M-Commerce Registers Uptick As App Usage Rises

Ahead of this year’s holiday season, mobile commerce appears to have reached critical mass, new research suggests.

In fact, a full 88% of regular mobile users now take advantage of retail mobile apps, according to findings from app marketing firm Apptentive.

That share represents an increase of 174% since Apptentive conducted comparable research, last year.

Even among respondents who reported a preference for shopping in-store, 47% said they plan to do least some of their holiday shopping with retail mobile apps.

Among survey respondents who reported using retail mobile apps, 61% said they use the apps at least once a month.

“Avid” customers -- or those using retail mobile apps at least seven times per month and making in-store purchases seven or more times each month -- now make up 26% of respondents who use retail mobile apps.

Among businesses leading the m-commerce charge, Starbucks’s mobile transactions now account for 20% of all in-store sales -- more than 9 million mobile transactions per week.

Increasingly, customers are also using apps to help guide purchasing decisions before even stepping foot in a physical store, Apptentive found.

For example, “app-rooming” is the increasingly popular act of using mobile apps to browse items, then physically going to the store to purchase said items.

Of survey respondents who use retail mobile apps, 71% said they have “app-roomed” at least once in the last month.
Plus, of respondents who use retail mobile apps, 51% report using apps while shopping in-store.

Reasons that respondents cited for using apps in-store include redeeming in-store discounts, comparing prices, viewing product ratings and reviews, finding products, and earning reward points.

For its findings, Apptentive recently surveyed 362 U.S. adults who use iPhones or Android-based devices on a daily basis.

1 comment about "M-Commerce Registers Uptick As App Usage Rises".
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  1. Marissa Smith from Apptentive, August 10, 2015 at 5:55 p.m.

    Great article, Gavin! 

    If anyone is interested in reading Apptentive's full report on retail mobile app usage, it is available for download here: http://info.apptentive.com/retail-mobile-app-report
    (Full disclosure - I work for Apptentive)

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