Retailer-branded applications exerted more of an influence over holiday shopping this past season than the prior one, says Baynote in its 4th annual holiday shopping survey [download page]. Roughly one-third of respondents – each of whom own a smartphone, and 65% of whom own a tablet – claimed to have made a holiday gift purchase using a retailer-branded application on a smartphone or tablet during the season. That’s up from 23% in the 2012 survey, which also limited its respondent sample to smartphone owners. (Tablet ownership was slightly lower – 55% – among the 2012 survey respondents, but the difference is probably not stark enough to have influenced the app usage trends to a measurable degree.)
Unsurprisingly, younger age groups were the most likely to have made a purchase through a retailer-branded app. Almost half – 47% – of 18-24-year-old respondents claimed to have done so, as did 43% of 25-34-year-olds and 41% of 35-44-year-olds. There was a fairly steep drop-off in app-driven purchases among older age groups, down to 26% of the 45-54 demo and 22% of the 55+ crowd. Given that all respondents own a smartphone, the age discrepancies isn’t attributable to differing penetration rates of the devices; it is possible, though, that discrepancies in tablet penetration among the age groups might have played a role, as youth are the most likely to own tablets.
About the Data: The survey was conducted among 1,000 respondents between December 3-6, 2013. The sample was evenly split between males and females. All respondents own a smartphone, and 65% own a tablet. All respondents had made a holiday purchase online.
