The favorite apps are those that simplify retail purchasing, such as those that guide the in-store process.
The results of a new study by Parks Associates have now been released and have shown that over one in four shoppers of consumer electronic products in the United States who have broadband capable devices use mobile commerce apps on their smartphones in order to help them to make a purchasing decision.
They use a number of different features from these applications to help them to decide what is best.
Among the favorite mobile commerce app features, said the report, were functions for product research, QR code and barcode scanning, as well as apps that provide interactions with brands and the retailers themselves. The report on the research was published by Parks Associates under the title “Mobile Commerce: Keys to Mass Adoption”.
Forty three percent of American smartphone owners used mobile commerce to help buy a product in September.
Consumers – particularly those that shopped at Best Buy, Walmart, and Target – were also noted to be beginning to use their smartphones to make purchasing decisions via mobile commerce channels while they are actually in the stores. These three brands all encourage their shoppers to use their own apps while they are within their stores. According to Parks Associates, it is Target shoppers that are most likely to use these applications while they are looking to purchase a consumer electronics product.
According to a Parks Associates senior analyst, Jennifer Kent, “Consumers are using apps and smartphones to enhance their brick-and-mortar shopping experience, with Target shoppers emerging as the most enthusiastic app users.” She also stated that “Our research shows 54% of Target shoppers used at least one mobile commerce app while shopping in a store for CE, while only 38% of Walmart shoppers did the same.”
The analysts behind the mobile commerce report suggested that all retailers begin to embrace the smartphone friendly experience – both with their own apps and third party products – as a method of providing consumers an enhanced overall shopping experience, as well as a front line defense against losing sales to showrooming.
The company’s data compression could also make the social network more friendly to the wallet experience.
Facebook has just announced another acquisition, this time involving a startup from Tel Aviv called Onavo, which has apps that include services that are designed to compress and monitor mobile data.
This could help Facebook to improve on two very meaningful levels.
As Facebook has been honing its mobile credentials to attract the spotlight, the services from Onavo apps could prove to be very helpful as it could help to encourage more marketers to shed their doubts and give the social network a try.
Equally, these apps could help to enhance Zuckerberg’s efforts with Internet.org.
The compression technology might assist the Internet.org program’s attempt to bring internet connectivity into regions that are out of reach for other forms. It could also make Facebook a realistic option within regions of the developing world where data consumption is considered to be a costly luxury. Moreover, it would shrink the roaming charges that would be applied to consumers in the rest of the world.
Beyond having been adopted as a new Facebook subsidiary, Onavo will also be converted into a Facebook satellite office in its home town in Israel, which will become the first time that the social network has had a direct presence in that country. At the moment, no information has been revealed regarding the amount of money that was involved in the acquisition, but there have been speculations ranging anywhere from $100 million to $200 million.
Onavo expressed in a blog post that “We’re excited to join their team, and hope to play a critical role in reaching one of Internet.org’s most significant goals – using data more efficiently, so that more people around the world can connect and share.” They also went on to add that “When the transaction closes, we plan to continue running the Onavo mobile utility apps as a standalone brand. As always, we remain committed to the privacy of people who use our application and that commitment will not change.” It has also been speculated that the tech will be integrated into the Facebook mobile applications in order to make them more efficient in terms of data consumption, as well.
