Mobile Audience Shopping and App Adoption on the Rise

JiWire, the location-based mobile advertising company has just released its Q1 Mobile Audience Insights Report examining trends in location and mobile shopping, connected-device adoption and public Wi-Fi usage.

This interactive map gives a national snapshot of JiWire’s reach with nearly 33 million monthly users in 5700 cities:

Key highlights of the report include:

Connected Device Trends – Almost half of the ‘on-the-go’ audience is connecting to public Wi-Fi from smartphones (31%) or tablets (14%). By contrast, connection from laptops has decreased from 70% last year to 55% currently. Nine out of 10 consumers report the following advantages of public Wi-Fi instead over 3G/4G on smartphones: increased connection speed, avoiding data plan charges (37%), streaming content (17%) or for laptop tethering (7%).

Location-Based App Adoption – 70% of C-level executives use location-based apps on a weekly or daily basis.

73% of small business owners use location-based apps daily (57%) or weekly (16%) and more than half of all business executives use apps on a daily basis regardless of position or company size. The top three most-used app categories are travel, weather, and social networking for business travel, with booking reservations the most important service, followed by finding nearby business services. 

Mobile Shopping Behavior – 37% of ‘on-the-go’ consumers have used a mobile wallet in the past three months.

“This rapid adoption of mobile wallets reinforces that the market is ripe for this sort of technological advance. Consumers seem to be both comfortable and curious about using their mobile phones to purchase,” said Dee Dee Paeseler, director of strategic marketing at JiWire. “This trend is likely to help both brands and retailers close the loop on mobile transactions, ultimately taking them to the next level.”

Comparison Shopping – When shopping in-store, 49% of consumers compare prices with other stores. Shoppers between 25 and 44 are the most likely to price compare while in store, with 54% doing so with other retailers and 19% searching the store’s own website. Comparison shopping is more popular with men (53%) than women (43%).

“One interesting takeaway from this quarter is the continuance of comparison shopping while in store, Paeseler told brandchannel. “We saw this trend emerge last holiday season and believe it will continue to increase over the year, especially around the back-to-school season. Comparison shopping has become one of the biggest competitive threats and challenges for retailers. That being said, retailers will need to make it a priority to develop a strategy that addresses this trend.”

[Image via Shutterstock]