NEW YORK ? The traditional path to purchase is dead, according to a senior executive at Whirlpool Corp. speaking on a panel yesterday at the National Retail Federation?s 100th Annual Convention & Expo.

Instead, there are many paths to purchase, said Arunabh Das Sharma, senior director at Whirlpool and Value Brands, on a panel that included mobile shopping research and insights from Leo Burnett sibling Arc Worldwide, a shopper marketing agency.

?People plan and shop differently and mobile is pushing this even further,? Mr. Das Sharma said. ?Mobile shopping is spontaneous, fluid and iterative.

?People are shopping in ways and places they never did before,? he said. ?The shoppers? journey isn?t as predictable, linear or straightforward as it used to be.?

Arc knows
Insights from a new Arc Worldwide study confirmed the evolution of mobile shopping behavior.

Indeed, one of the key findings was that there was no single mobile consumer for marketers to identify and reach, but light shoppers and heavy shoppers.

?Unfortunately for marketers looking for the single silver bullet, there?s no really single mobile shopper,? said Bill Rosen, North America president and chief creative officer of Arc Worldwide.

?You really need to understand these subgroups,? he said. ?Also, you really need to understand the categories. Mobile has really blow up the model.?

Leading the list of findings from the Arc Worldwide study was the indication that there are different routes to purchase. The implication is that marketers and retailers should give consumers the access they want.

As mobile changes the way that consumers shop, category norms may also need to be re-examined. Brands should think outside category norms and be prepared for a more casual, improved and real-time interaction with shoppers.

Shoppers weigh in
Third, even though 50 percent of all mobile phone users are mobile shoppers, not all mobile shoppers are created equal.

Per Mr. Rosen, a small group ? 10 percent ? of heavy mobile shoppers is driving a majority most of the mobile shopping activity volume.

?The gap between heavy and light mobile shoppers is enormous, and it centers around the nexus of mobile and shopping,? Mr. Rosen said.

Heavies, as Arc Worldwide calls them, love their phone. They share photos, download music, check the news and are into shopping at home, on a computer or in-store.

?And they?re really into mobile shopping,? Mr. Rosen told a packed room of more than 300 retail executives. ?They generate over 10 times the mobile shopping volume of light mobile shoppers.?

This group of shoppers is more into novelty and experimentation with new things that may not have any real, immediate benefit.

On the other hand, light mobile shoppers have a narrower outlook toward mobile shopping: a mini-portable computer to use primarily in the car and on the go.

In contrast, heavy mobile shoppers use mobile as a specialized tool for shopping.

Heavy mobile shoppers trend younger, male and with higher income, while light mobile shoppers skew slighter older, female and with the same income level.

?They are a bit handicapped by technology and are less likely to have an iPhone,? Mr. Rosen said about light mobile shoppers.

?Their view on how to integrate the phone into shopping is limited and the benefits aren?t as apparent,? he said. ?They don?t trust the phone for shopping.?

However, as mobile shopping migrates from fringe to mainstream behavior, it is this small group of light mobile shopper whose needs represent the future of mobile shopping.

Light?s on
Arc Worldwide found that from the 40 percent of light mobile shoppers there is a small group of consumers who have the most potential to become heavy mobile shoppers.

These high potentials are engaged similarly in mobile activities and shopping activities with heavy mobile shoppers, the study found, but they have not converted their shopping activities onto their mobile phones.

What holds light mobile shoppers back?

For one, they have limited awareness of what the mobile phone can do in terms of shopping. They search on the phone and visit sites, but their knowledge of applications is limited.

These light shoppers often are not aware that many of their favorite mobile sites are available as applications. It does not help that the most popular app store, the Apple App Store, fails to list applications under a shopping category.

?Converting these high potential mobile shoppers into heavy mobile shoppers requires framing the perception of mobile for shopping,? Mr. Rosen said.

?These shoppers aren?t into the novelty and experimentation,? he said. ?We need to emphasize the functional benefits and ways that the phone can be a specialized shopping tool.?