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Many consumers turn to mobile commerce before making purchases

Report finds more consumers than expected turn to their mobile devices to handle the bulk of their shopping activity.

According to a fourth-quarter 2015 Mobile Wallet Report from Nielsen, 37 percent of participants said their purchases begin with mobile commerce over one-quarter to half of the time. Considering many American’s own smartphones and these devices have become an important part of their daily lives – functioning as a constant companion and information resource – it only makes sense that most people who own these devices would use them as a research tool prior to making a purchase. That said, consumers don’t limit their mobile shopping practices to only smartphones.

The report found that there are many tablet shoppers as well.

The results of the study revealed that 72 percent of mobile shoppers research an item on their smartphones before buying. What’s more, 70 percent check the price of an item and 60 percent use a store locator to find the store where they can purchase the product that they want.

Mobile Commerce - Mobile Shopping ResearchHowever, the report also discovered that consumers rely on tablet commerce, too. While not used nearly as frequently as smartphones for locating a store (a mere 31 percent to the smartphone’s 60 percent), when it comes to researching an item before purchasing it, 66 percent of respondents said that they used tablets, with 57 percent using tablets for checking the price of an item.

Yet, interestingly, when it comes to making an actual purchase via a mobile device, more respondents made purchases via their tablets than smartphones. For instance, 28 percent of participants purchased a service via their tablet compared to 21 percent of participants who used their smartphone.

When engaging in mobile commerce, certain factors are important to the consumer’s experience.

Nielsen’s report also examined “Factors that are important when shopping on mobile Q4 2015” and – not surprising – found that 62 percent of mobile consumer who took part in the study want a highly visual experience and want to be able to view product pictures above all else when using their smartphone for shopping. Shoppers (48 percent of respondents) also want mobile-friendly websites, while 44 percent of participants said that it was also very important for there to be a product description.

Based on these findings, it’s clear that the mobile commerce trend is growing; giving marketers and advertisers who want to reach their desired target market, new opportunities to do so.

Nokia smartphones and tablets to make a comeback

The Nokia brand is being revived under a new licensing agreement.

The Finish-based multinational communications and information technology company has announced that it will be making a comeback in the mobile industry and will be licensing its brand and intellectual property to HMD global, a newly established company that will produce and sell a portfolio of Andoird-powered Nokia smartphones, feature-phones and tablets.

Feature-phones will be one of the main focuses.

HMD Global – also a company based out of Finland and led by ex-Nokia veteran Arto Nummela – made a conditional agreement with Microsoft to acquire the rights to make and sell Nokia branded mobile devices.

Nokia Smartphones - Image of Nokia N8The major focus of HMD Global will be on feature-phones; the mobile device with which Nokia Technologies has had the greatest amount of success. The agreement that Nokia has made with HMD will give the company all of Nokia’s branding and cellular patents and, in return, Nokia will receive royalty payments from HMD for the sales of the devices, which will cover both brand and intellectual property rights. This agreement will last for ten years.

Once the transaction is completed, which is expected to occur in late June, Nummela will become the CEO.

HMD plans to invest over $500 million to support the global marketing of Nokia smartphones and other mobile devices.

This large investment, which is planned to take place over the next three years, will be paid for by the new business’s investors and profits.

Commenting on the new agreement, Nokia Technologies President Ramzi Haidamus said that it marks the start “of an exciting new chapter for the Nokia brand in an industry where Nokia remains a truly iconic name.” He added that “Instead of Nokia returning to manufacturing mobile phones itself, HMD plans to produce mobile phones and tablets that can leverage and grow the value of the Nokia brand in global markets.”

In addition to its new deal with HMD Global, the remainder of Nokia’s business has been purchased by FIH Mobile ltd., a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group. FIH reportedly purchased Nokia’s former feature-phone business from Microsoft for $350 million and will take over its manufacturing facility in Vietnam.

FIH and HMD have already formed a collaborative agreement designed “to support the building of a global business for Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets,” reported The Verge.

Presently, no information has been released in regard to when consumers can expect the new Nokia smartphones, feature-phones and tablets to hit the market.