移动购物前路漫漫

    虽然有较高的预期，但如何转变消费者行为，使其通过移动设备购物，仍然是让零售商们一筹莫展的难题。移动购物是一个新生领域，众多公司都不清楚到底该做什么，也不知道如何衡量成功。进行各种尝试是目前的普遍行为；即使投入巨资也很难验证成功与否，因为在短期内其产生的销售额很有限。据丹佛一家在线零售商eBags统计，最近一个季度，平板电脑占总流量的10.8%，带来的销售额约占总销售额的10.4%。而智能手机占总流量的8.4%，但它带来的销售额仅占总销售额的2.9%。eBags首席执行官彼得•科布解释道，平板电脑用户与台式机或笔记本电脑用户的行为基本相似。使用平板电脑的购物者可以在看着电视，小酌一杯的同时，在零售网站闲逛，观看产品视频，购买中意的产品。

    而与之相反的是，智能手机用户的时间要求更为紧迫。按照科布的解释，他们是在进行“搜索和破坏”的任务。手机用户希望进入网站，对比价格， 然后退出。之后，他们会回到家，用家里的电脑完成购物，以避免结账时的麻烦。科布说：“这就是现实情况，现在存在两种不同的购物体验。”

    零售商在吸引消费者通过平板电脑购物方面显然更为成功，虽然平板电脑的数量远远低于智能手机。弗雷斯特的调查发现，美国约有1.37亿台智能手机，而平板电脑仅有6,100万台。相对数的差别让智能手机带来的销售额更显相形见拙，至少在直接产生的销售额方面是这样。此外，智能手机的平均订单金额为134.37美元，低于平板电脑的159.28美元。

    当然，智能手机对于零售商的作用也不容忽视。消费者会在回家购物之前，通过智能手机搜索产品。此外，许多购物者会在前往实体店之前用手机进行搜索。店内比价和扫描二维码的情况也非常普遍。

    而这种行为，即所谓的“展厅现象”，却令许多零售公司高管头痛不已。他们抱怨购物者在实体店内浏览产品，却打算在对手的网站购买。诺德斯特龙（Nordstrom's ）、塔吉特（Target）和萨克斯第五大道精品百货店（Saks Fifth Avenue ）则采取了截然相反的措施，他们在店铺中安装了Wi-Fi无线网络，帮助消费者通过智能手机上网。

    而从理论上来说，对于消费者在店铺内使用智能手机的事实置之不理也是徒劳。总之，智能手机有很大潜力增加零售业务，前提是零售商能将其转换成自己的优势。例如，德勤咨询有限公司（Deloitte Consulting）今年的一项研究发现，手机会影响到所有店内零售额的5.1%，或价值约1,590亿美元的交易。研究称，这远远超过120亿消费者直接移动购物的消费总额。

    eBags公司的科布称，明年，他计划对公司移动网站进行几项调整，提高它对智能手机用户的吸引力。到那时，他就可以跟踪用户点击较多的产品和点击相对较少的“死角”，进而更明确应该重点突出哪些产品。他说，未来可能使用更大的按钮，以便消费者能更轻松地通过智能手机进行浏览。支持消费者通过品牌进行搜索也是另外一个重要特性，因为智能手机用户通常很清楚自己想要什么。

    科布说：“我坚信，我们的任务就是挖掘智能手机的潜能，因为未来它必将持续增长。”

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Despite the high expectations, retailers are still grappling with how to deal with the shift in consumer behavior. The field is so nascent that it's difficult for companies to know what to do or how to measure success. Experimentation is common. Spending a lot of money can be hard to justify in the short-term, however, because of the limited sales generated.At eBags, an online retailer in Denver, tablets accounted for 10.8% of overall traffic in the latest quarter and around 10.4% of sales.Meanwhile, smartphones represented 8.4% of overall traffic, but only 2.9% of sales. Peter Cobb, chief executive for eBags, explained that tablet users behave much like people on desktop computers or laptops. Shoppers on tablets meander around retail sites, watch product videos and buy what they want – all while sipping wine in front of the television.

    Smartphone users, in contrast, are more pressed for time and on a "search and destroy" mission, as Cobb put it. People want to get in, compare prices and get out until they go home and complete a purchase using their home computer, so to avoid any hassles in the check out process. "The reality is that there are two different shopping experiences," Cobb says.

    The greater success in getting tablet users to buy comes despite a big disadvantage in numbers. There are around 137 million smartphones in the United States compared with only 61 million tablets, according to Forrester. The relative numbers show just how little sales smartphones drive, at least directly. Average order sizes on smartphones are also smaller at $134.37 versus $159.28 for tablets.

    Still, smartphones play an important role for retailers. People use them to research products before making purchases from home. Additionally, many shoppers do so before visiting a bricks and mortar store. Comparing prices inside stores and scanning QR codes is also common.

    Such behavior, known as showrooming, is a sore point with some retail executives, who complain about shoppers eyeballing products in their stores that they intend to buy from online rivals. Nordstrom's (JWN), Target (TGT) and Saks Fifth Avenue (SKS) have taken an opposite approach by installing Wi-Fi in their stores to help customers connect online through their smartphones.

    Ignoring the fact that customers are using smartphones in stores is futile, the theory goes. In any case, smartphones can potentially drive more business if retailers use it to their advantage. A study this year by Deloitte Consulting, for example, that found that mobile phones influence 5.1% of all in-store retail sales, or around $159 billion in transactions. That amount far exceeds the $12 billion consumers will spend via direct mobile shopping, the study said.

    Cobb, from eBags, says that he plans to make a number of adjustments to his mobile site over the next year to make it more appealing to shoppers using smartphones. By then, he'll have a better idea of what to highlight by tracking the products that shoppers click on a lot versus the "dead spots" that get relatively few clicks. Expect bigger buttons, he said, so that customers can more easily use their smartphone screen to navigate. Letting customers search by brands is another key feature because smartphone users generally knowing what they want.

    "I do believe it is our job to unlock the potential of smartphones because it's only going to keep growing," Cobb says.