M-commerce shows promise as a product recommendation channel, study says

Retailers should focus more on mobile devices than social networking sites when trying to gain sales from product recommendations, suggest survey data released Wednesday by ChoiceStream Inc., which sells product recommendation technology.

The Cambridge, MA-based vendor based its findings on surveys of 525 consumers conducted in November and December. 65% of respondents said they would be more likely to buy products from their mobile devices if they could easily receive product recommendations on the devices from trusted retailers.

Only 27% of respondents said they thought the same about social-networking sites, even though 63% of respondents said they use social networking. Overall, 73% of survey respondents said they notice product recommendations under such headings as “you might also like this” and “recommended for you,” the vendor says.