More than half of adult cell phone owners used their cell phones while they were in a store during the 2011 holiday season to seek help with purchasing decisions. During a 30 day period before and after Christmas:
38% of cell owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making
24% of cell owners used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store
25% of adult cell owners used their phones to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store, to see if they could get a better price somewhere else
Taken together, just over half (52%) of all adult cell owners used their phone for at least one of these three reasons over the holiday shopping season and one third (33%) used their phone specifically for online information while inside a physical store—either product reviews or pricing information.
Detailed findings—online product reviews and calling friends for purchasing advice
There are a number of demographic patterns in these survey findings. Specifically:
Cell owners ages 18-49 are significantly more likely to use their phones for online product reviews than are cell owners ages 50 and older. Cell owners ages 65 and older are especially unlikely to do this—just 4% did so this holiday season.
Urban and suburban cell owners are roughly twice as likely as rural cell owners to have recently used their phone to look up online reviews of a product they found in a physical store.
Non-white cell owners are more likely than white cell owners to look up online product reviews, and those who have attended college are more likely to do so than those who have not.
Detailed findings—cell phones as a tool for online price matching
Online price matching and looking up online reviews frequently go hand in hand. Overall, of the 33% of cell owners who used their phone recently in a store to look up either product reviews or prices online, roughly half (representing 17% of all cell owners) used their phones to engage in both of these activities.
As a result, the same groups that use their phones to look up online product reviews—such as cell owners under 50 years old, non-whites, those with at least some college experience and those living in urban or suburban areas—are generally the same ones that use their phones to look up online pricing information.
One in five “mobile price matchers” ultimately made their most recent purchase from an online store, rather than a physical location
When asked what happened on the most recent occasion where they used their phone to look up the price online of a product they found in a store, these mobile price matchers point to a range of outcomes:
37% decided to not purchase the product at all
35% purchased the product at that store
19% purchased the product online
8% purchased the product at another store
Since one quarter of cell owners looked up the price of a product using their phone in the 30 days preceding our survey, that works out to 5% of all cell owners who purchased a product online this holiday season after looking up its price online from a physical store. An additional 9% of all cell owners searched for the price of a product they found in a physical store but ultimately purchased it at that store.
The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping America and the world. The Pew Internet Project explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. The Project is nonpartisan and takes no position on policy issues. Support for the Project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. More information is available at www.pewinternet.org
How the mobile and tablet retail experience will change in 2012
Seven trends marketers and retailers should prepare for
The 2012 consumer is not much different from the 2011 consumer, and the changes that began over the past 12-24 months will solidify in 2012. With faster networks, more Web-centric smartphone devices, and the ease of making mobile payments, more shoppers purchased on mobile devices in 2011 than in years prior, demonstrating a trend toward mobile buying rather than simply mobile researching.
In December 2011, sales from smartphones and tablets accounted for 11% of total online sales, up from 5.5% in December 2010, according to IBM Benchmark. The same study found that iPad tablet users are more likely to complete a purchase: The conversion rate for iPad users was 6.3% in December 2011, compared with 3.1% for mobile devices overall.
In addition, the 2012 consumer will continue to turn to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks—including some new ones that are gaining steam—to get suggestions and feedback from social connections when making buying decisions.
To help prepare you for a new year and the changing mobile and social retail environment, I’ve provided a list of the top trends to watch and suggestions for how to respond to your customers’ continually evolving shopping habits.
1. Online storefronts come to tablets
As if you didn’t have enough work to do extending your brand to smartphones, the popularity of tablets means you’ll need to make sure your online shopping experience also works in the tablet environment. However, the challenges posed by smartphones aren’t necessarily the same ones posed by tablets.
For example, the iPad doesn’t support Adobe Flash, so if your retail storefront relies on that programming tool, you’ll need alternate solutions for the tablet storefront. Also, tablet users don’t use a mouse to click on and zoom in on images. If your site has images that require a mouse for zooming, you’ll need an alternate—tablet-friendly—method.
2. Ensure a consistent experience
While you’re retooling your storefront to address tablet users, you’ll also need to be conscious of maintaining consistency of look and feel across all channels: PCs, mobile devices, tablets, and (of course) print catalogs and brick-and-mortar stores. If you offer a benefit in one channel, such as free shipping or giftwrapping, for example, make sure that offer appears in all other channels. Most important, ensure your brand’s customer service standards are maintained across platforms as well.
3. Rethink search and navigation
The growth of shopping via tablet will increase search and navigation challenges for retailers, because they have to develop new ideas for helping shoppers move around a site. Tablets offer certain benefits over smartphones: Their screens are bigger, so content and images are easier to read and see.
On the downside, navigating a website via a tablet screen isn’t easy if the website is crafted for the PC experience. Tablet users tap and swipe with their fingers to choose content, but small text menus and lists of refinements can be difficult to select with taps and swipes. That is also true for onscreen buttons or page numbers: The elements are just small enough to pose problems for finger-driven navigation.
