We can no longer separate the female shopper from her shopping tool of choice – the smartphone and the tablet. Retailers should understand that the love affair of women and their mobile devices is deep and growing. In fact, 57% of women would rather give up sex than give up their smartphone for seven days.
Who is the Mobile Shopper?
The mobile shopper is divided equally between men and women but women are more likely to use their devices for physical purchases. Mobile shoppers tend to skew younger. The majority (57%) are under 45 years old and make up a growing share of mobile shoppers, and 34 percent are under 34 years old.
Nielsen says that both men and women participate in shopping but women are the dominant shopper in every retailer category except convenience stores. Women drive the larger shopping trips outspending males by $14.31 per trip in supercenters and by $10.32 per trip in grocery stores.
Women Shop Mobile At Home
We are using our devices most frequently at home, according to Nielsen. More than two-thirds of smartphone shoppers and four-out-of-five tablet shoppers are shopping at home—sometimes while watching TV. Tablet owners are more likely to be doing research on purchases (59%) and are more likely to purchase physical items (38%) than smartphone shoppers (24%).
Women Shop Mobile In-Store
Smartphones are necessary shopping outside the home. The are the in-store device of choice for most. While on the way to the store, 70 percent of smartphone shoppers use a store locator to plan their shopping trip. Once inside the store, 37 percent stay organized using lists while shopping on their phones. We use our devices to check prices, and the majority of smartphone (63%) and tablet (53%) owners then use search and scanners to determine price and deals. At the checkout lane, smartphone shoppers then are more likely to use their devices for mobile coupons (34%) and for payment (23%).
Women Continue After the Shopping Experience
After we finish our shopping, we pick up our tablets to track and share our shopping experience. Some 20 percent write comments on social media and 16 percent use their tablets to write reviews of their purchases. For the at-home mobile shopper, the majority of smartphone (55%) and tablet (52%) shoppers are using their devices to track the progress of their online orders.
