IDC Opinion

Unified digital customer experiences, across online and physical stores, are quickly becoming as important a purchasing factor for consumers as the established tenants of brand, product, and price.

Retailers must establish an in-store mobility strategy now because the mind-set of consumers in terms of their use of mobile technologies typically outpaces a retailer's technology investment point of comfort and implementation speed.

In-store mobility solutions on their own are not a business differentiator, but it is their contextual application against consumers' retail journeys which unlocks new opportunities to optimize operational costs and increase revenue per-store.

In-store mobility technologies will provide physical stores with the level of consumer insights that has been core to the growth of online stores outpacing physical stores.

Seek vendors that have strong solutions that when partnered together provide the platform needed to meet this consumer-driven evolution of in-store retailing now and going forward.