»  Shoppercentricity

One of the biggest game changers to the world of Shopper Marketing is mobile technology. As I have previously shared, mobile apps that provide access to information at the point of sale have a potentially huge impact on what the shopper buys. And in most cases, this information is not coming from the retailer or the brands, but from third party information sources.

Adding to this third party information trend is the recent news that Consumer Reports is launching a mobile app. Unlike Amazon's focus on finding the same product for cheaper via their site, CR's app is focused on delivering their "Ratings Report Card" for the product. This will allow shoppers to make an informed decision at the point of sale based on CR's credible testing procedures. 

Although this is by no means the most sophisticated mobile app, what is interesting about CR's offering is the credibility of information. In today's technology age, source anxiety has consumers wondering who is behind the information and what information they can trust. CR's app, with an introductory price of $9.99 before rising to $14.99 in January, allows consumers to buy that trust and confidence in CR's unbiased view.  

The question that remains to be answered is how much information credibility is worth to consumers.

What do you think? With Amazon and other mobile app offerings available for free, is $14.99 too steep a price to pay for unbleached, unfiltered, unbiased authentic information?