A groundbreaking study by TNS proves that mobile apps are not disrupting purchases in anything like the numbers that previous research suggests. Far from being threatened by mobile, retailers are in the best position to take advantage of it.

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Intelligence Applied
The truth about mobiles and shopping
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The truth about mobiles and shopping
If you’ve spent the last few years worrying
about mobile showrooming, then the results
of a pioneering study of those who actually
use shopping apps might surprise you…
Far from trying to head off the rise of mobile
shopping, your greatest opportunity might lie
in encouraging it

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The truth about mobiles and shopping
A lot of shoppers carry apps on their mobile phone
that enable them to find product information,
compare prices – and seek out better deals. A lot of
those shoppers have at some point used those apps
to find out if the store they are standing in really
offers them the best deal they can get. These are
the kinds of topline data points that give both brand
marketers and retailers sleepless nights. Mobile has
been earmarked as the new frontline in their bid to
maintain share of shoppers’ spending: they must use
it to steal shoppers and spend from others – or be
the victim of such mobile showrooming themselves.
But what if we asked a different, and much more
detailed set of questions? What if, instead of asking
if people had used a particular app, we asked them
when, how often and what for? Even better, what
if, instead of asking them to recall how often mobile
influences their shopping behaviour, we asked them
to describe exactly how it influenced it as it happens
– or at least so shortly afterwards that the distortions
of human memory didn’t skew their answers?

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The truth about mobiles and shopping
A new approach to mobile research
In a groundbreaking approach to mapping the real
influence of mobile on shopping in the US, that’s
exactly what TNS did. And the results suggest
the need for a major rethink on mobile’s current
and potential role. On the one hand, apps are
not diverting shoppers from buying products in
anything like the numbers that previous research has
suggested; on the other, retailers’ impressive equity in
the mobile space mean that they are best placed to
lead its development as a disruptive influence – and
they have plenty of good reasons for doing so.
Our approach was straightforward – and entirely
focused on shoppers who actually use shopping
apps. We used mobile listening technology to detect
when the people in our survey actually used the
different apps on their phones, and we then served
them an invitation to participate in a quick mobile
survey at what was likely to be the most appropriate
moment. We didn’t want to cause frustration by
actually interrupting their shopping experience, so
the survey arrived either within a few hours or the
next morning. It asked simple, purposeful questions
about how they used their phone for shopping
and other activities. We asked these questions
when mobile shopping was front-of-mind for our
participants. And we kept the survey short, so that it
would feel natural to complete it then and there, on
their phone.

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Installed is not the same as used
One of the first things that our new approach showed
was that, although lots of people do have a range
of mobile shopping apps on their phones, very few
of those people use them on anything approaching
a regular basis. For example, of all android phone
owners with a product info or price comparison app
installed on their phone, only 24 per cent had used it
in the last month.
When we examined the behaviours of all our
participants, we found that only 10 per cent had
used a product info app in the last month. And
price comparison? The mobile functionality that is
supposedly leading potential buyers to walk out of
store doors in droves? Only 5 per cent had actually
compared prices on their phone in the past month.
By far the most popular apps for monthly usage were
those that enhanced the shopping experience rather
than disrupting it: mobile coupons and retailers’
own sites had both been used monthly by more
than a quarter of participants. Retailer app users had
used them on two of the last five shopping trips on
average, more frequently than any other type.
Just because it’s mobile doesn’t mean
it’s in store
The next key finding involved where those who had
just used a mobile shopping app had actually used
it. Contrary to the popular image of the mobile
showroomer, this wasn’t usually in a store. Almost a
quarter of our shoppers had used their apps whilst
browsing or walking aisles, but far more had done so
at home, 59 per cent in all. Another 11 per cent had
used their apps on the way to the store (either in the
store parking lot itself or whilst traveling by train or
car), rather than in the store itself.
By far the most popular
apps for monthly usage
were those that enhanced
the shopping experience
rather than disrupting it.

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The truth about mobiles and shopping
What really happens when shoppers compare
prices in the aisle?
What of those that did activate their apps within the
store environment? Did those apps hijack the path
to purchase in the way that we might expect? Only
to a limited extent, as it turns out. When we focused
on those who had used their phones to compare
prices in store (in other words, those most likely to do
something different to buying the product they had
originally planned), we found that 35 per cent had
simply continued to buy the brand and product they
originally intended, in the store they were standing
in. Only 13 per cent switched to another store, with
10 per cent opting to buy online and 11 per cent
switching to a different product. The second most likely
outcome of comparing prices in store was that the
shopper didn’t buy the product type at all (31 per cent),
potentially a reflection of the fact that some shopping
trips are focused on browsing rather than buying.
App use varies across categories…
The usage patterns for price comparison and other
mobile shopping apps vary across categories, of
course. Our research showed that use of shopping
apps was fairly evenly divided between groceries and
other categories (48 per cent had triggered our survey
by using their app on a grocery shopping trip). Those
shopping for non-grocery items were significantly
more likely to use their apps to compare prices, with
white goods, electronics, clothes and shoes the most
likely products to be compared. They were also slightly
more likely to change their minds and buy a product
online rather than in a store, although still only 15 per
cent did so the last time they used an app.

