Research firm InsightExpress has released the results of its latest Digital Consumer Portrait study, exploring the holiday shopping behaviours of smartphone owners, who now make up 30 per cent of the mobile-enabled universe within individuals aged 18 and over in the US. The study was conducted in November 2010, among 1,300 respondents that reflect a representative sample of the online US population.

The survey findings show that smartphone owners will use their phone to shop much smarter this holiday season, using the technology at their fingertips to get better deals, compare prices, and increase their overall satisfaction with the shopping experience.

Study data reveals that during this holiday season, 29 per cent of all smartphone owners intend to use their device to look for a better price, while 23 per cent will be looking for product reviews, 22 per cent will receive sale alerts and 20 per cent will search for products at another store. Shoppers also plan to make use of additional features such as mobile barcode scanning technology (19 per cent) and mobile coupons (19 per cent).

The research also found that shoppers intend to employ their smartphone cameras, with 34 per cent planning to take pictures of products in store and 25 per cent planning to send pictures to other people to solicit opinions.

56 per cent of smartphone owners have visited a retail website on their phone, and 56 per cent of those said that they were either happy or very happy with the experience. However, if given the choice between visiting a website on a mobile phone, or downloading an application to buy or browse a retailer’s goods, consumers are torn. Among smartphone owners, 48 per cent prefer to visit a mobile site and 38 per cent prefer a mobile app. The key lesson for retailers, says InsightExpress, is to offer consumers the choice, so they need to develop a mobile site and mobile app(s).