Mobile shopping warriors, mobile warrior 'wannabees' spend up big

Gordon Peters
Wednesday, 24 November 2010 22:29

IT Industry - Market

Shoppers in the United States are increasingly going mobile in large numbers as they utilise the latest mobile technologies. These mobile consumers of goods and services - with the most connected and active of them now dubbed 'mobile shopping warriors' - will account for 28 percent of the $447 billion expected to be spent by American consumers in the coming holiday season.

According to an IDC retail insights report just released, and estimates by the country's Retail Federation (NRF), the so-called mobile shopping warriors - or hyper-connected individuals - and, the aspiring mobile shopping 'warrior wannabies, will account for $127 billion of consumer spending in the holiday season.

IDC says the survey was designed to explore how consumers' growing comfort with mobile commerce (m-commerce) and social media commerce (sm-commerce) will play out in the 2010 holiday shopping season. According to the findings, m-commerce and sm-commerce are giving consumers greater advantage as they engage retailers on their own terms - even inside the store - within arm's reach of merchandise at the moment of their buying decision.

According to IDC program director, retail merchandise strategies, Greg Girard, "MSM-commerce introduces a new consumer shopping model which changes how consumers shop, not simply when and where they shop, as e-commerce has already enabled."

Girard also notes that it is clear that MSM-commerce 'already has an influence on consumers' perception of brand value and their shopping intentions,' and he says IDC believe the retailers with superior mobile and social media commerce strategies in place will have a decided advantage.

According to Girard, as the survey revealed, mobile shopping warriors and wannabies represent the vanguard for the new age of m-commerce and he says, of particular interest, results suggest that the early maturity adult audience is an important part of this vanguard. 'Adults aged 25 to 44 years comprised nearly two-thirds of the mobile shopping warrior group while they comprised slightly less than half of consumers surveyed. In addition, adults aged 45 to 54 years were the most inclined to use their mobile information advantage; for example, asking for a better price to match one they find on their mobile device while in the store.'

For retailers, IDC notes that an easy-to-use mobile website significantly influences consumers, across all age groups, on where to shop this holiday season.

Girard says that results of the survey also suggest that while the influence of social media outlets on buying decisions is growing, retailers continue to serve as the most important source of information on which consumers make their final purchase decisions. 'As such, retailers who have met the critical need for consumer-generated Web site content and easy-to-use product information will have the advantage this holiday season, Girard suggests.

Other key findings from the IDC survey include:

'¢    More than one third of smartphone-carrying consumers (who represent 24% of all U.S. consumers) are ready to use their mobile devices in ways that transform how they shop everywhere and, in particular, how they shop in retail stores.

'¢    New behaviours facilitated by mobility, all of which can take place in stores, include searching for price and product information, checking merchandise availability, and comparing prices at nearby stores, browsing product reviews, and purchasing goods.

'¢    Consumers using multiple channels sequentially as they move from Web to store will give way to concurrent omnichannel behaviours as consumers bring their comfortable use of m-commerce with them into the store. These new behaviours will exert pressures that weaken the store's immediate influence on purchase decisions "at the shelf."

'¢    In general, social media doesn't have widespread influence on shopping decisions but friends influence one another's shopping behaviour on social networks and sites that have earned consumer trust will influence this behaviour as well.