'Asian mobile web users opt to shop on the go'

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Shoppers in the Asia Pacific region prefer mobile phones to their PC for browsing and buying goods and services, according to a study conducted by InMobi.

Conducted in partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the InMobi Mobile Shopping and mCommerce study found that 80% of Asian mobile internet users indulge in mobile shopping.

Key APAC findings:

Mobile shopping is already commonplace among mobile web users:

Popular product categories include music, movies, games, travel, consumer electronics, entertainment tickets, apparel, others.

Every age group from 15 to 64 years old prefers mobile shopping to PC shopping:

Consumers prefer mobile to PC across product categories including apparel, consumer electronics, tickets and mobile content/games

Non-smartphone users prefer mobile shopping even more so than smartphone users, likely due to the low penetration of PCs relative to mobile devices

Mobile shoppers are largely very satisfied with their mobile shopping experiences:

Ease of use and convenience are the two key features that consumers like the most about shopping on their phones

In-market consumers have different uses for the mobile device when shopping based on the product:

 Most common uses include price comparison, local store search, research (reviews, new, similar), and purchase.

Most popular purchases from mobile devices in Asia Pacific:

The influence of mobile advertising:

Majority of mobile shoppers are being influenced by mobile advertising when making purchases

Across product categories, mobile advertising influenced buying in the following order of priority: entertainment tickets, consumer electronics, apparel, travel followed by digital content.

When shopping in a store after seeing/hearing an offline ad, 63% of in-store shoppers will use their mobile device in some way.

Digital content shoppers agree that mobile advertising is great for content discovery with 45% of the respondents saying it’s informative and helpful· 

Men (57%) are most likely to be encouraged to purchase based on ad exposure than women (53%). Women are less likely to shop via mobile with significant differences in purchase intent by product category between men and women.

Overall, there is an increasing intent to purchase physical goods via mobile devices.

Commenting on the study, James Lamberti, VP Global Research & Marketing at InMobi said, “Mobile shopping is already commonplace with more than three quarters of the total mobile web users in the region indulging in some form of digital buying.”

He added that it’s an exciting time for the consumer, retailer, and manufacturer as mobile shopping solutions will become more intelligent and compelling to use. The clear consumer acceptance has opened huge opportunities in the world of mobile advertising.

The study was conducted in 14 countries among 15,000 consumers with representation from close to 5000 Asia Pacific users across all devices.