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The truth about mobiles and shopping
Clothes, shoes, electronics and white goods also
featured prominently amongst the products that
shoppers were most likely to use mobile coupons to
buy – although plenty of FMCG items made this list
as well. Food and beverages were the most popular
focus of coupon use, and household products, oral
care, hygiene and hair care had all been discounted
by around a quarter of our app users. It is coupons
rather than product info and price comparison that
represents the dominant use of apps in the store
environment.
… but the drivers remain the same
Although the usage of apps may vary across
categories, a remarkably coherent picture emerges
when it comes to what shoppers really want from
them, how they actually use them, and whom they
trust to deliver the mobile-enhanced shopping
experience that they want. So if mobile shopping
apps aren’t the retailer-wreckers they are often
perceived to be, what are they?
As with all elements of the shopping experience,
people want mobile shopping solutions to save them
time, money and angst: 63 per cent said their last
use of an app had saved them money or earned
rewards, 35 per cent said it had saved them time
and 33 per cent said that it had helped them make
a better decision. However, the best environment for
mobile apps to save time, money and angst isn’t the
store itself, when most shoppers want to get on and
buy things, it’s in the moments before they head out
on their shopping trip. Mobile apps aren’t so much
shopping companions as shopping planners.
The real mobile shopping moment is in the home
This is why product info apps are three times more
likely to be used at home than in a store – and
coupon apps are six times more likely to be accessed
before somebody heads out on a trip rather than
while they are engaged in one. Even price comparison
apps are more likely to be used when planning a trip
than during one.
So if mobile shopping
apps aren’t the retailer-wreckers
they are
often perceived to be,
what are they?

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The truth about mobiles and shopping
Where’s the trust, really?
Just as significantly, retailers themselves appear to
enjoy a clear, current advantage when it comes to
influencing shoppers in this trip-planning phase. A
seamless, trusted brand experience that can offer
information on availability, pricing and product
features appears far more welcome than aggregated
information about prices at different stores. Indeed
it may be that consumers have far less faith in
independent price aggregators than is often assumed.
Retailer apps hugely outscore other types when it
comes to how useful shoppers consider them to be,
and it’s noticeable that 74 per cent of those using
them said that they had saved them money or earned
them rewards. This has the potential for making
mobile the natural channel for brand and retailer
promotions. Rather than disrupting and frustrating
shoppers in store, apps could be used to deliver
pricing messages and promotions in the trip-planning
phase when they are most likely to be welcomed.
The mobile opportunity
Far from being undermined by the promise of
mobile-related shopping solutions, retailers appear
to be the best placed of all mobile players to deliver
them. If they can develop solutions that respect the
key drivers of mobile shopping behaviour, and make
trips happier, easier and more convenient, then
have an open invitation to improve their shoppers’
experiences, secure loyalty and increase spend.
Far from being
undermined by the
promise of mobile-related
shopping solutions,
retailers appear to be the
best placed of all mobile
players to deliver them.

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The truth about mobiles and shopping
About Intelligence Applied
Intelligence Applied is the home of the latest thinking from TNS, where we discuss the issues impacting
our clients, explore what makes people tick and spotlight how these insights can create opportunities for
business growth.
About TNS
TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and
customer and employee relationships, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions. With
a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the world’s consumers than anyone else and
understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of
the world.
Please visit www.tnsglobal.com/intelligence for more information
TNS is part of Kantar, the data investment management division of WPP and one of the world’s largest insight,
information and consultancy groups.
Please visit www.tnsglobal.com for more information.
Get in touch
If you would like to talk to us about anything you have read in this report, please get in touch via
enquiries@tnsglobal.com or via Twitter @tns_global
About the author
Bob Burgoyne, Global development director,
is focussed on TNS offer development in
areas involving non-traditional data sources,
including both behavioural data and social
conversation. As part of TNS’ Technology
Enabled Research strategy, he works with a multi-functional
team to incubate new, truly ‘data-source agnostic’ solutions.
Prior to this, Bob worked in a range of primarily client-facing
roles in the UK, India and East Africa.
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