New Study Predicts Huge Increase in Mobile Shopping During the Holidays

November 22, 2013 – Deloitte’s 28th annual survey of holiday spending intentions and trends finds that increased use of smartphones means more retail activity through digital channels. Overall, smartphone ownership has risen to 61 percent of respondents from 42 percent just two years ago. Among smartphone owners, nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) plan to use their devices for holiday shopping. These consumers will primarily use smartphones to search for store locations (56 percent), check and compare prices (54 percent) and obtain product information (47 percent).

Other key findings include:

  • Women and younger generations showed the most significant leaps in smartphone ownership, expanding the base of shoppers that retailers can access via mobile devices. For example, nearly six in 10 (59 percent) of women surveyed own smartphones, up from 46 percent last year, and 79 percent of consumers ages 18-24 own a smartphone.
  • Consumers that use smartphones to assist in holiday shopping will likely help retailers’ sales this year, as these shoppers plan to spend 27 percent more on holiday gifts than non-smartphone owners.
  • A significant number of consumers are expecting to shop using their tablets. Among the 38 percent of respondents that own tablets, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of these owners indicate they plan to use it for holiday shopping this year, with “shop or browse online” ranking as the No. 1 activity.
  • Retailers benefit from providing shoppers with self-help technology in the store. Nearly six in 10 (58 percent) of shoppers will use self-help technologies — the most common being price checkers (60 percent) and self-checkout payment lanes (57 percent).

The Holiday Survey was commissioned by Deloitte and conducted online by an independent research organization between September 13 and 23, 2013. The survey polled a national sample of 5,018 consumers and has a margin of error for the entire sample of plus or minus one percentage point.

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