New Key Ring Study Reveals Localized Mobile Marketing Untangles & Enhances Path to Brick-and-Mortar

DALLAS and CHICAGO, July 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Key Ring, a G/O Digital company delivering leading mobile solutions to attract, engage and reward shoppers, today released its "Local Mobile Advantage of Retailing" research study, which provides a snapshot of the varied shopping behaviors and interactions of more than 13,000 Key Ring app users. The in-depth report illustrates mobile's supreme power and sway over consumers' purchase decisions – in the pre-store, in-store and post-store shopping stages.

One of the key findings of the report indicates that mobile acts as a conduit for saving money. As the study reveals, "search for a coupon" overwhelmingly ranks as the Number 1 mobile shopping activity (35.86 percent), ahead of "buy item online" (12.05 percent).

"As important as it is for brands and retailers to deploy national campaigns at massive scale, it's equally important and beneficial to serve up more granular, hyper local, contextually relevant messaging, offers and ads to shoppers in real-time," says Chris Fagan, CEO, Key Ring, a G/O Digital company. "For consumers, this will translate into improved utility and convenience, more savings and long-term value. For brands and retailers, localized mobile marketing will result in greater customer loyalty, retention and sales – from online to mobile to in-store."

This falls in line with a recent report from BIA/Kelsey, which found that local mobile ad spending in the U.S. will hit $15.74 billion in 2018 – up from $2.87 billion in 2013. Additional findings from the "Local Mobile Advantage of Retailing" report include:

• Saving money in the research stage leads to in-store transactions. Nearly half of respondents (47.4 percent) say they are most likely to purchase an item in-store "when the item goes on sale" or "when I find a coupon" after previously researching and planning from their mobile device.
• Purchase influencers are not identical across retail categories. The convenience of everyday low prices (20.7 percent) trumps discounts for grocery shoppers. Apparel and shoe shoppers, on the other hand, set their sights on sales and clearance items (60.7 percent). Meanwhile, ratings and reviews (54.4 percent) top the list of influencing factors for electronics and technology purchases.
• Smartphones promise greater "list making" convenience than tablets. 89.3 percent of respondents reported that their smartphone is the most convenient device to create a shopping list prior to visiting a physical retail store. This is in stark contrast to only 6.1 percent of respondents who prefer to use their tablets and 4.7 percent of respondents who find their computers to be most convenient.
• Mobile shopping lists facilitate in-store purchases. 22 percent of mobile shoppers indicated they "always" create a shopping list before they shop and another 39 percent do so "often."

The "Local Mobile Advantage of Retailing" report was fielded from May 27, 2014 to June 2, 2014 and garnered a total of over 13,000 responses from Key Ring app users, aged 18 years or older, who own at least one desktop/laptop computer and a smartphone or tablet. The full report can be downloaded from G/O Digital's Resources Portal. To gain further insights into how brands and retailers can lead in mobile marketing, G/O Digital interviewed digital and mobile marketing executives.

About Key Ring
Key Ring, part of G/O Digital, a Gannett Company (GCI), delivers leading mobile solutions to attract, engage and reward customers. The #1 shopping app for consumers, Key Ring has more than 10 million downloads and more than 50 million loyalty cards uploaded across industries from retail to airlines, grocery and restaurants. Key Ring also provides shoppers with on-the-go, mobile access to interactive shopping list development and digital promotions from 160 retailers representing more than 2,000 loyalty programs in 27 retail categories. Key Ring leverages its cutting edge technology and expansive user base to drive in-store transactions, increase customer engagement, digitize loyalty programs for retailers, and promote CPG products to hyper-targeted audiences. For more information about Key Ring, visit http://keyringapp.com.

About G/O Digital
The G/O Digital vision: To Transform Local Marketing and #WinLocal.

For Local Businesses, G/O Digital, a Gannett company, is one-stop shop for local businesses looking to connect with consumers through digital marketing, from search to social and everything in between.  For National Brands and Agencies, G/O Digital delivers local digital activation at national scale with push-button simplicity powered by G/O Digital brands: Shoplocal, BLiNQ Media & Key Ring.

G/O Digital partners with more than 5,000 of the nation's top brands and retailers, including P&G, Target, Walmart and Walgreens and leads digital marketing programs with thousands of local businesses across more than 110 local markets.For more information, visit www.godigitalmarketing.com and @godigitalmarketing.

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SOURCE G/O Digital; Key Ring