Tag: mobile commerce trends

A recent study has shown that affluent consumers use their smartphones to make purchasing decisions.

The results of the research performed by Unity Marketing have now been released and are indicating that merchants targeting high-end customers will want to make a priority of their mcommerce offerings, as over 50 percent of these affluent shoppers use their smartphones to make purchasing decisions.

This represents a doubling over 2011, when only 25 percent of this market was using mobile for this reason.

The report, which was entitled Affluents Online, pointed out that businesses with a target market of wealthy consumers had best create mcommerce websites that are engaging, sticky, and robust, in addition to a strong social media strategy and mobile platform. This effort should, says the report, be considered a necessity, and should no longer be thought to be a convenient option.

High-end shoppers have reached a full integration of mcommerce and online activities into their daily lives.

The report showed that the luxurious lifestyle to which these consumers have become accustomed is steadily increasing the use of mcommerce for various parts of the shopping process. This includes everything from informing themselves regarding products, stores, and brands, and actually making the purchases themselves.

The Affluents Online report was based on a study of nearly one thousand wealthy shoppers. The average income of the respondents was $248,900. The researchers discovered that within this group, 98 percent of the respondents had used the internet for shopping purposes and had made at least one purchase within the 3 month term of the study. On average, the online spending for high-end purchases was $3,702. The average time spent shopping was 5 hours every week.

According to the study’s lead researcher and the president of Unity Marketing, Pam Danziger, affluent consumers had not changed their online habits of paying bills, making dining reservations, making travel bookings, researching purchases, and actually buying goods and services over the twelve months previous to the study. The primary – and quite notable – difference was the shift toward mcommerce, as those consumers used their smartphones and tablets instead of their laptops and desktops.

The results of newly released research have pointed to greater adoption of shopping over smartphones and tablets.

Stibo Systems has just released the results of its 2013 Consumer Retail Survey, which indicated that the number of consumers who have used a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device in order to purchase a product through m-commerce has increased by 19 percent over the last year.

This was said to have reflected a considerably rising acceptance of shopping over this channel.

Among the respondents who took part in the survey, 59 percent said that they had bought something using m-commerce. Three out of every four participants said that it was “very important” to be able to learn more about a product through online information. This was an increase of 8 percent from having been 67 percent in 2012. According to the report about the survey, this indicated that consumers are becoming more savvy shoppers.

The report stated that consumers are becoming more selective and sophisticated through m-commerce.

They are using the devices to inform themselves about their purchases before they make their decisions and m-commerce is beginning to play a growing role in that behavior.

According to the Stibo Systems U.K. managing director, Mark Thorpe, “Although every year is hailed as the ‘year of the mobile’, there is sufficient evidence in these results to demonstrate that mobile is now a legitimate channel for retailers, particularly with the recent rapid adoption of tablet devices.”

Thorpe went on to say that if retailers want to take full advantage of the benefits of m-commerce, then they will need to start paying attention to it not only to make sure that consumers are enjoying the experience that is being provided, but also to be able to meet their expectations. The report indicated that this would help these companies to avoid disappointing their customers, which could be a rapid road to losing potential customers and many sales over the long term.

The survey’s results not only indicated that m-commerce is being more widely accepted, but also that it is becoming increasingly important to the decision that a consumer will have as to whether or not he or she will actually make a purchase, and where.