More Than Half Of Retailers To Test Tablets In-Store

Online-Shopping-IpadThe future of shopping is the topic of the moment as the National Retail Federation meets in New York this week at Retail’s Big Show 2012. And tablets appear to be top of mind.

Recent metrics from holiday 2011 demonstrate how powerful a role iPads played among consumers in product browsing, research and purchase from home. But many retailers want to take that tap-and-swipe addiction into the store itself. According to a survey of 50 senior executives from top national and regional retailers by RIS News and RBM Technologies, 6% already have tablets deployed in their stores for use by consumers or salespeople. But another 28% are testing devices at retail, and 31% more will begin testing in 2012.

Retailers are divided about who should be holding and using these tablet displays. More than half -- 51.9% -- see the gadgets as tools for sales-floor support, while 48.1% see refreshing or updating the shopping experience as a key driver. Many are looking for the handhelds to increase sales (46.3%), and about as many (42.6%) want them for connecting to the retail enterprise.

While Apple’s iOS-based iPads are high on 71.7% of retailer priority lists, a surprise second place goes to Windows (58.5%), perhaps because of easier integration with existing enterprise IT systems. The Windows 8 Tablet-friendly OS is not even close to release, but it is a higher priority with retailers than Google Android (49.1%).

The study states that retailers seem determined to use tablets to “level the playing field” against smartphone-wielding customers who are comparison shopping with other merchants while in the shop owner’s own aisles. Merchants believe tablets will help drive sales. The function they most expect to use on in-store devices is inventory and product look-ups (69.8%) followed by more seamless point-of-sale operations (49.1%) and bringing the store Web site into the brick-and-mortar environment (43.4%). They also cite loyalty programs (35.8%) and photo-taking (34%) as other tablet functions they hope to exploit.  

RIS News warns that the lure of the bright shiny object that is the iPad can prove blinding to retailers because the path to implementation of tablets in-store could be much slower and more costly than some expect. Questions remain about whether to invest in consumer-grade cheaper tablets or higher-end, more rugged units that can hold up to the wear and tear of persistent use by many (sometimes slippery) fingers. True cost of ownership is a major concern among retailers. And security -- both of the devices and the data passing through them -- is a concern for most of the respondents.

In the end, it looks as if tablets will stroll -- not rush -- into stores this year. More than 60% of the retail executives polled said that by year’s end they expected either one or two devices deployed per store in their chains. Only 17.4% expected more than five tablets in each location. On the other hand, almost 37% said they expected three or more per store by the holiday season in 2012. 

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