Shopper Research Highlights Consumers Multichannel Habits

Instore price comparison70 per cent of UK shoppers have a smartphone, and 30 percent of smartphone owners have used their phone to shop in the last month, according to new research from shopper research agency, Shoppercentric. The research also reveals that on average, smartphone owners use five different touchpoints as part of the shopping process, including mobiles, PCs and bricks and mortar shops.

The WindowOn…Connected Shoppers report is based on a survey of over 1,000 UK shoppers aged 16+ who own a smartphone, and two focus groups of early technology adopters who use their smartphone as part of the purchase process. The study also found that one in three smartphone owners have shopped using an app, but only one in 10 of all smartphone users regularly use apps as part of the purchase process.

When researching purchases in store, more than twice as many shoppers head for a website, rather than an app, on their smartphone. Questioned about how they use their mobiles in store, 47 per cent of respondents said they used their phone for sharing ideas, followed by 29 per cent who said they used it for comparing prices, with 20 per cent saying they used their phone for finding product information, and 17 per cent for
sharing photos, taking pictures as a reminder, finding store location information, and browsing (with no intention to purchase).

Of those who don’t use their smartphones in store, 50 per cent said they couldn’t see the benefit in doing so; 27 per cent said that it was too much effort, 23 per cent said they’d just never thought of it, while a lack of free wi-fi was cited by 22 per cent of respondents.