For the past three years that we have conducted a mobile-specific research report, little has changed as it relates to external challenges. Retailers arepainfully aware of consumers’ leg up. In fact, from the moment we first offered, “we need to be there ” as an option in 2013, it has been far and away retailers’highest rated business challenge. Everything else pales in comparison.

Figure 1: The Fly In The Ointment

Source: RSR Research, January 2015

However, when we dig deeper into this data by performance, we start to see some very telling information unfold. Winners and laggards are not challenged by the same ancillary problems (Figure 2, below), and it tells a lot about what each can expect in the near future.

Figure 2: Different Futures Loom

Source: RSR Research, January 2015

Yes, all retailers recognize the need to “be there ” for mobile-enabled consumers. But the ability to be there in the future will be very different for retailers whose sales are already ailing if they don’t know what the consumer wants in a mobile offering in the first place. Winners face that challenge, too, but at a far lower rate. Instead, they’ve moved on to trying to understand what makes their brand valuable to begin with. Not all customers will want the same thing in a mobile offering, and Winners know that figuring out how different segments of shoppers want to engage with their brand is key to understanding any further action. We no longer live in a world with one-size-fits-all challenges – or solutions. The landscape is only made more difficult by the rate of adoption in consumer technology. And while Winners are more realistic about this as a challenge, the silver lining may be that while technology will continue to evolve, adoption of mobile devices is nearing saturation in many developed markets. Regardless of demographic (including age and socioeconomic status), retailers won’t have to plan around if consumers are using mobile devices much longer, but rather, just how mobile devices are used in virtually every path to purchase. A small comfort today, but when you think about the chaotic years when UPC barcoding wasn’t ubiquitous among products and sellers, this may well seem like a relief in time. And just as it was during that sea change, only those able to adopt quickly will survive.

We invite you to read the full Mobile Report to learn more.