Mobile Shopping Through Applications: Understanding Application Possession and Mobile Purchase

•Mobile shopping is examined through two stages: app possession and mobile purchase.•Digital experience and the browsing pattern of non-shopping apps are diagnostic of the possession of shopping apps.•Mobile purchases are driven by digital experience and shopping-app browsing, with other factors of little predictive value.•Purchases via online apps are explained by digital experience whereas only mobile experience matters to traditional apps.

Smartphones have penetrated rapidly and mobile shopping provides promising market opportunities for retailers. However, little is known about mobile shopping patterns and inferring these patterns from online shopping may provide misleading insights. We combine mobile log data and a mobile panel survey, and examine two stages in mobile shopping: the possession of shopping applications (hereafter, apps) and the purchase via shopping apps. Our exploratory investigation of mobile data and its empirical analyses provide three substantive findings. First, online experience and mobile experience both positively relate to the possession of shopping apps. Second, browsing behavior for non-shopping apps helps understand the possession of shopping apps as it reflects user preferences for acquiring more apps. Third, purchasing decisions are explained by digital experience (i.e., online experience and mobile experience) and browsing information from shopping apps, with other factors being of little predictive value. The implications for mobile retailing research and practice are discussed.