Smartphone Shopping Increases

A recent report from Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies shows that 50% of smartphone owners use their phones for assistance while shopping on-site. Why is this important? According to IBISWorld, smartphones accounted for 24% of the mobile phone market in 2010. That percentage is expected to climb to 70% of the market by 2015. As smartphones become more common throughout the general population, a majority of shoppers will be utilizing smartphones while shopping on-site. The most common use of smartphones are barcode scanner apps (44%) which enable comparison shopping. In other words, someone shopping in Target will be able to scan the barcode of a particular item and compare prices across all stores. I may purchase an item online from Wal-Mart or Amazon while standing in front of the same item in Target after I used my smartphone to instantly find a cheaper price. The explosion of the smartphone industry, and the apps that go along with it, are revolutionizing the way traditional commerce companies conduct themselves.