Technology in Retail: How Mobile Tech Is Changing the Industry

How mobile technology in retail is changing the industry

Mobile technology has become integral to consumers’ daily lives, so retailers must embrace it to meet customer expectations, stay competitive and fuel long-term growth. It expands what’s possible in the retail environment, helping businesses streamline operations, improve efficiency and deliver highly personalized experiences. 

“Purpose-built with frontline workers, workplaces and workflows in mind, mobile technology builds ease of use, reliability and ruggedness,” explained Jim Musco, retail industry principal at Zebra Technologies. “By providing associates with data at their fingertips, mobile technology ultimately allows for better flexibility, scalability and outcomes.”

Examples of retail mobile technology in action include customized push notifications based on a customer’s activity or location, reminders to close out an e-commerce shopping cart, personalized ads and much more. 

Courtney Eash, marketing and brand design manager at Retail Tech Inc., noted that these digital advancements help retail establishments expand from static brick-and-mortar or e-commerce offerings and enter a more dynamic environment. “[This technology] breaks the tether to fixed stations and allows staff to meet customers wherever they are — in the aisle, curbside or even remotely,” Eash explained. “But its real power lies in speed and scale: launching programs faster, enabling consistent execution across locations and adapting on the fly.”

Eash emphasized that this shift helps retail companies become more proactive instead of reactive to market changes. 

“At RTI, we’ve seen firsthand how mobile tech becomes a strategic lever— not just a tool,” Eash said. “When deployed well, it’s the difference between reacting to retail challenges and staying ahead of them.”

How retail businesses can use mobile technology

Retail businesses can incorporate mobile technology into their overall sales strategies in several ways. And it doesn’t require a complete overhaul — even small changes and minimal investment can lead to large, positive changes across the entire organization. 

“Make decisions with scale in mind, even early on,” Eash advised. “Choose systems that will still serve you when you’re opening your fifth or fiftieth store. With the right foundation — and the right partner — mobile doesn’t just support your launch. It becomes your launchpad.”

Here are some of the most common and effective ways retailers are using mobile technology today.

Personalized customer touchpoints

Mobile technology enables brands to build personalized, multichannel customer touchpoints and experiences. They can create cohesive customer journeys across websites, social media profiles, mobile apps, email marketing campaigns and brick-and-mortar locations. 

In other words, every customer interaction, whether online or in-store, should feel like part of the same conversation.

However, businesses must ensure their customers experience a seamless transition from one touchpoint to the next, or risk losing engagement and diminishing the impact of their personalization efforts. 

Automated inventory processes

Brands can use mobile technology to automate in-store inventory processes for brick-and-mortar locations. Through associate-facing apps, employees can receive real-time updates about new order shipments, help customers find items at other store locations and place customer orders for home delivery. Together, these tools provide a more streamlined and personalized experience for shoppers.

“Mobile technology helps to streamline operational processes, including keeping accurate stock, enabling more efficient fulfillment, and minimizing loss, shrink and theft,” Musco said.

Augmented reality touchpoints

Brands can use mobile technology to develop augmented reality touchpoints that enhance the customer experience and strengthen brand perception. AR applications may include virtual fitting rooms, pop-up sales, exclusive discounts for customers using the app, and interactive virtual displays in brick-and-mortar locations.

Retailer apps

Most businesses have learned that a mobile-friendly website is a must. However, a retailer app takes things a step further, doing more than giving customers a quick, convenient way to shop. Although only 48 percent of small businesses currently have a mobile app, according to the Chamber of Commerce, that number has drastically risen year-over-year.

An excellent retail mobile app helps create a personal experience for customers that reflects your brand, with functions like emailing receipts, offering 24/7 access to your store, sending real-time inventory updates or highlighting new items based on past purchases. These types of services can help you boost loyalty and earn repeat business. 

In today’s competitive retail world, every retailer should consider an app to be more than just a convenience: It’s a core part of the customer journey.

