By Chuck Martin
Coupons and deals keep hanging in as a driver of mobile commerce.
Digging into the recent UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper study by comScore, I noted that coupons are still near the top of the list for mobile shoppers.
After the ability to buy online and then make returns to the store, the next aspect causing the likelihood to shop with a retailer is the pushing of coupons/promotions to shoppers’ smartphones, by almost half (47%) or respondents.
A large percentage (41%) of tablet owners also said having a tablet app increased their chances of shopping with a retailer.
In at least a partial nod toward some type of mobile payments, more than a third (37%) of shoppers in the study say they want the ability to complete a purchase in store using a mobile device.
Even though many shoppers are using their phones in-store to research through retailers’ websites, a number (36%) want the availability of a smartphone app.
Interestingly, a number of shoppers may prefer a larger screen in the store, since a quarter (25%) of them want to use an in-store kiosk to browse products.
In the concept of end-to-end, almost a fourth (23%) of shoppers want the ability to start a purchase online and complete the purchase in the store.
Of the shoppers surveyed, 59% had a smartphone and 40% had a tablet, in the general ballpark of the national demographics. Tablet purchases were also slightly higher than those made on smartphones, consistent with other research.
The key is that the majority of both smartphone and tablet online shoppers use their devices to buy. If retailers also want to see these shoppers in their stores, coupons and promotions have to be on the menu.
Chuck Martin is Editor of the mCommerce Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily MobileShopTalk column. He is the author of “Mobile Influence,” “The Third Screen,” and “The Smartphone Handbook.” He is CEO of Mobile Future Institute. Chuck Martin is a frequent Mobile Keynote Speaker and Mobile Marketing Speaker internationally.
