Consumers plan more time with shopping apps, less time at stores

Almost half of U.S. online shoppers plan to make fewer trips to the stores for holiday gift purchases this year, says PriceGrabber. Instead, many will make use of shopping apps on their mobile device.

Of the 2,469 respondents to PriceGrabber's survey, almost a third (31%) already have shopping apps on their mobile device, of which 82% plan to use them when buying holiday gifts this year. Furthermore, 32% plan to download new shopping apps as the holiday season approaches.

Coupon apps were the type of shopping app most popular with respondents with 70% planning to download one in the coming weeks. Comparison shopping apps (66%), price check apps with the ability to scan barcodes (63%) and apps specifically developed to searching for Black Friday deals were also planned downloads in preparation for holiday shopping.

"Instead of clipping coupons, shoppers are scouring the internet and turning to their mobile devices to find the best deals. Our survey data states that 82 percent of consumers who already have shopping-related apps will use them in an effort to save money when purchasing gifts this season," said Rojeh Avanesian, vice president of marketing and analytics of PriceGrabber.

"With mobile shopping growing at a rapid rate, it will be interesting to see how retailers will gain the shoppers' attention in the competitive mobile market space this holiday season."

According to Accenture's latest annual Holiday Shopping Survey, released this week, more than half of shoppers (56%) said they intend to arm themselves with a mobile device in-store so they can research and purchase items online.

Tags: consumer survey, holiday shopping, mobile app, mobile shopping, showrooming