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Pew: In-store mobile commerce is growing

February 1, 2012

More than half of adult cell phone owners used their cell phones to help them with purchasing decisions while shopping in stores during the 2011 holiday season. According to research conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, during a 30-day period before and after Christmas:

• 38 percent of cell owners phoned friends to get advice about a purchase they were considering.
• 24 percent of cell owners looked up reviews of a product online via phones.
• 25 percent of adult cell owners used their phones to compare the online prices of products they were considering buying in a retail store.

Taken together, just more than half (52 percent) of all adult cell owners used their phone for at least one of these three reasons over the holiday shopping season and one third (33 percent) used their phones specifically for online information while inside a physical store — either product reviews or pricing information.

About the survey

The Princeton Survey Research Associates International January 2012 Omnibus Week 1 obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults living in the continental United States. Telephone interviews were conducted by landline (600) and cell phone (400, including 184 without a landline phone).

Read more about consumer behavior.