News

Study: 16% of US consumers have shopped via mobile

July 15, 2013

New research from Havas Worldwide and Market Probe International suggests that consumer shopping via mobile channels is far less commonplace in the U.S. than in certain emerging markets – finding that just 16 percent of shoppers in the U.S. have used a mobile device to shop.

Other findings from the study include:

• In-store as showroom for digital commerce: Globally, 43 percent of those surveyed have used a smartphone to check for a better price or product reviews online while shopping for a product in a store. The practice is standard in China (74 percent), India (62 percent), and Singapore (58 percent). Yet, in the United States, less than one-third of consumers (32 percent) have used a mobile phone for comparison shopping or research while browsing a brick-and-mortar retailer.
• Americans are less likely to see a smartphone as a POS: Despite the majority of top retailers investing R&D dollars in mobile apps, only 26 percent of US consumers are comfortable purchasing products with their smartphones. Conversely, in China and India the majority of consumers are comfortable doing so (64 and 54 percent).

"The evolution of digital from a desktop paradigm to a mobile paradigm makes it far more difficult for marketers to retain consumers' attention," said Matt Weiss, global chief marketing officer of Havas Worldwide. "In markets where smartphones are the norm, brands must aim to create preference by developing apps that make transactions quick and seamless, and that offer more value than the consumer can find elsewhere. More and more, this will mean making smart use of data to engage people at point of purchase with tailored offers that convince them to close the deal."

Read more about multichannel retailing.