Smartphones Are Killing Impulse Purchases At Checkout

Shoppers used to browse magazines or select gum while they were waiting in line to check out at the grocery.

Today, they browse their smartphones instead.

Half of Americans owning smartphones has resulted in lower gum and magazine sales, reports Olga Kharif at Bloomberg. Companies are rushing to find ways to recapture consumers' attention.

Single sales of magazines fell 8.2 percent this year, while gum fell 5.5 percent, according to Bloomberg.

Kharif explains how different companies are coping:

• Coke is being advised to take single-serve drink coolers away from the front of the store, where texting shoppers might overlook them.

• Kroger, CVS, and Target plan to set up temporary displays in different places around the store that offer, for example, a $3 discount on a six-pack of Diet Coke and an issue of Cosmopolitan."

• Hearst is working to offer customers in-store prizes which they enter by text-messaging, Kharif writes.

The trend isn't affecting apparel or shoe stores as much because those segments don't rely on impulse purchases, according to Kharif.

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