More than half of adult cell phone owners used their cell phones to assist them while shopping during the most recent holiday season. Thirty-eight percent called a friend for advice, 24 percent looked up product reviews, and 25 percent reviewed the price of a product online for comparison while shopping in a store. One in five consumers who looked up a price online to compare to the price at the store ultimately purchased the device online. Additionally, younger consumers are much more likely to use their phones for online product reviews, as are urban and suburban cell phone owners.
The study also published the actions taken by consumers who use their cell phones to solicit information about a product:
When asked what happened on the most recent occasion where they used their phone to look up the price online of a product they found in a store, mobile price matchers point to a range of outcomes: 37% decided to not purchase the product at all, 35% purchased the product at that store, 19% purchased the product online and 8% purchased the product at another store.