MasterCard’s latest Mobile Shopping Survey reveals that making purchases via mobile phones is on the rise. More interestingly, however, is how the findings of the study, conducted in October to December of last year in 14 countries including Singapore, Thailand, China, Japan, Australia, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, India and the Philippines, varied across the different countries.
For example, while data from Singaporean respondents demonstrated a meagre 5% increase in mobile shopping purchases between 2013 and 2014 (from 31.4% to 36.7%), data from Taiwan and India reflected the largest growth with mobile shopping doubling over the last two years (from 28.2% to 62.6% and 25.4% to 45.6% respectively).
While roughly half of all respondents in Asia Pacific (49.5%) reported that “convenience” was the most compelling reason to shop on their smart phone, alongside the availability of shopping apps and simply being able to shop on the go, it begs the question of whether the same purchases made on a mobile device would have also been made offline.
In a similar way to how snacks and tempting sweets are placed closest to the supermarket cashier to entice shoppers into giving into impulse and spontaneously adding unnecessary items to their trolley, one must wonder whether it is the sheer availability and ease that makes us more likely to buy.
For example, the survey also reflected that 32% of respondents felt that online shopping was perceived the same way as shopping in an actual store, with half believing that being able to shop online is “essential”.
By removing any means of physical effort from the equation (i.e. going to the shop to make a purchase), it almost becomes too convenient. Too easy to tap in (and store) your credit card details on a mobile app and simply wait for your order to arrive at your door.
A report suggests that omission of cash in a transaction may “anaesthetise’ the pain typically associated with paying.
The seamless, cashless transactions may even be enough to counter the typical feelings a buyer has when making a purchase. The awareness and sense of spending one’s own money may have an effect on a buyer’s decision-making. For example, a past report by Psychology Today (2011) argued that the omission of cash in a transaction may ‘anaesthetise’ the ‘pain’ typically associated with paying, resulting in more money spent.
This is further reflected through the top three items that are bought through mobile phones, being clothing and accessories, apps and ‘daily deal coupons’. While apps seem an intuitive purchase to make on a smart phone, when it comes to daily deal coupons, our decisions fall risk to a type of cognitive bias known as the ‘anchoring effect’– our fixation on the magnitude of the discount/deal we notice, rather than its practical need or our actual desire for it.
However, in the same vein, it can equally be used for the savvier and less impulsive shoppers. The MasterCard survey’s findings also reflected that close to half of Singaporean respondents (49.2%; 44.5% in Asia Pacific) make price comparisons between different retailers (online and offline), with similar figures using their phone to do a little research on what they intend to buy before making their decision. In fact, 22.5% of respondents indicated that bad reviews are enough to dissuade them from going.
So, in essence, being able to shop on our mobile devices not only has the capacity to make us more intelligent shoppers, as information is more readily to us, but it can also encourage more impulsive purchasing decisions. MasterCard’s Mobile Shopping Survey (2014) has revealed some curious insights into online purchasing behaviours over the last few years. Nevertheless, burning questions remain.
How has the economic development and spending power of individuals within each nation influenced mobile shopping behaviours? Is the prevalence of new apps specifically designed to make shopping easier (e.g. ASOS, ETSY, Carousell etc.) encouraging us to spend more money when we would otherwise be simply waiting for our train or bus? Have we overlooked any ethical boundaries over how easily an app can take someone’s money?
I fear we have only swiped the surface.
