Fashion firm tries on mobile devices

Customer-facing mobile services will be a key focus area for Mosaic Fashions

Mosaic is trialling mobile tablets across its clothes stores

Retail group Mosaic Fashions is trialling a series of mobile-based services aimed at boosting sales and improving customer service.

Since last autumn, the firm has been investigating ways to allow customers to skip queues during peak periods and browse items available online using in-store equipment.

After rejecting the idea of using fixed kiosks because of concerns about space, Mosaic moved on to trialling mobile tablets provided by suppliers such as Digipos across its businesses, which include fashion chains Oasis, Principles and Warehouse.

“We see mobility becoming one of our big future challenges,” said Mosaic chief information officer John Bovill.

“The idea is to understand what technology tools are appropriate for customers at our various businesses, so we are deliberately trying different things across all chains,” he said.

“It is all about driving profit, but to do that we need to improve service levels. Our customers are quite time-poor, so we are looking at different options to improve their shopping experience.”

Bovill said the use of mobile technology in retail will be crucial at a time when return on investment targets are much tighter and firms from the sector look at initiatives for increasing footfall and improving their multi-channel approach.

“Eventually shopping will move to mobile phones. We are also doing some work in that area, but we are careful as to how we do it as the take-up of such services may differ across our different brands,” he said.

A survey of 1,000 consumers carried out by Ingenico revealed that 40 per cent of respondents would consider using their mobile phones to shop because of convenience, reduction in queuing times and a preference to carry less cash and fewer cards around.