Abstract
This research investigates how US consumers use mobile phones in-store to acquire product-related information used to assist with purchase decisions. Data were collected in early January 2013 by a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of adults in the US. The data collection was sponsored by the Pew Foundation and made available for this research. Younger smartphone owners were significantly more likely to use their cell-phones to ask friends or family for product advice, to read product reviews online, and to engage in online price comparison while shopping. Women were significantly more likely than men to use their cell phone to acquire word-of-mouth product information from family and friends, but this gender effect was primarily observed among adults between 18-49 years. College education and household income were each significantly related to the use of cell- phones in store to acquire purchase-related information. The results also suggest that firms need to adapt to the growing use of mobile phones to assist with in-store purchase decisions.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
DOI
10.20429/jamt.2015.060101
Publication Date
12-2015
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Kristine, and Pontes, Manuel C. (2015). In-store use of mobile phones for point-of-purchase product information searches in the US. Journal of Applied Marketing Theory, 6(1), 1-13. ISSN: 2151-3236. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/jamt/vol6/iss1/1