Smartphone Owners Buy But Mobi-Shy, Says Compete

Compete, a Kantar
Media company, released the results of its quarterly Smartphone
Intelligence survey showing that smartphone owners are more comfortable
buying from their handsets, but that poor mobile site functionality is
still a turn-off for many.

Their research does suggest that
mobile commerce (m-commerce) is ready to explode in 2010.

Key findings from Compete's Q3 2009 Smartphone Intelligence survey include:

  • 37 percent of smartphone owners have purchased something non-mobile with their handset in the past 6 months.
  • 19
    percent of total smartphone owners have purchased music from their
    device, 14 percent have purchased books, DVDs, or video games and 12
    percent have purchased movie tickets.
  • The
    most popular mobile shopping-related activities are still research
    related - 41 percent of iPhone users and 43 percent of Android users
    are most likely to check sale prices at alternative locations from
    their mobile phones while they are shopping.
  • The
    second most likely activity is accessing consumer reviews, with 39
    percent of iPhone owners and 31 percent of Android owners investigating
    reviews from their handset before they purchase.

41839-hi-Smartphone_Purchasing.jpg

Compete's Q3 Smartphone
Intelligence survey found that eight percent of smartphone owners that
tried to purchase a product on their device were unable to do so. 45
percent of those that abandoned the process reported that they did so
because the site would not load, and an additional 38 percent left the
site because it was not developed specifically for smartphone users.

41839-hi-Smartphone_Shopping.jpg

"Retailers
are beginning to recognize that smartphone use is no longer limited to
an exclusive group of tech savvy consumers. As these devices
proliferate - and people grow more comfortable transacting, site owners
must redesign around mobile shopping ease-of-use. We see this as a win
for both consumers and businesses," continued Nohe.

Compete's
Smartphone Intelligence combines consumer insights (through surveys)
with behavioral data (through online click stream data) to reveal how
smartphone owners are using their phones, the sites they visit on the
mobile Web and what they like and dislike about their phone and
experiences. Smartphone Intelligence subscribers will receive
comprehensive quarterly reports with fresh data about smartphone use
and behavior, as well as actionable recommendations tailored to their
business.

Smartphone
Intelligence also enables clients to go deeper with custom research
addressing specific business questions relevant to unique segments of
smartphones owners. Only Compete can bring in the online behavior of
millions of consumers through click stream data to help answer these
questions. To learn more, visit: http://compete.com/custom_/telecomSmartphone/.