Forestall Mobile Blinders

A Bloomberg Businessweek article chronicles the drain on retail sales revenues from “mobile blinders.” That’s the phenomenon in which customers waiting at the checkout line pull out their mobile devices to look at email and Facebook rather than noticing all the magazines, chewing gum, candies, batteries, CDs, hair clips, and other items prime for impulse purchasing.
     Considering that more than half of American consumers have smartphones, it’s an issue. Single-copy sales of consumer magazines dropped about 8% over the past year, and chewing gum sales dropped about 6%. Of course, mobile blinders are only one explanation. Sales of other non-impulse discretionary items are down as well.
     From my shopper psychology perspective, mobile blinders actually avoid one sales revenue drain: Bored shoppers can change their minds about buying what’s already in the shopping cart. If the customers don't pay promptly, they too often decide to put some products back or just give up and leave. In a troubled economy, sights and sounds at the cash wrap can trigger needless fretting. Add to the rumination plenty of irritation—the kind that comes from waiting—and it's no surprise customers flee.
     We want our customers thinking about their purchases. But if truth be told, we don't want them thinking too hard or for too long. Researchers at Northwestern University and at Radboud University in The Netherlands found that consumers tend to make worse decisions when they ruminate.
     Let the shoppers instead Twitter away their time, keeping hands and minds away from in-store shopping cart abandonment. Or let them check out quickly. The developments in mobile technologies are such that consumers will be less interested in passing the time on their devices, instead using them to scan items and pay.
     So how do you plan to continue selling impulse items? One answer is to merchandise the items in other locations in the store. If you do, I suggest you set up impulse items on displays which intentionally look temporary and are moved periodically. This potentiates the impulse motto, “Buy it now or it may be gone next time.”
     There are downsides to a retail business model which depends for sales revenue on having customers wait in line. Still, you might want to also still keep impulse items stocked by the checkout lines. A considerable percentage of consumers don’t have smartphones, or own them but won’t be putting on their mobile blinders at checkout.

Click below for more: 
Sell Impulse Items to Serve 
Show Impulse Purchase Items for Groups 
Keep the Checkout Lines Flowing 
Make Waiting in Line Interesting