If the question as to which is the most outstanding of all technological developments of the last decade is raised, majority of people come out with only one answer! Yes! It is the entry of smartphone! This smartphone device has dramatically simplified the day-to-day lives of people. Smartphone with its ability to keep you constantly updated due to its always-on connection to Internet. The corresponding scenario now is such that, seeing someone without a smartphone has become a rarity!
No realm of human existence is untouched by the powerful influence of smartphones and, this is not mere exaggeration! But, this particular article is confined to briefly discussing the change in buyer behavior attributable to smartphone with constant access to internet. The following are few of the pertinent primary points:
- In the pre-smartphone age too, online buying was very much there, but it was understandably restricted to laptops and desktops. People had to wait till they reach their homes or offices, to carry out these online transactions. But that is now a passé, thanks to smartphones. Consumers are enabled to buy the products and services even while they are on move, by few gentle touches with finger on their smart devices!
- Till the not-that-distant past, that was beyond the purview of even science fiction! There’s a continuous increase in the segment comprising of people who prefer to buy through smartphones!
- Buyers opting for online purchases are consuming notably less time in selecting the product or service of their preference. This is not the case when the traditional method of visiting a brick-and-mortar store is taken into consideration.
- When people want to transact at brick-and-mortar stores as well, they now first prefer to extensively research the Internet through their devices. So, even the decision to walk into a particular outlet is arrived at, based on what the smartphone tells customers.
- Consumers carefully analyze several parameters before they choose a specific brand. In relation to online buyers, the most salient of those factors is the capability of a brand to provide hassle-free shopping experience on smartphones. The implication then is that, if a seller/service provider fails to do that, buyers tend to just reject the concerned brand. A smooth Internet-based buying process is what the buyer desires.
- No business can now afford to have a “taken for granted” attitude towards buyers. This is because; buyers are now in a position of power! They use the smartphone to research and compare the price quoted by you with that of competing products or services. If your price is just bit higher, you lose the prospective buyers to competitors. For buyers, blindly trusting the words of salespersons has now become nothing more than a thing of the past.
- With incessant access to vast information about numerous brands, online buyers are more educated than ever before. They are quite knowledgeable and hence able to segregate brands of their choice from those not matching their requirements.
- Well over 50 percent of people using smart devices for purchases have no objection to giving their actual location to sellers, in return for attractive offers.
- A leading research study highlights that nearly 40 percent of buyers make use of smartphones for buying, on a weekly basis.
Business entities are strongly advised to have awareness of this changed buyer behavior. It is only then that organizations can devise apt digital marketing practices.
