••• retailing
Best Buy gaining ground against showrooming?
Best Buy’s efforts to thwart Amazon.com may be paying off among mobile users, while Target and Walmart may have reason to fear the online retail juggernaut. In a May 2013 article, we discussed Best Buy’s initiatives to combat showrooming among its customers, and according to Prosper Insights and Analytics’ Showrooming Ratio, the retailer may be doing a more effective job keeping wandering shopping carts away from Amazon, particularly compared to its discount peers.
The Showrooming Ratio indicates the likelihood that a mobile user will evaluate a product in a brick-and-mortar store and ultimately purchase the product via that store’s site or a competitor’s digital channel. When compared to Amazon, Best Buy scored a Showrooming Ratio of 111.93 among mobile users in the market for electronics, meaning that these shoppers are roughly 11 percent more likely to purchase via Amazon than a Best Buy digital channel. Although the ratio tilts in Amazon’s favor, when compared to Walmart (135.04) and Target (125.96), it’s an improved margin.
Prosper also looked at Showrooming Ratios by gender. Men are more loyal to Best Buy channels than Target and Walmart, whereas women tend to have an allegiance to Target.
“The challenge for Best Buy going forward will be to maintain a great experience and retain loyal shoppers because Amazon will continue to up the ante when it comes to winning over its competitors’ customers,” said Pam Goodfellow, analyst for Prosper Insights and Analytics.
••• mobile research
Now that’s what I call sexting
It’s a lament heard almost daily: “People today” are too attached to their mobile devices. But you might be surprised to find out just how distracting and addicting smartphones can be … even in the most intimate of settings.
According to a study conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Jumio Inc., nearly one in 10 smartphone owners admit to having used their phone during sex. However, the survey did not inquire after the purpose of smartphones during sex. Checking e-mail? Texting friends? Taking photos? Tweeting? Watching baseball?
The young are even more daring and comfortable with their smartphones as strange bedfellows, as 20 percent of those ages 18-to-34 admit to this practice. So perhaps it’s no coincidence that 12 percent of respondents in a relationship said they believe their smartphone gets in the way.
And the bedroom isn’t the only off-limits place adults are using their smartphones. Seventy-two percent of respondents report being within five feet of their smartphones the majority of the time and admit to using their smartphones in a movie theater (35 percent); during a dinner date (33 percent); at a child’s or school function (32 percent); in a church or place of worship (19 percent); while in the shower (12 percent); and while driving (55 percent).