Mobile marketing and social media highly influencing consumer trends, says Inmobi

The mobile advertising company released its finding on shoppers’ behaviours and factors influencing them towards certain products. According to the findings, in speciality or boutique stores, consumers use mobile 34 percent of the time to increase their shopping experiences.

“When looking across types of retailer, findings revealed that 65 percent of shoppers are influenced by their mobile phones when making a decision to buy groceries at a supermarket,” the report says.

Overall, when in shopping malls, 31 percent of the consumers use their mobile phones, which influence their shopping decisions.

InMobi Africa sales director Moses Kemibaro commented that the mobile phone is now the consumer’s constant companion and has become the consumers’ social interface to the world unlike other types of media.

The findings released yesterday at 88mph Garage Nairobi in Kenya’s capital Nairobi shows that more and more Kenyans are using their mobile phones to search for products and services — hence giving marketers an opportunity to use these avenues.

The report stated that 69 percent of respondents conducted mobile searches for electronics or appliances, with 46 percent pre-searching for restaurants and bars and 67 percent searching for luxury goods such as clothing and accessories.

The report reiterates the power of combining mobile advertising with social media marketing. The use of mobile advertising drives 34 percent to retailers while social media 42 percent. These give a powerful combination of 76 percent, when incorporating mobile and social media marketing.

The research, conducted using 503 respondents, was focused on Kenya’s major urban centres namely Nairobi, Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa and Nyeri.

Inmobi is a leader in dispensing mobile Web ads and other mobile advertising related solutions. The company has a spread over 165 countries globally.