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Nearly half of all consumers use their mobile phones to feel better about their purchase by scanning or texting for more product information while in-store, according to research by Vibes, a mobile marketing and technology company.

The first annual Vibes Mobile Consumer Report provides retail brands with guidance on how to connect with today's mobile consumers and enhance the multi-channel shopping experience.

The research shows 84 percent of "showrooming shoppers" have conducted research while shopping in-store, and 33 percent of consumers have admitted to comparison shopping on a competitor's website while in another retailer's store, with 6 percent likely to abandon an in-store purchase for a competitor.

The survey data also reveals that only 17 percent of consumers have used a company's app while shopping in-store, demonstrating the continued and growing importance of an easy-to-navigate and use mobile website.

The Vibes report also said 69 percent of consumers have unsubscribed from a retailer's mobile database due to too many messages or updates,

Jack Philbin, co-founder, CEO and president of Vibes, said, "A decade ago, brands realized they needed to create an online presence and so everyone created an ecommerce website. Today, consumers are turning to their mobile phones to make purchasing decisions, which means that access to mobile-optimized content needs to be an effortless experience for the mobile consumer. Retailers who understand this and listen to their customers to engage them on their terms and provide them with relevant and timely information they can use will be successful in building a loyal customer base."

Philbin went on to warn retailers that if they don't deploy a mobile marketing strategy, they will continue to be challenged with decreasing in-store sales "and risk being Amazoned."

The Vibes Mobile Consumer Report was fielded by independent panel research firm Research Now and responses were generated from a survey among 1,006 mobile phone owners from their online opinion panel. All respondents are age 18 or older and living in the continental United States. The margin of error for the survey is +/-3.1 percent.

The report is available on Vibes.com/resources.

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About the author:

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

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