Shoppers increasingly rely on mobile devices, not just for finding product information but for completing purchases, with more than 80 percent having bought something on their smartphones, according to a recent survey.
Their favorite sites? Amazon (63 percent), eBay (37 percent) and Target (35 percent) were the three retailers visited most often by respondents to the survey, which was conducted by Verve Wireless over an eight-week period.
Verve surveyed 235 smartphone and tablet users across its network to learn how they are using mobile in the retail process. While the survey sample is relatively small, the results seem to bear out what eBay and others have long predicted: The lines between mobile commerce and traditional retail are blurring.
"There is a growing demographic of consumers who rely on their mobile devices to help them make decisions in the aisles of brick-and-mortar stores as well as while shopping online," says Greg Hallinan, chief marketing officer of Verve. "The advertiser who meets them there will win the sale."
Among the key findings of the survey:
- More than 60 percent of consumers shop using a smartphone at least once a month.
- Eighty-one percent buy a product or service online or in the store after researching on a mobile device.
- Seventy-five percent use smartphones in the store to research products and prices or read reviews.
- The top three product categories among mobile shoppers are electronics (51 percent), entertainment (50 percent) and books (45 percent).
Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.
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