74 per cent take action after seeing location-based messages

JiWire’s Mobile Audience Insights Report examines connected-device adoption, location and mobile-shopping trends and public Wi-Fi trends. This quarter’s report reveals key themes in mobile shopping behaviour and uncovers insights about price-comparison behaviours and shopping preferences pertaining to the automobile industry.

Key highlights include:

• Location-Based Advertising – 75 per cent take action after seeing a location-specific message

• Mobile-Shopping Behaviour – 25-34 year-olds are most likely to comparison shop in store and make a purchase

• Device Adoption – iPad shows the highest increase in market share, growing 7.1 per cent in the U.S.

• Automobile Purchasing Behaviours – 25 per cent plan to purchase an automobile in the next 12 months

Location-based advertising trends

The report discovered that 80 per cent of the on-the-go audience prefers locally relevant advertising and 75 per cent are more likely to take an action after seeing a location-specific message. The top three actions include clicking on location-specific ads (31 per cent), searching for the nearest location (21 per cent) and/or conducting additional research (21 per cent). Behaviour further varies by smartphone device type. After clicking on an ad, iPhone users are most likely to conduct additional research (22 per cent), Android users search for the nearest location (25 per cent), and Blackberry users immediately make a purchase (21 per cent).

“It is exciting to see how important location-specific messaging is to consumers today,” said David Staas, senior vice president of marketing at JiWire. “As the on-the-go audience demands locally relevant information, brands need to focus on reaching consumers in and around their locations.”

In-store comparison-shopping is popular

Comparison shopping on a mobile device while in store has become the number one mobile behaviour consumers take across all ages and gender.  Similar to Pew Research’s findings that, “One third (33%) used their phone specifically for online information while inside a physical store,” JiWire also found this trend to be true with 34 per cent of on-the-go consumers participating in comparison-shopping behaviour. The report delves a little deeper and found that 39 per cent of consumers between the ages of 25-34 are the most likely to comparison shop in store with 13 percent actually making a purchase on their mobile devices instead of in the store.

Other key findings include:

• Consumers are four times more likely to search for reviews than to search for a friend’s recommendation  

• 21 per cent searched for coupons while in store

Mobile commerce making strong in-roads; evident by coupon and payment adoption

In a world of constant connectivity, it’s no surprise that consumers rely on the their mobile devices to make purchases.  This recent phenomenon has caused online coupons to take off and become more popular over the years. In fact, 34 per cent of consumers have redeemed an online coupon in the past 90 days. Additionally, mobile coupon redemption is rapidly nearing newspaper coupon redemption thresholds with 18 per cent redeeming mobile coupons and 22 per cent redeeming newspaper coupons.

Also in the mobile shopping realm, Quick Response (QR) codes seem to be a confusing technology. 34 per cent of consumers surveyed don’t know if they have a QR scanner on their mobile device.  However, 18 per cent of all consumers have scanned a QR code representing half of consumers who know they have QR scanners in the first place.

Mobile device trends and adoption; tablet momentum ensues

Tablets make significant market share growths across both the U.S and U.K. The iPad dominated the tablet ecosystem and saw substantial market share gains in the U.S. and in the U.K. for Q4. Likewise, the iOS and the Android have increased in market share while Windows OS has decreased. For the first time, the HP Touchpad, Kindle Fire and the Samsung Tablet have entered the Top 10 mobile devices. The report also looked at brand loyalty and found that iPhone owners are more likely to stay loyal to the Apple brand with 89.3 percent either owning or planning to purchase an iPad. While the majority of Android users are planning to purchase an iPad, Android has made fast strides in gaining customer loyalty considering they just launched their Tablet June of last year.   However, the Blackberry Playbook sees extremely little brand loyalty with four per cent of consumers even considering owning one.

Automobile shopping behaviour: women and men are in-market

Heading into 2012, 25 per cent of the on-the-go audience is planning to purchase a car in the next 12 months and they are using location-based services to assist with their car shopping.  Specifically, women are 50 per cent more likely to schedule an appointment at the dealership than men. They are also more likely to use location-based tools to find a dealer (26 per cent) and check availability of a make or model (25 per  cent) while men rank “reviewing products” as most important (29 per cent).