How mobiles are changing the face of commerce

Compete's report finds that groceries are at the top of the list for mobile payments, with consumers opting to use near-field devices to pay for groceries rather than using credit or debit cards. Clothing/apparel and phone bill payments are also growing in mobile payment popularity.

comScore, meanwhile, finds that 234 million American consumers, age 13 and over, are now mobile, with 74 million using smartphones. Just over one-third (36%) are using Google's Android platform while Apple accounts for 26% of the market share. Texting is still the most-used smartphone option, followed by mobile browser use (39%), downloaded apps (37%) and accessing social networks or blogs (28%).

For those using smartphones only for talking and texting, security is one big issue. Of those uninterested in using mobiles to pay for things, 56% said they were concerned about the security attached to the phones while making payments and 52% were worried about security if their phones were lost post-payment.

These reports may change the way advertisers look at mobile marketing. In April, Millennial Media found that about one-third (30%) of advertisers had lead generation as their top mobile marketing goal. Sustained in-market presence was considered important by 29% of mobile marketers. Also high on the importance list were product launch or release (17%) and brand awareness (13%).

While lead generation is important, with the number of consumers turning to mobiles to network, browse the web and otherwise interact with brands as well as friends, it makes sense to include more transactional goals as a bigger part of mobile campaign goals.

Tags: Compete, comScore, m-commerce, Millennial Media, mobile devices, mobile marketing, mobile shopping, mobile websites