Survey shows Apple offers most-satisfying mobile shopping experience

The study from ForeSee (via VentureBeat) collected responses from 3,000 visitors to apps and mobile sites for the top 40 U.S. retailers' websites based on revenue. Apple received the top score of 85 for its mobile experience, faring better than its own Web experience, which scored 83.

Amazon was a close second with a satisfaction score of 84. Dell came in third with a score of 78, and Netflix and eBay tied for fourth with 77.

As the adoption of smartphones increases, more consumers are using them to access retailer websites,” said Larry Freed, President and CEO of the analytics firm. “More and more, there is expectation that companies will address the mobile environment in ways that are effective and user-friendly. Mobile commerce is still relatively new and there is a lot of room for innovation and improvement."

Respondents generally ranked their mobile commerce experiences as less satisfactory than Web experiences, though Apple was a rare exception.

“The gap between mobile experience and web experience is an opportunity for retailers as much as it is a liability. We know consumer expectations will only continue to grow, and right now Amazon and Apple are setting a very high bar,” he continued.

The survey also found that 34 percent of online shoppers use their mobile phones to research purchases. 15 percent of respondents said they made purchases directly from their phone, up from 11 percent last year.

19 percent of shoppers said they used their mobile phones to compare prices while shopping in a store. Amazon sparked a controversy last month when it began offering discounts for items to customers who used its Price Check shopping app to check prices while at a physical store.

An earlier report from ForeSee released late last month found Apple to be the top computers and electronics retailer and the second overall in terms of customer satisfaction.

A separate study revealed that iOS users account for the majority of mobile e-commerce transactions. Retail analysis firm RichRelevance noted a whopping 92 percent of online non-desktop sales last December as having been made from iOS devices.