Shop by phone gets new meaning
— -- Alan Brody, a 15-year-old jazz drummer and high school freshman, doesn't have the interest or time to hang out in shopping malls. So he browses the Internet on his cellphone, using a search service that has helped him find everything from Hanukkah gifts to computer software.
Brody, of Arlington, Va., also does mobile searches for his 55-year-old mother, and would send her pictures of items he sees in stores, except Sandy Brody says she "wouldn't know what to do with them."
"This manages the time looking, so I don't have to spend three hours shopping," Brody says of the Slifter service he uses on both his phone and home computer.
Parents may often shop at the same stores as their children these days, but few shop anything like their kids do. Teens and twentysomethings are twice as likely as their elders to use mobile devices for tasks other than talking. And they are far more likely to opt in for text promotions, mobile coupons and mobile search services.
"The kids, especially these 'digital millennials,' are out in front of the retailers," says Laura Evans, retail practice chief for the digital marketing agency Resource Interactive. Evans' company coined the term digital millennials to describe the technology savvy of Generation Y, generally considered those born between 1982 and 2000.
The 14-to-24-year-old members of Gen Y, those most invested in digital technology, "expect on-demand experiences," says Evans. "Part of 'on demand' is 'I can access retailers anytime, anywhere, and that's not limited because I'm not sitting at my computer.'
"They are definitely more comfortable with technology and are definitely pushing technology," she says. "They have used it since the beginning of their lives."
It's not that stores aren't trying to go higher-tech. Mobile retailing site mPoria is rapidly signing up retailers, going from eight to more than 130 since the start of 2007. Mobile couponing company Cellfire's discounts can now be used at more than 250 merchants, including retail and restaurant chains, up from 10 in January.
While mobile company Slifter helps shoppers find items in a geographic area, NearbyNow helps them search anywhere in its 200 member malls. All the mall retailers are part of NearbyNow for at least basic searches — for brands of jeans, but not individual styles or products, for instance — and more than 70% offer full access to their inventories. And retailers are experimenting with a variety of text-message campaigns to see what best draws in the young crowds.
