Smartphones Get Heavy Use during Shopping: Study

More than half of smartphone users look to their phones for some kind of help while shopping, according to new research from market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey. And while the majority of those aren’t yet buying anything via smartphone, they are whipping out those phones closer than ever to the point of sale, giving marketers a new tool to use in converting to a purchase—and something new to worry about in fending off competition.

The research, conducted in January among almost 1,500 U.S. consumers by CMB and iModerate Technologies, found that shoppers under 35 are much more likely than their older counterparts to use a smartphone while shopping. Among the under-35 crowds, 67% said they use their device while shopping, compared to 51% for those 35 to 49 and only 33% for those 50 and older.

Most often, two-thirds of respondents said, the take out those smartphones to do comparison sh0pping for products or services (66%), followed by finding the nearest store location (58%) and checking for available discounts (58%). Further down the list are reading online reviews (49%), studying up on a rival’s product or service (46%), checking stock availability (38%) or accessing a quick comparison of product/ service features (37%). Over the whole survey group, CMB found, only 23% have actually made a purchase via their smartphone.

These strategies vary somewhat by gender, with women much more likely to check for discounts (64% compared to 52% of men) and males more likely to read reviews than women (54% to 44%) and to compare features on a smartphone (42% to 32%).

The survey found that 41% of iPhone owners said they have made a purchase from their smartphone. That contrasts with 25% of Android users who said the same and only 11% for Blackberry users or those with other smartphone models.

Buying over a smartphone also varies by age and gender. Among those under 35, 28% have made a purchase over their phones. That rate drops to 23% for those 35 to 49 and to 10% for those 50 and over. More than a quarter of the men polled (27%) have bought via a smartphone, compared to under one-fifth (19%) of women.

As for what respondents are buying from their smartphones, the majority of transactions (46%) have been entertainment content, including music, movies and TV shows. But 39% of those polled have conducted banking over their smartphones, and 29% said they have bought electronics. A quarter of respondents (25%) reported that they have taken part in online auctions via their handsets, and almost as many said they have used their smartphones to book travel reservations or buy travel services (25%) or to buy apparel (23%). Only 8% of those surveyed said they had bought personal care products on a smartphone, and only 7% cited app purchases. Five percent said they had bought restaurant gift certificates or made food or beverage purchases using their smartphones, and 1% of respondents said they had bought automobiles.

By a large proportion, men outpaced women in buying electronics over their smartphones (44% compared to only 5%), while women were much more likely than men to have shopped for clothing (38% compared to 14%).

Asked what apps they were most likely to open when using their smartphones to shop, respondents most often cited scanner apps for 2D barcodes or QR codes (44%), followed by discount apps such as Groupon or LivingSocial (38%). And customer review apps such as the one from Consumer Reports (31%). Branded store apps were name by 26% of those polled, and 22% pointed to product comparison apps. Only 13% said they were likely to open geo-location apps such as Foursquare, Gowalla or Shopkick.

The survey found that female smartphone users are more likely than men to use discount apps (43% to 33%), and that men are somewhat more prone to use review apps than women (34% to 28%).

Smartphone ownership has grown in the last year and is expected to increase as prices come down and more mobile users trade up. A recent study by comScore found that there were now 65.8 million smartphone users in the U.S. in the three months ending in January 2011, an increase of 8% from the previous three-month period. And marketing research firm eMarketer has projected that smartphones will make up 43% of the U.S. market by 2015.

That makes understanding how to attract and retain smartphone users all the more crucial for shopper marketing, concludes the CMB survey. “Given the strong growth in smartphone ownership, everyone dependent on the in-store experience—from retail to product manufacturers—must take advantage of opportunities these devices provide for generating sales and improving the customer experience,” CMB senior consultant Jeff McKenna said in a release. “Along with designs for packaging, displays and signage, we will see smartphone-based communication as a necessary element of retail planning.”

The survey concludes that marketers can pursue one of two strategies in integrating smartphone shopping use. Those who want to attract such mobile shoppers can roll out useful branded applications that integrate features like shopping and wish lists, link to shopper rewards programs, or offer better, more detailed product information. Or they can make comparison shopping difficult by relying more heavily on store-branded products or creating bundles of branded products that other retailers might not match.

“In all cases, retailers and manufacturers must prepare in-store associates to recognize the ‘mobile shopper’ and empower them to address the inevitable questions about price, features and availability,” the report concludes.

One interesting sidelight of the CMB survey is the extent to which smartphone users are ignorant of the degree of privacy their data enjoys when they use a mobile app.

For instance, the survey found that 68% of respondents believe that the companies creating mobile apps must have privacy policies to cover data transmitted over those apps. Fifty-one percent said that users can clear tracking cookies on a mobile phone just as they can cookies on PC browsers. And 33% believe smartphone apps can’t access a unique identified that will reveal such personal information as the user’s age, gender or location. And almost half of respondents (49%) said smartphone apps do not share personally identifiable information without their awareness or consent.

In fact, none of those beliefs are correct.