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Study charts 10 percent rise in shoppers who buy via mobile device

Since 2012, the incidence of shoppers using mobile devices to make purchases has increased from 25 percent to 35 percent.

October 6, 2014

An ongoing shopper behavior study conducted by The Integer Group and MARC Research shows since 2012, the incidence of shoppers using mobile devices to make purchases has increased from 25 percent to 35 percent.

Increased mobile purchasing by Hispanics (up 11 percent), Asian-Americans (up 10 percent), and the 15–34 and 35–49 age brackets (up 10 percent and 12 percent, respectively) were largely responsible for this increase.

"Shoppers of all ages and demographics are using their mobile phones in stores and to make purchases," said Craig Elston, SVP of insight and strategy at The Integer Group. "Marketers should consider not whether their target uses mobile, but how their target uses mobile."

The use of mobile is also expediting the shopping process, the study found; 15 percent of shoppers said that typically only a "couple of minutes" passed between discovering a product (on their mobile device) and purchase.

Men were more likely than women (17 percent and 13 percent, respectively) to make these quick-turn purchases, while mobile-savvy Hispanics reported the fastest time mobile shopping (47 percent of purchases were made within a few hours of product discovery).

This acceleration of purchase is indicative of what shoppers look for (i.e., information and convenience) when using their mobile devices in store or for purchase.

In-store shoppers use their mobile devices to compare prices (39 percent) and look up product reviews (25 percent). This mirrors their priorities for shopping on their smartphones: spending as little as possible (55 percent) and finding the best-quality items (49 percent).

Additional findings from the digital-mobile issue of The Checkout include:

• 60 percent of shoppers have never purchased baby products online and say they never will;
• 47 percent of shoppers have never purchased food or beverage products online;
• fewer than 1 in 10 shoppers will download a retailer's app;
• 34 percent of shoppers make a list on their mobile phone prior to shopping, but only 8 percent do so using a retailer's list-making tool.

For more information on digital and mobile shopping behaviors, download the full study.