Last month, as part of our continuing exploration of mobile retailing, we posted on the increasing problem facing heavy mobile phone users: short battery life. While many of us in the United States are simply told "use your phone less or differently," around the world there are a number of innovative solutions being employed to bring power to mobile users in less developed infrastructures that offer some key ideas for retailers looking to solve the paradox of asking power-pressed shoppers to use a phone with a low battery to shop in the store.
- In Kenya, two entrepreneurs have come up with a mechanism to turn one hour on a bicycle into a full charge on a cell phone. While pushing a similarly equipped shopping cart around the store wouldn't generate quite as much energy and speed as bicycling (unless, of course, you're bobshopping), it should provide plenty to give shoppers enough power to stay connected and use their phones while in the store.
Urban malls which attract shoppers from potentially "unpowered" neighborhoods (Mumbai, Johannesburg, etc.) are using phone charging machines to quickly power up their shoppers' phones. Though the same concept has played out in US airports as well, the relatively low cost of the mall-based machines (in Abu Dhabi, machines use one dirham coins - about US$.27) and paucity of power alternatives make the mall-based charges more attractive. Retailers considering this approach to stretch power in their stores, however, need to remember: if the phone is locked in a charger, it can't be scanning 2d barcodes or displaying coupons.
- Consider offering a "phonesitting" service for free. Retailers in South Africa have long offered free phone charging for shoppers coming in from villages without power. Why not consider offering phone charging as a free service during long mall trips? Though many shoppers would be loathe to give up even a moment of texts, tweets, and Facebook updates... if the alternative is a black screen from a dead battery, 10 minutes of charging while they browse your store is a cheap way to make yourself their hero.
In Uganda, charging a mobile phone battery at one of the ubiquitous kiosks on the street costs 500 Ugandan Shillings (US$.26)... but fully charging a car battery only costs 1000 Shillings (US$.52) and can provide power for radios, CD players, television, domestic lighting, and mobile phones... for a month. The same "power logic" would apply to a shopping cart-mounted battery that charged a customer's phone as they cruised the store while still leaving the phone in their hands and usable for shopping activities.
Just enough phone rather than just enough battery life. Nokia, focusing on emerging markets and launching first in Indonesia, recently debuted phones with up to 22 days of standby time. The phone has yet to experience the "netbook" phenomena where the average price point of a laptop plummeted rather than seeing exponential new features added to it. Manufacturers will increasingly view the "battery life versus performance" tradeoff as tilting toward more battery life and less performance, particularly as the power of smartphones increasingly eclipses the "average user's" needs.
- Solar power cells are declining in cost every year, and while there simply isn't enough ambient light inside the store to power a phone, there is definitely enough space on the sides of shopping carts to provide substantial power to an onboard battery. Particularly in high-sun parts of the world where shopping carts in the parking lot sit in bright sunlight for hours of the day, this approach could both take advantage of government programs to boost solar usage and drive down the cost of offering on-cart power to shoppers in the store. It's not a complete solution (yet) but as Tesco says... "Every little helps..."
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