Brands, retailers must account for massive, social-media-driven shifts in consumer behavior over the next three to five years; consumers will value affordability, retailer connectivity, speed, smoothness of interaction, says industry official

Cindy Allen

LOS ANGELES , March 6, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – Mickey Alam Khan, the editor-in-chief of Mobile Marketer, advised that brands and retailers must account for massive, social-media and technology driven shifts in consumer behavior over the next three to five years, Mobile Marketer reported March 5.

Khan said that brands and retailers are currently mired in the 1990s, and are unprepared to deal with the upcoming shift.

Marketers need to ensure that their brand oppositions and values can be conveyed across multiple channels without dilution.

Consumer experiences will become even more important, with consumers able to control their interactions with retailers and brands to an unprecedented extent.

Khan said that in their future interactions with brands and retailers, consumers will value affordability, connectivity, speed, and smoothness:

        • Marketers have long encouraged price-driven shopping, which means that a majority of retailers are all locked in a race to the bottom. Consumers expect affordability, not cheapness, when it comes to products.

        • Consumers will value brand and retailer connectivity. They expect that the brands and retailers will be available 24/7 on their terms, and that all areas of their experience with the brand will be devoid of downtime.

        • Consumers will value the speed of all aspects of their interaction with retailers and brands from product searches to checkout and beyond, in this case meaning returns and customer service.

        • Consumers expect that their entire experience with a retailer or brand will be smooth and devoid of problem points. At a minimum, consumers will expect smoothness, with intuitive responses on the part of the retailer or brand increasingly being classified as the norm.

The primary source of this article is Mobile Marketer, New York, New York, on March 5, 2012.

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