More shoppers use mobile to compare, pay

Smartphones and tablets are quickly becoming as much a part of the shopping experience as coupons and credit cards.

A new survey from Symmes Township-based card processor Vantiv found significant increases over the past year in customers who research and pay for products with tablets and phones.

One-third of shoppers said they used a tablet to pay for merchandise in a store this year, and 11 percent said they used a smartphone. That’s way up from 2013, when 19 percent used a tablet and 2 percent a phone.

The growing popularity of in-store mobile purchases is both a challenge and an opportunity for retailers, many of whom didn’t anticipate the shift to digital would happen this quickly. They’re now scrambling to create apps and friendlier mobile payment methods.

“In the last couple years, everyone was fixin’ to get ready for mobile,” said Lorena Harris, Vantiv’s vice president of marketing. “Now it’s about how can merchants play catch-up, because it’s coming so fast.”

She said mobile isn’t just a popular way to pay. It’s also increasingly the tool customers use to determine whether they want to buy at all.

The survey found 43 percent of consumers now use mobile devices while shopping, spending an average of 11 minutes on their phone or tablet while in the store. About 40 percent of them use the device to compare prices, while others check reviews, share photos of products or communicate with friends about a possible purchase.

The survey covered more than 2,000 people and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Mobile also is increasingly used outside of stores for purchases from online retailers – climbing from 7 percent to 16 percent of shoppers over the past year – but in-store mobile use is even more popular.

“They want to see and touch and feel these objects before they make a purchase,” said Dean Seifert, Vantiv’s senior vice president for product strategy. “That is the new shopping experience. It’s enabled by ... a whole lot of technologies coming together.”

The growth in mobile shopping tracks with the continued spread of mobile devices. Two-thirds of consumers are now “mobile enabled,” according to the survey, and use is higher among young adults and people who earn more than $100,000 – two major targets of retailers.

A majority of those shoppers told Vantiv they want to be completely reliant on mobile within five years.

The survey found the shopping experience often begins when consumers are relaxing at home or elsewhere with their mobile devices, searching sites for possible purchases.

“That’s the reason it’s so enticing to merchants,” Harris said. ⬛

Shopping now means smart phones, tablets

Shoppers who paid for products in stores with tablets in 2013: 19 percent

Shoppers who paid for products in stores with tablets in 2014: 33 percent

Shoppers who paid for products in stores with smart phone apps in 2013: 2 percent

Shoppers who paid for products in stores with smart phone apps in 2014: 11 percent

Payments to online retailers using mobile web or smart phone app in 2013: 7 percent

Payments to online retailers using mobile web or smart phone app in 2014: 16 percent

Source: Vantiv