Study: 1 in 10 buy online via mobile devices

Mobile users aren't going online simply to find cool ring tones or wallpaper. According to a new study, mobile users are increasingly buying products online.

by Kristina Knight

For the past few years, marketers have worked to create simple banner ads and text messaging ads that intrigue users enough to click through to another website. Now that they can create more interactive ads from their platforms, message coupon codes and use other ways to influence mobile users, those users are beginning to buy from their phones.

According to the Online Publisher's Association, in the United States and Europe, growing numbers of mobile users are using their phones and PDA's to make purchases. They found that while only about 32% of mobile users surf the web, one in every ten international subscribers have purchased products from their hand-sets.

Japanese mobile users are a little bit ahead of American and European mobile users, however. Roughly 60% of Japanese mobile consumers present mobile coupon codes at the point-of-sale locations.

The key for mobile ads is relevance. If the ads sent to mobile phones are not relevant to that particular consumer it won't work. Some early research used this point to indicate that mobile users simple weren't interested in ads on their cellphones, but more recent research indicates the opposite. If the ad is targeted to that consumer, he or she is open to the ad and will likely click through to a product page.