According to www.nationaljewelernetwork.com, a growing number of consumers want more than just a phone that enables them to communicate with friends and family - they want a phone they can use to shop, a new study from the National Retail Federation (NRF) finds.
New research, conducted by BIGresearch for the NRF's "Mobile Retail Initiative," shows consumers want to have phones that allow them to take pictures, keep a calendar and access e-mail and the Internet so that they can shop or browse retail Web sites.
According to the survey, which incorporates data from 9,578 consumers polled between January 2006 and January 2010, nearly nine out of 10 adults (87.5 percent) say they possess a cell phone, up from January 2006, when only 74.2 percent of respondents reported having mobile phones.
In addition, with e-commerce now expanding into mobile commerce or "m-commerce," many consumers want the luxury of being able to shop via their phones. The survey found that 41.5 percent of adults desire a cell phone with Internet access, compared to just 32.6 percent who said so in July 2008.
More than half (51.4 percent) of adults ages 18 to 34 surveyed said they wanted to be able to surf the Web on their phone, up from 41 percent who said so in July 2008.
"Americans expect more from their phones than the ability to talk to family and friends," NRF President and Chief Executive Officer Matt Shay said in a news release. "Aside from sending pictures and sharing stories and experiences over social networking sites, consumers want to be able to connect with their favorite retailers in a way they never have been able to before--instantaneously. The emergence of m-commerce has created a paradigm shift that has the retail industry very excited."
When it comes to other cell phone features or attributes, survey results show that the importance of e-mail access is increasing, with 51.1 percent of 18- to 34-years-olds wanting a cell phone with e-mail access, up from 28.1 percent in January 2006.
And young adults aren't the only ones who want to e-mail from their cell phones: according to the survey, 42.6 of all adults want a cell phone with e-mail capabilities, up from 22.5 percent just four years ago.
Other important phone attributes cited by survey respondents included cameras (59 percent), calendars (42.7 percent) and text-messaging capabilities (55.6 percent).
