Deciding on which Christmas present to buy can be troublesome, and it would seem that more European consumers are now turning to their mobile phones to provide them with assistance in their shopping plans.
According to research conducted by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), 25 per cent of Christmas shoppers in Europe intend to use their handsets (France 19 per cent, Germany 32 per cent and the UK 24 per cent) to search for gift ideas. But of note, 12 per cent of these consumers planned to use their mobiles to pay for gifts (UK 16 per cent, Germany 14 per cent and France 5 per cent), demonstrating a golden opportunity for marketers to optimise their mobile marketing strategies to guide consumers.
Consumers also indicated a desire to use their handsets as part of Christmas shopping to search for the location of or directions to a retail outlet (France 6 per cent, Germany 20 per cent and the UK 19 per cent). Retailers such as BestBuy and Tesco are said to be already offering the functionality to locate stores, and also the location and information of products on shelves within those stores.
MMA member and EMEA research marketing director for Lightspeed, Ralph Risk, said, "In the same way that 10 years ago the Internet on the desktop changed shopping habits, mobile phones are now leading the way for consumers to shop on the move. Marketers, brands and retailers that ignore or underestimate this trend risk missing out on a powerful new marketing opportunity."
For more:
- see this Cellular News article
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