Take shopping. Some of the attributes that make a smartphone appealing - portability, interactivity, and location awareness - also make it the ideal shopper's companion. Studies have shown that more than 80 percent of U.S. shoppers turn to their phones for help. With the swipe of a thumb, consumers can access product descriptions, reviews, and price comparisons, upending much conventional wisdom about how marketers should lure customers.

U.S. companies spent more than $28bn on mobile advertising in 2015 and are set to double that by 2018. Much of this outlay is aimed at users of mobile apps, which account for about 87 percent of people’s smartphone usage.

A new study seeks to isolate the effects of mobile apps on some important retail metrics, including how much each customer spends, the number of products they return, and the relationship between various app features and purchase decisions.

The authors obtained data from a large, U.S.-based retailer of consumer electronics, video games, and wireless services. In addition to transaction-related records from the chain’s 4,175 stores and its website, the authors also examined data on the more than 2 million customers — among the company’s 32-million-strong customer base — who adopted the mobile app.

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