Nielsen: half of U.S. smartphone owners use mobile shopping apps

Have you ever done any shopping with the help of you smartphone? Well, you are definitely not alone, as a recent Nielsen study shows. In fact, it is estimated that in June, about 45 million smartphone owners living in the U.S. have used a shopping application of some kind on their mobile device. That is nearly half of all U.S. smartphone users, or about 47% of them, to be more precise. 

On average, these smartphone users have opened a smartphone shopping application 17 times over the course of the month. To no surprise, the most popular mobile shopping apps are those of the most popular online retailers, namely eBay and Amazon, with Groupon occupying the third spot on the chart. All three are enjoying unique audiences of over 10 million people. Retail store chains such as Walgreens and Target are on the list as well, although followed by a much smaller user base – between 2 and 3 million people.

So in a nutshell, the consumers' trust in mobile shopping is on the rise. Therefore, it is not surprising that retailers are making it easier for consumers to shop from their mobile devices, be it by launching a dedicated application, by making their web pages easily usable on a smartphone, or both. What was the last thing that you bought using your smartphone?

source: Nielsen via Mashable