Mobile has changed the way consumers shop this past year and will have a huge impact in 2013, as even more consumers switch to smart phones and take advantage of mobile applications.
TechBargains states in a recent survey that most of the shoppers that are using mobile apps while shopping [90%] are checking prices and looking for digital coupons while they are in the store. Compared to two years ago, TechBargains states that then just over half of them [58%] used mobile applications to do so, while a year ago 73% are doing so. Additionally it is important to note that just about 80% are using tablets to complete purchases.
Key to note from their survey is that 83% of iPad owners make mobile purchases, 76% of iPhone owners make mobile purchases and 71% of Android owners do. Additionally 73% of tablet owners will use their device to do product research and 71% of tablet owners will utilize their devices to get stock information.
This shows a definite trend that consumers are more apt to buy products from Android devices than they were in the past, closing the gap with Apple devices.
What trends should you watch for or be working into your app development project? Here are the big ones that we think you should be keeping an eye on:
With the success of Siri we will see is mobile application developers pushing more voice recognition features in the applications for various mobile devices. Voice capabilities are starting to work their way into more and more iPhone apps and Android apps and they could be a big item in 2013 and really change the face of the mobile application market. With voice recognition you can really streamline tasks and this is a key area to look towards as a next step in mobile integration.
Another key area to look at is ways that you can leverage data to create a more relevant user experience. The opportunity to collect the data is available, are you planning to collect an utilize it? By doing so you will be able to create better user experiences and deliver better opportunities to advertisers to maximize their ad spend value.
Analyst firm International Data Corporation recently released their analysis of the mobile phone market and it shows Android to be far out in the lead of other smart phone mobile operating systems with 68.3 percent of the market in 2012. Apple’s iOS for the iPhone is a distant second at 18.8 percent of the market and all other operating systems are below 5 percent.
Interesting to note, yet not surprising, is that almost all the growth in the mobile phone market is in smart phones.
Projections by International Data Corporation anticipate Android to remain the leader through at least 2016 in this report but with share dropping to anticipated 63.8 percent of the market in the year 2016. They anticipate Android continuing to lead the market because it is available to sell to a great mass of customers, iPhones are seen as a premium product that are “…cost prohibitive for some users within many emerging markets”. International Data Corporation suggest that if Apple wants to increase their amount of market share, that they will need to add lower-priced models into their product mix.
BlackBerry is estimated by International Data Corporation to maintain about their current percent of the market based on their “…pockets of strength in higher-growth emerging markets.” They are not anticipated to have much of an impact on the market beyond that though. They participant to watch is Windows Phone. Right now they have a 2.6% share of the market but with Microsoft’s strong financial position, brand recognition and multiple handset makers, they are projecting Windows Phone share jumping to 11.4% in 2016.
This clearly affects the decision making process when it comes to the mixture of apps to develop for your business. Developing Android applications and iPhone applications are “no-brainers” but business’ need to start considering adding Windows Phone applications into their marketing mix to take advantage of that emerging market.
In a recent study by Tapjoy, they had found mobile commerce is expected to grow by over an astounding 300% by 2015. While many analysts are starting to focus on the upcoming shopping season where many shoppers will brave the crowds at malls and local stores preparing for the holidays, we are seeing big growth in the number number of shoppers who will turn to mobile applications and mobile web sites for holiday shopping this year – or at a minimum they will be engaging in a great deal of mobile research to assist with their shopping. According to the new study from Tapjoy, 1 in 5 apparel buyers currently uses a mobile app or web site at least daily to buy or participate in research.
Some additional findings by Tapjoy point to explosive growth in the mobile marketplace. A full 54% of Tapjoy’s customers shopped via mobile in the previous six months and 45M smartphone users looked into the shopping app category in June of 2012 with almost half of them using these mobile shopping applications. But beyond just the numbers of users, what is powerful is the frequency of use among them with an average user accessing mobile shopping apps 17 times per month. A very solid 64% of those Tapjoy polled said they are going to make mobile purchases at some point during this holiday season.
Looking at the usage patterns of users while utilizing mobile devices and applications, users are comparing prices 61 percent of the time and accessing promotions/coupons 51 percent of the time for the most active areas of usage. We also see shoppers reading reviews, scanning bar codes and taking pictures of products while shopping.
Mobile deals is a big area to keep an eye on, according to the Tapjoy report, mobile shoppers are smart shoppers and they are looking for deals. Most often they look for free shipping deals, but nearly half also look for coupons or promo deals. One item that is good to note if you are currently planning a mobile application for your business is that less than 10 percent of users view mobile product videos, so don’t worry about video content as it isn’t a key factor and it will can eat up bandwidth quickly.
If you utilize these research factors in helping to plan your mobile application it will help you key in on the areas that will be most productive for your business buy helping you match existing usage trends. Clearly given the explosive growth of mobile applications and mobile commerce, you are putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if you are not yet taking advantage of this crucial medium of communication.