Deals Trump Brand Loyalty for Mobile Shoppers

Everybody loves a deal, particularly in such tough economic times. Smartphone owners of the world have given themselves another channel toward savings as mobile deals are starting to pop up — and new research shows that consumers tend to follow those deals more when they come during a shopping expedition than they follow brand loyalty.

Not shockingly, the survey (from AisleBuyer) of more than 1,000 shoppers shows that the group that is most ready to throw brand loyalty to the side are between the ages of 25 and 34, the site notes. A whopping 82 percent of them would do it in a heartbeat if they get a good offer for a competing brand on their mobile device.

The number for those in all the age group surveyed who say they would do the same is not much lower at 75%.

"For years, brands have relied on traditional in-store shopper marketing tactics such as endcap displays, dump bins and sampling programs to influence the purchase decisions that are being made in the store aisle. But today’s shopper has become increasingly tech savvy, and brands need to adapt their age-old strategies to remain competitive in our new online world,” stated Andrew Paradise, AisleBuyer’s CEO, in a press release.

“Given that a majority of shoppers enter stores with only rough shopping lists, they are incredibly impressionable when they are in the aisle," he added. "As brand marketers look for new ways to feature their products when shoppers are considering the competition, they should look no further than something consumers already have in hand — their smartphones.”

BusinessNewsDaily.com commented on the study that “smartphone grocery and drugstore shoppers are a notoriously fickle lot to begin with,” pointing out that while 81 percent of smartphone owners go to grocery or drugstore shopping with a list, only 8 percent of them write actual brands down on the list.

“This indicates that a large majority of shoppers are making brand decisions while they are in the store aisle, providing a unique opportunity for brands and retailers to influence pre-purchasing decisions via a customer’s smartphone.”

[Image via Shutterstock]