The Official Fluid Blog

At Fluid we have been monitoring the popularity and use of the mobile web and mobile applications for a few years, and we have seen the trend toward mobile optimized web sites for general activities and mobile applications for productivity, focused functionality, and brand-specific experiences. Luke Wroblewski recently proclaimed that the mobile web is winning, but mobile applications still have a place and purpose.

As we enter the Holiday 2011 season, it is clear that mobile devices are playing a growing role in how people play, socialize, and shop. There are now 328 million smartphones, tablets, and laptops for the 315 million people in the US, and mobile web traffic has doubled in the past year. Currently, 37.4% of people in the US have a smartphone, and with 650,000 people switching from feature phones to smart phones every week, we are on track to hit 50% of people with smartphones by September 2012.

Apple still dominates the smartphone and tablet market, but Android has seen dramatic growth. Apple accounts for 43.1% of mobile devices and 58.5% of mobile web traffic, while Android accounts for 34.1% of mobile devices and 31.9% of mobile web traffic. Apple device owners are clearly very comfortable accessing the Internet via browsers and mobile apps, but combined with Android we have 63 million people accessing the web via mobile, and another 21.5 million when we add in Blackberry and Microsoft devices. That’s at least 84.5 million people on the web regularly via the most common mobile devices.

So, what are all of these people actually doing on their mobile devices? Recent data from the Pew Research Center identified the most common activities on mobile phones:

• 73% send and receive text messages
• 73% take photos
• 54% send photos (or videos)
• 44% access the Internet (via browser)
• 38% send and receive email
• 35% play games
• 34% record video
• 34% play music (Pandora reports that 50% of their traffic in August 2011 was to mobile devices!)

Other studies report that 58% of people read news on their tablets, and 25% do that daily. Socializing is also popular with 3 out of 5 mobile device owners reporting they are active on social networks, and 72.2 million people in the US accessed social networks and blogs via mobile devices in August 2011, a 37% increase over last year.

But what about mobile applications? As mentioned above, we’ve been monitoring the popularity and use of the mobile web and mobile applications over the past few years.  The trend is clearly toward using mobile optimized web sites for general activities and mobile applications for productivity, focused functionality, and brand-specific experiences.

How many mobile applications are being installed and used? In 2009, 22% of smartphone owners had installed mobile apps; by August 2011 that increased to 38%, and 75% of tablet owners report installing applications. More data from the recent Pew Internet research shows that:

• 68% of people with apps on their smartphones report using them
• only17% of smartphone owners use no apps (and only 8% of tablet owners use no apps)
• 51% of smartphone owners use 1-5 apps per week
• 31% (so-called “power users”) use 6 or more apps per week (while 39% of tablet owners fall into this category)

How are people using all of the mobile applications?

• 74% provide updates on news, weather, sports, and/or stocks
• 67% help communicate with friends and family
• 64% help people learn about something in which they are interested
• 53% help people find information
• 48% facilitate work-related tasks
• 46% are for shopping and/or making purchases
• 43% watch TV or movies online
• 35% retrieve information about en event
• 29% track and manage their personal health

Yes, you read that correctly: 46% of people who use installed mobile applications are using them to shop. This is a significant market and a huge opportunity. Forrester reports that mobile commerce increased 25% in the first half of 2011 (and mobile traffic was up 300% for Holiday 2010), and PayPal is processing more than $10,000 per minute in mobile transactions (at an average of 3 mobile transactions per second, they anticipate $3.5 billion on mobile payments for 2011!) So far in 2011, the average ecommerce site is seeing 10% of traffic from mobile devices, and that number increases to an average of 15% for premium brands.

Customers are increasingly comfortable with mobile shopping and making purchases via mobile devices, and they are not making only small purchases: in October 2011, eBay sold a $40,000 backhoe via mobile, and Blue Nile sold a a $300,000 diamond engagement ring via their iPhone app in September 2011. Blue Nile also reports that purchases in the thousands or even tens of thousands are “not uncommon.”

Acceptance of and attitudes toward mobile commerce are strong and positive. Recent analysis by JiWire shows that nearly three-quarters or more of consumers are comfortable buying on mobile devices, and older, more affluent consumers are more likely to make larger purchases.

For adults between 18-34 years:

• 73% are comfortable buying on mobile (14% are not willing to buy on mobile)
• 27% spend under $50
• 13% spend $50-99
• 15% spend $100-249
• 14% spend $250-499
• 17% spend $500+ (45% do research before spending $500 or more)
• 13% do price comparisons
• 23% research on mobile, but buy online (non-mobile)
• 15% research on mobile, but buy in-store

For adults between 35-54 years:

• 83% are comfortable buying on mobile (11% are not willing to buy on mobile)
• 18% spend under $50
• 13% spend $50-99
• 17% spend $100-249
• 19% spend $250-499
• 22% spend $500+ (34% do research before spending $500 or more)
• 34% do price comparisons
• 31% research on mobile, but buy online (non-mobile)
• 32% research on mobile, but buy in-store

Mobile commerce is growing rapidly, and both the mobile web and mobile applications provide opportunities to reach consumers and provide the information, features, and services they need to make purchase decisions and complete transactions. With nearly half of tablet owners reporting they made a purchase from their tablets, and with 111 million smartphones and tablets in use and growing quickly, now is the time to establish a brand presence in the mobile space.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2011 at 5:30 am and is filed under E-Commerce, Online Retail / Interactive Merchandising, Social Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.