More Americans Want to Browse Web, Shop via Cell Phones

While nine out of 10 Americans have cell phones – a huge increase from just four years ago – many express a desire to take part in m-commerce, browse the Web and access e-mail by way of their mobile phones, according to the National Retail Federation.

The organization’s recent “Mobile Retail Initiative” shows that 87.5 percent of 9,578 U.S. adults surveyed own a cell phone, up 17.9 percent from 74.2 percent who said the same in January 2006.

While this isn’t an eye-popping finding, the next statistic is an encouraging one for online retailers, and may be a call to action for those who have been reluctant to give the mobile realm serious consideration as a place for shopping.

The report found that 41.5 percent of adults want a cell phone with access to the Internet so they can shop or browse companies’ websites, among other things. This reflects a big jump from 32.6 percent who said the same in July 2008, according to NRF.

More than half, or 51.4 percent, of adults between 18-34 years old say they want access to the Internet via their cell phones, compared to 41.0 percent who said the same back in July 2008.

“Aside from sending pictures and sharing stories and experiences over social networking sites, consumers want to be able to connect with their favorite retailers in a way they never have been able to before – instantaneously,” said Matt Shay, president and CEO of NRF. “The emergence of m-commerce has created a paradigm shift that has the retail industry very excited.”

This doesn’t mean that m-commerce is without its hurdles. Among them are bandwidth/connection reliability concerns and security worries when it comes to transactions that request a potential buyer to enter credit card information manually.

Other important cell phone features include cameras (59.0 percent), calendars (42.7 percent) and text messaging (55.6 percent).

NRF also found that 41.3 percent of consumers surveyed say that pricing/value is the reason for switching cell phone service providers, followed by 31.6 percent who said coverage and 22.1 percent who cited plan options.

Consumers 55 and older were the exception to the rule, as pricing/value (41.3 percent) and coverage (28.9 percent) were followed by customer service (17.9 percent) in importance.

Source:

http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=948

http://clients.freelancewebdesigner.com/jw/20110620-dmctest/blogs/column/Trends/2695/

http://moconews.net/article/419-research-consumers-in-developing-world-driving-mobile-payments/