Smartphones combine the traditional voice calling functionality of a cellular telephone with an expanded feature set and the ability to run easily downloadable software programs that harness the power of the Internet.
Smartphones are powerful tools for shopping that give users unprecedented access to information and the ability to instantly communicate with a global audience via social media.
The earliest devices to combine telephony and computing emerged in the early to mid-1990s and were produced by IBM and Nokia. However, the phrase “smartphone” didn’t appear until 1997 when Ericsson introduced a concept product billed as a smartphone. A few years later it began actively marketing several products as smartphones and then in 2002 the Blackberry arrived on the scene and quickly gained acceptance among business users who found its email functionality addictive.
While these early models possessed various smartphone attributes, it wasn’t until 2007 with the introduction of Apple’s iPhone that the smartphone revolution began. The iPhone’s ease of use, feature set, elegant design, touch screen user interface and most importantly, abundance of applications, made the product an instant hit. Apple fans clamored for upgrades of the original model and soon other handset manufacturers introduced competing products with similar feature sets running on alternative operating systems. Smartphone sales quickly outpaced those of conventional handsets and in the span of less than six years the smartphone penetration rate had surpassed 50 per cent and was climbing steadily.
As smartphones became an integral part of daily life for millions of people, the capabilities the devices offered shoppers created new challenges and opportunities for retailers. Retailers offered apps that allowed shoppers to connect with their brand, locate stores, purchase products, create shopping lists, track online orders and receive marketing communications such as incentives or product recommendations. Smartphones also gave shoppers the ability to instantly compare prices while standing in store aisles and provided access to product reviews which could impact sales.
Smartphones have had a tremendous impact on the retail industry in a compressed period of time, but even greater change is expected as new shoppers join the mobile revolution. The capabilities of smartphones are advancing, download speeds and wireless access are improving and form factors are evolving to include the emerging genre of wearable devices.
Contribution to Retail History
The smartphone gave shoppers an unprecedented ability to access and share information via a mobile device with significant implications for retailers. Most notably, smartphones brought an unprecedented level of price transparency to the shopper and spawned the practice of “showrooming,” where in-store prices are instantly compared to online competitors. Retailers capitalized on the power of smartphones by introducing their own apps with extensive functionality to enhance shopping and some retailers even equipped employees with smartphones that ran company-specific apps to aid in customer service operations. The smartphone forced retailers to move faster than at any time in history to keep pace with the elevating expectations of a new generation of shoppers accustomed to life with a smartphone.