Brand Central Station

By: Andrew Eisner, Retrevo.com’s Director of Community and Content

Everyone is talking about the mobile Internet and how more and more consumers are browsing and using lots of apps anywhere they and their mobile phones happen to be. Are cell phone owners also becoming more comfortable buying things with their phones? If not, what would make them more likely to shop with their phones? This Retrevo Pulse Study looked at consumers and mobile commerce and found many willing shoppers ready to make purchases with their phones.

Consumers Are Warming to Mobile Commerce
In February of 2010, a Retrevo Pulse studyfound almost 10% of the respondents indicating they had purchased something with their cell phones. Four months later, with a different sample, that number had doubled to 20%. The bad news is that a little less than half the respondents have never purchased anything with their phone and have no plans to do so in the future. The better news is the 27% that haven’t bought anything yet but indicate they will in the future. That leaves about 20% who purchased something through their phone.

Apps Make Shopping Easier
Apps make everything so much easier and more fun, and that includes shopping. Retrevo found that nearly 42% of those who have shopped with their phones said they have used apps to make purchases. When we looked at gender and smartphone owners we weren’t surprised to see male mobile shoppers outnumbering females and iPhone owners leading the pack.

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Iconoculture, the leading cultural trend research company, today unveiled the top six trends that will drive consumer behavior in 2009. In a marketplace defined by economic uncertainties, shifting social mores, and an increasingly global and multicultural landscape, the values and trends identified by Iconoculture explain how consumers are likely to respond in 2009.

Subscribe to Iconoculture’s weekly newsletter by clicking here.

Iconoculture provides companies a window into consumer culture with perspectives on why consumers behave the way they do and what impact those behaviors will have on businesses.

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BIGResearch just released the latest findings of their American Pulse(TM) survey and, no surprise, the economy has America’s pulse racing.

Key findings include:

• Nearly three out of five Americans say rising food and energy costs worry them the most.
• Close to sixty percent of those surveyed say they are having problems paying their bills.
• Almost 25% of those surveyed say their rent and mortgage payemnts are either late or in danger of falling behind.
• As a result of the financial stress, 71.3% say they have cut back on their spending and just over 40% are staying home for the holidays.

Not spreading the good cheer
While times are tough all over, more than two out of three Americans have no interest in seeing the government bail out the auto industry.  This reluctance extends to retired workers as well, with 58.5% of those surveyed saying “no” to bail out collars going to cover retiree health benefits.

You can learn morea bout what’s on America’s mind by reviewing the findings of the survey online.

Adrian Chedore, the global CEO of Synovate was interviewed yesterday (12/04) by Marketing Daily and provided a look ahead for market research and offerred some helpful advice for businesses of all sizes.  Primary among his observations was the recommendation that the future for research lies in understanding the trends and forecasting the outcomes of markets on the macro level combined with the use of social media to engage in “really in-depth” conversations to understand the attitudes of frequent users who drive those markets.

Technology enables marketers and business managers to see their enterprise and the markets in which they operate on a grand scale.  Trends are easier to spot and business models can be altered accordingly.  But to really understand the “why” behind those trends, you have to get to know the customers who make up the markets.

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