The mobile boom is in full swing across the globe today. And based on the latest industry insight and data, smartphone penetration is growing fastest among Black and Hispanic populations.
Portada reported Tuesday that U.S. smartphone penetration is quickly approaching 50 percent, so “it’s no surprise that the adoption of mobile shopping tools has been rapid.”
Hispanics and African Americans are adopting new shopping technologies at a faster rate than Caucasians, with 18 percent of African American shoppers and 16 percent of Hispanic shoppers using their mobile device to make purchases as compared to 10 percent of Caucasians.
The data presented by Portada was derived from a recent shopper behavior study conducted by Omnicom.
One in five African American shoppers (21 percent versus 13 percent of Caucasian shoppers) use their phone to read product reviews and maintain shopping lists and one in five Hispanic shoppers (20 percent versus 13 percent of Caucasian shoppers) use their mobile device to compare prices on products.
“Basic mobile communication through SMS and mobile websites should be the points of entry. Mobile marketing to multicultural shoppers is a huge opportunity,” said Martin Ferro, senior account planner for Velocidad.
“Digital shoppers are just shoppers,” adds Ben Kennedy, group director of Mobile Marketing at Integer. “Digital shopping tools are illustrative of the continued blurring of the on- and offline spaces. Today’s reality is that shoppers use whatever tools they have on hand to make them smarter, savvier shoppers.”
