Mobile Online Shopping Trends in USA

The new shopping trend in USA is purchasing through the smart phone. According to the Mobile Commerce report, by ABI Research, mobile online shopping has increased by more than three times from 2008 to 2009, with $369 million in 2008 to about $1.2 billion in 2009 and is expected to reach as much as $2.4 billion in 2010.

Consumers are using their smart phones for impulse shopping and purchasing virtual goods for online gaming and social networking. The consumers were found to use smart phones to compare the prices and purchased better priced items via their mobile device. The consumers are using phones for instant gratification and to simplify transactions. The sale of virtual goods like products that only exist in video games, computer games or social networking games, also continues to gain popularity because of its easy transaction method.

The use of mobile for the payment is easy when compared to the card system, as they can make the payments by simply entering the phone number and the charge is added to the consumer’s mobile phone bill or deducted from a prepaid plan. According to the same report, mobile payments for virtual goods was just under a $1 million in 2008, but jumped to $24.8 million in 2009 as the option to purchase virtual items from a mobile phone became more popular.

This trend of mobile commerce is not restricted only to US. It is found that there is a growth in the worldwide consumer spending via mobile online shopping and there are also hurdles like broad band shortage. The retailers should work for the growth of this trend.