The apps outlined in the article were interesting.  I could see the appeal how the apps would appeal to certain shoppers.  However, I do believe there is a bigger idea out there.  Albeit not an easy idea to execute, but if successful the application could define the category. 

Before I paint a vision of what that could be, let’s first briefly review the mobile apps discussed in the article.  I grouped the mobile apps based on perceived shopper benefit: saving money, knowledge, and convenience.  Note that some apps may fit into multiple benefits.

Saving Money
Some people spend time to save money, others spend money to save time.  When a person is driven to save money, they view their time as an investment to get the best deal.  The lowest price, coupons, rebates, are priorities.  These shoppers are willing to drive out of their way to get a deal.  So it is not a question of ”if” they will drive out of their, rather it is a question of “how far” they will.

•  Yowzadelivers coupons to nearby stores based on GPS-ing the shopper’s location. 
• ShopSavvycompares store prices (through scanning the bar code) with  online and at nearby retailer pricess.  Also includes coupons and allows users to make online  transactions.
•  The Find will locate retailers, both online and offline, that carry desired products, will compare prices of the product, and even calculate the cost to drive to each store.

Shopper Knowledge
Making an informed decision is a desired benefit for many shoppers, especially on a high-consideration purchase.  Achieving this goal is not always easy.  It is not for lack of information — the internet provides an abundance of information on products, pricing, and product reviews.  No the issue isn’t information.  The issue is gathering knowledge to determine what is the right product.  What product meets the shopper’s needs.

• RetrevoQ uses texts and tweets to provide shopper with information about electronics equipment including pricing information, reviews, and whether it is a good buy.

Convenience
Sometimes it is a manner of getting in and out quickly.  For many shoppers going to a mall is an experience.  A social journey where they explore stores and take in the ambiance of the mall.  For others it is a task.  They prefer not to waste time. Get in. Get out. Or get to where their desired location as quickly as possible. 

• Fastmall provides interactive maps displaying the quickest route to stores and it can remember where their car is parked.
• GroceryIQ (now owned by Coupons.com) allows consumers to create grocery lists, organize them, access coupons and share lists with others.

By reviewing the list of apps one can see the inherent benefits of each app.  However, I do think there can be more benefit.  The true killer apps will get more personal.

Get Personal
Right now the apps listed are rather impersonal, and a bit pushy.  Pushing coupons to the phone.  Pushing prices to the phone.  Pushing reviews to the phone.  We need to be a little less pushy, and take a more empathetic view of the shopper.  Make it more about them.  Make it personal.

Mobile phones are digital wallets. Potentially, they have reams of personal data.  Mobile phones know who we know.  They carry our contacts, our social groups, our trusted advisers.  Mobile phones also know where we have been.  They can capture visually a place or the specific GPS location.  Mobile phones can learn our tolerances.  They can record how far we are willingto travel for certain items like shopping or dining.  Mobile phones can learn our time-value relationship.  By combining these factors and more we can match shopping information with our personal code will generate knowledge.  If the app can fuse  our personal information the shopper environment think of the possibilities. 

My Meals
We don’t eat ingredients, we eat meals.  We all have favorites meals. So, imagine GroceryIQ with a taste layer – finding and recommendingfood and recipes based on personal or family food genres like ethnic flairs (e.g. Thai, Italian), and then incorporatingthe recipes into your shopping list. Also, imagine a time layer – accessingyour calendar to determine how much time you have to cook and making meal recommendations (then pullingrecipes, coupons into the list).  There are sites on the web that do aspects of this today.  The challenge is combining the elements together in a seamless experience for the shopper.

My Money, My Time
Some people save pennies, some save dollars, some just spend. The variance is mostly explained by how we valuate our time.  As stated prior some people will spend time to save money, others prefer to spend money to save time.  There can be an app for both.  Apps like Shop Savvy and The Find could be fine tuned to understand a shopper who is willing to wait a week (for shipping) to save ten dollars, while another shopper may willing to spend $30 to buy the product today.  The Find is headed down this path with the ability to calculate the driving cost to each store.

 My Purchase
Many marketers (and tech people) think what people need is information.  This is a misconception.  People do not need information, the internet, publications, and retail environment offer an abundance of information.  No, what the shopper needs is knowledge.  In the case of shopping, knowledge is the synthesizing of personal needs  with product information to determine the appropriate fit. 

Think about a high-consideration purchase like an HDTV.  The mobile app can combine electronics advise from experts with your friends with your personal needs and home environment.  The goal of the app is to not push the information, rather synthesize the information by fusing the data points into knowledge.  Think of this as a three step process.

The first step would be to create a personal foundation.  The app could capture a picture(s) of where the television is to be located including room lighting, distance from viewing area, and accessibility to cable, stereo and internet/wi-fi.  The app would also ask the shopper questions like budget, primary television usage (e.g. movies, sports, gaming), and brand preference.

The second step would be to fuse this information with product data (e.g. specs, pricing, product availability) and expert reviews.  This overlay would inform the shopper about product fit with their needs, product reliability through expert reviews, and where the television can be purchased (and for how much).

