A market research by Gartner has found that people are more likely to buy things at shops rather than via their mobile phones. The survey was conducted by Gartner and covers around 2,000 consumers in the US and UK.
Gartner found that only 24% of the people in the US are likely to check prices of products on their mobile phones, while just 12% were likely to actually buy a product. The percentages in the UK are 18% and 11% respectively.
Gartner also found that people in both the US and UK use their mobile phones mainly to finding and locate stores. Further, 20% or one in five US consumers were likely to receive promotions on their phones, compared with 16% of the respondents from the UK.
The Gartner survey however found that young consumers are more likely to use their cell phones for purchasing goods. In the US itself, respondents from the age group of 18-27 were on an average nearly two times more likely to shop via their mobile phones compared to respondents between the age group of 43-61.
In the UK, the younger consumers are 2.63 times more likely to shop using their mobile phones than the older crowd.
In general, the Gartner survey shows that retailers who are planning to enter the mobile commerce arena should differentiate themselves by offering multichannel capabilities. This includes the ability to order by phone and pick up the item at the store or to save a mobile phone-created shopping session so that it can be continued later on a home PC.
Further, the survey also concluded that retailers should work hard to be listed on portals, price comparison engines and mobile maps.