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Brick-and-Mortar Shops Add Free Phone Charging to Draw Shoppers

February 10, 2024         By: Steven Anderson

Sometimes it’s a good idea, especially in the modern retail environment, to at least bow to change on certain levels.

Retailers, realizing that the mobile device is increasingly both a competitor and a potentially very real way to beat competition, are increasingly working to accommodate these devices and hopefully keep shoppers shopping in physical stores as well.

To that end, more stores are offering free mobile device charging stations to help keep users in stores.

Facilitated by one major provider so far known as ChargeItSpot, several retailers—from Neiman Marcus to Under Armour and beyond—are turning to this line of charge stations as a means to offer added value to customers and keep them making appearances in stores, where the potential for actually buying something is thus improved.

ChargeItSpot offers charging for around two million devices every year, and even offers a survey feature that lets customers make their opinions heard after a charge is complete. That’s the kind of thing that analytics are made of, delivering informative value to the business even as the business provides further value to the consumer.

Interestingly, customers are responding in a big way, with a 70 to 90 percent completion rate already been seen for the eight clients trying it out so far. That’s vastly better than the success rate of take-home surveys, and what’s more, customer responses are generally not neutral. Customers responding either had a great experience or a terrible one, and this is a great opportunity to find out just what’s going on in the store.

It’s the kind of experience that should have retailers rushing to put these charge terminals in their own stores; with customers so vocal and responsive, it’s a great opportunity to find out exactly what’s going on and get the most out of that interaction.

It leads to a better customer experience and an increased likelihood of return business, especially when coupled onto the growing string of mobile device connected services, from mobile payments to mobile information gathering, that’s making a brick-and-mortar shopping trip worthwhile.

In the end, this is a valuable new development for retailers, and it’s high time to take advantage of it before losing any more ground to online shopping.