Only a very small percentage of baby boomers have said that they would buy products advertised on smartphones.
Mobile ads have been taking off at an exponential rate in the United States, and as younger device users are enjoying the convenience and ease of m-commerce, baby boomers aren’t nearly as enthusiastic.
People in that generation are far less likely to enjoy receiving advertising when they use their smartphones.
According to the results of a study from eMarketer, almost three out of every four American cellular phone users – that is, 59.3 percent of the entire U.S. population – is a smartphone owner who uses his or her device at least one time every month in 2015. Smartphone penetration is greatest among younger generations. For instance, among device users between the ages of 25 and 34 years old, 90.2 percent have smartphones. Comparatively, in the age group of people aged 65 years and older and who own mobile devices, only 40.7 percent own smartphones that they use at least once monthly. Baby boomers are in the middle of those two groups, with a penetration rate of 64.4 percent.
That said, while they are mostly open to using the tech, they do not like receiving mobile ads.
Research conducted by Experian Marketing Services showed that Boomers like mobile ads far less than Generation Xers and Millennials. This study revealed that among baby boomers, only 28 percent agreed that “my mobile phone connects me to my social world.” Among those in Generation X, the figure was 46.2 percent, and among Millennials, it was slightly higher at 53.5 percent.
Baby Boomers were also much less likely to say that they felt that text messages were as meaningful to them as spoken conversations and were less likely to say that they used their mobile phones as their primary devices for accessing the internet.
Still, as much as boomers don’t like mobile ads, they are still considerable buyers of digital content, as about 2 out of every 3 baby boomers will make a digital purchase at some point in 2015, which is only a handful of percentage points behind the leaders, the Millennial generation.
Report highlights importance of mobile commerce and other activities on smartphones
Experian Marketing Services, a marking firm associated with Experian plc., has released a new report concerning consumer behavior and the use of smartphones. Mobile technology has come to play a vital role in the lives of the average consumer, with many people relying on smartphones to function in their daily lives. The advent of mobile commerce has made these devices even more important to people around the world, especially as they devices begin to store and make use of financial information.
Consumers spend average of 58 minutes on their mobile device daily
It is no surprise that many consumers have smartphones, but what may be surprising is how much time a typical person will spend on their mobile device every day. The report shows that the average smartphone user devotes 58 minutes of their time to their mobile device. Much of this time is spend on a variety of activities, including mobile commerce and social networking. The report suggests that the typical iPhone user spends an average of 1 hour and 15 minutes on their mobile device daily, whereas the typical Android user spends 49 minutes on their device per day.
Most of this time is spend talking on the phone and texting
Approximately 26% of the time smartphone users spend on their device involves talking to others on the phone, while 20% of this time is spent texting. Some 8% of this time is devoted to mobile games, which have proven quite popular with a wide range of consumers. Mobile commerce also takes up some of a smartphone user’s time, but not as much as texting. While consumers have been quick to embrace mobile commerce, many people have not found enjoyable experiences through their smartphones. Poor experiences have driven some consumers away from mobile commerce, but not all have abandoned the idea.
Mobile commerce appears active among iPhone consumers
The report suggests that iPhone users spend more time on mobile activities than Android users. This could translate into iPhone users being more active in the mobile commerce space, but many mobile commerce platforms are based on the use of NFC technology, which is not supported by Apple devices. There are alternatives to NFC, of course, that have made mobile commerce more accommodating to iPhone users, but these alternatives are not as popular as the conventional NFC-based platforms.
