• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, November 20, 2014

While mobile has changed how people shop, it doesn’t mean retailers have kept up with the transformation.

And shoppers aren’t stopping there, with ever increasing desires for more mobile services from retailers.

The majority (60%) of smartphone owners say having a mobile device has changed how they shop, according to a new study.

And when it comes to mobile shopping, apps don’t rule, based on the 2014 Digital Impact Survey.

The study comprised a survey of 1,000 adult smartphone owners, 600 in the United States and 400 in the United Kingdom, developed with Stanford University’s Mobile Innovations Group and conducted by the Apigee Institute, a research and strategy organization.

In terms of spending this holiday season, the study found that more mobile spending will occur outside of apps.

Fewer than half (45%) of smartphone owners use shopping apps daily or weekly, while 18% use them only monthly and more than a third (37%) use them less than once a month or not at all.

While smartphone owners will spend about $8 billon via apps, they will spend almost twice as much ($13 billion) via mobile not using apps.

Total spending via mobile this holiday season is projected to about $20 billion overall and 20% of smartphone owners expect to spend more next year

Curiously, three quarters (74%) of smartphone owners said they would be more likely to shop at a store offering key functions and services via an app even through the majority are not high-frequency shopping app users.

This doesn’t necessarily mean retailers should back away from apps. The study found that a large majority (90%) of U.S. smartphone owners expect department stores to provide key services via apps within the next two years.

There also appears to be an opportunity for more mobile-aggressive retailers. Almost one in five (17%) smartphone owners say they have started shopping at a new store because of its app.

To keep all of this in context, almost all (90%) smartphone owners use their phones in bed and 81% use them in the bathroom.