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I looked atmyphone. Looked at itagain. Epiphany.

Within flve minutes and withoutmaking asingle call, Iknewthe per-formance rating for the best batteryfor my particular car, the average

cost ofsuch a battery, the shop closestand likeliest to give me the most com-petitive price, and, best ofall, I haddownloaded a coupon I could use forthe repair. The towtruck pulled up as

I was booking the appointment.I knew I owned asmartphone.

I just didn t realize how smart itwould make me in a pinch. AaronSmith hears my kind of story often.Het a research specialist for the PewR esearch Centert Internet & Amer-ican Life Project and spends his daystracking how our habits are chang-ing thanks to the increasingly pow-erful computers in our hands.

"One ofthe things we see consis-tently is how hand-held devices giveimmediate assistance in an emer-gency. You personally had a'Get me

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information now!' moment, and yousaw the phonet value in a way youhadn't before," says Smith, whoserestraint in not labeling my ahamoment as a "Boomer epiphany"ismuch appreciated.

But I had stumbled across some-thing bigger, Smith points out: theequanimity that comes with control."What used to require a phone book20 years ago is now real-time vettingof information on pricing, products,

services. The experience makes usfeel more comfortable and assuredthat we made the right choice."

A speedy fix for a dead car bat-tery is the least of it. Smartphoneconsumerism is the next roiling sea

change in a retailing revolution that

began lTyears ago when amazon.comopened shop as a quaint online book-seller. Todav's hand-held devicesrepresent a far bigger threat: thepotential to disrupt what's left of thein-store experience.

Consider the last holiday shoppingseason. Pew reported that in Decem-ber 2011, 38 percent ofcellphone userscalled afriend about a purchasingdecision, 2{ percent used their phone

to surf online reviews of a product,and 25 percent used their phone tolook up competitors' prices - aII whiletheg w er e shoppr,ng in a stor e.

Andwhat didthey do withthisinformation? That's where things get

interesting. Thirty-seven percent ofthese shoppers decided not to make a

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purchase; 19 percent made their pur-chase online; and 8 percent opted totake their business elsewhere.

Mara Devitt, a partner at Chicago-based retail consulting fi.rm McMil-lanDoolittle, isnit surprised. Thetroubled economy has made morepeopie price-conscious, it's true. Buther companyt research reflectsincredible behavioral changes instore environments, changes that go

well beyond bargain hunting."One of the things we've noticed

about consumers lately, They don'tlook up," Devitt says. "Itt an extremedifference overthe past couple ofyears. You'II see people texting afriend who is sitting right next tothem. Traditional displays and sig-nage? People aren't looking at them."

I flashed on a recent visit to NewYork City, where long ago I wastaught to keep eyes and ears open atall time. All I saw were people star-ing into their cellphones as theywalked the streets.

ScREEN-Focusno shoppers presentenormous challenges for retailers,but they offer opportunities, as well.The biggest players have jumped intothe smartphone revolution headflrstand, whether you ve noticed it or not,theret a war on.

Amazon launched its Price Checkapp in December with the brazentagline, "Ever wonder if the 'deals'you see while shopping in retailstores are reaIIy deals?" It escalatedthe antagonism by offering custom-ers $5 offan Amazonpurchase ifthey walked into a store and usedthe app to scan an item oftheirchoice. Three months later, Best Buyannounced that it would shutter 50ofits biggest locations, a decisionThe WaII Str eet J ournal credits to theassault ofe-tailers.

Target and the newly relaunchedJCPenney have fi.red back withsmartphone apps that allow shop-pers to access downloadable couponsright at checkout. Walmart has anapp that provides bar code-based

price scanning and the ability toview manufacturer's coupons, butthe retailgiant's recent purchase ofa digital app company suggests thatever-bolder features are on the way.

Trade journal Internet R etailerreported in January that the com-plexity and ferocitv ofthese retailcontretemps has necessitated hard-nosed dealmaking. Per a letter pub-lished by In te rnet Retailer, Target isnow demanding pricing deals withits suppliers that cannot be bestedby competitors and which speakto agrowing reality that is gallingto the guys who lay outbig rents onretail spaces. "What we aren t wilLing to do," wrote Target's presidentand CEO GreggW. Steinhafel, "isletonline-onlv retailers use our brick-and-mortar stores as a showroomfortheir products and undercut ourprices." According to the journal, theletter also suggested that Target andits suppliers might develop member-ship-based pricing models to com-pete with similar programs offeredby some online retailers.

Overseas, smartphone-shoppingtests are investigating whether thebrick-and-mortar shopping expe-rience can di sappear alto g ether. Tn

South Korea, retailing giant Tesco isusing subway ads that feature photosofdozens ofproducts with bar codes.While waiting for their trains, shop-pers can use their smartphone bar-code readers to make purchases thatwill be available for delivery by thetime they make it home.

In the United States, the transitionfrom price-checking to purchasing isimminent, too. A late February studyby Nielsen showed that fl percent ofapp downloaders-and iPhone usersin particular-are interested in apps

that let them leave their credit cardsathome.

A spokeswoman for JCPenney-notable for its recent poaching offor-mer Apple Store chief R,on Johnsonto revamp its llO-year-old brand-worit say much about its online andin-store plans. You lljust have to stay

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tuned. "Smartphones have rapidlyemerged as a tool central to theshopping experience," she wrotein an email. "Customers use themto conduct research on items, com-pare prices, read product reviews,and even to make purchases.

From appsto ourmobile com-merce site... we continue to lever-age smartphones as a convenientand innovative way to connectwith customers. Asyouknow, wehave just launched a new compa-ny strategy, and technologywillcertainly play a keyrole in ourshopping experience. However, atthis time we are not sharing anyspeciflc plans."

So. The store is dead,long livethe smartphone? Not close, says

McMillanDoolittle's Devitt. Smartretailers know there will alwaysbe those who need to touch themerch; to get out of the house; tosatisfy the urge for something ...

rzou. With that in mind, retailersare looking to enhance the thingthat apps can t provide: peoplep ow er, Smart-p e ople pow er. It'sbecoming their No. 1 investment.

"Look at the Apple Store," she

says. "Theyprovide spaces andservices that are intelligentlyfocused on their customer. Buttake a really close look at theirstaff. They invest in their peo-

ple and make them true brandambassadors who addvalue to thecustomer experience. It's not justabout product. Shoppers go theApple Store speciflcally to inter-act with the people."

Devitt also mentions hipstergrocery chain Trader Joe's. "Theyhave great stuff, but have you ever

talked to their checkout people?

They're always asking you wheth-er you've tried this with that or ifyou've tried a particular recipe.

That's not by accident. You won'tfi.ndthat on a smartphone."

Lisa Holton is a Chzcag o-b ase d'

hu"sine s s w riter and author.