Retailers should test the tablet experience to make sure shoppers don’t inadvertently click on other selections when choosing search refinements or navigation options.
4. Satisfy the real-time shopping urge
A key shopping difference exists between tablets and smartphones. When shopping via smartphones, people generally do research before buying. When browsing via a tablet, people are usually prepared to make a purchase. Accordingly, retailers should make the buying process on the tablet storefront as fast and straightforward as possible. For instance, they should make sure that search and navigation tools help speed the path from browsing to buying, and they should add relevant merchandising.
5. Bring shopping and searching to social networks
When mobile users spend 91% of their Internet time on social networks, that’s a sign that you need to bring the retail experience into those social settings. The 2012 online consumer would rather do her retail browsing from within the social networks that she spends so much time using, instead of being forced to jump to another site. You can respond to that social environment by adding search boxes to your Facebook pages and letting shoppers use their Facebook login info to sign in to your storefront.
6. Bring social into search
Besides wanting to search while being social, shoppers want to do the reverse. When viewing search results, whether on your retail site or on search engines, shoppers want to know what their social connections have to stay about the search target. Shoppers trust what their friends and family say about brand preferences and shopping selections, and they’ll look for ways to tap into those information sources when they search and shop. Consider ways to weave social information into search results. One way is to reorder search results based on how many Facebook or Google+ “Likes” the product has racked up.
7. Get new social networks on the radar
Pinterest, the online pin board, is gaining attention and is occupying online user mindshare that might otherwise go to Facebook. The site increased its audience from 418,000 visitors in May 2011 to 4.9 million in December, according to ComScore. Pinterest has been slowly rolling out tools for brands. You can now add “Pin It” buttons to products so that shoppers can add their favorite items to their Pinterest page. Stay tuned to the Pinterest blog for more news about branding tools for marketers.
Mobile Commerce Payments Research & Statistics (2010 – 2011)
Mobile payments (m-payments) are when consumers make a purchase using a mobile phone instead of using cash, credit card or debit. Types of mobile payments include direct billing, SMS transactions and mobile Web payments. These mobile commerce research and statistics will help you understand what’s happening in the mobile payment industry.
Worldwide mobile payment volume is forecast to total $86.1 billion, up 75.9 percent from a 2010 volume of $48.9 billion. (Source: Gartner Inc.; Market Trends: Mobile Payments Worldwide, 2011)
Recent data from the U.K. arm of Forrester Research, in partnership with PayPal, estimates that mobile payments will replace other forms of payment by 2016.
Overall, mobile payment services are expected to reach $245b in value worldwide by 2014. At the same time, mobile money users are expected to total $340m, equivalent to 5 percent of global mobile subscribers. (Source: Ernst & Young; Opportunities for telcos in mobile money: 2011)
E-payments and m-payments collectively accounted for an estimated 22.5 billion transactions in 2010. E-payments (online payments for e-commerce activities) are expected to grow globally to 30.3 billion transactions from 17.9 (in 2010-13), while m-payments are expected to grow globally to 15.3 billion transactions from 4.6 billion in the same period. (Source: Capgemini; World Payments Report 2011)
It is anticipated that this will begin to change in 2011 as the number of mobile payment users starts a significant run up from 116 million to over 375 million in 2015. (Source: In-Stat; Mobile Payments: Is the Market Ready?)
Mary Suddendorf of ecommerce specialist Digital River looks at the shape of the apps market in 2012 and discusses what the developments will mean for anybody developing and selling apps for smartphones and tablets
Every day consumers from all over the world download millions of apps from an increasing number of connected devices, including laptops, tablets, e-readers, smart TVs and smartphones. Today most app publishers are finding themselves in a similar position: They’ve made the decision whether to make apps native for each operating system or use HTML5 to construct a web app, and they know which app distribution channels they’ll be using. While their current biggest challenge may be how to keep up with existing demand, it’s of great importance to look a bit further ahead as well. Having a strategy in place designed specifically with future trends in mind is key for ensuring continued distribution and revenue success.
Over the past few years app developers, publishers, and stores around the globe have seen the industry evolve in response to a defining trend that has affected tech consumption across the board: consumer empowerment and choice. Customers hold the power to review an app positively or negatively and they have options for obtaining content through their desired app stores – and that’s just the way they like it. For example, a user with an Android device can download or view content from their choice of app stores, including Android Market, their mobile network’s app store, or other sources like getjar.com. Even “out of the box” Apple device users have the option to consume apps through Apple’s App Store or via an HTML5 app the shopper navigates to through their Safari browser.
So in a global market where the connected customer rules, here are some 2012 trends publishers and developers will need to consider to make sure their apps remain in high demand, are available where and when customers want them, and are as profitable as possible.
