Maintaining multiple touchpoints from responsive sites to native apps is labour intensive and expensive and more often than not reserved for the larger retailers with matching budgets. As a result, smaller retailers and shoppers alike are losing out.
Despite a growing knowledge of the role that mobile plays, especially in the search and discovery of products, many offline stores still rely on word of mouth, foot traffic and in some cases, printed catalogues in local papers.
In South Africa less than 1% or retail happens online, yet as much as 40% of the buying decision process starts on mobile. Data enabled phones allow users to search and compare products, but most are reluctant to purchase online preferring to go into a physical store to buy the goods. The process of finding the best product at the best price across multiple web or mobisites can also be time consuming and frustrating. In addition a product search often only yields results from the larger merchants, leaving smaller players out of the equation and therefore limiting the user's choice.
Enter PriceCheck who, according to its CEO, André de Wet, has solved this problem by offering any size merchant the option to engage users via mobile. "We looked at real-world behaviour and realised the best course of action was to mimic it. Users want local, relevant results. For years broadsheet catalogues have informed them of the best prices on products at stores near them, yet they have been limited to the number of catalogues they had access to. Our catalogue building solution allows any store to create a very cost-effective digital catalogue that is discoverable by users on PriceCheck regardless of their location, and regardless of the size of the retailer. We have effectively created a classifieds for new products on mobile, allowing users to search and click on hundreds of catalogues and products all in one place."
Featuring both online and offline (bricks and mortar) merchants makes PriceCheck very relevant in the African context. It also makes the size of the addressable market exponentially bigger. Commerce in Africa is different, fulfilment is different and so are the payment options. This is why, according to De Wet, the comparison site, which already features mapping, geo-targeting and store locations, will shortly offer voucher redemption, mobile billing, online payment and in-store collection or direct delivery.
Says De Wet, "Now is the time to forget 20 years of online thinking - think mobile, think local. This is not the US and it is not Europe and therefore the solutions need to be different. Now is the time to build affordable experiences that delight and drive deeper customer engagement. Mobile has democratised retail, which is why PriceCheck can offer savvy shoppers and retailers alike a place to see and be seen. Not only is it free to users, but it also saves them time, money and a lot of frustration. For the retailers, it drives direct traffic enabling online search with offline redemption."
In her article Hundermark suggested the following tactic: "If the brand has a bricks-and-mortar store together with an app store, consumers will appreciate being presented with an integrated brand experience. For example searching for an item on the app will tell them of the nearest store and if the item is in stock. They can then complete the purchase on the app and be given the choice of going into the store to collect the product, or having it delivered. 'Click and collect' is a very simple concept that has taken off really well overseas."
Luckily this is now also a reality in SA.
