A study initiated by Google has shared that smartphones influence consumer purchase decisions and channels.

Google recently studied mobile consumer behaviour in six countries – the US, the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Japan  as part of its “Our Mobile Planet: Global Smartphone Users” research (conducted in January 2012 with Ipsos). 

It was found that nearly one in four (26 percent) French smartphone owners say they intentionally have their mobile with them to compare prices and get product information. And the French say they have changed their mind about purchasing something in-store (19 percent) or online (17 percent) as a result of information they gathered on their smartphone. Also, smartphone research also leads to purchases online and offline.  

37 percent of UK smartphones Internet users have bought something online and 26 percent of German smartphone users have made a purchase offline in-store or over the phone after having researched something via their smartphone. 

Mobile Local Usage 

The company highlighted that consumers take action after looking for local information. 

As per the results, 92 percent of Americans use their smartphones to look for information about local businesses or services. 

It also added that local information seekers take action. 81 percent of French smartphone users who’ve looked for local information then acted on it with a quarter (26 percent) having called the business and 43 percent having visited the business. 

Globally, one out of five smartphone users in all six countries made a purchase after looking for local information, whether in-store or online. 

Mobile Search 

More than 90 percent of global smartphone users are searching on mobile, making it a truly mainstream behaviour. 

Highlights:

·    99 percent of smartphone users in Japan have used a search engine on mobile. This means that practically everyone who’s gone online on mobile has searched on their phone.

·    Mobile search is a frequent activity. In most of these six countries more than 75 percent of smartphone Internet users search at least once a week. 

Google also shared that offline media consumption causes consumers to search on their smartphones. 

·    Across most of these six markets, roughly 60 percent of smartphone users are searching because of an ad they’ve seen offline or in a store.

·    Smartphone owners in Spain lead the way in searching as a result of seeing an offline ad. More than two-thirds (68 percent) search because of something they saw offline, with 62 percent searching as a result of something they saw on TV.

·    Half of German smartphone users (49 percent) have searched because of something they’ve seen in a store, and one-third (34 percent) of French smartphone users have searched on their mobile due to an ad they’ve seen in a magazine.