In-Store Sales will Remain Strong This Holiday Season According to Snapette® Mobile Retail Survey

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- This holiday season retailers will drive a higher volume of in-store visits from mobile ads targeted to women. Recent data from top fashion shopping app Snapette®, a business unit of PriceGrabber®, a leading distributed ecommerce platform and shopping site, found that women are more responsive to mobile alerts detailing discounts and more likely than men to shop in-store to save on shipping costs. Conducted on PriceGrabber.com from September 27 – October 15, 2013, this survey includes responses from 2,607 U.S. online shopping consumers. 

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Shoppers of both genders are overwhelmingly visiting retail stores in response to viewing fashion products and promotions displayed on online platforms and mobile phones. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed responded that seeing a product online has directly resulted in a visit to a fashion store. Additionally, 51 percent of shoppers reported that mobile phones play some part in their shopping experience. "Retailers are well-aware that mobile is driving meaningful retail sales, but one of the most surprising revelations to come from our survey is the way in which women differ from men in their uses of mobile as part of their shopping journey," explains Sarah Paiji, co-founder and President of Snapette.

Women highly responsive to mobile targeting

One of the many ways that retailers have tried to develop their marketing strategies in recent years is by using the omnipresence of mobile phones to target consumers wherever they are and at any time. So far this has been effective for female shoppers, as over 44 percent of women surveyed responded that they visit stores based on mobile alerts drawing their attention to nearby sales. Men respond far less enthusiastically to discounts, with 56 percent responding to the same question with either "rarely" or "never." Only 30 percent of men reported they respond to mobile alerts of sales nearby and visit the store to redeem.

Mobile ad spend grew by 81 percent this year. Research from the app analytics firm Flurry, indicates that women aged 25-34 drive the highest click through and conversation rates.

As far as spending is concerned, both women and men are equally comfortable making purchases from their mobile phones, though women responded as less willing to make larger purchases on their mobile phones. Half as many women said that they are comfortable making purchases of $500 or more from their phones than men (3 percent versus 6 percent for men). This sentiment, however, is also echoed by in-store spending habits. Sixteen percent of men said that they would be comfortable spending over $500 on in-store fashion purchases, while only 9 percent of women said that they would be comfortable to spend the same amount.

In-store visit motivations differ by gender

While the shoppers of both genders use online and mobile to augment their shopping experiences, men and women seem to do so for very different reasons. Only a few percentage points separate the genders when it comes to the desire to try on products for style and fit, but the largest disparity lies in the fact that 41 percent of women responded that their trips to physical stores are driven by a desire to save on shipping costs, a factor that was cited by only 29 percent of men.

When asked why they would choose to shop in-store rather than online, women out-voted men in all categories except for one: the desire for additional customer service. Nearly twice as many men than women said that they prefer to shop in-store for the additional customer service (13% vs. 7% for women). Snapette's survey results indicate that men tend to prefer a more researched and personally targeted approach when making fashion-related purchases and value input from customer service in-store.

"Women tend to be more regularly engaged in shopping related activities, such as searching out deals, subscribing to promotional newsletters, following specific designers on social media, thus may rely less on targeted research immediately prior to making a purchase," explains Paiji.

Opportunity for retailers to leverage mobile and in-store trends this holiday season

Female focused retailers should recognize the larger opportunity to drive women into stores using mobile as well as deliver regular and engaging touch-points for female shoppers to remain continuously with their favorite brands and retailers. Snapette's survey findings underline that women are especially responsive to mobile alerts displaying sales nearby. Non-promotional retailers can equally capitalize on female shoppers' preference to experience retail items in person and save on shipping fees by sending mobile alerts about new collections available in-store.

Paiji suggests "This holiday season fashion retailers should not fear the expansion of mobile and online platforms playing into the shopping funnel, but rather take advantage of those outlets to send further information and incentives to shoppers about products and promotion in-store."

Download Snapette on iTunes or Google Play to access the world's leading shopping app for finding designer fashion, shoes, handbags and accessories. Join our community of over 1.5 million shoppers to discover and shop stores from around the world. http://www.snapette.com/app.

For holiday shopping on any budget, visit http://www.pricegrabber.com. Download the PriceGrabber mobile application for smart shopping on the go.

About PriceGrabber^®

PriceGrabber^® is a leading distributed ecommerce platform and shopping site that connects millions of shoppers each month with thousands of merchants. We reach our consumer audience via desktop and mobile devices through a network of over 400 digital publisher partners as well as through our owned and operated web properties. Together with our distribution partners, we drive over $1 billion in annual sales for our retailer partners.  PriceGrabber's unique portfolio of business units, including the world's premier location-based mobile fashion app Snapette, provides brands and retailers with unparalleled marketing and sales opportunities to millions of active, qualified and ready to buy shoppers on a monthly basis. PriceGrabber is a unit of CPL Holdings LLC and headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with operations across North America and in the United Kingdom. Visit us at http://www.pricegrabber.com.

SOURCE Snapette