Mobile Millennial Shoppers: 61% Looking for Immediate Deals

• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, October 21, 2015

It’s no secret that mobile shoppers are getting more comfortable using their phones while shopping in a physical store.

Even as retailers gear up for the wave of holiday shoppers that numerous studies are projecting, many shoppers can be expected to turn to their phones to get product information on the fly.

In addition to consumers using their phones to search for information, millennials also act on mobile notifications sent to them while in a store.

When a shopper can’t find the product information they need in a store, most (75%) are likely to research and purchase the product online, according to a recent study. The need for additional product information is even higher (87%) among millennials

The study comprised a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted by Harris Poll for Digimarc, the company that creates invisible barcodes on packaging.

As long as it was easy, most (71%) shoppers would use their mobile device to get more information from product packaging and almost half (48%) would like to use their phone while in a store to search for products they want to know more about.

But the information sought after by smartphone better be easily found. The majority (65%) of shoppers are only willing to spend under a minute on a smartphone search in the aisle of a grocery store.

Many studies have shown that consumers to one degree or another lean on their smartphones when shopping, and this one is no exception. But not all smartphone owners use their devices for every aspect of shopping. Here’s what they have done:

• 36% -- Gone home to do more research about a product at home before buying it in-store.
• 33% -- Find what I need on the first page of results when using a search engine
• 31% -- Make purchase decisions after looking up product information on my phone
• 27% -- Use smartphone to search for product information while in a store
• 24% -- Rely on my smartphone to help me make a purchase decision while shopping

Smartphone owners also turn to their phones for a variety of in-store uses and have viewpoints around the mobile relationship to customer service. Here are the views:

• 71% -- The stores I frequently shop at understand what information is valuable to me when I shop and make it readily available on the product package
• 60% -- If I can’t find information on my phone, live help can be difficult to find in a store
• 58% -- My phone has provided more quality information faster than live help
• 50% -- My phone is a better way to provide me with customer service than live help
• 48% -- The stores I frequently shop at have adapted to my smartphone usage to provide better customer service

Most notable is that in each of these categories, millennials are more likely to turn to their smartphones while shopping.

Millennial shoppers (18-34 years old) also like location-based push notifications as they shop, based on another study.

That study comprised a survey of 500 millennials conducted by SSI for Retale.

Most (94%) millennials are using location-based services in the form of apps that can identify where they are.

They key is that the majority (84%) say they act on push notifications they receive. Here’s the type of information millennials like to have pushed to them, based on the suvey:

• 61% -- Coupon, discount or deal for immediate use
• 61% -- Customer rewards
• 35% -- New product information and sale availability
• 35% -- Nearby store locations and hours
• 27% -- Receipts after completing a purchase
• 16% -- In-store guidance on where things are

The desire for deals is a common top-of-the-list item in most mobile shopping studies we see. But this survey also sheds some interesting light on what mobile millennials don’t want. Here’s what they said they won’t respond to:

• 39% -- Notifications aren’t relevant enough
• 34% -- Notifications feel intrusive
• 25% -- Too many notifications sent
• 14% -- Notifications don’t include deals
• 11% -- Notifications poorly timed

Mobile holiday shopping will be significant again this year and the mobile millennial shoppers will make it even bigger.