Mobile Shopping And Wi-Fi Connectivity
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
The Q3 Mobile Audience Insights Report of JiWire, San Francisco-based mobile location advertising company, examines consumers’ increased comfort of purchasing on their mobile devices, which is expected to be key this holiday season, along with the continued growth in free Wi-Fi and tablet adoption.
Key findings include:
- Mobile shopping and purchases: 85% of on-the-go shoppers use their mobile device while in-store and 66% are willing to spend at least $50 when making a purchase from their mobile device;
- Free Wi-Fi adoption: 81.3% of public Wi-Fi is from free hotspots in the US, a 19% increase from last quarter;
- Hispanic mobile usage: Hispanics are 36% more likely to engage on their mobile device while in-store than the general population;
- Device ownership: 65% of smartphone owners also own a tablet.
With the 2012 holiday shopping season approaching, JiWire’s Q3 Insights Report uncovered trends in how mobile devices will impact consumer’s shopping and purchasing this year.
Not only are more people shopping, purchasing, and making larger purchases with their mobile device, the ‘show rooming’ effect of comparison shopping on a mobile device while in-store has increased, specifically:
- People purchasing on their device while in-store rose 27% compared to last year;
- 86% of consumers are more comfortable making purchases from their mobile device, up 26% from 2011.
Constant connectivity is vital to on-the-go consumers and it’s apparent in the way they are connecting. Free Wi-Fi connectivity by consumers continues to grow and dominate the U.S. market, while simultaneously attracting more smartphone and tablet owners to connect. 56% of all public Wi-Fi usage was represented by smartphones (40%) and tablets (16%).
This quarter, JiWire tapped into a new, unexplored area of mobile usage by Hispanics, who are increasingly becoming a mobile-savvy audience.
Interesting data points about the mobile habits of Hispanics include:
- 52% of Hispanics comparison shop on their mobile devices while in-store, compared with 39% of the general audience;
- Hispanics are 83% more likely to search for product information or share shopping updates than the general audience.
“Smartphones and tablets are becoming mainstream personal shopping devices, making it even more important for marketers to understand their mobile audience,” said David Staas, interim CEO at JiWire.
“For example, Hispanics are very mobile-savvy and much more likely to comparison shop on their mobile device than the general population. How people use these devices has always been important, but understanding where people engage and how different audiences engage is equally important for marketers to be successful in mobile.”
JiWire’s Q3 Insights Report found that 44% of non-laptop Wi-Fi connections at universities come from tablets while 39% of non-laptop Wi-Fi connections at hotels come from tablets
In addition, tablets represent about 20% of Wi-Fi connections within malls, libraries and cafes. And 68% of tablet owners use their devices for travel information, 56% for entertainment, and 52% for shopping and retail.
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