Showrooming has been a hot topic for a while now. And a new study from the CFI Group indicates that 41% of shoppers admitting to having a tendency to conduct product research on their phones while in store aisles. What’s interesting to note is that the 2014 figure is double the number recorded this time last year (21%).

That’s a big jump for a single year, and the study (titled Retail Satisfaction Barometer, which included 1,200 respondents pulled from a panel in the U.S.) advises that retailers take advantage of this by creating shopping apps that aren’t simply brand “novelties” and that they focus on developing applications that will generate results that affect their bottom line.

The report notes that mobile isn’t prejudice against age, with the majority of respondents from teens to seniors claiming to have between two and four mobile shopping apps installed on their phone. Unsurprisingly, the use of mobile shopping apps is more prevalent among millennials (67% of participants aged 18 to 34 research while in aisles), however, a good percentage of shoppers (30%) between 45- and 54-years-old indicate they also regularly check their phone for price and product comparisons while in store.

When it comes to consumers conducting mobile price comparisons within different store types, “free-standing specialty stores” claim the most activity than any other segment (58% of respondents say they check other retailers’ prices on their phone while in these stores), with “traditional department store” and “large format value stores” coming in at a close second (49%) and third (47%), respectively. Other mobile activities occurring in stores include consumers reading product reviews, receiving and managing coupons, as well as organizing their shopping lists.

Other key findings from the report include:

-45% of consumers use mobile apps to receive and redeem coupons.

-The top use for mobile shopping apps today is to check other retailer prices (with 47% of respondents stating they do so).

-The top future use for mobile apps (with respondents indicating what they wish apps would allow more of these features) is receiving and redeeming coupons and discount offers, while the ability to pay using a phone at checkout and scan items with a phone to speed up checkout came in the top 10 list of future uses for mobile.

-59% of participants say they’d prefer using their own personal device as opposed to a store-provided device while shopping.

-More than half (55%) of consumers aged 18 to 44 say they would likely favour a store with advanced mobile capabilities available for them to find and research products than a store that does not. The report goes on to say that having robust mobile capabilities, according to the respondents, will lead them to drive further to shop at the retailer (24%), pay slightly more (20%), purchase more during each visit (39%) and shop more at that retailer in general (66%).

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