If you are a smartphone user, you are likely utilizing your mobile phone in many different aspects of your life. From checking Facebook while you’re on the bus or waiting in a line to snapping photos of your friends and family; smartphones are immensely useful in a many different contexts.
There is one arena where smartphone users are whipping their phone out to either save a buck, research a product or read a review: and that’s while they are shopping. According to Momads, a mobile agency in the UK and Belgium, product research whilst shopping has doubled. In most cases, consumers are looking for price information, comparing products, and seeking exact product specifications.
For myself and my friends, I can easily confirm these facts. For instance, in my case, my wife is constantly asking me to utilize my T-Mobile G2 Android phone to use the Amazon app to scan barcodes while we’re shopping for products for our house. in 5 separate cases, we’ve found products to be vastly less expensive than in stores.
Mobile apps on phones make shoppers more intelligent. Retailers, in turn, should embrace mobile devices and rise to the challenge to be more transparent and have better prices. Perhaps by utilizing mobile barcodes, retailers can make it easier for users to do their own research while in the stores, armed with their phones.
Check out the infographic below for more detailed information.