1. App monetisation
App monetisation is the ability to create a consistently productive revenue stream from an app after it is in the hands of your consumers. As app publishers have gained their footing in the various app distribution channels, and as they continue to better understand the terms and conditions of the agreements for app stores, I expect monetisation to become their next logical area of focus and for good reason: today, 65 per cent of “freemium” games revenue comes from in-app purchases as does 72 per cent of Apple’s app revenue. So publishers with a solid monetisation program will be the ones best poised to dominate the market in 2012.
The first step in monetisation begins by understanding the current lifetime value of your app user base. Next, find ways to consistently make that value go higher. Monetisation tactics that can increase customer lifetime value include in-app advertising from house ads or an ad network, in-app incentive based advertising, in-app advertising promoting the distribution of other app publishers’ apps, and in-app purchases selling incremental products and services.
An example of an app monetisation program where a non-incentivised in-app ad promotes another app
2. Security
Recent press about cyber attacks has made the connected customer more security savvy. For example, most iPhone users don’t want to “jailbreak” or otherwise modify their device because they believe it could increase their threat exposure. They assume that single sign-on and social sign-on provides greater security. The bottom line is that users expect their online experience to be as secure as possible.
In this environment, and as the sophistication of apps continues to increase, the responsibility lies with app publishers to meet these high expectations by making sure their product is secure and protected from malicious apps that may be on a user’s device. With data on the line that can include credit card, banking and valuable personally identifiable information, the stakes are high, but the reward for trusted app publishers is significant. Deliver a secure experience for your user and they’ll show their appreciation through increased willingness to interact and transact within apps.
3. Targeting and personalisation
App publishers are gaining a better understanding of their users and 2012 is the year we should begin to see leaders pull ahead of the pack by leveraging that understanding to target their efforts and personalise the user experience. One top trend will include targeting the placement of specific apps to specific app stores based on user behaviour and preference. This approach is similar to one often taken with search engine marketing.
Let’ s say you make widgets and you’re advertising on Google since that’s where you’ll see the highest search volume on most of your keyword phrases. However, your widget may appeal greatly to a niche consumer who only always visits another search engine. In that case, you must create campaigns geared toward the particular customer that run on their preferred search engine.
The same holds true for app stores, as well. Identify which stores produce higher revenues or lifetime value metrics for a particular type of customer. Target your distribution accordingly and personalise your approach for each of your highest performing stores.
Another opportunity for 2012 is personalised app content. As proliferation of HTML5 and hybrid apps (a combination of a native app and a web-based app) continues, and as users become more comfortable receiving personalised content as part of their website browsing experience generally speaking, they will expect their in-app user experience to be personalised, as well. Examples include targeted in-app advertising and targeted services leading to in-app purchases.
4. HTML5
Some may be skeptical of HTML5, seeing it as just a passing fad. However, publishers and developers should care about HTML5 because an HTML5 app can free them from paying the app stores 30 percent for their customer’s initial app purchase or for in-app purchases.
For example, Apple’s completely closed ecosystem doesn’t allow any app that hasn’t been delivered through Apple’s App Store to be installed on an Apple device unless the device happens to be jailbroken. This requires the app publisher to pay Apple 30 per cent for all transactions that occur through the app store, in app purchases, subscription billing, and so on. But by deploying an HTML5 app, the Apple user can navigate to the HTML5 app via their Safari browser and download the app to their device. It really isn’t a download per se – technically, it’s a bookmark – but it looks and feels like a typical app that would be placed on the desktop of the device.
However, HTML5 apps are not without their challenges, one of which is visibility. HTML5 app publishers can’t count on an app store for exposure, so different tactics are required to achieve large scale distribution. Additionally, there are HTML5 app stores that I believe will garner more attention from end users. This may help further address visibility and distribution challenges.
5. In-App analytics
As the app market matures and the connected customer exercises their power of choice, user retention and engagement may become one of the app publisher’s largest challenges in 2012. Analytics can help customers keep an app longer and stay engaged with it. This can reduce acquisition costs and increase customer lifetime value.
Why? Because more leading app publishers will be monetising the user throughout their lifecycle, acquiring their customers through app store targeting, and personalising in-app content. In-app analytics is the critical component that will enable each of these trends to be repeatable, reliable revenue drivers. Website analytics are now the de facto standard for providing actionable insight on web behavior and, since apps are now the online store for the app publisher, the same insight will be required for apps. Yes, you read that correctly: the in-app experience will increasingly function as the online store for the app publisher. Leaders in this space will come to rely on in-app analytics for full optimisation of the user experience and monetisation of the app lifecycle.
An example of an advertisement promoting wedding DJs that is served because the words “Wedding Chapel” appear on this album cover. Expect to see better targeting and personalisation in 2012 as in-app analytics improve
The 2012 trends for app publishers are fast moving – more may emerge yet this year – and while it may seem difficult to keep up with current demands while also looking to the future, it’s important to keep in mind that most of what happens in the industry will likely continue to be driven by the connected customer. Keeping users top of mind will serve every app developer well in a wide variety of market conditions.
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Eric Taillefer 