Holiday shopping season is around the corner, and the majority of mobile users plan to use their smartphone or tablet for holiday shopping this year, according to a recent survey by Prosper Mobile Insights.  Shoppers plan to use their mobile for research and/or purchasing, and Black Friday weekend see a significant amount of mobile traffic around shopping.

• 62% of mobile users plan to use their smartphone or tablet for holiday shopping this year
• 61% of these “avid mobile holiday shoppers” plan to use their device mostly as a “mobile mall”—purchasing products and comparing prices
• The other 39% plan to use their device mainly as a data organizer to keep track of gift lists, budgets, sales, etc.
• Mobile holiday shoppers plan to make 38% of their holiday purchases from their device, on average

Of those planning to use their mobile for holiday shopping, during what stage of the buying process will smartphone and tablet owners use their devices?

• 57% will use their device mostly during the planning and research stage
• 40% will use their device mainly while shopping or in-store
• 3% plan to use their device mostly to share their shopping experiences with others

How likely are mobile holiday shoppers to use their device the weekend following Thanksgiving?  The majority are somewhat or very likely to use their device to purchase products on Black Friday (67%) and Cyber Monday (64%).

The survey also asked which apps are most popular with mobile holiday shoppers:

• 18% of mobile holiday shoppers plan to use the Amazon app to purchase products, and 9% to help plan their holiday shopping
• 6% will use the eBay app to purchase products
• Roughly 2% will use the Google app, a barcode scanner, or PayPal to purchase products for the holidays
• To help plan holiday purchases, mobile shoppers also planned to use Google (5.8%), Notes (4.0%), Shop Savvy (2.9%) and Safari (2.1%)

The three main categories of products that mobile holiday shoppers plan to research and/or purchase using their smartphone or tablet are electronics, clothes and entertainment items.  More than 3 in 4

(77%) will use their device to research electronics purchases, and half (50%) will use their device to purchase products in this category.  Seventy-one percent of mobile holiday shoppers will use their

Clearly, mobile will play a huge role in the 2011 holiday shopping season.  Are marketers prepared to take advantage with holiday specials in place via mobile ads, apps, and geo-social platforms?device to research entertainment items (including books, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray and video games), and 58% will purchase items in this category with their smartphone or tablet.

This survey was conducted by Prosper Mobile Insights from 10/25/11 to 10/27/11, and included 329 smartphone and tablet users who completed the survey on their devices.  The average age was 45, and 48% of respondents were male, 52% female.