Study: One-in-three shoppers make mobile purchases

Denver – In the past two years, the number of shoppers using mobile devices to make purchases has increased by 10 percentage points to 35% in 2014 from 25% in 2012. According to a new study by The Integer Group, increased purchasing by Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and the 15–34 and 35–49 age groups were largely responsible for this increase.



In addition, the study shows 15% of shoppers said that typically only a "couple of minutes" passed between discovering a product (on their mobile device) and purchase. Males were more likely than females (17% and 13%, respectively) to make these quick-turn purchases, and Hispanics reported the shortest time mobile shopping (47% of purchases were made within a few hours of product discovery).



This acceleration of purchase is indicative of what shoppers look for when using their mobile devices in store or for purchase: information and convenience. In-store shoppers use their mobile devices to compare prices (39%) and look up product reviews (25%). This mirrors their priorities for shopping on their smartphones: spending as little as possible (55%) and finding the best-quality items (49%).



Additional findings from the Digital/Mobile issue of The Checkout include:



• 60% of shoppers have never purchased baby products online and say they never will.



• 47% of shoppers have never purchased food or beverage products online.



• Fewer than one-in-10 shoppers will download a retailer's app.



• Despite the fact that 34% of shoppers make a list on their mobile phones prior to shopping, only 8% of shoppers do so using a retailer's list-making tool.