Mobile shopping is still in it’s infancy, but we’re making some quick progress, we’ve moved on from the retailers taking the initiative and using texts and coupons to draw us into shops, to the consumer taking the initiative and using apps like RedLaser and our own favourite Stripey Lines to price check in the shop.
However what we don’t really understand is who is doing what and when, luckily US digital marketing research firm InsightExpress has identified some new trends in the mobile digital shopper and has presented the findings in the June 2010 Digital Consumer Portrait study, and it seems that mobile shoppers are men, and predominantly young men.
Considering the rise in the number of mobile users across the board, and the eagerness that male, female, young and old have for downloading and using applications, it’s surprising to find that the majority of mobile purchasing is still done by young men.
InsightExpress asked it’s survey group a number of mobile related commerce questions and the majority of the affirmative answers always seemed to be from young males.
Males are using their mobile phones to confirm and justify purchases of products (getting reviews, checking for better prices, looking for coupons, using coupons they have already received). They also use it for practical things such as looking for a recipe or comparing nutritional information.
| Using Mobile Phone While In Store | Overall | Who is doing this the most? |
| Been on the phone and asked the person you were talking to about a product | 36% | Females 18-34 (50%) |
| Used your mobile phone to take a picture of an item to send to someone | 14% | Smartphone owners (27%);
18-34 (21%) |
| Used your mobile phone to search for an item to find reviews | 8% | Males 25-34 (23%);
Smartphone owners (19%) |
| Used your mobile phone to search for an item to find better prices | 7% | Males 25-34 (20%);
Smartphone owners (19%) |
| Looked for a coupon on your mobile phone | 6% | Males 25-34 (21%);
Smartphone owners (16%) Females 18-24 (14%) |
| Used a coupon that was on your mobile phone already | 6% | Males 25-34 (17%);
Smartphone owners (14%) |
| Used your mobile phone to find a recipe | 6% | Smartphone owners (16%);
Males 25-34 (13%); |
| Made a purchase using your mobile phone | 5% | Smartphone owners (13%);
Males 25-34 (12%) |
| Used your mobile phone to search for an item to compare nutritional information | 5% | Males 25-34 (16%);
Males 18-24 (12%); Smartphone owners (12%); |
| Scanned a barcode with your mobile phone | 4% | Smartphone owners (10%) |
Males came top in nearly every category apart from asking a friend on the phone about a product where 50% of the respondents were female and aged 18-34.
Unfortunately what the survey doesn’t tell us is why men are using their phones more than women. Perhaps next time? But a quick guess is that women can’t be bothered to fiddle around with a mobile phone scanning in barcodes, even with RedLaser etc it’s still not the easiest of things to use. They also probably think – quite correctly – that if they’re in the shop and the product is in front of them then what’s the point of walking to the shop around the corner to save a few quid.
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