With 29 percent of consumers saying they have already made purchases using their mobile phones, there is no doubt that the future of mobile commerce is already here. And a new survey and white paper by Oracle shows that is isn’t only the youth demographic driving adoption.
In a survey called “Mobile Trends: Consumer Views of Mobile Shopping and Mobile Service Providers" conducted by Oracle and its recently acquired eCommerce software company, ATG, several trends were identified around how consumers are using their devices and how they prefer to interact with their providers. Some trends are long-standing and have been hitting mobile operators over the head for a long time, such as the effect that customer service has on churn, and others are more enlightening, such as the rate of growth by older users in mobile commerce.
“It’s surprising that the uptick in customer savvyness and reliance on mobile phones for purchasing services is actually growing at a faster rate for the older generation relative to the younger generation," said Arturo Pereyra, marketing and business development director at Oracle.
Another interesting trend is that mobile commerce is no longer a separate activity from traditional brick-and-mortar shopping. It’s done together. Forty-eight percent of U.S. consumers are using mobile devices to research and browse products and services and many of them are doing so while standing in a store contemplating a purchase. They use their devices for comparison shopping, consult product reviews and search for coupons. It was only last July this number was 37 percent.
Oracle says these trends are significant to both retailers and mobile operators. “Looking at macro picture, it comes down to analytics and understanding the customers. You can’t treat all customers the same, which is how many marketing and business plans get executed. You really need to tailor your offerings to your segments," Pereyra said.
While users in the 18-34 age group are the largest segment using their devices this way, having grown from 41 percent in November 2009 to 50 percent by December 2010, those grayer users are also adopting quickly. Users between the ages of 35-54 using their device to browse and research products has risen from 23 percent to 44 percent in the same time period, while those 55 and older has risen from 19 percent to 36 percent.
Fifty-one percent of men across all age groups claim to have used their mobile device this way, while 44 percent of women have done likewise. Users 35-54 have equaled the growth rate of the younger set in the number of users who have actually purchased items with their mobile phone, both growing by 16-17 percent.
The largest percent of overall users (16 percent) use the device to compare prices with other brands or stores. Ten percent are looking for more information about a product. Seven percent look for coupons while others check on in-stock status, product ratings, rewards programs and even solicit information from other users. There also is increasing interest across all age groups to use their device to pay for purchases: up to 56 percent in the under-34 crowd and 43 percent for the mid-lifers.
