New research shows that consumers who shop with mobile devices in addition to using other channels not only spend more, but they are less price sensitive than others who do not shop with a phone or tablet. Another bonus for retailers, according to the July Mobile Retail Insights report from Greystripe, is that these same consumers like to share the love by writing more product reviews than their non-mobile counterparts.
"Mobile is key throughout all stages of the purchasing process, allowing consumers to research products, make mobile purchases, and share product reviews post-purchase," Kurt Hawks, general manager at Greystripe, told Mobile Commerce Daily.
So how do mobile shoppers compare to those who don't shop with phones?
- Thirty-seven percent of mobile shoppers visit a website or application first for product information compared to 28 percent of traditional shoppers.
- Seventy-one percent of mobile shoppers redeem retailer coupons versus 94 percent.
- Forty-nine percent of mobile shoppers regularly write product reviews versus 31 percent.
"Based on the results of this study, retailers and retail brands that are not already focusing heavily on the mobile channel would be wise to move in that direction," Mr. Hawks told BizReport.
Greystripe's research reinforces numerous other studies on mobile consumers.
In April 2011, Arc Worldwide reported that roughly half of all phone owners were using the devices to shop. While 80 percent of these were considered light shoppers, much of that was due to the perception that mobile was an inferior technical option to shopping with a personal computer.
"If these light mobile shoppers really start engaging and evolve into heavier mobile shoppers, that's going to increase the mobile shopping population by 50 percent," Molly Garris, digital strategy manager at Arc, told Reuters at the time.