The final step is to fuse it with social information.  Mobile phones are a gateway to our social network.  For important purchases, most shoppers seek advice from someone in their social circle.  Maybe the person is a tech geek or fashion savvy or just a friend whose opinion matters.  From the shopper’s perspective the social circle could provide first-hand experiences from people who either bought the product recently or knows someone who has.  Based on this first or second hand experience, the shopper would receive additional input.

It is not about My Phone, it is about My Life
Based on the last example, you get the idea of the depth and breadth of an app.  However, the complexity of the app brings up a final point: the best apps should be integrated into our life – accessible from multiple access points and not limited to just our mobile device.   Think about facebook, YouTube, or Twitter — they began as experiences to accentuate different aspects of a person’s life.  Each began by fulfilling a need.  Each has multiple touchpoints including a mobile app.

Generating an app solely for a mobile device is limiting.  While there are merits of mobile, there are also restrictions.  The more complicated the application, the more cumbersome the application usability within the limited screen realestate.  The more visual the application, the more difficult it will be to shrink it to a mobile screen without compromising visual aesthetics.  That is why the best mobile apps will transcend the device - the best apps will emanate from the shopper within the shopping experience.

Our frustrations are shared by many shoppers. In shopping research and focus groups we (at Ford) have heard the shopper. And shopping is not a pleasant experience. For most shoppers it probably feels like a $25,000 root canal. As we analyzed the issue, we came up with various reasons like lack of a relationship, limited shopping dialogue, and transparency.

Over the past four car purchases my and I have made, we have dealt with four different sales people. Our situation is not unique. Only about one-third of new vehicle buyers repurchase a second vehicle from the same dealership. Although the research does include the percent of those buyer use the same salesperson, it is safe to say the majority of new vehicle shoppers use a different salesperson for each purchase.

Pressure to Perform: Buying a car can be like a night at a singles bar. Two strangers meet at the dealership. The salesperson is looking to close a deal. The shopper may or may not be ready to buy.

A key insight is this encounter is set up for failure, especially if the buyer is not ready to buy. Like male shark circling the singles bar for prey, the salesperson is desperate to close the deal. He pressures the shopper. He refuses to take no for an answer. He utters the infamous words, “What will it take to get you into a car today?” Interesting enough, his pressure to close the sale becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, and he chases the shopper away.

What can we do about it? Well, some of the better sales people realize patience reaps reward. Helpful but not desperate will put many shoppers at ease. The salesperson does risk losing shoppers by not over-persuing the sale, but the low-pressure tactic is to keep shoppers coming back. Hopefully buying multiple times.

Increase Familiarity: Think of sales people or agents you have a relationship or multiple purchases with. The familiarity creates a comfort and trust. Given the turnover in many dealerships (up to 100% in a year), multi-purchase relationships with automotive salespeople are rare. Even rarer are buyers who recommend a car salesperson, but that is a topic for another blog. One solution to increase familiarity is to choose your salesperson. The other day I reviewed H&R Block’s Tax Professional Selector (I see tax people).

A similar approach could be applied to the dealership sales process. A shopper would feel more comfortable if they knew a little about the salesperson prior to reaching the dealership. Better yet, if the shopper chose the salesperson and began the dialogue several weeks prior to the sale, they could establish a rapport and reduce the pressure to close the sale in one day.

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to engage in the business of buying, selling, trading or exchanging new, used or second-hand motor vehicles or offering to buy, sell, trade or exchange, or participate in the negotiation thereof, or attempt to buy, sell, trade or exchange any motor vehicle or interest therein, or of any written instrument pertaining thereto, on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.

So an auto dealer can’t sell vehicles on Sunday. Must really hamper the shoppers … or maybe not. If you drive by most dealer lots on Sunday you will find many new vehicle auto shoppers browsing. Browsing for a new vehicle without the pressure of an overzealous salesperson. Although the law was not designed for the Sunday Shopper, shoppers are using the law as a low-pressure loop hole in their vehicle buying process. Like laws some sales processes are becoming obsolete. This is a new age where information is king, convenience is expected, and service is demanded. Over the past digital decade shoppers have honed shopping techniques to to make more informed purchases. I recently read an interesting stat from a WSJ article titled New Info Shoppers:

A whopping 92% of respondents said they had more confidence in information they seek out online than anything coming from a salesclerk or other source.

Combine this with the fact many people have a general disdain for the high-pressure sales environment and you can see why the Sundays may be appealing to many auto shoppers (at least in Michigan). The fact is many sales processes, not just automotive, are hang-overs from the pre-digital age. While some sales processes attempt to hang on other new sales environments are catering to the New Info Shopper.

Take high-consideration electronic purchased for example. In Detroit two electronic store options are ABC Warehouse and Best Buy. ABC Warehouse (for those who have never had the privilege) is a high-pressure sales process hangover from the 70s and ’80s. The sales people in line wait for their “up” and then swoop in to make the sale. They will then stalk shopper around the store until their prey either leaves or buys. Best Buy on the other hand is less pressure and more information based. Best Buy employees are trained to assist shoppers within a specialized area. Of course there is a variance in service and product expertise from store to store or salesperson to salesperson, but there is no shopper stalking. If you buy that’s fine. If not, come back soon.

