• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, July 7, 2015

Online shoppers just can’t seem to warm to apps, but those who do, really do.

This is even more pronounced based on gender, according to a new study.

Neither group of consumers are heavy shopping app users, with 10% of men shopping through a retailer’s app compared to 2% of women, according to the Retail Perceptions report.

The study by retail marketing company Interactions comprised a survey of 500 U.S. adults to determine if gender influenced shopping behavior.

Counter to other studies, this one found that the majority of shoppers would prefer to communicate with a retailer through a store associate rather than with a mobile device.

Slightly more males (60%) than females (56%) would take store associates over mobile communication.

And those in-store recommendations from sales associates influence some sales, with 67% of men and 64% of women having purchased additional items because a store associate recommended it.

On the other side of app behavior, those who have the retailer app on their phones are heavy users.

When in a store, 80% of women and 77% of men who downloaded the retailer’s app use it while shopping in the store.

Many of those app users also want location-based notices, with 44% of men and 39% of women deciding that receiving mobile alerts from the store they’re shopping in would improve their in-store experience.

As more retailers install and turn on the technology to accept mobile payments, some shoppers can hardly wait.

Of men who use mobile wallets, 44% have left a retailer without making a purchase because the retailer didn’t accept that payment option. The same is true for 34% of women.

Numerous studies show that the majority of consumers prefer to shop in a physical store. Now if retailers could just get more shoppers to use their apps.