Survey Says: Mobile Apps, Social Media Impact Unplanned Purchases

A new report from Ryan Partnership has revealed some interesting numbers about how consumers are affected by mobile apps, social media and direct customer contact when engaging in digital shopping.

The report asked 8,000 about their eCommerce shopping patterns, and found that not only do a growing percentage of shoppers use mobile apps and social media sites when looking to make a purchase, but such services can actually lead to an increase in unplanned purchases as well.

The major consequences that could have for the payments industry is obvious, and Data Point highlights some of the most important numbers.

Mobile Impact

According to the survey, consumers use a wide variety of newer mobile tools when shopping online. Mobile coupons are popular, with 18 percent of respondents saying they’ve used the digital discounts in 2012, as are retailer texts, which 16 percent of those surveyed have used. Fifteen percent used shopping apps, 14 percent used bar code-based apps and eight percent have become familiar with the developing QR code industry.

Buying On A Whim

The survey also revealed some surprisingly stats about how often mobile apps can sway consumers into making unplanned purchases. Twenty-one percent said they make more unplanned buys because of shopping apps, 20 percent said retailer texts influenced them and 22 percent said they’ve made impulse buys due to retailer social media.

Don’t Forget The Internet

Mobile may be all the payments rage right now, but let’s remember the opportunities online commerce provides. About two-thirds of participants said they use eCommerce sites, 61 percent use downloadable coupons and 37 percent use daily deal sites. Search engines were popular with 59 percent use, and retailer emails rang in at 57 percent use as well.

To read more stats from the Ryan Partnership study, click here.