Younger smartphone owners tend to use location-based services more than older consumers.
Consumers who enjoy checking in at locations through mobile apps that can pinpoint a person’s precise whereabouts use their phones to shop and review dining options to a greater degree than mobile consumers that do not use check-in services, new research shows.
ComScore Inc. analyzed the behavior of 16.7 million mobile phone subscribers in March and found that 12.7 million used a smartphone to check in using a location-based service such as Facebook Places, Foursquare or Gowalla, comScore says. Some merchants offer coupons and discounts for patrons who announce their presence through these services.
The analysis shows that many smartphone owners who use check-in services also use their devices for activities related to shopping and dining. 32.6% of smartphone users who check in use their devices to visit mobile commerce sites compared with 17.9% of all smartphone users. 45.9% of smartphone check-in users looked up restaurant information compared with 27.6% of all smartphone owners.
The age of consumers who use their phones to check in skews young. 8.3% of consumers age 13-17 use mobile check-in; 18-24, 26.0%; 25-34, 32.5%; 35-44, 18.7%; 45-54, 9.7%; 55-64, 3.0%; and 65 and older 1.7%.
Comments | 1 Response
While this data is good, I think all that it shows is that people who use their smartphones in a certain way (in this case, to check in), are also likely to embrace smartphone functionality across the board, such as using it to shop and research dining options. I'd be more interested in seeing data that segments mobile check in across platforms and what those percentages are of total smartphone owners!
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