Friday, November 11, 2011 | Edited by Daniel Moores

A Look at Mobile Shopping Behaviors on Smartphones and Tablets This Holiday Season Mobile Users are integrating their smartphones and tablets into all aspects of their daily lives, and holiday shopping is no exception. 61.7% of Mobile Users say they plan to use their smartphone or tablet for holiday shopping this year, according to a recent survey among smartphone and tablet users on mobile devices conducted by Prosper Mobile Insights. Most of these avid Mobile Holiday Shoppers (60.8%) plan to use their device mostly as a "mobile mall" -- purchasing products and comparing prices. The other 39.2% plan to use their device mainly as a data organizer to keep track of gift lists, budgets, sales, etc. On average, Mobile Holiday Shoppers say they plan to make 37.9% of their holiday purchases from their device. Of those who plan to use a smartphone or tablet for holiday shopping, the majority (56.7%) anticipates using their device mostly during the planning and research stage. 2 in 5 (40.2%) plan to use their device mainly during the shopping/in-store stage while 3.1% plan to use a smartphone or tablet mostly to share their shopping experiences with others. Mobile Holiday Shoppers will likely be on the lookout for Black Friday weekend deals, especially ones they can benefit from on their mobile devices. The majority of Mobile Holiday Shoppers say they are somewhat or very likely to use their mobile device to purchase products on Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Somewhat/Very Likely to Purchase Products on Mobile Device (Mobile Holiday Shoppers) Thanksgiving Day: 30.1% Black Friday: 66.9% Saturday after Thanksgiving: 58.6% Sunday after Thanksgiving: 48.6% Cyber Monday: 63.5% While Thanksgiving weekend is bound to see plenty of mobile shopping traffic, the majority of Mobile Holiday Shoppers are NOT likely to purchase items using a mobile device on Thanksgiving Day. Mobile Holiday Shopping? There are apps for that! The top app Mobile Holiday Shoppers plan to use this year is Amazon -- 18.2% plan to use this app to purchase products for the holidays while 8.5% will use it to help plan their shopping. Other top apps for purchasing products include eBay (6.1%), Google (2.2%), a barcode scanner (1.9%) and PayPal (1.9%). Other popular planning apps include Google (5.8%), Notes (4.0%), Shop Savvy (2.9%) and Safari (2.1%). Mobile Holiday Shoppers plan to search for 3 key gift categories: electronics, clothes and entertainment items. 3 in 4 (77.0%) plan to research electronics on their smartphone or tablet, and half (49.9%) plan to make an electronics purchase from their device. Entertainment items such as books and DVDs are the top gifts Mobile Holiday Shoppers plan to purchase using a mobile device: Plan to Research on Smartphone/Tablet -- Top 3 Categories (Mobile Holiday Shoppers) Electronics: 77.0% Books/CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray/Video Games: 70.7% Clothing or clothing accessories: 63.0% Plan to Purchase on a Smartphone/Tablet -- Top 3 Categories (Mobile Holiday Shoppers) Books/CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray/Video Games: 58.0% Clothing or clothing accessories: 52.5% Electronics: 49.9% Candy, appliances, home décor, beauty items and gift cards are not likely to trigger many mobile searches: over half of Mobile Users plan to neither purchase nor research these items on a mobile device. (Source: BIGResearch, 11/09/11. Sources cited include Prosper Mobile Insights Mobile Survey, October, 2011. For the full, complimentary Special Holiday Report, http://www.formsite.com/prosper/Mobile110911/. Registration required.)