Going shopping has gotten a lot easier in the digital age.
With the instant aid of smartphones, buyers run into fewer difficulties comparing prices, finding better products or even receiving opinions from friends. More than half of adult cell-phone owners used their phones over the 2011 holiday season to help make purchasing decisions, according to a survey by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. 
The January survey found that 52 percent of all adult cell-phone users used their phones in some way to shop for the holiday season. This included calling friends for advice (38 percent), looking up product reviews (24 percent) and comparing prices online (25 percent), all while in a store shopping. Of these buyers, 33 percent used smartphones to search the Web for online advice on purchases.
According to Bella Bella employee Megan Archey, many shoppers try on dresses and take pictures with their phones to decide on purchases. She explained these buyers often use smartphones to ask for outside advice before buying an item. 
“They’ll text pictures of themselves to friends, and if their friends like it, they’ll buy it, and if they don’t, they won’t,” Archey said.
Buyers use this strategy in stores of all kinds. Alex Breaud, Varsity Sports employee, said she sees similar shopping practices in the athletic store.
“Sometimes people say they’re trying on shoes but take a picture and send it to a friend,” she said.
Breaud said employees have seen customers take pictures of shoes to compare aspects like color.
“It’s a time to see what their friends think of the color they’re choosing,” she explained.
Kinesiology freshman Sasha Armelin said she uses this strategy.
“If I’m buying a new outfit and I try it on, I’ll send [a picture] to a friend,” she said.
Armelin said her phone is useful for organizing her buying habits, as well. She said she often types out checklists or grocery lists before buying items.
Texting pictures isn’t the only strategy for buyers looking for friendly advice. 
Undeclared freshman Caitlin Tucker explained that while she doesn’t use the Internet or take pictures to determine what she is buying, she uses her cell phone to help strategize her purchases during the holidays. She calls her friends to better understand the layout of the local market, she said.
“During Christmas season, I’ll call someone to ask about what is in the stores. ‘Did they have this? How much was it?'” she said.
 
—-
Contact Austen Krantz at [email protected]