The online shopping site PriceGrabber, which is part of Experian, has completed a new mobile shopping survey, which shows widespread adoption of smartphones and their growing use in shopping. Users of web-enabled phones downloaded on average 21 apps, of which three were shopping related, the survey found.
"Mainstream consumer adoption of smartphones, coupled with a consumer focus on getting the best deal, has helped to create a culture where consumers are becoming more and more reliant on their phones for their shopping needs," stated Graham Jones, general manager at PriceGrabber in a statement. "With a growing number of consumers utilizing their mobile phones to purchase goods and services, retailers must adapt to this technology quickly or be left behind."
The survey indicates that consumers are already actively using their phones for information and the best deals.
The majority of consumers (72%) indicated they already use their mobile phones to receive coupons, product deals and price alerts. About 55% said they actively use their mobile phone to browse the Web, and 34% compare prices online while shopping in a store. The survey also found that 33% percent of survey respondents indicated they use their mobile phone to find nearby products to purchase, and 21% revealed they use product bar code scanning to find the best price.
In terms of electronics, 66% said they like to get as much information as possible about an electronic device before they buy and 48% stated they always shop for the best deal in electronics.
The PriceGrabber survey, which was based on 7,987 consumers who completed the survey between March 3 and March 25, 2011, also found that 2007 was the first year of mainstream consumer adoption of smartphones, with 11% of consumers purchasing their first Web-enabled phone. After 2007, consumer adaptation to smartphones continued to increase, with 16% of consumers purchasing their first Web-enabled phone in 2008, 22% acquiring smart phones in 2009, and another 20% in 2010.
