Smartphone Users Relaxed About Buying
A US research report shows that smartphone users in the states are relaxed about buying goods and services using their handsets, although poor mobile site functionality is still very common.
The report, from Kantar Media company Compete, also predicts a massive upsurge in what’s known as m-commerce (short for mobile commerce) in 2010.
Known as The Smartphone Intelligence Survey, the report looks at behavioural patterns of those owning Android Devices (Google), BlackBerrys and iPhones, and this latest edition, based on third quarter of 2009, is timed to appear just before the techno love-in held yearly at Las Vegas. It’s known as the Consumer Electronics Show and the great and good of the gadget world pay homage to one another’s clever musings.
But back to the report. A spokesman for Compete says:
“As manufacturers show off the hottest new devices at CES, our research shows that they’d be wise to consider the complete mobile shopping experience and how it varies by individual and device.
“We’re seeing notable behavior differences across devices, so, for example, users of the Android operating system share different characteristics than Blackberry and iPhone enthusiasts. As manufacturers and marketers better understand how each group actually uses their devices, there’s a huge potential in 2010 for mobile commerce to explode.”
The main findings from the report show that 37% of those who own smartphones have bought something non-mobile, using their handset, in the last six months. What’s more, 19% of smartphone users have bought music using their handset; 14% have purchased books, DVDs, or similar items; and, 12% have purchased movie tickets.
But research still wins the day, with 41% of smartphones (actually the iPhones and Android fraternity) using their devices to cannily check sale prices at alternative locations whilst out shopping. And as an extension to that, around 39% of iPhone users and some 31% of Android owners, read reviews about the product they’re thinking of buying before they make a decision.
Although smartphone consumers are not tolerant of sites that are not geared for m-commerce, with 45% abandoning a sale process because the site would not load and 38% saying they left sites that were not developed specifically for smartphone users.
Tags: Blackberry, i Phone, Smartphones
