Eye on Mobile: Nearly Half of Smart Phone Users Access Shopping Apps

Nearly half of U.S. smart-phone users, or more than 45 million people, tapped a shopping application in June, according to data released on Monday. The leading app was that of eBay Inc., which attracted almost 13.2 million unique users, according to the data from New York City-based researcher The Nielsen Co., which surveyed for usage on both Android- and iPhone-based mobile devices.

On average, shoppers used the apps 17 times during the month, according to the research, which polled more than 5,000 U.S. owners of smart phones.

“Retailers are finding that consumers are willing to use smart-phone apps to enhance their shopping experience, and this data shows usage of shopping apps is growing,” Don Kellogg, director of telecom insights at Nielsen said in a statement.

Amazon Mobile came in second to eBay with 12.1 million users, though these shoppers spent on average only 18 minutes with the app, compared with over an hour with the eBay app. Third was daily-deal specialist Groupon (11.9 million, 21 minutes).

Shopkick (4^th place), RedLaser (8^th place), and Out of Milk Shopping List (9^th place) illustrate the rising importance of apps that let consumers access rewards, discounts, and price comparisons while in front of the product in the store, Nielsen says. Indeed, the average time spent with the Shopkick app, which offers on-the-spot rewards, was a whopping 3 hours, far and away the highest average on the list. “As more Americans use their smart phones while shopping and making purchases directly through apps, retailers should consider personalizing their targeted offerings around the needs of individual consumers,” Kellogg said. Red Laser is a unit of eBay.

Long-established merchants also made the ranking. Walgreens came in sixth with 2.8 million users, while Target Corp. followed in seventh place with 2.2 million.

At the same time, app usage on all devices, including both smart phones and feature phones, has reached a solid majority with 51.4% of users reporting having downloaded an app in June, according to research released last week by comScore Inc. The same research shows Google Inc.’s Android platform claiming a 51.6% market share, compared with 32.4% for Apple Inc.’ s iOS system and 10.7% for Research in Motion’s BlackBerry platform. Both Google and Apple scored share gains in June, while BlackBerry’s share continued to drop.