BOZEMAN, Mont., Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Quiq, a leading provider of business messaging software for customer communications, today announces the findings of its "2020 Retail Mobile Trends Report:" https://quiq.com/retail-mobile-messaging-key-trends-report-2020/?2. The study found that the vast majority of retailers are either a mobile-first organization or in the process of becoming one. Fourteen-percent of retailers said they are a mobile-first organization and 62% said they are actively integrating mobile into their strategies for e-commerce and operations.
"Amazon's growth and its effect on consumer expectations has driven more and more retailers to make significant improvements to their digital and mobile offerings," said Mike Myer, founder and CEO of Quiq. "Consumers today want frictionless shopping and purchase experiences, and those retailers that deliver on these expectations will see payoffs."
Sixty-five percent of the retailers surveyed said that mobile technology has actually increased their sales revenue. Respondents to the study shared that, on average, 42% of sales are made through mobile devices such as smartphones.
While most retailers are actively embracing mobile, they acknowledge that there is still much work to be done. With 37% having integrated mobile into the holistic customer experience--buying, communicating, and in-store interactions--the majority of respondents (54%) admitted that they're not fully prepared to meet consumer demands for mobile and about 25% admitted they are still in the early stages or have no mobile strategy at all.
Today's consumers are not just online and mobile. They are on social channels as well, and expect retailers to be active on these platforms too. Thus, it's not surprising that 88% of said that Facebook is important to their marketing and sales strategy, followed by Instagram (80%) and Twitter (69%).
Coupled with mobile, social media presents a huge opportunity for retailers to converse with consumers, and our research found most retailers are already doing this. Of the retailers surveyed, 64% are communicating with customers on Instagram and 61% on Facebook Messenger. Retailers also said that mobile is uniquely benefitting customer relationships with 74% agreeing it has made them more accessible to customers and 66% reporting that it provides higher customer satisfaction. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they communicate with consumers over text messaging and 46% over Android iMessage and Apple's Messages.
It's not just human employees that retailers are deploying on these channels. Bots are meaningful to retailers because they help free up agents' time by gathering information from customers. Getting a fast response to customer service questions is an important factor for consumers choosing which companies to buy from. Our study found that most retailers (52%) use a combination of bots and humans to interact with consumers. Just 9% of respondents said they only use bots and 39% rely solely on humans.
Finally, smart speakers are no longer on the cusp of retail adoption. Thirty-three percent of retailers (75% of mobile-first respondents) currently support customer service on these devices with half of planning to deploy such technology this year.
The study was conducted in November of 2020 by Sapio research and surveyed 205 senior executives who work in retail organizations with 100+ employees.
About Quiq
Quiq helps brands present their customers with consistently jaw-dropping customer experiences across SMS/text messaging, rich messaging, web chat, and social channels. With Quiq's Conversational Engagement Platform, companies can easily orchestrate commerce and service conversations involving both bots and humans. For more information about Quiq, go to http://www.quiq.com.
SOURCE Quiq
Share this article