Study: Half of holiday shoppers looked to mobile phones to research in-store purchases

This past year’s holiday shopping season was marked by a flood of consumers using their mobile phones as discount-finders and product research tools to help make a buying decision. Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions has released a report that indicates that 51% of holiday shoppers in 11 countries turned too their cellphones to compare prices, reviews and discounts during their in-store shopping excursions. And, in the all-important 18-to-34 year old segment, 64% used mobile phones as a way to research a looming purchase.

And, as a sign of the touch economic times, the study found that 39% of shoppers were willing to forgo their purchase altogether if they couldn’t find any discounts or coupons. In North America, that accounted for an average of $109 not being spent due to lack of attractive sales and deals on goods. Sadly, 54% of abandoned gadget purchases, 46% of clothing purchases and 42% of auto parts buys could have been closed if the retailer would have provided more easily accessible discounts and coupons.

The lesson here is that retailers need to catch up with the smartphone revolution, and do it fast. Shoppers, armed with web-connected devices that can sometimes run mobile apps specifically designed to help find good deals, search out good products at attractive values. If retailers can’t deliver on this new method of comparison shopping, there’s going to be more and more unspent money at the end of the year.

[Via: MobileBurn]