A new survey suggests most Canadians won’t be taking advantage of smartphone apps as they do their holiday shopping this year.
About 70% of those surveyed weren’t planning to use a mobile application or feature to help buy gifts, according to the results of a poll commissioned by wireless carrier Mobilicity.
Smartphone apps can give users notifications of what discounts are being offered in a mall and at what stores, said Anthony Booth, Mobilicity’s chief customer officer.
“The real astute users are the people who have figured out how to take advantage of things in real time by using their smartphone,” Booth said from Toronto.
Black Friday, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, has come to Canada and generally marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season. Apps such as TGI Black Friday and Black Friday Deals and Coupons allows smartphone users to search from thousands discounts.
Booth said even though Canadians do a lot of online research and price comparison, app adoption is about a year behind the United States. He expects more uptake by Canadians in 2013.
But the survey did find that 43% of 18-to-34 year olds planned on using features and apps on their mobile phones to help with holiday shopping.
Marta Tryshak, creator of lifestyle and fashion website WithLoveGabrielle.com, has been using her smartphone for four years to find the best prices and said it’s a must for Black Friday and other holiday shopping.
Tryshak is currently using the Shop Savvy barcode scanner app, Instagram app for photo sharing of products, and microblogging site Twitter.
Telecom analyst Troy Crandall said he was surprised by the survey’s finding of low app use because about 65% of new wireless customers are opting for smartphones.
Apps can cut down on shopping time and effort, said Crandall, of Montreal-based MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier.
“It’s quick and easy price comparison and I would say that’s the major advantage there, especially in the holiday season where crowds get crazy and it’s hard to move around and get from place to place,” he said.
The online survey of 1,514 Canadians was done between Oct. 15 and 17 by Leger Marketing and its margin of error is plus or minus 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.
