Mobile Shoppers Ready to Buy from the Phone?

When we started working on Tote, lots of folks asked us whether consumers were ready to buy from their phones.  Some new reports point to a resounding "Yes!".

eBay's CEO John Donahue recently announced that consumers have spent more than $380 million through the company's iPhone application in the first three quarters of 2009.   PIzza Hut, which released an application for mobile ordering in September 2009, said mobile sales are going to add more than $1 million to it's top-line this year.

Our own early experience with Tote confirms this behavior.  Lots of people push the "find online" button -- in fact, a lot more than we initially thought.

While users took a while to get comfortable with e-commerce, it seems the "learning curve" for mobile buying is a lot less steep. Certainly, Apple did it's part to help consumers feel o.k. about buying stuff on their phones with the App Store.

Expect to see a lot more numbers about on-phone purchasing from retailers this holiday season.