NEW YORK—Retailers, armed with new high-tech apps to fight online competition, are giving consumers more reasons to use their mobile phones inside their stores.
Reuters reports that at some Macy's outlets, shoppers who download the retailer’s app will be able to use their smartphones to guide them through the store to products they’re seeking.
At JCPenney, customers can shoot a photo of something outside the store they want to buy and quickly find out if the retailer has a similar item in stock. At Staples, the store is testing an app that allows sales clerks to let customers know how the store’s prices match up against their rivals.
But the retailers’ efforts will face two significant challenges in the looming holiday season: getting customers to embrace the new technology, which is still sometimes glitchy and dependent on in-store systems, and getting them to trust that stores can match the web’s prices and convenience, Reuters explained.