by Lauren Indvik

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Share on TumblremailshareInvestment and innovation in the mobile commerce space may be superseding awareness and demand, according to a study provided to Mashable by Group SJR and Liz Claiborne Inc.

The survey was conducted among 801 18- to 64-year-olds who consider themselves mobile shoppers. (Mobile shoppers being loosely defined as anyone who uses a phone, including a maps application, to aid with shopping.)

Of those surveyed, 660 were smartphone owners; the remaining 141 were feature phone owners; 230 participants also owned a tablet.

Among the findings:

Mobile purchases are on the rise: 47% of smartphone owners and 56% of tablet owners plan to purchase more products on their respective devices in the future. Roughly half of smartphone and tablet users believe there are benefits to shopping on a mobile device, a number that would likely be higher if users found mobile apps and websites easier to use (see last bullet).

Device dictates behavior: One-third of smartphone owners use their devices to make mobile purchases, while less than 10% of feature phone owners make purchases with theirs.

Virtual wallets are catching on: A full 20% of smartphone owners have used their devices as a virtual wallet (we suspect many of these have done so with the Starbucks app) and 28% expect to do so more in the future. A quarter of tablet owners — consistently the most willing to experiment with new technologies — have used their tablets as a virtual wallet in stores; 39% plan to do so more in the future.

Mobile coupons and barcodes are catching on more quickly: Although virtual wallets usage is increasing, more smartphone and tablet owners expect to increase their use of mobile devices to look up more information about a product (between 55% and 57%) or use a coupon (between 53% and 54%). Nearly half of smartphone and tablet owners also said they planned to scan barcodes more often to get additional information about a product, suggesting that barcode scanning might indeed be poised to hit the mainstream in the next few years.

Data security and user experience are the two biggest barriers: Worries about the security of their personal and financial details might be preventing many from embracing m-commerce fully. More than 60% of both of smartphone and tablet owners said they believe it is not safe to share those details on their mobile devices, underlining a need for education about security issues.

 Furthermore, 54% of smartphone users and 61% of tablet users said they find mobile applications and websites ineffective and difficult to use, further discouraging purchasing on those devices.
How often do you make purchases using a mobile device? Do security concerns or difficulties with mobile websites and apps prevent you from making more purchases?

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