• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, December 12, 2013

If anyone had any doubts about the impact of mobile on shopping, many of the recent research findings should put those doubts to rest.

We saw blowout mobile activity around Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and everything in between and since.

Now comes another bit of new research examining attitudes and behaviors of consumers as they use their mobile devices throughout the shopping process.

And it turns out that most (61%) of consumers already have used a mobile device to make a purchase, according to the study conducted by OnDevice Research for MobPartner. More of them (44%) have used a phone to make a purchase, with 37% having bought via tablet.

The study points out that retailers still have time to work with customers on mobile commerce, since more than a third (39%) of consumers still have never made a mobile purchase.

To research and compare prices, most (92%) consumers use a mobile device to research and compare prices.

And that dreaded notion of showrooming shows up again, with the majority (54%) of consumers saying they had done it at least once, slightly more by men than women.

By mobile spending, the sweet spot is between $25 and $100, though about a quarter (26%) pf consumers would be comfortable spending more than $300 via mobile.

In a separate study across 13 countries earlier this week, MEF found that mobile purchases of items below $151 decreased while those over $151 increased to 39% of all mobile purchases.

Interestingly, the majority (56%) of consumers in the MobPartner study said they had never responded to an offer they had seen or received.

But of those mobile shoppers who had redeemed a coupon or special offer in a store, the sources of the offers varied:

• 41% -- SMS from retailer
• 36% -- Email from retailer to tablet
• 32% -- Social networking site
• 28% -- Cellphone/tablet
• 17% – Installed app
• 15% -- Offers app

When it comes to preference about how consumers want to find information or receive offers from their favorite retailer, the choices also varied, led by the desire to receive the offers in email newsletters.

• 41% -- Email newsletters
• 30% -- SMS
• 29% -- Desktop website
• 25% – Mobile/tablet app
• 24% -- Mobile website
• 23% -- Social networking site
• 18% -- Tablet website

The leading categories consumers would be comfortable buying via mobile are electronic devices, books, clothing and event tickets. At the bottom of that list are groceries, furniture and magazine subscriptions.

Behaviors around mobile shopping are evolving, though mobile usage around the activity continues to increase across the board.