42 per cent of consumers who research goods and services on the go are likely to buy within the hour and one in five are looking for a specific address, suggesting that they will convert in store.

Two-thirds of consumers wanting to make a transaction within an hour expect to travel up to five miles from their current location. More than half (56 per cent) want to convert within the day and even for big-ticket purchases like cars, 23 per cent of those researching the purchase on their smartphone said they want to convert right away.

The figures come from xAd’s 2015 UK Mobile Path to Purchase report, which analyzed survey responses from 1,473 smartphone users in the UK who have used their device for a purchase decision over the past 30 days in the Retail, Grocery or Auto categories.  The study also reveals that 64 per cent of mobile usage is in the home, giving brands an opportunity to target consumers on their phone when they have the time to consider and research purchase decisions.

53 per cent of consumers surveyed for the report named their mobile devices as being the most essential aid to their purchase decision, with those under 35 over-indexing. In fact, they are 2.5 times more likely to rely on their smartphones as their primary source of information than consumers over the age of 55.

Mobile-only purchases have grown steadily in the past two years across all categories. In particular, for quick and frequent purchases for groceries and retail, over a third of respondents rely solely on mobile to research buying decisions. But even for large purchases like cars, nearly one in ten consumers relied solely on their smartphone for purchase information.

In 2015, more than half of consumers visited a business as part of their research (up by 42 per cent on 2014) and over a third completed the transaction in-store (up 13 per cent on last year). 56 per cent of consumers who used their smartphone for in-store research made a purchase at the physical location, compared to 40 per cent who ultimately purchased online.

xAd head of EMEA Theo Theodorou said the results show that there’s a huge opportunity for brands to engage with their audience by leveraging the ‘here and now’ nature of the mobile device. “The context around a consumer’s location – where they are and where they’ve been – is one of the strongest indicators of purchase intent in real-time and provides brands with invaluable insight about how to engage consumers when they’re either on-the-go or using their device at home,” said Theodorou.

“It’s tougher than ever for brands to understand how their customers are behaving, especially as they become more mobile. However, with precision and the scale to identify who to reach and when, marketers can understand how best to use mobile advertising. Real-time location insights allow marketers to better allocate their budgets and tailor their strategies, which will be particularly valuable as brands push for year-end success.”

You can download the full report here.