Push-based apps

Early mobile apps were pull-based, meaning the user had to do something, such as request information, look up a product or put an item in a shopping cart. Modern retail mobile apps are push-based, which means they can anticipate user requests and provide relevant information based on users’ needs. So, if an app “knows” a user is interested in a certain product, it will automatically send updates about pricing information or availability without any action from the user. 

Push-based apps allow for personalized user engagement and are an excellent way to reengage past customers. One of the best parts is that users don’t need to provide any personal information to opt in.

Beacons and mobile ads

In-store beacons — small and relatively inexpensive Bluetooth devices placed throughout a store — add another dimension to the push concept. If the shopper allows beacon notifications, these devices transmit product information and sales notifications whenever the shopper is within range. Bluetooth beacons can also be used to display ads customized to individual shoppers’ preferences and interests. 

If a customer previously clicked on a company’s online ad and then walked into the store to browse, the beacon could link that online activity with the in-store visit and interact with the customer while they shop — for example, giving them additional details about a certain item or offering a coupon to incentivize a purchase.

Mobile payments

Mobile payment technology is becoming more mainstream, and retailers are adapting quickly to keep up. Here are some key technologies driving fast and convenient mobile payments in retail:

• Mobile wallets: Apps like Apple Pay and Google Wallet let customers store credit cards, loyalty cards and gift cards on their smartphones. Instead of digging through a wallet, shoppers can simply tap their phone to pay via their mobile wallets.
• EMV-ready POS systems: Retailers have upgraded their POS terminals to accept EMV chip cards, replacing older magnetic stripe readers. These new terminals often include built-in support for NFC mobile payments and contactless payments via mobile wallets.
• Tap-to-pay convenience: With these technologies in place, customers can complete a transaction by tapping their phone at a checkout terminal, or even at a product display in some cases, making the process fast, secure and simple.

Together, mobile payment technology tools eliminate the need to carry physical cards and speed up the checkout process, which improves the overall shopping experience.

Benefits of using mobile technology in retail

Retailers are using mobile technology to simplify daily operations and give customers a smoother, more convenient shopping experience. Below are some of the ways mobile tools are making a difference.

1. Retail mobile technology improves the customer experience. 

Mobile tools help retailers create more personalized and engaging shopping interactions. Whether it’s helping customers find items faster, giving them a speedier checkout process, or enabling curbside pickup, flexible and adaptable mobile tech tools create a great customer experience both in-store and online. 

“Mobile tools give retailers the flexibility to evolve, whether that means speeding up checkout, shifting store layouts, enabling real-time communication, or rolling out new services with minimal friction,” Eash said.

2. Retail mobile tech empowers staff and improves operations. 

Mobile tech lightens the load for retail team members, particularly frontline workers in brick-and-mortar stores, by automating mundane tasks and putting helpful customer and inventory data in their hands. That translates into fewer errors, faster service and more time for customer interactions and retail tasks that really affect the bottom line.

“[Mobile technology] can provide a performance edge to retail associates by freeing them from tedious, error-prone tasks, shifting their focus so they can deliver better customer service, as well as have more bandwidth for critical decision making,” Musco noted.

3. Retail mobile tech allows more payment acceptance flexibility.  

Mobile payments and apps give customers more options to shop and pay in the way that’s most convenient for them. Whether they’re tapping to pay at a pop-up or ordering through an app, you’re no longer limited to a fixed register. And this increased convenience makes customers happier and more likely to make repeat purchases. 

“When mobile tech is deployed with intention and supported at scale, it doesn’t just help the store — it strengthens the entire business model,” Eash added.

Additionally, modern POS systems do much more than mobile payments. They also offer inventory tracking, credit card fraud detection and detailed operational reporting, all from the same platform.

4. Retail mobile tech can lower operational costs. 

Using mobile apps and mobile POS systems can reduce the need for dedicated checkout stations, so you don’t have to rely as much on high-turnover positions like cashiers. That can lower staffing costs and improve scheduling flexibility.

Jeremy Bender contributed to this article.