ExchangeWire Research’s weekly roundup brings you up-to-date research findings from around the world, with additional insight provided by Rebecca Muir, head of research and analysis, ExchangeWire. In this week’s edition: The 2017 shopper; Mobile games vs social apps; and rise in native buying.

The 2017 shopper

Online shoppers are discount-driven, luxury-loyal, impulse-led, and couch converters, according to new research by Rakuten. These categories highlight digital purchasing patterns and show how marketers across the fashion, luxury, beauty, and travel sectors in the UK, US, and Australia can influence retail sales in 2017.

One common trait across the profiles is the lengthening research and consideration phase to digital purchases. Even in the instance of couch converters, who want clear direction from brands on what to buy and where to buy it, mobile conversion from the highest purchase type interaction (i.e. a click, rather than an impression) still takes an average of 27 hours.

Here is a closer look at the profiles:

1. Discount-Driven – Black Friday saw a 120% rise in conversions globally, compared to the prior month. However, in the UK, this profile reduces average spend by 21% over ten orders
2. Luxury Loyalists – Typically identified by basic demographics, they increase spend on each purchase, but the eighth purchase often marks the natural limit on order value
3. Impulse-Led – Usually have no brand loyalty, but if brands make tackling this a priority, UK impulse buyers will increase the value per order by a staggering 83% over eight purchases
4. Couch Converters – Often assumed to convert on the device that is most convenient, likely mobile, in the UK mobile conversion from click through still takes an average of 27 hours

Mobile games vs social apps

Consumers are twice as likely to say they feel relaxed when playing mobile games than they are when using social apps, according to research by Tapjoy.

Respondents also say they feel more focused (35% vs 11%), happier (34% vs 21%), and more engaged (35% vs 20%) on gaming apps than social networking apps. Conversely, consumers are 2.4 times more likely to feel bored on social apps than gaming apps, and 60% more likely to feel stressed.

The study also finds that more than two-thirds of consumers who play games do not identify themselves as a gamer. Even among those who said that they play mobile games six times per week or more, less than one-in-three identify as a gamer.

Women represent the majority of mobile gamers, making up 63% of the total player base. Consumers 55 and over are the largest age group, representing 23% of the respondents, with consumers ages 25-34 representing 21%, and those 35-44 representing 19%. Consumers with a household income of USD$100,000 or more make up 17% of mobile gamers, with another 37% earning between USD$50,000 and USD$99,000.

More than two-thirds (70%) of mobile gamers say they play while sitting in front of the television, and they are more than twice as likely to play while relaxing at home than while at work or during their commute. They are also more than twice as likely to play at night right before they go to bed than when they first wake up in the morning.

Rise in native buying

Programmatic native surged throughout 2016, finds research from MediaRadar. The total monthly brands buying campaigns increased by 86% from 593.4 in January to 1,133, by November. In Q1 of 2016, on average, 726.3 brands bought campaigns each month. In Q4 of 2016, on average, 1,094.3 brands bought campaigns per month.

In 2016, 4,182 unique advertisers bought programmatic native across programmatic native exchanges. However, penetration remains low. In 2016, 50,605 advertisers placed online ads on just the top-200 largest publishers alone.

“The category is still quite small, when compared to the overall digital market”, said Todd Krizelman, CEO & co-founder of MediaRadar. “Still, if you’re running a programmatic native exchange, given the surge in adoption from Q1 to Q4, this is really encouraging news. There is a lot of opportunity still left to pursue and plenty of headroom for future growth.”