In automotive it is rare to come across a dealership that is in tune with the New Info Shopper. I wrote about Collier Lincoln-Mercury earlier this week (see Don’t Train the Fish). Their approach was to let browsers browse, and when they needed sales assistance someone would help. Thinking of Collier, it makes me wonder what happen to Saturn. In the 90′s Saturn’s innovative approach to a low pressure sales environment and one price vehicle appeared to be setting an industry trend. Fifteen years later, Saturn has left it’s origin and has blended into the automotive landscape. Hardly original no longer. Maybe it’s days are numbered too.

The low pressure, expertise environment is desired by many shoppers. Think about the Apple Store and their Genuis Bar. The bar is designed to accentuate the New Info Shopper. Why not apply this to the automotive industry? Sure, there are many obstacles to implementation. Too many to list here. But the first mover will have an advantage, a differentiating brand promise, and a shopping environment conducive to the new age shopper.

Another new vehicle shopper story comes from my days working at Organic on the Chrysler business. Chrysler fielded an ethnographic study on the new vehicle shopping experience. There were many valuable insights, but the one that resonated with me the most was about a research subject named Phil. Phil was ane online researcher and self-professed dealerphobe. He summed up his shopping experience as follows:

I spend a lot of time online researching my purchase. Online I am in control. I can research my vehicle anywhere I want. However, the minute I walk through the dealership doors I feel I lose control.

Car shopping has always been contentious. However, the internet has amplified the distrust by increasing the information available to the shopper. For example, on a lighter note, I think Cars.com captures this tension well in their current series of commercials (i.e. Glondoor Stone Circle). Of course Cars.com answer is to go into the dealer prepared (via Cars.com), AND have a back-up plan using some bully, enforcer, or witch doctor.

With the recent attention swirling around Detroit, many pundits, politicians, and bloggers expressed their opinion on how to solve the Detroit problem. Seth Godin expressed his viewpoint in a recent blog titled What to do about Detroit. In his post he painted an interesting vision that starts by using bankruptcy to wipe out the existing dealer network and then:

We’d end up with a rational number of “car stores” in every city that sold lots of brands. We’d have super cheap cars and super efficient cars and super weird cars. There’d be an orgy of innovation, and from that, a whole new energy and approach would evolve.

I believe there is a core idea in Seth’s blog entry. The core benefit of a multi-manufacturer showroom is it allows new car shoppers a single shopping showroom and (hopefully) relieves the sales pressure. I am thinking Seth’s idea is akin to a Best Buy’s or Lowe’s shopping experience. The shopping experience would move from a singular brand store to an information store, and emphasize consultancy not commission. So how do we reinvent a shopping process to make it less contentious and more consultative?

I am currently leading a think tank at Team Detroit: Wunderman to reinvent the shopping experience for the Ford Motor Company. Not a new initiative. Not an easy initiative. But it is one that is long overdue. Our approach is a shopper-centric approach. It is not limited to one experiential channel (e.g. dealership, online). The strategic foundation is in the identifying core shopper types. For example, JD Power classified new vehicle shoppers into five segments like Dealerphobes, Auto Enthusiasts, Time Sensitive, Empowered Negotiator, and Price Sensitive.

The goal of the strategy is to design new vehicle shopper experiences rooted in the shopper types, transcending channels, and develop a “win-win” scenario between Ford and its shoppers. As we build the strategy over the upcoming months, I am seeking suggestions, ideas, and constructive input to how you would see the future new vehicle shopping experience.

I don’t want to dismiss QR Codes, they will probably be as ubiquitous as bar codes are today, eventually. But they are not yet. The problem with the QR Code idea is the code method is not ubiquitous, nor mainstream. In order for the average auto shopper to use them, we would need to train shoppers on what a QR Code is, how use (capture) them, and why using a QR Code to save a window sticker to your phone is worth the effort. Contrast QR Codes with a new program implemented by Collier Lincoln-Mercury in Memphis using video iPods, video walk-arounds, and an avatar. An article in the Automotive News details the program.

When a customer enters the dealership and says he or she is “just looking,” a salesperson offers an iPod that has been loaded with video walk-arounds of all the new vehicles on the lot. After viewing a short welcome video, the customer is prompted to touch a picture of the vehicle in which he or she is interested, and a spokeswoman named Lena appears on the screen to explain the vehicle’s features. At any point along the way, customers can call for a salesperson or request a test drive by touching a button on the screen. That sends an audible signal to the sales desk, which already has been tracking which vehicles the customer is viewing and how long he or she is spending on each.

Collier Lincoln-Mercury’s “”I’m a Looker” program builds on a basic fact: according to the National Automotive Dealer Association (NADA) about 72% of new car shoppers say they are “just looking” when they initially get to the dealership. The program also uses a popular, intuitive device: the iPod. As technical marketers, we need to be cautious training people use our marketing experiences. This is the equivelant of training fish. Fish swim. If you want to train them to be soccer players good luck. Most people’s tolerance to learn how to use a marketing application is slim to nill. Instead we should be building experiences based on natural behaviors of our target, insights, and a strong value proposition.