Retailers & Super Bowl Funday

As I watched the Super Bowl Sunday night, I wondered how many sleepless hours went into the creation of all those ridiculously expensive ads. They get sillier and sillier, this year with screaming chickens, executives in underwear, and humans willing to lay down their lives (literally) for beer. These commercials are entertaining, indeed. But as I read my latest VDC report, I realized there’s another area that desperately needs retailers’ attention…

According to VDC, amid the vast installed base of Smartphone shoppers, over 25% of items on the shopper’s list go un-purchased because the shopper is unable to find them!*

The report points to more options for retailers this year in terms of cross-channel and customer-facing retail management applications—particularly mobile POS, self-shopping and select hospitality-related applications that decrease the time it takes customers to locate inventory. Furthermore, over 50% of the retail executives VDC interviewed said they will focus on strategic investments in 2010 as opposed to cost-cutting initiatives.

This is precisely where it pays to have expert mobility consultants and a well defined roadmap to effectively plan, execute and manage highly scalable mobile retail strategies in a world where it’s very easy for consumers to play hard-to-get.

Did you see the ads? Share your favorites with us!

*Source: VDC’s 2009 Market Intelligence Service, 6th Edition, Retail Service Market Analysis: An Executive Brief by David Krebs, VDC director