Back-to-school shoppers using smartphones to find deals

(Andrey Arkusha/shutterstock.com)

The majority of consumers in the United States who own a smartphone plan to use their device for finding back-to-school shopping bargains, claims a new survey.

These findings are the results of a survey commissioned by market research company Deloitte and released on July 27. Conducted July 5-11, the survey polled 1,000 parents of children aged 16-19 (K12) and has an error margin of plus or minus three percent.

Of those surveyed, 64 percent who own a smartphone plan to use it for "back to school shopping purposes," 61 percent specifically stated that they will use the phone to find information on prices and 43 percent stated that they will download discounts, coupons, or sale information to the device to use for their seasonal shopping.

An earlier survey also commissioned by Deloitte and released July 19 calculated smartphone ownership in the US at around 35 percent; however Nielsen estimated this to be around 38 percent. Similar levels of smartphone ownership can be found in the UK where 33 percent of consumers are estimated to have a smartphone, according to market insights company Evolution.

This growing level of smartphone ownership combined with a volatile economic climate is leading to the device being increasingly used by consumers for retail purposes, concluded Deloitte.

The results of a Nielsen survey released June 30 found that the most popular smartphone operating system in the US was Google's Android, followed by Apple's iOS.