ComScore, the source of so many interesting insights into digital media behaviour, released an interesting piece of data last month, which showed the kind of retail-based activity performed by UK smartphone owners. Some of it may not seem like rocket science, but given the rapid growth of smartphone ownership it’s the kind of behavioural analysis that PR and marketing professionals should be incorporating into B2C communications.

The top 10 forms of usage in August, according to ComScore, were:

When you look at the list you can almost visualise this activity in town centres and shopping malls across the country - people looking for stores, hooking up with loved ones, exploring products they’re interested in. The more tech-savvy they are, the more detail they go into. The fact that sending a picture to friends/family is so low reflects the conflict between wanting to get something endorsed by people you trust and fearing that your loved ones will tell you it is unfashionable or a waste of money.

So how could PR and marketing professionals make use of this smartphone data? Well the kind of things that could leverage this behaviour are:

Where to shop?

If consumers are searching for stores, then brands and agencies should be looking at:

1. how to increasing their visibility; and
2. how to encourage a visit via all the usual finding platforms (Google Maps etc).

Strong search terms, interesting visuals, reviews and deals are all important. Don’t forget that a lot of people are searching from locations like shopping malls (rather than waiting next to a digital kiosk while a bunch of nine year-olds aimlessly stab shop names into the search box). So having incentives embedded in places like the West London’s Westfield App might make a difference.

Taking a product picture is an odd thing to come up high on the list – because people can source images easily via the mobile or PC-based web. So marketing communicators need to ask what this is about. In reality, people stop to take pictures of interesting or entertaining items (an amusing mannequin, kids standing next to a life-sized Lego man, novel technology like the vacuum cleaning robot in Harrods, or the Hollister store front. The PR win here is to create exciting branded content that mobile users want to send to friends or post on Facebook when they get home.

We’ve talked before in our sister bulletin about QuidCo – and this list confirms that brands need a presence in the voucher/deal space. Aside from QuidCo, VoucherCodes and Vouchercloud are the other leading players. Note that deal a day/flash deals are also present in the list. Market-leader Groupon has had some bad press recently but the model still warrants consideration.

Barcode scanning

Barcode scanning has to be one of the most interesting areas of potential development for brands because it directly connects consumers with your product – irrespective of retail location. Smartphone-savvy consumers are increasingly using the barcode to get product details and learn about geo-relevant offers. For example, you might scan a barcode in store A then see that it’s available cheaper in store B. Barcodes aren’t that interesting to older demographics but youths could easily wile away a few hours chasing barcode-based stunts or competitions around shopping malls.

Smartphone users might not want to email pictures of products to friends or family. But what if you turned this endorsement into a more interesting piece of communication? For example, the punter tries on an outfit and sends a picture to a celebrity fashion expert who gives an objective assessment of whether the cut or colours suit you. Obviously there’d be an issue managing traffic but there’s the making of an engaging stunt here – particularly if you combine it with some kind of modelling competition.