Re-purposed from the confidentcopywriter.com
Dan Butcher, associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily and himself a mobile marketer, recently referred to an important survey conducted by PriceGrabber, a Experian-owned, Los Angeles-based online shopping site boasting more than 11,000 merchants and 23 million+ unique shoppers monthly. The survey polled 2,445 online consumers from March 26 to April 12, 2010, focusing on smartphone shopping behavior, specifically the increase in consumer mobile shopping (especially purchases of digital content and consumer electronics).
Mobile purchases have seen a steady increase since 2009. Over the past year, ownership of 3G-compatible Web-enabled phones shot from 48 percent to 64 percent. Fifty-three percent of online consumers own a ‘smartphone’. Twenty-two percent indicated they planned to purchase from their mobile device in the next 12 months.
And what are all these people buying?
• Consumer electronics: 57%
• Ringtones: 61%
• Books: 42%
• Clothing: 34%
• Jewelry: 16%
Hey! Just like a day at the mall, sans wasted gas, traffic, angry shoppers, screaming babies, rude salespeople….this mobile marketing thing may just catch on after all!
What else are people doing with their smartphones?
• Checking prices…22%…compared with 16% in 2009
• Researching products…21%…compared with 16% in 2009
• Browse for products…compared to 14% in 2009
Barbary Brunner, PriceGrabber’s chief marketing officer, explains the trend, “Because mobile is an anywhere/anytime device it can enable a brand or retailer to connect with consumers at their moment of greatest interest or need and is most meaningful for the retailer. Mobile devices reduce the gap between the virtual and the physical world, allowing for greater efficiency for and value to both the purchaser and the seller.
Consumers are not only researching products, they are also making purchases and comparing prices. When purchasing from a mobile device, consumers currently favor digital content like apps and ringtones, as well as consumer electronics. By providing all the tools and information that consumers need to make purchases in a format that is easily consumed on mobile devices, retailers can drive more in-store traffic and ultimately increase sales.”
In today’s blink-and-you-missed-it marketplace, businesses of all types seek groundbreaking methods for building consumer relationships. Yet, the very speed of business chops the typical merchant/consumer dialogue to bits. By time the buyer shows up, credit card in hand, they’ve already done the legwork to reach a buying decision…and the merchant often loses the powerful opportunity to influence that buying decision. Technology like mobile marketing restores some of this two-way transparency.
As more mobile applications are brought to the marketplace, consumers with smartphones will continue to scout out the best deals ‘over the phone’ in greater numbers, ultimately transforming how we research, evaluate and purchase the items we want and need.
Is mobile marketing in your future, either as a merchant or a consumer?