The  2014 back-to-school study shows that 89 percent of consumers shopping for back-to-school merchandise are making their decisions based on mobile specials. These shoppers are making informed decisions on where to shop to get the best deals based off of the plethora of information provided on mobile.

“Parents want to shop in-store for the best deals on back-to-school supplies, but today they demand convenience of information and assurance they are not missing out on the best prices for their budget,” said Pat Dermody, president of Retale. “And that power has increasingly come in the form of smartphones being used as a shopping tool for research, planning and organizing their back-to-school purchases.

“Parents today are not just shoppers, they are digitally empowered consumers,” she said. “For retailers this is a challenge, but also an incredible opportunity.

“Retailers are working hard to serve these savvy mobile users the freshest, most dynamic and relevant promotional messaging available. The retailers that can seamlessly deliver their story to relevant mobile audiences will be the winners at the cash register.”

Mobile savvy parents
Consumer parents are now very well connected and have a vast majority of information available to them to make informed shopping decisions. They want to be positive that they are getting the best product for the most affordable price, because they have the option to do so.

This means that consumers will overlook retailers, which are not offering that sort of information available, and are not offering a discount through mobile.

However, this does not mean that parents are only shopping through mobile. The back-to-school time period brings in a significant amount of in-store revenue for retailers.

These mobile savvy shoppers are incorporating mobile into the bricks-and-mortar space. Retale’s data shows that 82 percent of parents are completing 70 percent of purchases in-stores.

Mobile shift
While these consumers are sticking to on-site retail, many are using their devices for back-to-school with 78 percent of parents using mobile for back-to-school, and 62 percent are using smartphones to look for coupons and deals.

Deals are not the only thing these shoppers are leveraging mobile information for. Many are keeping track of future purchases, as 55 percent of consumers claimed to use devices for shopping lists.

Also, 53 percent are access saved deals and coupons through mobile, while 50 percent are checking store hours and 47 percent researches products. Product reviews are being accessed by 41 percent of parents, 37 percent are completing purchases via mobile.

“Shopping has not changed so much as the channels from where we shape our shopping decision have,” Ms. Dermody said. “A majority of parents still shop in-store.

“The difference is 20 years ago you would sit at the kitchen table with a bundle of circulars and a pair of scissors to hash out the best plan,” she said. “Today, mobile technology cleans up that process by putting all that information and decision-making in your hand.

“While many shoppers still use mobile to plan trips before leaving the house, today shopping research can be done anywhere.”

Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Commerce Daily