20% of mobile owners say mobile ads have influenced a purchase

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Posted 14 August 2012 13:37pm by David Moth with 0 comments

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More than two-thirds of UK mobile owners (63%) have used m-commerce in some form according to data from inMobi. 

Of those yet to use m-commerce, 45% expect to do so within the next 12 months.

Looking at what mobile users have purchased; 47% bought digital goods, 34% purchased physical goods, 26% settled a bill and 21% paid for services. 

The data from the UK Mobile Media Consumption Report for Q2 2012 also found that mobile advertising is just as influential as desktop advertising when it comes to impacting purchase decisions.

Almost half (48%) of respondents claimed that mobile and PC advertising had influenced a purchase decision compared to 55% from mainstream TV advertising.

This influence is directly relating to brand sales both on and offline, with a fifth of respondents stating mobile advertising influenced their subsequent in-store purchase and 21% stating it influenced them to buy via their mobile.

The data also highlights the importance of location-based advertising, with 41% of respondents claiming that a mobile ad had helped them find something nearby while 20% said it had influenced a purchase decision in-store.

Retailers obviously need to be aware of this trend, with House of Fraser already trialling personalised ads in-store. E-commerce director Andy Harding said recently that mobile is the glue that binds together the multichannel experience.

"It digitises the consumer and allows you to merge offline and online environments, and that is the store of the future."

House of Fraser currently uses QR codes in-store to give access to product information or let consumers check-in, which then allows the company to target them with contextual advertising.

"Digitising the in-store experience is key. Multichannel customers are three to four times more valuable than single channel customer each year."

Looking at when mobile owners use their devices, inMobi's survey found that more than two-thirds (69%) of respondents said they use their mobile while watching TV, 39% while commuting and 36% while shopping.

This tallies with data from our recent report, The Multi-Screen Marketer, which shows that 52% of respondents that own a television and computer are likely to be using another device while watching TV. This rises to 60% among smartphone owners.

Similarly, a separate survey of European consumers carried out by Tradedoubler found that 42% of smartphone owners use their device to compare prices in-store, while 13% claim to have switched stores after finding a better offer elsewhere.

InMobi's report also looks at what people use their mobiles for, with general info and search proving to be the most popular activity (73%) followed by social media (73%), games (72%) and email (68%).

This roughly tallies with data included in an infographic from Deloitte which found that email was the most popular mobile activity, followed by search and using social networks.

InMobi's report is based on a consumer survey of 999 UK mobile users.