Shopping with a Smartphone: A French-Japanese Perspective

Abstract

This paper deals with smartphone experiences related to consumption activities and, more specifically, to shopping. If several studies, based on adoption models, show that consumers are ready to use their smartphones widely while shopping, including for paying, very few research provides insights into the real usage of smartphones in shopping behaviour. Therefore, this paper investigates in-depth real smartphone experiences in real shopping settings, in a two-country study involving France and Japan. A qualitative methodology with structured and semistructured interviews was conducted with a sample of Japanese and French consumers. A moderate inductive approach is adopted to analyse the data. With a typology of eight usages identified in both countries, the results show that, in real life, smartphones are primarily used for information, communication, and location purposes. This research also provides evidence on the roles of the smartphone as a shopping companion that assists in pre-purchase activities and as a facilitator tool at the purchase stage of a physical shopping. Overall, the research sheds light on the synchronicity value of the smartphone, specifically its capacity to answer the consumer's needs at the right time, the right place, and in the right situation.