By Chuck Martin
Most of the focus around mobile commerce at retail revolves around everything that happens before the actual purchase.
There’s smartphone and tablet research, use of geo-targeting as mobile shoppers are out and about and all kinds of incentives near and at the point of purchase.
But what about after the purchase is made?
According to one indicator, retailers have some work to do to satisfy mobile customers after they buy.
The recent Customer Feedback Index by OpinionLab found that while retailers are doing well in the pre-purchase phase, they are not doing so well after.
For shoppers using mobile devices to browse and comparison shop, the customer experience score is 551 (out of 1,000). By comparison, for shoppers checking their order status after purchases, the score is 300.
Some other industries have figured this out, if not be design then at least by implementation.
Dealing with an airline reservation on mobile after it’s made, though not an in-store activity, ties the process together.
With the American Airlines app, for example, you can manage flight details such as changing seats via the app. For post purchase and post flight, the Delta Airlines app lets you check status of your luggage and most airlines can notify you of gate changes and the baggage claim area upon landing.
Of course, there are no physical products that may have to be returned and no in-store pickup requirements for airline travel.
One way retailers can provide post-purchase value is to make past purchase history available, as some already do. Need a new ink cartridge while shopping at Staples and can’t remember the printer model number? The Staples app can quickly show the last one you bought.
There are many other examples and I’m sure you can think of some.
Mobile makes shopping iterative rather than serial.
Getting a mobile shopper to purchase a certain thing, in a certain place at a specific moment is only part of the mobile commerce picture.
Chuck Martin is Editor of the mCommerce Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily MobileShopTalk column. He is the author of “Mobile Influence,” “The Third Screen,” and “The Smartphone Handbook.” He is CEO of Mobile Future Institute. Chuck Martin is a frequent Mobile Keynote Speaker and Mobile Marketing Speaker around the world.
