Technology

The true cost of device downtime: How mobile failures damage customer loyalty

Best practice device management means overseeing the small details that have a big impact.

Photo: Generated by AI. Adobe Stock.

December 29, 2025 by Apu Pavithran — Founder and CEO, Hexnode | Mitsogo Inc.

Picture this: a customer is in line and ready to check out. Five minutes later and they're at the front of the queue with a full cart. But, credit card in hand, the point-of-sale tablet freezes. Not only is this a time-waster but a reputation-ruiner. Customers remember those five minutes and sometimes take them as a lesson to never return, particularly during the holiday rush.

Device downtime like this doesn't just cost sales — it turns customers into critics. In retail's ongoing battle against e-commerce, mobile reliability can be the difference between a completed sale and a lost customer. Worse still, sluggish digital signage, unavailable self-service kiosks, or broken handheld click-and-collect scanners can similarly chip away at long-term loyalty. This matters when about 60% of consumers will switch brands after just one bad experience, and more than half (54%) will boycott a brand after a negative encounter.

Customers see technical difficulties and care about how they affect their in-store experience. As a result, it's up to retailers to do everything possible to prevent mobile failures.

Mobile failures are far too common

Look around retailers today and you'll notice scores of endpoints doing different things. From inventory scanners in stockrooms to mobile readers on the sales floor, mobile devices offer an efficiency boon for both sides of the retailer-customer equation. But keep in mind that each adds to the security and operational complexity of management, and this is an issue in an increasingly complex threat landscape.

For example, a report earlier this year found that half of mobile devices are running outdated operating systems and about a quarter are too old to upgrade. This is a problem since software vulnerabilities and subsequent patches are discovered and released regularly. If retailers aren't rolling out fixes as they happen, bad actors can turn known vulnerabilities into exploited ones. This is only more likely as bad actors take advantage of smart tools and automated vulnerability scanning to inflict greater damage with fewer resources.

Outdated software and more efficient hackers are just one point of mobile failure. Left unchecked, battery degradation kills devices mid-transaction, poor network connectivity brings cloud-based systems to a halt, and continuous operation creates unresponsive touchscreens and failing card readers. Without centralized management, retailers have zero visibility into which devices are about to fail until customers face the consequences.

Retailers can't afford device downtime

All of this is bad news for retailers because device uptime is their bottom line. This year, margins are tight as we head into one of the slowest holiday periods since the pandemic. Device failures often kill sales at the moment of peak intent and destroy customer lifetime value. This is because existing customers spend 67% more than first-time buyers, so ruining their digital experience can only lead to worse financial outcomes.

Additionally, mobile devices with outdated software are far more susceptible to ransomware, as evidenced by attacks jumping 58% between Q1 and Q2 earlier this year. Bad actors can more easily enter through the back door of retailer ecosystems when security weaknesses are known but not defended. This results in more hacks and larger breaches, which can expose sensitive customer information and disrupt service delivery. We saw this in April when UK retailer Marks & Spencer suffered a ransomware attack that cost £300 million in lost profits and led to a 46-day suspension of online operations.

Even loyal customers aren't so forgiving during events like this. Research shows that "loyal shoppers" in this space tolerate only 2 to 3 negative experiences before considering abandoning a brand. Remember, this is a sector with fierce competition and convenience matters, meaning that the cumulative effect of an out-of-battery scanner, a frozen tablet, or a lagging self-checkout kiosk can quickly take a toll.

Treat devices with respect and win back loyalty

The solution here isn't more or fewer devices but smarter oversight. Retailers need to shift from reactive firefighting to proactive prevention, treating mobile endpoints as mission-critical infrastructure and customer service imperatives.

Best practice device management means overseeing the small details that have a big impact. Automated off-peak patching ensures devices never display "updating" screens during business hours, battery health monitoring prevents power failures, and remote device health checks identify problems before customers encounter them. Further, zero-touch enrollment means new devices work correctly from day one. Across the board, admins armed with these tools can monitor devices in real time, ensuring quick responses and reducing risk across the entire fleet with just a few clicks.

Done right and there are big efficiency gains here, too, with stronger devices leading to fewer on-the-fly repairs, less troubleshooting, and more time for employees to focus on customer service.

My advice is to view proactive device management as operational insurance. Why? Because the cost of better cybersecurity and operational resilience is minimal compared to the lasting cost of damaged customer loyalty. This is how retailers can stop mobile failures before customers see and feel them.

About Apu Pavithran

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