new but it is notable that the NY Times has added their ink to the other media channels. http://bit.ly/7UuwTw

Saving money shopping is a compelling mobile use case. Mobile applications like ShopSavvy are allowing consumers to dis-intermediate retailers right in their own stores. Shoppers are going to increasingly seek information via their mobile. The only question is, what sources are they going to use to get the information? Retailers should be looking for ways to better support shoppers than letting them turn to pure price comparison tool. Thus, it is critical for retailers to provide the mobile tools to support consumers so that they can gain control within their own stores.

We are starting to see retailers adopt their online stores to mobile phones. While a step in the right direction, there are more innovative ways to leverage the capabilities of the phone and consumers' shopping behavior. Case in point check out Sears new mobile application. http://promomagazine.com/news/sears-products-search-app-1217/