The study, Mobile Phone Shopping Diaries (May 2012), focuses on how consumers engage with mobile commerce via smartphones and interestingly, has found that 53% of mobile commerce users have stopped an in-store purchase as a result of using their mobile phone.

Joe Lazlo, senior director of the Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence at the IAB, commented on the findings of the report:

“Mobile shoppers today use their mobiles to save them time or money or both -mobile shopping helps make them more efficient. Since we all love to make the best use of our time and money, these kinds of behaviors are likely to spread and become mainstream really quickly…I predict that savvy marketers will learn to live with, and even court, these newly empowered consumers, who can and do leave a store if they discover a better deal somewhere else”

Mobile Shoppers Savvy on Price Comparison and Product Information

Below shows the breakdown of reasons to why those who stopped a purchase in store as a result of using a mobile:

• 38% have done so because they have found a better price in a different store
• 30% because they found a better price online
• 21% because they found a better item online
• 13% because the product was not available
• 11% because they saw a negative review
• 11% because they could not find information on the product they were planning to purchase

Additional findings of the report detail how consumers use their mobiles whilst in a store:

• 34% used a device to check prices
• 32% to take a photo to send to others
• 20% to check another store in the area
• 15% checking product reviews
• 14% checking for location deals
• 14% showing a store employee an item
• 13% scanning a barcode

mCommerce is about Convenience and Getting the Best Deal

The most popular answers amongst respondents for what encouraged them to engage in a mobile commerce activity was that using a mobile was the easiest way to do something (24%). Additionally, 22% said they were responding to a mobile ad.

Furthermore, 40% of respondents said they want mobile ads to allow them to browse a brand’s broader product offering whilst 28% want to learn more about the brand being advertised.

30% stated they like personlised ads while 27% said personlised ads are ‘ok’ as long as they have provided permission to receive these ads. The types of personlisation consumers are opened to include location (28%), favourite brands (26%) and sites they have visited online (24%).

mCommerce and Multitasking

Results from the study also highlighted the multitasking behaviour of consumers: 36% of respondents stated they engage in mobile commerce while watching TV, 16% while talking on the phone, 10% while on a desktop or laptop and 7% while listening to the radio.

“The research shows that 64 percent of mobile commerce encounters happened while the consumer was engaged with some other medium besides their mobile phone, so this is indeed a key challenge” comments Mr. Lazlo; he continues:

“One clear opportunity is to encourage the use of mobile as a cross-media tool – for example using audio tagging, bar codes, or other, similar technologies to enable a consumer to easily use their mobile to get more information about a product being advertised via TV, print, or outdoor media.We saw some of that during this year’s Super Bowl, and there’s sure to be more. Consumers still need to learn this behavior, and calls to action must be quick and very clear, but it’s one way to combat the issue of fragmented consumer attention across media.”

47% of mobile commerce actions occur at home; of these, 61% took place in the living room and 20% in the bedroom. 29% of mobile commerce took place while consumers were out and about (the most popular activity amongst this group was searching for store locations) and 10% at work.

What Are Consumers Buying via mCommerce?

The top categories for mobile commerce usage are:

• Digital categories 76%
• Clothing 38%
• Entertainment activities 34%
• Consumer electronics 33%
• Health and beauty 31%
• Food and grocery 27%
• Furniture and other house wares 23%
• Tickets 21%

“This study shows how ‘shopping’ isn’t really a distinct activity anymore” stated Mr. Lazlo.

“Instead, mobile shopping activities are really integrated into and happen throughout a consumers’ day, including surprisingly levels while at home, but also while at work, and of course while out and about. As shopping becomes an anytime-anywhere phenomenon, savvy marketers and retailers will need to learn to tailor when and how they advertise to make sure they are getting the right message to the right consumer at the right stage of the shopping process”.

Download Nielsen’s Cross Platform report.

Furthermore, Nielsen has also released its annual ‘State of the Appnation’ which details the changes in mobile adoption over the course of the last year. The infographic below highlights key findings:

The study, which revisited the 2011 report of the same name, found that online shopping via both smartphone and tablet devices has seen an uptake of 10 percent; from 30% of respondents reporting using a mobile device for shopping in 2011 to 40% in 2012.

Key Elements in mCommerce

Just as in 2011, the 2012 report found that over two thirds of consumers (67%) rate product information as ‘very important’ when purchasing high value goods.

Furthermore, across both years, the survey showed that inaccurate or poor product information across retail channels has a detrimental effect on sales: 16% of customers cited poor product information as a reason for not making an online purchase. With 78% of respondents use mobile devices to review products before making a purchase it is paramount that retailers therefore provide accurate product information across all channels.

Mobile Online Shopping Growing

Smartphones and tablets as shopping conduits for online shopping has risen with uptakes of 9% and 3% respectively over the year. Online shopping activity via smartphone and tablet devices is now favoured by 20% of those surveyed; this compares to just over 8% in 2011.

Mark Thorpe, UK Managing Director at Stibo Systems, commented on the report and what the findings mean to consumers:

“In producing a year-on-year survey comparison, it is evident that mobile is a key part of a retailer’s multichannel strategy. Retailers must pay attention to this if they are to continue to ensure customer satisfaction throughout the overall shopping experience.”

He continues:

“As the use of mobile devices becomes more ubiquitous in today’s world, it becomes crucial for retailers to meet customers’ rising expectations surrounding m-commerce. With this in mind, retailers need to ensure that managing master data is at the heart of their multichannel strategy for 2012; as the survey points out, consistent product information is something that consumers look for when shopping, whichever the channel.”

