Pace of m-commerce marches ahead

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/18/2010 2:26:25 PM

Basking Ridge, N.J. - Nearly half of U.S. consumers are using their smartphones for shopping - even though what they're mostly buying are phone games and apps.
However, a recent survey by Lightspeed Research found mobile phones impact on shopping behavior in ways beyond buying. Some 80% of survey respondents have used their phone to locate their closest store, 70% have compared prices using their phone, and 65% have read product reviews on their mobile.
They survey - conducted Aug. 26-30 2010 and based on 3,905 respondents - found that while mobile shopping was most popular with 18-34 year olds, more than one third of those aged 55+ have also made a purchase via mobile.
The reason most given for not making more product purchases by phone: consumers in every age group said they prefer to shop on a traditional PC. But when they do engage in m-commerce, 54% said they like to shop at a company's web site through mobile Internet and 41% said they would rather shop through an app. Just 5% want to shop through SMS or texting a code.
Just over one third do their mobile shopping via iPhone, 25% use an Android-based phone, and 19% use a Blackberry.
"With the advent of location-based services and coupon apps such as Groupon, Yowza and Coupon Sherpa, retailers could truly be attracting shoppers ‘off the streets' with enticing and relevant offers served in-the-moment," said Chris Urinyi, Lightspeed Research ceo, The Americas.