Retailers Can Leverage Smart Phone Use To Attract Shoppers, Study Finds
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
“The First Dibs Opportunity” study shows that 47 percent of usage session start with no real aim.
Retailers have a real opportunity available that they can leverage in order to attract shoppers and boost sales, according to “the First Dibs Opportunity” study, which demonstrated that 47 percent of usage sessions started with no real aim and with no particular app in mind. According to Mobile Posse, who conducted the study, “In today’s world, where our downtime is filled with smartphones, there is a multibillion dollar opportunity to improve the smartphone experience by making what appears first more useful.”
The study found that roughly half (49 percent) of usage session started with the last open app on their smartphones, and out of that share, 10 percent used the app, while 19 percent ended their session within three seconds.
An addition 31 percent of usage sessions started with the home screen, where users are often provided with a wide range of app choices. And 19 percent of sessions started with a push notification.
While 70 percent of respondents admitted that they often use their devices to “kill time,” roughly half of their unlocks begin with no particular app in mind.
According to eMarketer, the average U.S. adult will spend 2 hours, 25 minutes per day using mobile apps this year, and increase of more than 10 percent over 2016. Consumers are shopping more on smartphones, and they are generally using their smartphones more. That creates an opportunity for retailers to improve the overall performance of their apps to capture these bored moments of potential customers. The Salesforce Shopping Index, in analyzing the fourth quarter of 2016, demonstrated that mobile accounted for 52 percent of all digital commerce shopping traffic.
The study concludes, if smartphones were smart, “they’d do a better job of giving us something useful.” Instead, over 54 percent of the time, the first screen has no value to the user and they switch to something else within three seconds. Meanwhile, 85 percent of smartphone users said that they like to engage with content upon unlock.
Jon Jackson, Mobile Posse founder and CEO, asserted, “Device behavior has changed. While curious mobile users continue to reach for their smartphones in times of boredom, it creates an opportunity to compete with the top dogs in mobile ad revenue. Our data shows that by claiming and owning the first screen subscribers interact with, mobile carriers and device OEMs have a unique opportunity to be a disruptor and unlock new revenue streams – all while improving the user experience.”