Author: Rebecca

Consumers who use their smartphones for researching products and making purchases shop differently.

Consumers who regularly participate in mobile shopping have a tendency to prefer products with which they have already become familiar and that they purchase on a regular basis, according to American research.

The study was conducted by a team of researchers from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

The research also determined that mobile shopping is considered to be a solid way for boosting consumer loyalty – also referred to as “stickiness” – among customers, especially when it comes to people who are purchasing in small volumes. The study discovered that this is because m-commerce encourages customers to purchase on a more frequent basis and to boost the size of the orders they place. The study was held by marketing PhD candidate Jen-Hui Wang from the Kellogg School, as well as marketing professor from the same school, Lakshman Krishnamurthi, as well as Edward Malthouse from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern.

This research was conducted by analyzing online and mobile shopping data from 13 American locations.

More specifically, the data analyzed was from an online grocery retailer that operates within these 13 U.S. locations. The data was broken down into two separate periods. The first was from June 2012 through October 2012. During that time , an ad campaign was launched by the grocery retailer for its mobile app. The time span was from November 2012 through June 2013.

What was determined was that PC users during the first data set displayed different behaviors than those in the second period of time who had started using the mobile app. The shoppers whose total spending was smaller than the average value within the first span of time boosted their average order size when they started buying over mobile commerce than they had when they were buying over e-commerce.

On the side of consumers who spent more than the average, their size orders didn’t seem to change from e-commerce to mobile shopping. However, when they started buying over mobile apps, they started to make their orders more frequently than they had on their PCs.

While power pack technology is continually improving, it won’t be for a long while before it makes it to devices.

There is no doubt that wearables are going to continue to be produced and are evolving very rapidly, but the one thing that doesn’t seem to be changing is their need for backup battery packs.

Because of that, many in the industry say the value of the devices will need to improve significantly.

The short lifespan of the built-in batteries means that regular users of devices such as smartwatches will need to get used to carrying portable battery packs with them in order to ensure that they don’t run out of juice before the end of the day. For that reason, the device makers behind wearables like that will need to step up their game and prove to users that the gadgets are well worth the extra effort.

Fortunately, innovation is far from running dry in wearables, so battery packs are likely here to stay.

Battery life is one of the main concerns of the wearable technology industry at the moment. While designers and manufacturers are attempting to be able to create products that will impress, they’re also trying to do so in a way that will last for a reasonable amount of time.

Unfortunately, the current market appears to be swamped with devices that run slowly, that contain software that doesn’t have much of a “wow” factor, and that aren’t all that attractive as something to be worn on the body. This is improving, but battery power isn’t.

Since the technology for making sure wearables last longer between charges doesn’t seem to be getting better at much of an impressive rate, many in the industry are recommending that the companies behind these wearable technology devices focus on different features. The improvements to the lifespan will happen, but that looks like it will be a long way off. Therefore, the key to success at the moment seems to be in making sure the devices themselves are worth the added effort of charging more frequently.

By making wearable technology as important to users as their smartphones, they will be certain to think that carrying battery packs and connecting to them now and again will be well worth keeping the smartwatches on their wrists.