According to a new study, mobile phones are now the go-to gadgets for information about products when consumers are looking to make purchasing decisions. The research surveyed 1,000 iPhone and Android users. 

The study, carried out by Lightspeed Research for Flixster, found that 62 per cent of consumers use their mobile phone to help them at the start of the purchase process when thinking of buying something. 32 per cent of consumers use their mobile phone for research, while 27 per cent turn to their phone for comparing prices, and 25 per cent for reading product reviews.

According to the researchers, the presence of the mobile phone in the shopping experience is having a “ripple effect”. When planning to go to the cinema with friends, 58 per cent use their mobile phone to research nearby restaurants. Another 36 per cent will research shopping opportunities near the theatre. 40 per cent use their mobile device to coordinate with friends via social networking apps. The survey also found that one in five consumers are favourable to mobile advertising, with 11 per cent welcoming it. 30 per cent of the consumers surveyed were neutral to mobile ads.

“Although mobile claims 8 per cent of media time spent, it gets a fraction of ad dollars, while TV, by contrast, gets about 43 per cent of ad dollars to match the 43 per cent of media spent each day each day,” says James G. Smith, chief revenue officer at Flixster Entertainment. “As has been the case with the evolution of all other media forms, where audiences go, advertisers will follow.”