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By Rieva Lesonsky
The rapid growth of mobile shopping, which we first saw in earnest over the 2011 holiday shopping season, is continuing to gather steam. A recent survey from new Deloitte, reported in MarketingDaily, asked consumers about their shopping preferences and found some valuable insights for retailers.
Nearly half (47 percent) say they are doing more purchasing online, an increase from the 38 percent who said so last year. Almost two-thirds (65 percent) say they now do more online research before they buy in order to find the best deals, up from 60 percent last year.
The shift to mobile shopping is especially pronounced among younger shoppers (those under 45). Deloitte found that some 40 percent of shoppers in this age range “expect” retailers to provide information about products, prices, availability and more via downloadable apps or mobile coupons. Among consumers over 45, just 19 percent expect stores to provide information in this fashion.
The biggest reason consumers are using their mobile devices while shopping, of course, is to find deals. Even though shoppers are more confident about the economy this year, they still want to save. Deloitte found that half of consumers who will be getting a tax refund are using it to pay down debt, 36 percent say they will save it and 36 percent are using some or all of it for daily living expenses.
While they are still holding onto their cash, consumers also feel they aren’t getting their money’s worth from retailers. Just 22 percent said stores are offering them “more for their money,” down from 27 percent who said this last year and 45 percent who said so in 2010. Now that stores can stop offering deep discounts, consumers can tell the difference.
But while consumers don’t think they’re getting good deals in-store, 58 percent do believe they get better prices online, up from 53 percent who thought that last year. No wonder consumers who have smartphones are wielding them to search for better prices (46 percent), shop on retail sites (43 percent), download coupons (34 percent) or read reviews (28 percent). In fact, 19 percent say they’d like to get coupons or special offers from stores on their mobile phones while they’re in-store.
With younger shoppers particularly eager to use their smartphones to make the shoping experience better, faster, cheaper and more fun, retailers need to keep up.
Image by Flickr user incase (Creative Commons)