UK Consumer Retail Survey: 2011 and 2012 Comparison

• 78% of respondents have used their mobile device (smartphone or tablet) to browse products and also review them online before purchasing, as compared to 60% in 2011
• The use of tablet devices to browse products and make online purchases as more than doubled amongst consumers from 2% in 2011 to 5% in 2012
• 23% of consumers are using mobile devices to purchase fashion products in 2012, compared to 16% in 2011
• In 2011, women (20%) were more likely to use a mobile device to purchase grocery items than men (11%). In 2012 this trend reversed: men (16%) use mCommerce for grocery shopping over women (12%)

Q1 of 2012 saw smartphones account for 6.1 percent of site visits compared to 4.3 percent on tablet. However smartphones only maintain a greater share of website visits due to the lower penetration rate of tablets.

Future Tablet Growth

The share of website visits from tablets grew approx. 10 times faster than the rate of smartphones within two years of market introduction and grew more than 300% in the last year.

Key findings of the report also included:

• From 2010 through to 2011 there were 5.3 times more smartphones shipped to North America and Western Europe compared to tablets
• Share of website visits from tablets grew approx. 10 times faster than the rate of smartphones within two years of market introduction and grew more than 300% in the last year
• Tablets’ share of website traffic will exceed smartphone traffic by early 2013 and reach 10% of total website traffic in early 2014

View the full Adobe Digital Index Report 2012.

AlwaysOnMessage’s Head of Mobile Product, Chris Dane, will be chairing at the Connected Summit in London tomorrow. The event is split into two streams: ‘Connected Media’ and ‘Entertainment and Connected Live Events’.

Chris will be chairing two sessions covering the following topics:

Mobile Ticketing and Payments

• The case for mobile ticketing
• How to make it work
• Infrastructure and security challenges
• Technical considerations
• Billing & payments
• Case Studies

Mobile 101: Technology Explained

• Using connected technology to enhance visitor experiences at venues, getting them in and out of venues, collected data to expand after-event relationships
• Unlocking live events with social media and second screens. Increasing audience interaction at home and at events

Chris will be joined by speakers from O2, Everything Everywhere, Juniper Research and PayPal amongst others.

For more information visit the Connected Summit website.

Amongst these new consumers, Apple was the top manufacturer whilst Android was the most popular smartphone operating system.

US Smartphone Operating System Share Q1, 2012

The following table highlights which operating systems were most popular with US consumers in early 2012; 48 percent chose an a device running the Android OS, whilst those choosing iOS stands at 32 percent for the same period.

US Smartphone Demographics Q1 2012

• 50.9 percent of female mobile subscribers own smartphones in March 2012, compared to 50.1 percent for men
• More than two out of three US consumers aged between 25 – 34 own a smartphone

How are People Interacting with Mobile Devices?

Key findings include:

• 48% of people never turn their phone off
• 64% of people sleep with their mobile in the bed or by their bedside
• Half of people check their mobile device during the night, whilst 9% check 5 or more times
• 1 in 4 mobile users admit they may be addicted to their mobile phone with more than a third (34%) aged under 30 feeling that way
• Almost 1 in 5 people text their spouse or children more often than speaking to them face-to-face

View the full SmartGraphic from MMA below:

Email at Forefront of Mobile Revolution

The study found that 88 percent of people check their email via a mobile device daily whilst 85 percent of all mobile email is read on an Apple device.

Interaction with Mobile Email

The study also highlights how people are interacting with mobile email:

• 41% of Europeans would either close or delete an email that was not optimised for mobile; this figure stands at 63% for Americans
• 29% of Europeans would read emails later on a laptop or PC but 41% would delete or forget about the email
• 2.39% of ‘mobile openers’ opened an email on both a desktop and mobile device

View the infographic produced by the results of the study below:

Samsung and Apple combined captured more than half of global smartphone shipments (55%) for the first time.

Alex Spektor, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics, commented:

“Global smartphone shipments grew 41 percent annually to reach 145.3 million units in Q1 2012. Samsung overtook Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume with a record 31 percent market share. Samsung’s global smartphone shipments rose 253 percent annually to 44.5 million units, as demand surged for its popular Galaxy models such as the Note, S2 and Y.”

Q. What were the highlights of the sessions for you?

A. Apart from my own(!) it would have to be Martina King from Aurasma … very knowledgeable and left the crowd inspired!

Q. Explain the most impressive example of a sports brand using mobile you saw…

A. Tricky question, but I would have to vote for Real Madrid Buses at the World Cup with call’s to action via SMS.  Not necessarily the sexiest implementation but inspired, effective and profitable!

Q. How do you the sports industry will be affected by mobile in the next 12 months?

A. Another tricky one!  Simple answer is those who get onboard are going to profit, both in terms of engagement and monetization … those who don’t … won’t!

Q. You chaired the panel discussion on Sponsorship and Marketing Opportunities; how do you feel the sports industry can make the most of these opportunities?

A. As Tom Horsey from Crazy4Media pointed out, right’s owners are key in this space.  Whilst they hold the keys to the treasure chest, its hard to see how one brand or another can truly max out what can be done. That said, an attentive fan checking into an app / mobile presence 3 or 4 times a day has an obvious value, both to existing sponsors and new sponsors.

Q. AoM have worked with some leading sports brands and publishers; what would you say is the biggest hurdle the industry needs to overcome when adopting mobile?

A. For me its “just” a change in mindset. Some in sports see engagement and monetization as mutually exclusive, whereas we see them as complimentary.  As a sports fan myself, I have no problem with my team(s) making money from me, as long as they do it with obvious intentions to serve me value and bring me closer to the experience. Once sports brands understand this, the wealth of brand loyalty and assets they have at their disposal become massive tools to be used accordingly.